"Chookie" wrote in
Janet Baraclough wrote:

Agreed so far as transport and shop prices for foods go, but in other

Don't you live in a really tiny country? :-)

Hmmmm. It never, ever, feels smaller to me. It's may be tiny
geographically but boy is it packed with the most super interesting stuff -
acre for acre, I'd holiday in Britain over Oz any day of the week.

Here, transport is a HUGE cost for the rural areas. Petrol is dearer
because
it has to be trucked in (and then you have to use a lot more to get
anywhere),
food is dearer because it has to be trucked in... then factor in the
effect of
low levels of competition! I'm guessing that I pay a little under
$1/litre
here in Sydney, but I only use about 40 litres a week.

The highest price for petrol that I know about is about $1.50 somewhere in
teh bowels of NE South Oz, but I suspect that even that is cheaper than the
average price in the UK. Their prices are ludicrously high, so thankfully
the 4 hour trip from one side of the country to the other is so short. :-))

I certainly noticed the higher food prices when I was on holiday in Perth
last
year -- there hasn't been a huge effect on Sydney food prices yet, at
least
not the stuff that I buy. For example, I can buy a side of lamb from a
wholesale butcher for $6/kg. Two years ago it was $5.80/kg. OTOH retail
butchers charge amazingly -- lamb cutlets have roughly doubled in price in
the
same period (I've seen them for $32/kg!). If I had no wholesale butcher
near
me, I *would* have seen the difference in the meat budget.

ways living in the sticks can be cheaper than urban /city life. Local
taxes and all insurances are cheaper,

Not sure about this -- it's difficult to judge such things across
different
countries. House insurance might not be cheaper in rural Aust. due to the
increased flood and fire risk in the country.