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Post by oldman on Dec 5, 2013 19:39:38 GMT 7
Am keeping an eye on the exchange rate as I will be heading to Sydney for a holiday. Appears that the Aussie dollar is weakening towards 1.1.  It has been many years since I was in Sydney. I used to run an Australian owned regional healthcare information technology company and the shareholders were all from Sydney. Learnt a lot about business from these folks but rarely had the time to really enjoy Sydney. It will be great looking at Sydney from a different angle with the family.  |
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Post by oldman on Dec 9, 2013 2:57:23 GMT 7
Morning from Sydney. Wonderful weather here in Sydney. Bright sunshine and the air is cool. Sydney is 3 hours ahead and it is around 7am. Fruits and cakes are much cheaper here. There is a Coles supermarket downstairs from the apartment and the fruits here are so fresh. Cookies too are cheaper. What my daughter buys at $1 in Subway cost $2 for 6 similar sized cookies.
We bought some takeaway for dinner last night and the portions are so much bigger though the price is higher. I think in general, eating out is at least 50% more expensive than in Singapore. As the raw ingredients cost less and are fresher, I think the main cost is due to the high cost of of labour in Sydney.
Today we will explore Sydney as we only got in last night. Wonderful city.
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Australia
Dec 9, 2013 8:34:00 GMT 7
via mobile
Post by candy188 on Dec 9, 2013 8:34:00 GMT 7
Hi oldman, appreciate the update from Australia. Will be great if you could upload photos of local flavours like food, events etc.
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Post by puregold on Dec 9, 2013 8:45:48 GMT 7
Thanks for sharing, Oldman. I really miss the the fresh seafood in Australia. |
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Post by oldman on Dec 12, 2013 5:03:07 GMT 7
Covered Bondi beach and all the bays on the east side of Sydney including Watsons Bay and Rose Bay. The following day, we went to 2 of the discount malls at Birkenhead Point and DFO (direct factory outlets) Homebush before exploring Blue Mountains. The factory outlets are really not worth going to as the discounts there are not that attractive. Many shops in the city offer very attractive discounts as well. We later shopped at Queen Elizabeth building and The Strand arcade.... 2 very impressive buildings owned by GIC: www.ipoh.com.au/ .... before heading on to the famous Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. For those thinking of visiting Sydney, do change your money in Singapore as the spread for currency exchange here is atrocious. Most money changers here charge a spread of over 10%! I was hoping to change more money here as I thought that the Aussie dollar will fall further. Little did I realise that instead of the 1.13- 1.15 spread in Singapore, the money changers here charge 1.07 - 1.22! In other words, in Singapore, to get $1 Australian, I have to give $1.15 Singapore dollars. In Sydney, I have to part with $1.22 for every Aussie dollar. Makes more sense to pay using a credit card even though these charge 3%. This is probably a good reflection as to how much the Aussies charge for their time. It makes them much less competitive as compared to the rest of the world. Restaurant food here is more expensive probably for the same reason as the raw ingredients here seem to be cheaper and better quality. I will not be surprised that the Aussie dollar will fall below the Singapore dollar in the years ahead as this is the way countries maintain their worldwide competitiveness with soaring wages. In other words, I am not that keen to invest in Australian companies or properties in the near future. Lifestyle wise, it is quite similar to Singapore. Maybe this is why Aussies find it easy to identify with Singapore and make it their home and vice versa.  When we were there, the Diamond Princess ship was berthed beside the Sydney Harbour Bridge. |
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Post by oldman on Dec 15, 2013 18:04:45 GMT 7
There are lots of Singapore tourists in Sydney. Guess, it is easy to identify with Sydney as so many things as so similar. But at the same time, because Sydney is so much like Singapore, it may not make such a good tourist destination for Singaporeans. I still prefer Hong Kong or Tokyo anytime for a holiday as each of these have their own characteristics that is uniquely different.
Yes, people are generally more polite here in Sydney though tourists are much the same anywhere in the world. We were queuing up for the free Sydney bus that runs up and down the main George Street. Then, a group of European tourists ran behind everyone and started boarding first when the bus door opened. Everyone else followed and we ended up being the last few in the bus.
Changing money here is really a nightmare. The apartment I stayed in wanted to charge an additional 3% for using VISA and hence, I decided to pay the hotel bill in cash instead. As I was running low in cash, I decided to try to get some money changed with one of the many money changers lining the streets of Sydney. I wanted to test the rates and asked the first one how much I will get for S$500 and he then used his calculator and told me A$370. I got a shock as the rate quoted in his shop was 1.08 / 1.19. What he was charging was a rate of 1.35! When I told him, he then said that he made a mistake and quoted me A$400 instead... which was still 1.25. I declined his business and went to another one across the street which quoted 1.19 exchange rate. Well, he too wanted to give me just A$402 for S$500.... a rate of 1.24.
Looks like the money changers here are out to cheat the tourists as not many tourists are like me and take their calculators out to double check. In Singapore, I doubt any money changer will be that unscrupulous. In Sydney, they probably know that this will be a one time only business and they might as well get as much out of the customer as possible.
Hence, not only are they quoting a spread of over 10% on currency exchange, they want even more profits by skinning their customers! Yes, if you want to visit Sydney, do change your money in Singapore first!
Guess like all cities, one has always to be on his toes.
PS - Eventually, I changed a very small amount of money at Trade Money Oz, a chain of reputable money changers after googling around. Thank goodness for the internet.
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Post by oldman on Dec 16, 2013 4:15:51 GMT 7
High wagers and a high currency is not good when one has to compete on the world stage.... I think the Aussie dollar will have to devalue significantly to remain competitive. Hence, I am not for investments in Australia. As an investor, I am always on the lookout for my next investment even though I am on holidays. This instinct comes naturally as an investor as I enjoy what I am doing in life. Holden demise is end of the road for another Australian icon |
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Post by candy188 on Dec 16, 2013 7:18:47 GMT 7
High wagers and a high currency is not good when one has to compete on the world stage.... I think the Aussie dollar will have to devalue significantly to remain competitive. Hence, I am not for investments in Australia. As an investor, I am Always on the Lookout for my Next investment even though I am on holidays.
This instinct comes naturally as an investor as I enjoy what I am doing in life. Holden demise is end of the road for another Australian icon Hi oldman, appreciate the advice to stay vigilant for potential multi-bagger business lurking around, even on leisure trip. This is similar to Peter Lynch saying that the average investors can have an edge over professional investors. |
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Post by oldman on Dec 19, 2013 7:42:47 GMT 7
After going through Sydney International airport, I can fully understand why we have so many terminals instead of just one. The Sydney airport is a nightmare with tons of people everywhere. To get through immigration, the queue is at least 100 strong. It is also not well laid out and some queues are shorter. It is up to the usher there to direct you either to the longer queue or not! Then, there is a queue to check your carry on baggage and finally, for those of us who want to claim the VAT back, there is another 100 strong queue for this! Halfway through this queue, a lady was giving out forms. Not wanting to lose out, I took one form and realised that instead of queueing up, one can fill this form. Strange for the lady not to give out the form when one joins the queue instead of giving this out halfway through! The forms are only for those who spend less than A$1,000 and want to claim back VAT. We could not wait in the queue any longer as it would easily have taken 1 hour. I actually planned to do some shopping in the airport and arrived 2.5 hours before departure. By the time, we queued up for everything, we only had 15 minutes before boarding time! What a messy airport and what a way for travellers to remember Sydney. So glad when we arrived in Changi. No queues and everything so systematic. |
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Post by candy188 on Dec 19, 2013 8:42:02 GMT 7
After going through Sydney International airport, I can fully understand why we have so many terminals instead of just one. The Sydney airport is a nightmare with tons of people everywhere. To get through immigration, the queue is at least 100 strong. It is also not well laid out and some queues are shorter. It is up to the usher there to direct you either to the longer queue or not! Then, there is a queue to check your carry on baggage and finally, for those of us who want to claim the VAT back, there is another 100 strong queue for this! Halfway through this queue, a lady was giving out forms. Not wanting to lose out, I took one form and realised that instead of queueing up, one can fill this form. Strange for the lady not to give out the form when one joins the queue instead of giving this out halfway through! The forms are only for those who spend less than A$1,000 and want to claim back VAT. We could not wait in the queue any longer as it would easily have taken 1 hour. I actually planned to do some shopping in the airport and arrived 2.5 hours before departure. By the time, we queued up for everything, we only had 15 minutes before boarding time! What a messy airport and what a way for travellers to remember Sydney. So glad when we arrived in Changi. No queues and everything so systematic.  That reminds me of the song by Kit Chan.  .... This is home truly, where I know I must be
Where my dreams wait for me, where the river always flows This is home surely, as my senses tell me This is where I won't be alone, for this is where I know it's home  A recent online poll conducted by the Straits Times asked its readers to vote for their favourite NDP song out of a list of 18 songs, including 1980s favourites such as Stand up for Singapore and We are Singapore. Home emerged as the clear favourite with almost half of the total of 2,217 votes cast. The ballad, originally performed by Kit Chan, was composed by Dick Lee for the 1998 parade. Home was so popular that a remixed version of it was used as the NDP theme song for 2004.
Home was written when Lee was feeling homesick, having been based out of Singapore for seven years at that point, and he feels that contributed to the “poignancy” in the song.
blogs.nlb.gov.sg/ask/singapore/3266 |
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Post by zuolun on Dec 19, 2013 10:19:23 GMT 7
After going through Sydney International airport, I can fully understand why we have so many terminals instead of just one. The Sydney airport is a nightmare with tons of people everywhere. To get through immigration, the queue is at least 100 strong. It is also not well laid out and some queues are shorter. It is up to the usher there to direct you either to the longer queue or not! Then, there is a queue to check your carry on baggage and finally, for those of us who want to claim the VAT back, there is another 100 strong queue for this! Halfway through this queue, a lady was giving out forms. Not wanting to lose out, I took one form and realised that instead of queueing up, one can fill this form. Strange for the lady not to give out the form when one joins the queue instead of giving this out halfway through! The forms are only for those who spend less than A$1,000 and want to claim back VAT. We could not wait in the queue any longer as it would easily have taken 1 hour. I actually planned to do some shopping in the airport and arrived 2.5 hours before departure. By the time, we queued up for everything, we only had 15 minutes before boarding time! What a messy airport and what a way for travellers to remember Sydney. So glad when we arrived in Changi. No queues and everything so systematic. oldman, I had a bad experience thirty-one (31) years ago when I went to Australia, Sydney for a one-month long holiday, in 1982. Before I had a chance to join the queue for immigration clearance for tourists at the Sydney International airport, I was told to join another queue specially designated for tourists from Southeast Asian countries. I was shocked that all Chinese tourists were segregated from the rest and were treated like prisoners in that special and extremely long queue. Those who queued right in front were greeted by 2 huge police dogs, each and every one had to stand at a designated spot to be smelt thoroughly from toe to armpit, left to right by the 2 dogs. After the "smell check" on the body, next check was on the luggage. When it was my turn to be checked, I passed the "smell check" but failed the luggage check. The custom officer ransacked my luggage and ordered me to go inside one room for interrogation. I never forget that I wasted a total of 3 hours at the Sydney International airport for immigration clearance after disembarkation.  |
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Post by oldman on Dec 19, 2013 11:20:24 GMT 7
Zuolun, you will enjoy seeing Border Control Australia on Starhub TV... you are not alone. Many people also have bad experiences in an Aussie airport. After watching a few of these episodes, I was so frightened of the Australian immigration that I intentionally ticked yes to a few of the check boxes like eggs and medicine. Reason is because I have seen many people ticked no in the TV series and then facing the consequences. Strangely, after ticking yes, they just ask me why and I described the medication that I was bringing along and the small cake that my wife accidentally brought onto the plane. They just let us go without even checking our baggage when we entered Sydney. One of many videos available in youtube on the series..... |
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Post by oldman on Dec 25, 2013 8:21:07 GMT 7
Got my Standard Chartered credit card bill back. The rate used is actually quite good at 1.165. I changed my money in Singapore at a rate of 1.15. Difference is only 0.015 or 1.5% more. With Standard Chartered, I get back 0.5% in shopping vouchers. Hence, damage is just 1%. Of course, if I get their free promotion gift this Dec, it more than compensates for this 1%!
The best rate quoted for changing Singapore dollars to Aussie dollars in Sydney is 1.195. Hence, cheaper to use credit card whilst in Sydney than to change your money there.
Interestingly, the Aussie customs is pretty efficient. They refunded the GST portion almost immediately. Moral of the story is that you should try to buy items less than AUD$1,000 and use this posting service rather than queuing up to claim your GST at the airport.
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Post by oldman on Dec 26, 2013 19:04:35 GMT 7
Today, I received back the receipts that I enclosed to claim back the GST. Am impressed that the Aussie GST division is so efficient and thoughtful that they even posted the receipts back to those of us who claim the GST through filling in their form and enclosing these in an envelope. |
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Post by oldman on Apr 2, 2015 16:42:38 GMT 7
Aussie $1 is now almost close to Sing $1.....  |
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