# Australia - Shopaholic:Anything worth buying there?



## MandaC (1 Jan 2008)

While the rest of you have the January blues,  and having saved my last years holidays,  am now off to Australia in two weeks time.  Flying into Brisbane and travelling around with no set agenda for five weeks.

Me being the shopaholic I am,  is there anything worth buying, that I should look at?


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## Perplexed (1 Jan 2008)

*Re: Australia - Anything worth buying there?*

Hi MandaC,
Lucky you !  Australia zoo is worth a look while you're in the area.
Opals would be the main thing around there & in general everything is cheaper than Ireland.
Are you stopping off en route ? Bangkok or Hong Kong are great value places to shop, much better than Australia from my experience.


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## Luckycharm (2 Jan 2008)

*Re: Australia - Anything worth buying there?*

Are you stopping on route- probally better for shopping. KL is good for fake stuff and will be buying all my t-shirts there in April - all the stuff I got there 3 years ago still in good nick


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## ClubMan (2 Jan 2008)

*Re: Australia - Anything worth buying there?*



MandaC said:


> Me being the shopaholic I am,  is there anything worth buying, that I should look at?





Perplexed said:


> Hi MandaC,
> Lucky you !  Australia zoo is worth a look


Would that not be a bit expensive?   And how would she get it home?


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## z104 (2 Jan 2008)

*Re: Australia - Anything worth buying there?*

Tazmania is nice, you could try buying that.


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## Vanilla (3 Jan 2008)

Thought you werent supposed to buy opal for yourself- unlucky if not a gift? Or did i just make that up?


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## MandaC (4 Jan 2008)

Stopping off in Singapore (connecting only) not much of a gap between flights.

I wonder am I better preloading my VISA card with cash, than taking australian dollars?

Anyway, hope the weather improves, there is currently Monsoon warnings! or else I will really have to hit the shops and wont recover from that till the end of the year.

thanks for the tips


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## ClubMan (4 Jan 2008)

MandaC said:


> I wonder am I better preloading my VISA card with cash, than taking australian dollars?


There are lots of existing threads discussing the pros and cons of preloading a_ CC _and accessing cash abroad through cash withdrawals versus other options.


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## Perplexed (5 Jan 2008)

Manda C you can always go shopping in Brisbane. There are quite a few malls & shopping centres.

There are big department stores called Myers that are all over Oz & they always seem to have some sort of sale going on & prices are definitely better there than here.

If you're interested in sports gear you'll find outlets for Quicksilver, O'Neills & Boomerang on the outskirts of the city.


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## garythegreat (5 Jan 2008)

Haha im just back from Oz, i actually found australia more expensive than Ireland for most things! Its crazy how everybody thinks its a lot cheaper!


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## ClubMan (5 Jan 2008)

garythegreat said:


> Haha im just back from Oz, i actually found australia more expensive than Ireland for most things! Its crazy how everybody thinks its a lot cheaper!


Careful - the rip-off _Ireland _lynch mob will get a posse after you for saying things like that!


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## garythegreat (5 Jan 2008)

ClubMan said:


> Careful - the rip-off _Ireland _lynch mob will get a posse after you for saying things like that!



Ye but who cares!

I exchanged the dollor into euro (this is on Decmeber 4th)

Aus prices converted to euro

500ml Bottle of coke in Aus: about 2.70euro
Petrol: 1.34 a litre
Rugby jersey: 140euro
Big mac meal 6.60euro for medium size
6 cans of fosters in off licence: 16euro (off licence prices were crazy!)
Pint of beer in pub: 4.70euro. nightclub 6euro
20 cigarettes: 13euro
Bus journey 4 stops: 2.50euro

Its roughly the same as Ireland, but id say Oz averages out as more expensive. The amount of times we said "Holy crap thats more expensive than back home!" was shocking - you just dont expect that when your on holidays! And i was there for 6months so i wasnt in the touristy areas that would be expected to be more expenisve.
Dont know how much the salarys/pay/tax are though


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## Perplexed (5 Jan 2008)

Gary
I don't know where you were buying these items. 
Didn't you know Aussies don't drink Fosters ? They only consider it fit for export to other countries.!
Are you sure that pack of cigarettes wasn't for 30 ?
Petrol varies tremendously in price from area to area.....if you buy in a city with lots of filling stations near it's cheap but if you buy in an out of the way place with not another station for a few hundred miles, yes, it's really expensive.

Other thing a lot of Irish do is make the mistake of going to Irish pubs......they've the greatest rip off prices for beer of the lot.

Strangely enough some of the more out of the way places are more expensive. Presume it's the cost of transport getting the stuff there. Like in Queensland fruit is really cheap......when did you ever buy a pineapple in Ireland for 50c ?

It's like everywhere if you want to live cheaply you've got to see  what the natives do.....& do likewise.
The entrance fees for tourist attractions is about half of what they charge in Ireland plus they have great deals for groups/ students/ families/oap's.

The one thing that stands out in my mind was having a whopping big steak for dinner one night - as did my daughter & her boyfriend & the cost including 2 cocktails & 1 beer came to €70 for the three of us. Where in Ireland would you get that ??


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## MandaC (5 Jan 2008)

Thanks, for all the tips.  Will do a pricing exercise of my own on the above items over there and see how it averages out for me and will update this thread when I come back!


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## Perplexed (5 Jan 2008)

That's great MandaC.
You'll have a wonderful time anyway. Lovely to get away to a bit of sunshine this time of year. Fingers x monsoons don't happen while you're there !

Shopping is subjective.......it all depends on what you're interested in buying !


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## PM1234 (5 Jan 2008)

As Perplexed said shopping is subjective. 

You could buy some Aboriginal art or equally you could stock up on Tim Tams!


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## ClubMan (5 Jan 2008)

Buy a caseload of _Manuka _honey, smuggle it home and then flog it to _Irish _punters at up to 10 times the price you paid. They will most likely lap it up and pay willingly. Of course they may moan afterwards (probably here) about being "ripped off" but the money will be some consolation to you if they do.


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## Perplexed (6 Jan 2008)

ClubMan said:


> Buy a caseload of _Manuka _honey, smuggle it home and then flog it to _Irish _punters at up to 10 times the price you paid. They will most likely lap it up and pay willingly. Of course they may moan afterwards (probably here) about being &quot;ripped off&quot; but the money will be some consolation to you if they do.



 Afraid you'd need to go to New Zealand for Manuka honey. Well if you wanted to buy it cheaply anyway


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## ClubMan (6 Jan 2008)

_Australia _produces it too.


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## scatriona (7 Jan 2008)

Yea - but Manuka's as pricey in Oz (about $10 AUD for a medium jar) as it would be here in Ireland I think...


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## ClubMan (7 Jan 2008)

AU$10 is about €5. The cheapest jar that I've seen anybody get was about €25 and many were much dearer. Not sure what size medium is though but these jars were small enough.


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## Luckycharm (7 Jan 2008)

The only thing I have found cheaper then here in general is Eating out and you cannot beat BYO which is great and common over there.
Suprisingly Ozzie wine is no cheaper over there and have often found the same bottle of wine actually cheaper here then in OZ!!


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## scatriona (7 Jan 2008)

Try www.naturalife.ie for a small-ish jar for under €10... not sure what shipment costs are
(i've no connection to above co.)

S


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