Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Auckland, or Gold Coast?

Question

I am currently a college student in the United States. A very poor one. I have decided to study abroad in either Australia or New Zealand for the spring semester of 2008. Where would you recommend, a college student with only 4-5 months of time, to study abroad?

Also, what is the cost of living like in Australia/New Zealand compared to the United States? How much would a nice meal cost? A decent beer?

Answer 1

G'day,

Living cost... Sydney and Canberra have the highest living cost, followed by Melbourne & Brisbane, then Perth, Darwin, Adelaide & Tasmania the lowest. I am attaching a weblink from one of the uni in Melbourne as an indication.

I'm living in Melbourne and this is what you're going to find in Melbourne:
1. First of all... some people do not like the weather in Melbourne (you can have 4 seasons in one day). However, if you read the second weblink from The Age newspaper, you will find out that the weather is still more preferable than the other cities. Sure you can have 42C day like last month, but almost immediately you'll get a much cooler weather pretty soon afterwards. It is very rarely that you got 2 or 3 consecutive days of hot weathers (unlike Sydney, Brisbane or Perth).
2. Melbourne is a city of diversity. If you are a newcomer, and you do not look 'Anglo-Saxon', you do not feel like an 'alien', since you can find almost every race in the world walking in the city. They are both immigrants and overseas students.
3. THE FOOD!! Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Thai, All-you-can-eat, African, Lebanese, Mexican, Sea Food... anything else? All available and lots of them in a very-very-very affordable price
4. Pretty good public transport system. With one ticket, you can switch from train, tram and bus. They do not always come on-time, but still reliable and improving (www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au). Good for students, since not all can afford car.
5. SHOPPING!!! Original branded clothing sold very cheap. There are even shopping tour, where the participants are taken to retails outlets just for shopping. Big temptations for ladies.
6. Crime rates... just read the third article on the bottom.
7. Night Life... hmmmm... I'll say the centre of nite activities will be Crown Casino and Docklands. Altho there are still plenty of cafe's and clubs scattered around the suburbs as well.
8. Tourist attraction. This is the area that I think Sydney is better than Melbourne, since it has most of it's attraction within its suburbs. Most Melbourne attraction are pretty much out of Melbourne, such as the gold mines in the cities of Bendigo and Ballarat, The Great Ocean Road, Lakes Entrance, Grampians, skiing in Mt. Buller etc.

Hope this helps. Good luck on your study :)

Answer 2

I have been studying in Melbourne for about 5 years.
Melbourne is a nice to place to study since It's not a very crowned city compare with Sydney.
I think Perth or Adelaide is better since it's a quite city.

For the cost of living, It's depend whether you are sharing or not.
If you're sharing, normally the living cost is around $1,200 AUD per month

You can get a nice meal for only about $8 AUD

Hopefully this answer might help you

Answer 3

The harbour-side town of Auckland is New Zealand's correct metropolis and the vivid economic heart of the nation, know it with hotelbye . Auckland can also be known as the "City of Sails" and it sprawls out in helter-skelter fashion between Manukau Harbour (to the west) and Waitemata Harbour (to the east) with the small key city section right beside the waterway. For many guests to New Zealand, Auckland is the point of arrival, and a couple of days washing up the national and outside attractions here must certanly be on every tourist's to-do list. The monuments, museums, and art galleries here are some of the best in the country. The suburban coastline of the city is speckled with fine beaches, and the hawaiian islands of the Hauraki Gulf supply a taste of New Zealand's magnificent national park scenery close to the city's doorstep. Auckland is surely a city worth seeing.

Answer 4

Adelaide = boring.
You probably have a wider range of study choices in Melbourne or Sydney.
Cost of living it slightly higher in Auckland due to a higher GST (goods and services tax).
Beer on tap ~$3-4
Bottled beer $4-6
Buy your own six pack or a carton (24) is much cheaper. ~$30-50 (for premium beer) for a carton.
Can't really quote on the price of a decent meal, depends on what you mean by decent!
Eating out at a cafe probably around $15. Decent meal somewhere, eg steak $25-30.

Answer 5

How about you approach this a different way.

Try a homestay for about $225 per week including breakfast and dinner. Most colleges and Universities will put you in touch with agents that look after this when registering.

Then get yourself a student work visa, entitling you to 20hours work per week. Unskilled work at $14-5 per hour should be achievable.

That should balance you budget with money to spare.

Sydney is probably the best because of the availability of work

Hope that helps

Answer 6

Melbourne: 4 seasons a day; cheap living standard, good public transportation, lots of scenery places (e.g. botanic garden, Yarra River...)

Sydney: a metropolitan with various cusines, higher living standard, good public transportation, many renowned uni, feel like NY

Adelaide: don't know much

Auckland: poor public transportation, reasonable cost of living, good for hiking

Gold Coast: very high cost of living, beautiful beaches (better than Haiwaii), no winter, many attractive tourist spots (e.g. Warner Bros...), good food, people are more friendly and open when compare with Sydney & Melbourne.

Answer 7

This subject is huge and varied . They are all different. darwin is a tropical City which only has 2 seasons The wet and the dry We dont have jungles. We have rainforests

Answer 8

go to MELBOURNE its the cheapest for students.

Answer 9

IDK about the rest but Sydney has awsome views