Australia Bound, but looking for guidance :)

Can I move too ?

Believe it or not, it is cheaper to rent a luxury two-bedroom apartment in Sydney than in Warsaw, and a cup of coffee here is almost the same as in Rome - but when it comes to world-class value, look no further than our hamburgers.

At $6.59 for the average hamburger fast-food meal, Sydney is on a par with Prague and Zagreb, $3 cheaper than London, and positively trumps Athens, where a meal comes in at a whopping $12.99, according to the results of a survey by a human resources company into the cost of living in 144 cities around the world.

Not bad in a year when Sydney has shot up 47 places to 20th on a list of the world's most expensive cities to live - but only if you are an expatriate businessman paying in US dollars.

Australasian cities appear more "expensive" than they actually are because the list is based on the cost in US dollars of relocating business executives from New York.

In the past year, gains made by the Australian and New Zealand dollars at the expense of the greenback have pushed up the cost of living, argues Mercer, the company behind the report.

The report looked into the cost of 200 items including household goods, utilities, clothing and entertainment.

The principal of the company, Rob Knox, said: "Cities in Australia and New Zealand have risen more in the rankings this year due to the significant appreciation of local currencies against the US dollar."

Melbourne rose 44 places to 67th and Brisbane 34 places to 87th position.

Mercer's global snapshot was taken in March, days after the Australian dollar reached a trading peak of 79 US cents, US19c higher than when the last survey was conducted in March 2003.

Today the Australian dollar stands at US69c.

In fact, Sydney compares favourably in cost to many other world cities.

The $2.50 average a Sydneysider pays to get on a bus or train is the same as the cost in New York and $1.40 cheaper than in Berlin and London.

A cup of coffee inclusive of service will cost roughly the same as in Paris, Rome or Amsterdam ($3.97), but more than twice as much as in Buenos Aires ($1.60).

Compared with London and Beijing, where the monthly rental of a luxury two-bedroom unfurnished apartment is $5245, renting in Sydney is relatively cheap at $2220 - in fact, $300 cheaper than in Warsaw.

Claire

You may like to consider Adelaide - a nice city and the home of "da bunny" - A2K's (almost) top poster. It's near the water, but away from the humidity of Queensland, and the odd weather of Melbourne. And it's not as isolated as Perth.

Ignore Cav's posts - he's just a bitter Canuck chef. Chances of seeing any of these things are extremely small.