It’s very expensive to live in remote towns such as Kalgoorlie. It’s worse in the Pilbara, from what I can tell, but Kalgoorlie certainly isn’t cheap.
We had subsidised housing there, which made it reasonably affordable.
When considering a move to Mount Gambier we calculated the impact of losing the housing assistance against lower costs for education, food and services. We figured it would be a balanced equation.
Arriving in the small town of Moonta Bay for a short break our assessment appears to be vindicated.
A shopping trip to the Foodland store revealed a wide range of specials and marked down items. It was much cheaper than Kalgoorlie. Mount Gambier is a bigger town than Moonta and has more supermarkets, so we expect prices there to be cheaper again.
Young Michael and I went for a haircut today. It cost $26 for both of us. The barber was an experienced Adelaide hairdresser who moved to Moonta for a sea change.
In Kalgoorlie, Michael’s haircuts cost $15 and mine were $24. That’s a saving here of $13 or 33 percent.
I’m not criticising Kalgoorlie business operators. Obviously their costs are much higher than elsewhere, especially for labor, fuel and transported goods.
The point of this post is double edged. People moving to Kalgoorlie should factor in the higher cost of living, especially housing.
And maybe the financial grass isn’t necessarily greener in the mining boom towns. Do your homework.
