Don't forget the water piplines they are builing 24/7 to pipe in water from the Gold and Sunshine Coasts.

Dammit man, fill up the damn dams already! 4 min showers?

Brrrr-isbane all right! Its freezing! My place is an ice block!

Thankgoodness the libaraies are heated!

Why would anyone do something like that?

I currently use Optus pre-paid. When I last looked, the local rates were the same for all providers. For international, I think Three is the cheaper one.

I just turn it on when I'm awake and trying to concentrate. Usually once I heat up my bed it'll be ok. If it is really cold, an electric blanket will be the better alternative than a full blown heater. electric blankets don't take up more than 700W I think.

Other than TPG, Optus and Internode, what other ISP's do you guys recommend? i'm using Telstra.

Honestly, I hear people say that Canberra (thus ANU) is boring and in the middle of nowhere, but the guys who go to UNITEM and MMU(Cyberjaya) don't seem to mind. Keep in mind Canberra, while an artificial ctiy like Putrajaya and Cyberjaya, is more established than the former 2.

That said, the good news is that living cost(s) are not going to as high as Melbourne and/or Sydney. However, being more isolated, you pay a premium on things like food, papers etc, which have to brought in from outside. However, I don't think the price gap is that big.

On ANU however, I can't help you there. As far as I can see, you'll probably be the first LYN'er there!

Bus fares being reduced? Do such things exist?

Here in QLD we are facing a nice hike in bus fares. After the increased it last year. Damnit man, they use natural gas. I don't they are affected THAT much!

But yeah, QLD, SA, WA TAS are the few states which give concession fares to intl students. Sometimes this fact alone makes me happy I'm not in VIC.


No concession fares for intl students in NSW?!

or just stick to an Optus prepaid.

Anyone doing anything this winter hols in Brisbane?

That'll probably be me.

Yes, never expect your job to cover 30% of your living expences. And if you're going to Melbroune, its not going to be cheap.

ex-KL I persume? That is a fair bit. If you can make it down to Sinagpore on the cheap (AirAsia) and have plenty of time, Qantas Super Savers' are quite reasonable. A one way SIN-PER if you book early, with taxes and all, would come up to about RM1050.

Oct is usually just before the peak months. you might get lucky.

http://aei.dest.gov.au/AEI/ESOS/NatCodeRevised_pdf.htm

Outlines the difference between and old and the new code. chris_c28 has summarised it excellently.
This is a shock to me. Usually any changes in immigration and education laws affecting international students would spread like wildfire in the chinese speaking community. I haven't heard anything about it.

Habis lah! One extra reason why I can't fail.

As far as I know, there isn't one in Brisbane. I hope to be corrected through.

Wow. I thought this thread had died.

The AUD just breached the 2.95 mark, and at the rate this is going, we're going to see 3.0 by the end of this year. The NZD isn't any much better, hovering close to 2.7 to the AUD. On the bright side, it has been good for NZ tourists, who have never seen the AUD and the NZD (1.09) so close to each other.

Interest rates are damn high, and everything is going up, in Brisbane at least. Petrol is still stubbornly $1.20/litre. Bus fares gone up. Vege prices in the supermarkets are also a bit high. Rent is also rising. The exchage rate isn't helping either.

And aobk84, ignoring your (lack of) English, can you prove any data to back yourself up? Usually it is the middle of the year, the AUD and the NZD drops. This year is an unusal outlier (I hope).

This post has been edited by haya: Jul 5 2007, 10:43 AM

In terms of general living costs in these cities, UniSA (Adelaide) will be the cheapest. UTS and Melbourne will the one of the most expensive. Perth is also no longer that cheap now, through still cheaper than the SYD/MEL.

Generally, staying in a student hostel is more expensive than living outside. However, I STRONGLY recommend staying in the student hostel for the first 6 months at least. It gives you time to get used to the place, the environment, and the general cost of living. Because when you first arrive, you're not sure if $150/wk for a particular place is cheap or overpriced.

As a guide, from my experiences being in Brisbane, staying in the student hostel will set me back around $250/wk, through that includes utilities, 3 meals, a fairly nice room, plenty of places to socialise and not that far from uni. Living outside with friends, I'm paying $130/wk in rent, about $5/wk in utulities, and once you add in groceries etc, $210/wk for just living is possible. What prices are like in other places, I cannot say.

If I was accepted into all uni's in the list through, I'd go to Uni Melbourne anyday!

Why not? It's getting harder and harder to get in, with the "Melbourne model" and all. And it is one of the top uni's in Australia.

Almost all Australian universities reconise UEC for university entrance, not just Melbourne. It is only IPTA's that do not reconise UEC.

Speaking as a Queensland University of Technology(QUT) student, we also have a very strong industrial training(IT) program. In fact, thank's to the mining boom, a lot of Engineering (usually Civil and Mining) students are roped in to do work before they've graduated. Even if you are a international student. As IT (no pun intended) is a course requirement, you usually are allowed to work way beyond the 20hr/wk limit.

The pay is good apperently, but it is tiring, not to mention being out there in the outback. How the internships (of QUT) compare to other uni's through, I cannot say.

Missing an "e" there.


This worries me a lot.

ECU= Edith Cowan University?



Ignoring the atrocious English, there is no such thing as "on your luck" for Australian universities. They are a hell lot more transparent than local Malaysian U's (IMO, including some IPTS'es also). You either make the cut, or you don't. Through with ECU, I'm not surprised they took you in with a "C" for your 1119. Even if they turn you down, at least they tell you why.

What is the IELTS score needed to get into Computing (Computer Science? Information Technology?) in ECU? A "C" for 1119 would be about an IELTS score of 5.5 IMO.

Yep. Regardless how long your visa is.

Well, personally Melbourne is a hell lot more organized than PJ. But I digress.


I'm having trouble understanding this sentence, but I think I get what you're trying to say. Working part-time here is an option, but IMO I don't think you can live on $200/wk in Melbourne. Eating out is not as cheap as M'sia. A simple meal will be AT LEAST $7. So yes, you do earn more, but you pay more eating out. Food here (Australia) is generally cheap. and even Asian food is quite readily available in the mainstream supermarkets.

Remember: your work must never interfere with your results.

Let's see...what I had for dinnner:
Pasta (durum wheat): 60cents for 500g, lasts me about 3 days
Meat (Diced pork): about $12/kg, I buy about 700g (just under $10), lasts me a week
Vege: Bok Choi, 1 bundle, 3 meals, $1.70
Water: almost free
Apple: $4/kg, lasts me about 2 weeks

Yeah. I think I'm about $3 a meal, once you add in energy to cook it and all. Not as good as what you'd get outside, but it keeps me alive.