**There are several pictures in this post**
Currently I am traveling in the wonderful country of Australia. If you every get a chance to visit I strongly encourage you to do so. However, besides the crazy long flight to get here there is one other issue with travel to Australia-it’s freaking expensive.
Why is Australia So Expensive?
Well, from what people have told me things are expensive for a number of reasons. I won’t touch that topic in this post, but as a visitor I will say this…I’ve already paid for the flight, so I just want to “stay and play” for cheap!
To visit Australia frugally you need some help and now that I’ve been here for awhile I can share some things that I’ve discovered. Namely, it is possible to be frugal in Australia-you just have to want to make it happen.
13 Frugal Things You Can Do
When You Visit Melbourne, Australia
- Stay in a hostel–Currently I am staying in a hostel. It has been a very interesting experience and I would say that most people will have an interesting experience when staying in shared accommodation. Especially if they have been out of college for awhile. I am currently staying in a 3 person all female room (you can be in a mixed sex room if you like-a little too lively for me) I paid around $37 a night for my room. Examples of roomies: The 60ish year old woman from Germany who was going to drive a van along the coast and meet her friend at the end of the road. There was the hilarious Dutch girl who had hurt her toe and thought that her toenail would fall off. We laughed for half an hour about this and then when she WhatsApped her boyfriend he asked her to send a picture-she didn’t. There was the odd French girl who lived in England for the past 4 years and hated being French…but spoke the worst English EVER. And, I used to study French and had a hard time understanding her. Basically, staying in a hostel is going to be fun, challenging, and a little weird. If that’s not your cup of tea, then the next option would be a good one for you!
- Use AirBnB! Melbourne is pretty popular so you will find a number of AIrBnB options. I did spend some time looking at the listings once I arrived, however it was a little to late to book a room because of the Australian Tennis Open. Everything was pretty much booked or in the final stages of getting booked. I did find the range of prices pretty reasonable from $29 and up (way up). I also found some lovely rooms with their own entrances, wifi, and access to the kitchen. Please refer to the following post about How To Use AirBnB Safely before you book. I also included my affiliate link to save $25 on your booking. Here it is 🙂 AirBnB-rock your money! Please note: if you book using this link I will receive some compensation.
- $1 Flat Whites–Ok, before you ask what is a Flat White? It is a delicious coffee concoction that Melbourne seems to have perfected. It has just the right amount of: coffee strength, crema, and foam. If you like a slightly wet cappuccino, or a lightly dry latte a Flat White is to me that happy in between. While I found the coffee prices to be basically the same as home, I stumbled onto something I wasn’t expecting. You can get a $1 Flat White at 7-Eleven and yes-they were GOOD! I was quite shocked by this and have basically been getting my coffee from 7-Eleven and saving almost $3 every time. Nice.
- Good (Cheap) Food: Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Indonesian, and Malaysian foods were not only delicious but hands down was the best value food for the money.Especially the noodle bowls. Also, the quality of the food is extremely high due to the high populations of immigrants and descendants of these regions in Melbourne. I averaged about $6-$11 a meal and was full for most of the day after eating one of these bowls. There was one place in particular where the noodles were being made fresh all day long. You could taste the quality. While I have a pretty broad palate and have eaten a lot of different types of foods: Malaysian and Indonesian foods were new to me. I loved trying out new things and kept it simple when I did.
- Free Trams–Melbourne has a fantastic public transit system. In fact, if you stay close enough to the city center so that you can walk to a free tram stop that’s one way to save on transportation costs. Once you leave the city center you will have to pay but using the free tram really is helpful if you’re spending a lot of time downtown and don’t feel like walking.
- Australian Tennis Open: If you’re here during January (their summer) instead of buying tickets every day to the Australian Tennis Open you can watch also watch it for free in Flinders Square with several 100 other tennis obsessed fans. You can do this every single night of the Open. You can also go to the qualification matches before the Open starts for free. Now, of course you will want to purchase some tickets if you’re here from overseas, but, watching matches with people who are really, and I mean really into tennis, is fantastic. There are also a lot of chairs and bean bags available to sit on. I was able to get a chair almost every time I went to watch tennis in the Square.
- Hidden Street Art-There is street art in hidden places in downtown Melbourne. You may have to ask around (or go online) to discover where it is, but it’s well worth it. The best hidden art that I found was the street of poetry. So cool.
- Hidden Places-Wander the streets and discover the hidden pathways that can be found all around downtown. The weather here is up and down and I believe that it rains a lot during the colder months. It’s my theory that’s part of why these covered walkways were developed (I could be wrong). For me, finding restaurants, stores, and people just relaxing and eating in those hidden places was fantastic. It’s very European.
- St. Kilda Beach–Umm, I’m embarrassed to say this but I really had no clue that there was oceanfront in Melbourne. In fact, with all of my research I’m kind of surprised that I missed this vital piece of visitor information. Luckily, I have friends who live here and was able to experience the Promenade with both of them. There is a lot to do in this area, but, if you’re trying to be frugal, then just hanging out on the beach will be more than enough. It’s stunning.
- Go to The Rooftop Bar–Located downtown on the 8th floor and order 1 drink for $7 dollars. Take in the view. Wow. A huge thanks to Nell from The Million Dollar Diva for taking me there.
- Breadtop–Find one and eat some yummy, cheap food encased in bread. Basically, it’s a Japanese company that specializes in bread items: croissants, bread with a giant fried shrimp (prawn) in the middle, and even a bread roll with tuna sald in the middle. Don’t freak-check it out and see that it’s yummy. Yes, you’ll need to find a salad during your trip, but, until you do-it’s all about the carbs. I started getting $1 flat whites and $1.90 Almond Croissants for breakfast. I was happy and ate an apple for a snack later.
- Go Thrift Shopping-I have so far only spent $22 on clothes during this trip. I found a fantastic thrift store randomly that was the typical jumble of shoes, jewelry, and various other items. It was there that I found 3 gorgeous items that I will be rocking immediately.
- Go To The Library-Really. There are 2 reasons that you would go the State Library of Victoria-or for us, the downtown library. It’s gorgeous, has giant chess sets in front of it, artwork and other exhibits inside it, and FREE WIFI. I was side hustling inside this library. It is a library that is being used! There are people everywhere. From travelers with their packs sitting near the front entrance, to college students studying furiously everywhere. And, people wandering through the galleries of truly stunning art. This was my second home while I was here. Because I was staying at a slightly…lively…hostel, I needed a space to work comfortably and uninterrupted. This was that place. Don’t even consider Starbucks. There are very few and you are given an hour long WiFi code and then on the receipt requested to purchase another drink in order to get another drink.
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I am an obsessive foodie, but not self-righteous with it, love travel, meeting new people, helping you look good, and am freaked out by people who don't enjoying reading...something! Grab a Perrier, read my blog, feel free to drop me a line! Hope to hear from you soon.
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Melbourne, one of the places I have been dreaming to visit! Every place my eyes set on is simply perfect. I hope I can visit the place this year.
It is a fantastic place and I highly recommend it. You also have to include The Great Ocean Road if you visit. Don’t miss that!!!
Breadtop sounds utterly delightful. I am a self-admitted bread fiend. I love it all. Upgrade to a flaky croissant and I am in heaven. Glad to hear that you are having a great time in Australia. I have it on my list of must see places… Maybe once the babies aren’t babies any more!
Breadtop is awesome! And, they have croissants too. There are babies everywhere here so, if you brought little ones you’ll be fine. Australians are very family oriented and the playgrounds for kids are amazing!!
Michelle! It was so awesome to finally meet you and I’m so happy I could show you around my home town. Good luck with all your projects – you’re going to rock it.
It was so great hanging out! I loved Melbourne and can’t wait to visit again.
This is now so on my list thanks to you. I love the pictures!!! Thanks for taking us along for the ride!
I have tons! But, I thought these worked best for the post.
Ahhhh, Melbourne!
This is a great list, I don’t think that I knew a single thing on here when I was there!! That bread place sounds amazing and makes me absolutely hate that o learned about allergies I have. Ignorance is bliss!
Yay!! I’m glad that these were all new to you 🙂 Gluten allergy?? If yes, then this place would not work for you at all!
I loved a cheap pizza place when I was in Melbourne, but naturally I can’t remember what it was called. I hope you’re having a great time. It sounds like you have figured out some life hacks for Melbourne pretty darn quickly. Those coffees are a steal!
That coffee was fantastic and because the coffee culture is so entrenched here the quality has to meet the normal standard. It got to the point where the 7-Eleven guy knew who I was-LOL!
I used to live in Melbourne – actually, in St Kilda. Now I live a couple of hours away. I’m an American girl who immigrated to be with my lovely man. That was almost half a lifetime ago. Yep, it’s an expensive place to visit. It’s not so expensive when you live here because our salaries are quite high; I’m not considered well-paid but I’m making twice as much here as I’d make for doing the same job in the US, and Australia is certainly not twice as expensive. (We were just in the US in April. Very few things were cheaper there than they are here.) Melbourne’s a fabulous city. I hope you had a great time in Australia.
I loved St. Kilda! I had somber interesting conversations with my friends in Australia concerning wage vs. affordability. They also touched on issues of charges for services. My friends are doing very, very well so they are being hit by very high tax rates that they felt penalized high income earners. Yes, you make more in Australia but you are charged more for certain things. I would say that if you were in NYC/San Francisco/D.C./Seattle/San Diego on you last visit than you wouldn’t see a difference in the cost of living. But, the U.S. is still substantially cheaper if you’re out of those high cost of living cities. And-I had a FANTASTIC time in Australia 🙂 Thank you very much for your comments.
We did a road trip from Anaheim to the Columbia River; once we left southern CA we stayed in smaller towns and in Oregon, we stayed at the coast and in Eugene. Prices were cheaper outside of LA; but even so, we found groceries were pretty much the same (some of the basics like bread and milk and produce were more expensive; frozen meals were considerably cheaper), the sort of non-name-brand clothes we buy (mostly Target type stuff) was much the same, electronics were much the same, toys were much the same, etc. I went over there thinking I’d buy up big because, for once, we weren’t travelling with a budget airline so I could really pack my bags; but in the end I bought very little because there were no substantial savings to be had anywhere outside the Dollar Tree. Accommodation was cheaper. Nice restaurant meals are probably cheaper (we have kids, so nice restaurants are out for us; fast food was no cheaper); but then you have to tip 15% in the US, whereas that’s not expected in Australia; so there goes any savings there.
All in all – if you took us, with our current salaries, and popped us down in the US, we’d be better off; but if you took us, with the American salaries we’d get paid if we were doing the same job in the US, and popped us down in the US, we’d be doing much, much worse. If you include the big picture items (like health insurance – yes, we pay for Medicare through our taxes but it’s still cheaper than paying for insurance in the US; the HECS program for college tuition for our kids once they get to uni) we’re doing much better here.
I have a good friend who is American who lives in a mining community in the Outback; her prices there are ridiculous – $20 for a bottle of cough syrup, $5 for a loaf of bread, etc. That’s a combination of inflated mining wages and the tyranny of distance.
Tell your friends to get a good accountant to help them minimise their taxation. They are probably missing out on some great deductions.
My friends are quite well off-they own several properties in Sydney and definitely have an accountant 🙂 Remember that Australia was not hit by the Recession and has social policies that are addressing some of the things that you’re talking about. Luckily, I live in Colorado and have a kicka@@ lifestyle so I’m not too fussed. Love these world comparisons. Next time I go the Open I’ll post about it and we’ll have to meet for coffee!
Oh, one other thing Australia has going for it – really cheap international fares, especially to Asia. We travel to Asia almost every year, and generally spend about $250 return to Kuala Lumpur (flying Air Asia), and then can fly pretty much anywhere else in Asia for between $10 and $30. My kids have been all over Malaysia and Thailand, and to Singapore, Myanmar, and Cambodia. KL is like a second home to us, we’re there so much – we know that city incredibly well and we all have our favourite shops, restaurants, and hang-outs. Added bonus: Everything there is so cheap, even when hotels and meals out are added into the equation, we always spend less on holidays than we do when we’re home, so we save money by travelling! Can’t beat that!
I 100% agree about the airfare-but it’s all relative. If I lived on the East Coast I would always be jetting to Europe because the tickets are so reasonable. I’m fortunate in that I used to live in Japan as a kiddo and I’ve returned as an adult but I would love to visit Vietnam/Cambodia/ and Malaysia! Luckily for me I’ve traveled pretty extensively: Europe/South America/Japan/ U.S. My problem is that I am a “slow” traveler. I tend to stay in a spot and explore for awhile. So, even though I was in Australia for 2 months I only went to 3 places: Sydney/Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road. But, I spent so much time exploring, talking to the people, going to Meetups, that it was phenomenal experience. I also watched all 3 weeks of the Australian Tennis Open which was on my bucket list. THAT-was awesome!!
We might have seen you at the Australian Open; we had a family ground pass for the first Wednesday. (Now that’s one way Australia is much more expensive than the US – admission to sporting events and food once you’re in there!) It’s such a fun place to be in January. My kids loved the face painting, photo booth, balloon animals, street performers, live entertainment, and street art. They weren’t so excited by the tennis.
I’m convinced that we walked past each other LOL!!! It was an absolutely phenomenal experience and I look forward to going again.