Over the last few years Australia has been a very prosperous country. (Seriously, when families on incomes of over $150,000 a year are complaining about having their welfare payments reduced you know the country has cash)
Sydney - where we lived - is actually a more expensive place to live (ranking 14th on the Mercer Cost of living survey) than New York (number 32). Which gives Grant and I a slightly warped perspective on this city.
Rents are comparable (compare this place in George Street with this place in Manhattan's financial district.) Other things are more expensive (Olive Oil for example, the exact same brand we bought in Australia is 50% more expensive here) but beer is much cheaper. Since we drink more beer than olive oil this represents a net benefit to our wallets - although arguably not to our health
The other thing that seems less expensive to us is eating out. Last Night we went to Print a reasonably ritzy restaurant a couple of blocks from where we're staying. The review we read on Yelp suggested that it was going to be a great meal - but really expensive.
It was a really great meal (I'll link to Grant's review when he's written it) and the bill came to a total of $175 (that includes the tip) for three courses, a bottle of wine and a glass of dessert wine. (a really nice moscato). If we'd forgone the booze* it would have been a grand total of $130 (including the tip)
Maybe its the Sydney factor, or the fact that Grant and I eat out a lot - but that seemed like an incredibly good price for the quality we got. It's going to be good living here.
*Obviously we wouldn't - a meal without wine is like a day without sunshine.
