To echo the above, GumTree is the Australian craigslist. My roommate here in Melbourne actually just asked me “is there something like GumTree in America?” for his upcoming trip.

If you want to go through a more official channel, most people use something like https://www.realestate.com.au/rent , which is a process of finding something you like, then attending an inspection, then applying, so might not be good if you want something ready on arrival.

gumtree.com.au is used way more than craigslist, I doubt most Australians have even heard of craigslist tbh.

(lived in Melbourne for 3 years and now live in Sydney)

Thanks for the advice @stepharrow. I want my own flat, a smaller one bedroom would be fine for me. It seems that domain.com.au has much more than craigslist but I will definitely check out the facebook groups. Do you live in Melbourne?

Hey @robetus - are you looking to share a flat or get your own flat? Craigslist is still cheapest way to find accom, but also take a look at flatmates.com.au and the VIC/Melbourne Facebook groups advertising rental etc. Sometimes easier and less competitive on there. Good luck!

You could maybe try York Butter Factory, which is actually a co-working space in Melbourne. I assume they do hotdesking or have a Coworking Passport deal. Maybe also check Meetups to see if there’s a digital nomad group - I know Perth had a Four Hour Work Week meetup for a while, maybe Melbourne had similar. But co-working places could be a good place to start.

Here’s a good list of co-working spaces to contact in Melbourne: http://blog.thefetch.com/coworking-spaces/coworking-in-australia/

Where will you be working when you get to Melbourne? A co-working space presumably?

I would reach out to co-working spaces in Melbourne, tell them you’ll be coming to use the space within the next 2 months and that you’d just like to send a few things ahead of time.

I looked into it and the want an Australia street address to do anything. Thank you though.

Australian post have some kind of virtual parcel thing, I think. I’ve not used it just seen ads for it when I lived there. Have you checked their web site?

if you have a bit of time you could check out the melbourne subreddit on reddit, and do a search for something like ‘cost of living’. (https://www.reddit.com/r/melbourne/search?q=cost+living&restrict_sr=on)

I’m in NZ currently but i find lots of threads like these pop up from both locals and expats. If you have the time to have a bit of a browse it gives you a good idea of the variations in costs/lifestyle. People tend to give a bit of detail on their demographics which helps you get more specific.

You can take from it and apply to your own situation, or even pop up your own post and get posters to give you a rough approximate. I find it pretty accurate when I read the NZ ones that are comparable to my lifestyle.

Thanks @grum and @kathrynoh!
@kathrynoh, interesting to hear that it’s manageable, though difficult, with AUD 1000 per month.
We’re doing the calculation to figure out how much minimum income we’ll need. I think I can take AUD 2500 as a ballpark figure for now (there are 2 of us, mid-twenties).
Anyone with any thoughts or advice, please chime in

I’m from Melbourne and it’s not a cheap city. A few years ago, I was saving for a big goal and decided to live frugally. The dole (unemployment) in Australia is $AUD500 a week so I took that as my benchmark then added $50 for work costs. It was manageable but difficult and definitely no frills.

I rented a house in the outer suburbs with 2 housemates, didn’t have a car, didn’t go out at all.

For food, the supermarkets in Australia are crazy overpriced - there are 2 chains who have a monopoly - but there are some great markets around and if you turn up on Saturday afternoon, everything needs to be sold off so they are super cheap (boxes of vegies for $1) and much better quality.

Going out can be expensive because minimum wage is quite high in Australia. Depends what you want to do really. You can go out and have an Asian meal for under $10 if you don’t want an elegant decor Brunch at a cafe would be $20 or so.

Apartment rental can be competitive. University holidays are Nov - Feb so you might get luckily around Nov-Dec because people are moving out of apartments to do things over summer etc. In Jan-Feb, the students are hunting for all the cheap apartments. If you want a cheaper apartment, check out the inner West like Footscray. Some parts can be quite rough but there are nice areas and it’s 10 min by train out of the CBD.

There are some great running tracks around the city. I used to run all year around but it can get cold and miserable. Often when the big event fun runs are planned, you can join a running group leading up to it with corporate sponsorship so get to run with a group, have someone look after your gear and often get coffee and snack afterwards. Places like Lululemon in the city have some good free stuff too - running groups, free yoga etc.

As with all estimates, figures supplied by Nomadlist, Numbeo and every other site under the sun are purely subjective. To be honest, if you look at a city in a rich country like Australia, you’re going to get a huge variance in what people would consider cheap.

When it comes to my travel budget planning, I look at a bunch of sites, figure out an average, double it and budget accordingly. After a month living in the city, if it decreases, great! I have extra money for the next city I move to. If it increases, well, I’ve gotta tighten my belt.

Right now I’m based in Melbourne. I know that personally I could cut all corners and live for AU$1500 a month. That being said, I don’t live that cheap and I know people who exist on twice that much who still complain that they aren’t meeting budget.

The $1207 ‘living like a local’ figure would probably only apply if you’re willing to hang about for 12+ months. Accomodation is expensive, short-term accommodation moreso. If you’re willing to live on rice and noodles (the typical student lifestyle) you could do so for $5 a day. Meals outside can range from $10-$20 per person if you want to be tight. If you live in the CBD, the public transport is free and there are plenty of parks that you can excercise in. You won’t like to do that in winter though - right now with the wind chill it can drop to 5°C in the middle of the day. You don’t want to jog in that with the icy rain. For the emergency fund, I always take the cost of a non-sale air ticket to my home country and double it.

In the end, when it comes to being a digital nomad, you’re gonna have to figure out your own cost of living formula. Some people think cheap is living in a dorm full of stinky backpackers. Other people think cheap is living in a 1 bedroom apartment - in Australia, the difference between those two scenarios is $1000 a month.

Depends on what your expectations are for ‘best’.

You have 3 main carriers and a bunch of virtual operators. The best carrier is Telstra but it can be the most expensive. Their network is the best for speed and coverage however if you’re only going to stay in Melbourne, all 3 carriers will be fine. If you go bush, go Telstra.

I personally use Optus with their $2 days. $2 gives you unlimited calls, texts and 500mb of data. If I need more data, an extra $2 will give me 500 more megs but you’re capped after that for the day. For days where I just use wifi, I pay nothing.

Not many carriers give you large amounts of data. You’ll find 10-15 gig options from Yatango and Amaysim who are virtual operators (they resell Optus I believe). I believe Amaysim is 3G only but Yatango should be 4G as well by now (if not now, soon). Those will cost you around $70-$100 off the top of my head.

There are other options, including data-only plans but most come on a plan that lasts 12-36 months. I probably have missed something as the last time I did research was late last year.

Telstra: https://www.telstra.com.au/mobile-phones/prepaid-mobiles/offers-and-rates/plus-packs
Optus: http://www.optus.com.au/shop/mobile/prepaid/plans
Yatango: https://yatango.com.au/mobile/pricing/personalised
Amaysim: http://www.amaysim.com.au/mobile-plans/amaysim-as-you-go

marriage is not an easy option unless AU$30K is in the budget…

my wife can’t just “Get in” - we live somewhere else as a result…

I dont think you have an option unfortunately. besides continually doing tourist visa runs but I’m not sure how easy that is. australia is a fairly tough country when it comes to immigration, particularly visa overstays and making sure you’re not working.

Easiest option, marriage.

Second Update confirming multiple countries.
While I haven’t validated all of this information myself, I trust the source. I am now going the route of confirming independently with each consulate.

UPDATE:
Yes to Denmark/Sweden/Norway. Australian’s can stay in Nordic countries for up to 90 days in 180 days in addition to their stay in the Schengen zone. Link to Norwegian Embassy website in Canberra containing this verification. Link to Danish government website that confirms the Norwegian information here.

Hey dunctk, I’m not sure what your budget is like but I recently flew to brisbane and hired a car and drove to noosa and then down to byron for 5 days and the total bill was only around $100AUD plus petrol (maybe another 60-100 depending on the car) but only 30-40 a day and that lets you go anywhere. Having said that you can always hire a bike as well for around $10 a day. I personally preferred having a car as there were many places we wanted to stop off at which would be difficult on public transport

The below link covers the best altetnativeapps however Google maps is the primary app used in Australia for transit planning. Sydney loaded their live data onto Google maps about 5 years ago and most other apps get the same feed.