Life in Australia

Shopping

Generally major shops are open from 9AM to 5PM five days a week. However hours after often extended on Thursdays and Fridays and many shops are opening for longer periods of time. There are some big-chain supermarkets that are open 24/7


Postal services

Australia Post - the company that manages Australia‘s postal services delivers mail once a day, Monday to Friday. For parcels that won‘t fit in a letter box, a slip will be placed in your letter box for you to bring to your closest Australian Post. The majority of Australian Post’s are open from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm weekdays. Depending on the size of the store, post offices sell a range of things including post bags, stamps, books, mobile and phone cards and other things.


Telephones

Local calls cost about 30c for one call for as long as you like. Interstate and international call costs will vary depending on the time of day you call and your service provider. If you get the internet you may want to enquire about calling through your internet, it will be cheaper. Public telephones are situated in many locations, and take coins phone cards. Mobile phones are becoming a lot cheaper, these can bought from Telstra, Optus and Vodaphone. You can purchase a pre-paid or go on a plan with monthly bills. A pre-paid phone is good if you’re on a tight budget. First you purchase the phone itself, often very cheap, and then you buy credit that lasts for a set period of time. The good thing about pre-paid phones is that you can’t get into debt and you choose how much you spend. A plan-based phone usually comes free with a contract, however most contracts are around 2 years in length. Despite this plan-based phones have cheaper call costs and you can usually get on a plan that suits your budget. Sometimes it is even cheaper just having a mobile phone and no home phone, and going on a capped plan. For example some plans will cost $40 a month but give you $400 of free calls. Have a look around the different providers and find something that suits your budget and lifestyle


Internet

Australia has many internet service providers so it is important to do your research and choose wisely, the biggest companies don’t necessarily offer the best deals. Your type of internet depends wholly on your living location. If you’re living in the city you will have many options available to you such as ADSL, Cable and wireless, if you are in a more remote area you may have to get satellite internet for a faster connection


Libraries

Apart from your school or university library, there are also public libraries. The majority of libraries are open six days a week - from Monday to Saturday. You can borrow a whole range of books, DVD‘s, music cd‘s, newspapers and magazines both Australian and foreign. If your library doesn‘t stock what you want you can have another library send down what you need. Once you get a library card you will be able to borrow things for free.


Television

Australia has five free-to-air channels available and another four if you have high definition TV. This number is also likely to grow. If you want cable TV you can join up with Foxtel, Austar or Select TV, but you will need to pay for this. Usually between $20 - $40 a month.


Newspapers

‘The Australian’ is Australia’s national newspaper. Each state has one or two main newspapers, usually a broadsheet and a tabloid.