Best Spirit Prices ( Whisky and Cognac ) in Melbourne Australia

INTRODUCTION

Most of us would have seen Dan Murphy's advertisements where they claim that they check their competitor's prices everyday before their stores open. And if they find a lower price somewhere, they will beat it. They even mentioned that I am unlikely to find a lower price, but if I do, they will beat it on the spot.

Well, today I am going to show you that I managed to get lower prices versus Dan Murphy's online price for 2 bottles of Cognac XO and one of them from a Dan Murphy's store in South Melbourne!!!

One would think that buying spirits at the Duty Free Outlets in Melbourne International Airport (First Duty Free) would be cheaper than the liquor stores in Melbourne where we need to pay GST. Well, I am going to show you that this is not the case!

DAN MURPHY'S VERSUS BWS VERSUS LIQUORLAND

Did you know that both Dan Murphy's and BWS are owned by Woolworths? And since they are owned by the same people and Dan Murphy's guarantees the lowest prices, one would expect to pay less for the same bottle at Dan Murphy's compared to BWS. This is generally the case, for example, in November 2015, BWS was selling the Jack Daniels Gift Pack with Hip Flask for AUD50 and Dan Murphy's cheaper by one cent, i.e. AUD49.99!!!

Generally Dan Murphy's sell their spirits at lower prices compared to BWS and Liquorland. For example, here's the price of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Old No.7 700ml at Dan Murphy's, BWS and Liquorland at AUD39.95, AUD42, and AUD43.00 respectively. 

Having said the above, sometimes you can find a better deal for a particular spirit at BWS and Liquorland when either of them have a promo compared to Dan Murphy's price. It's best to compare online before getting your next bottle and don't assume that Dan Murphy's price is always the lowest. 

The thing with BWS is that you can order online via Woolworths website and sometimes get to earn cash back, too, with Woolworths Reward Card.

DAN MURPHY'S LOWEST PRICE GUARANTEE DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN'T GET A LOWER PRICE FOR THE SAME BOTTLE ELSEWHERE

I am a Dan Murphy's member and I do visit their outlet in Melbourne CBD very frequently since my apartments is a mere 2 minutes walk away, haha. I have bought many types of wines and spirits from Dan Murphy's and their promotion for cognac can be pretty good. 

For example, their online and Melbourne stores are selling the Martell XO 700ml at AUD224.99. However, prior to Father's Day in 2015, they had a promotion and was selling it for AUD199. That's more than a 10% discount.

And if you are a Dan Murphy's member, until the end of December 2015, you will get to buy the Martell Cordon Bleu 700ml for just AUD165 versus their normal price of AUD199. That's like 20% discount! This is the lowest price I have seen for a bottle of Martell Cordon Bleu 700ml Cognac in Melbourne Australia.

Having said the above, Dan Murphy's online price for a particular spirit may not necessarily be the lowest. And I shall now give you two examples.

Example No.1 - Courvoisier XO Cognac

Dan Murphy's is selling the Courvoisier XO 700ml for AUD128.99 online and in their Melbourne stores. Click here to visit Dan Murphy's Online Store. And if I am not mistaken, they did offer it a few months back for AUD109; BUT only if you purchase it online, which means you may need to pay for shipping.

The Best Savings Account in Australia 2015

An article by GenX published 

at Melbourne Victoria Australia www.melbournevicaustralia.blogspot.com

Please do not reprint or republish in part or in any form.

INTRODUCTION

Generally, we would think that term deposits (also known as fixed deposits) would pay a higher interest rate compared to savings accounts. However, this is not necessarily the case in Australia!!!

Most banks in Australia, if not all, offer online savings account that pays interest ranging from 2.25% to 2.75% (Standard Variable Rate as of January 2015). And in order to attract you to deposit your money with them, the banks will offer additional Bonus Interest Rates of more than 1% for the first 3 to 4 months only. After the promotion period (3 or 4 months), you will end up earning the lower standard variable rate for life!!! 

For example:

ANZ Bank Online Saver

ANZ Online Saver offers 2.5% Standard Variable Rate plus 1.2% Bonus Interest Rate for the first 3 months. Therefore, the ANZ Online Saver account will earn you 3.7% interest rate for 3 months and then the interest rate for the Online Saver will revert to the Standard Variable Rate of 2.5% - which means you will be stuck at a lower interest rate for life!

Also please note - in order to sign up for the ANZ Bank Online Saver Account, you need an ANZ Everyday Banking Account. The ANZ Everyday Banking Account is NOT TRULY FREE, i.e. it imposes a monthly fee of AUD5 if you do not deposit at least AUD2000 monthly into it! So you may end up paying $60 a year for nothing if you do not deposit $2000 every month.

Commonwealth Bank Netbank Saver

Just like ANZ, Commonwealth Bank also offers a similar online savings account called NetBank which pays 2.5% Variable Interest Rate plus 1.2% Bonus Interest Rate for the first 3 months. So, just like ANZ, your funds will only earn you a miserable 2.5% interest rate starting from the fourth month and for the rest of your life.

And in order to sign up for the Commonwealth Bank NetBank Saver, you also need to sign up for a Commonwealth Bank Everyday Account which is NOT TRULY FREE; because just like in ANZ’s case, you need to deposit AUD2K monthly or else you will be penalized and charged a monthly fee. 

Many people sign up for the account(s) above because ANZ Bank and Commonwealth Bank have branches and ATMs everywhere making it very convenient.

However, from both examples above, it can be concluded for long term savings, you should avoid this type of savings accounts and instead look for savings accounts that give you high interest rate starting from the very first day you sign up for the account and for the rest of your life. By doing so, it will not only earn you more money but save you time and the hassle of moving your funds from bank to bank to earn higher interest rates.

HOW TO AVOID BEING IMPOSED MONTHLY FEE ON YOUR EVERYDAY TRANSACTION ACCOUNT IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO DEPOSIT $2000 A MONTH

Now, for those of you who are unable to deposit $2000 a month into your Smart Access or Complete Access Commonwealth Bank Everyday Transaction account to avoid being penalized and imposed a fee, here is a tip for you.

Say you have the following amount in your Commonwealth Bank Accounts:

Smart or Complete Access - $33.18

NetBank - $618.00

STEP 1

Transfer $500 from Netbank to your Smart/Complete Access Account

STEP 2

You banking accounts will now show:

Smart or Complete Access - $533.18

NetBank - $118.00

Transfer $500 from your Smart/Complete Access Account back into Netbank Account.

Once the $500 is credited into your Netbank account, immediately repeat Steps 1 and 2 above another 3 times and you would have “deposited” $2000 into your Smart/Complete Access account; thus fulfilling the $2000 monthly deposit requirement into the Everyday Transaction Account to avoid being penalized and imposed the monthly fee.

Repeat the above tip/method every month and you’ll get to enjoy FREE EVERYDAY TRANSACTION account with Commonwealth Bank throughout the year :)  

NAB – TRUE FREE BANKING

Before I proceed any further, I would like to touch on National Bank Australia (NAB) banking accounts.

NAB Classic Banking Account is an Everyday Transaction Account which is FREE FOR LIFE, i.e. no minimum deposit and no monthly account fee whatsoever, unlike ANZ Bank Everyday Account and Commonwealth Smart/Complete Access Account where you need to deposit $2000 a month to avoid being penalized.

Once you sign up for NAB Classic Banking Account and have registered for NAB Online Banking, you can then sign up for NAB iSaver Online Savings Account.

NAB iSaver pays 2.5% standard variable rate PLUS 1% Bonus Interest for 4 months. Therefore, the funds in your NAB iSaver will earn you 3.5%. Now, this amount is less than the 3.7% interest rate offered by ANZ Bank and Commonwealth Bank shown in my earlier example. So why the heck am I telling you about NAB iSaver? Read on and you may just learn another thing or two.

Melbourne Best Cafes and Chinese Restaurants

Melbourne is the most livable city on planet earth in 2012 according to The Economist Intelligence Unit's Livable Survey. 

Well, according to Mercer's Cost of Living rankings, Melbourne is also ranked No.15 for The World's Most Expensive Big City in 2012! But that was because the Australia dollar was stronger than the US dollar in 2012. Since 2013, the Australia dollar has been sliding South and I believe Melbourne's ranking in the World's Most Expensive Cities would drop to where it was in 2011 - No.21.

Back to the subject of Most Livable City - one reason why I agree that Melbourne is the Most Livable City on planet earth is because the food that are served in Melbourne's cafes are freaking good. You don't have to travel far to experience mouth watering delicious food as the very best restaurants are located in or near Melbourne Central Business District (CBD).

Previously, I have published three articles relating to food in Melbourne. Please click the links below to read them before proceeding to read this article any further so that you get an idea of the various types of food served around Melbourne and in restaurants mentioned in this article. 

Melbourne Food is Freaking Good - This article was my first article concerning food in Melbourne where I posted many photos of the meals I had in Melbourne. The restaurants I visited then were Stalactites in CBD which serve Greek food, Hungry Jack where you can get a complete meal for AUD5, St. Ali Cafe at South Melbourne where I really liked the dish Mexican Cousin, Auction Room which won the award for the Best Cafe in Melbourne, Seven Seeds at North Melbourne, breakfast at The Hardware Societe in Melbourne CBD, Snag Stand for a quick but messy meal, fine dining at Taxi in Federation Square, Mercadante Italian restaurant at Lygon Street, Red Spice Road for some delicious fusion Thai food, Curry Vault in CBD where they have very good Indian food and Pappa Rich at QV Square for Malaysian Cuisine like mouth watering Nasi Lemak.

Melbourne Food is Freaking Good - Part II  - In this article I highlighted a place called J Cafe which specializes in Sushi Burgers at Exhibition Street. You must try their soft shell crab sushi burger. Taxi Pub and Cafe for some fish and chips (would recommend the Taxi Fine Dining restaurant located above instead where the food is really good but cost more), The Grand Tofu at Newmarket for Malaysia Chinese food where the curry fish head is the best I had in Melbourne and how to get to Richmond by tram for Vietnamese food.

Melbourne Food is Freaking Good - Part III - in this article I posted photos of the lunch meals I had at Hardware Societe which was really good, dinner at Red Hot Wok at South Yarra where the chilli crab and Teochew style steam fish were good, value for money meals at Hanaichi and Don Don in CBD. But Dim Sum at Dragon Boat on Lonsdale Street is a no no after 1pm as their selection is really pathetic and not worth the AUD18 for all you can eat. Once again I visited Red Spice Road when they opened another branch at QV where I would have the pork belly every single time I go there. I also mentioned that I dislike the char-siew at Pacific BBQ on Lonsdale Street.

I am now going to list my favorite cafes and restaurants where the food is consistently good and everything on the menu taste delicious. Of course being in the No15 World's Most Expensive City, the food is not "cheap" compared to the restaurants in South East Asia; but then again, the quality of  food served in these restaurants are top notch. 

In order for a cafe to be listed as my favorite cafe, besides the food tasting great, it has to have good coffee ( I am a coffee addict besides a chain smoker) and more importantly fast and friendly service.  I would suggest you only visit the cafes mentioned below on weekdays only. They are really busy during weekends and not the place to go if you have kids as you may need to queue and it may take some time (up to 45 minutes) before you are seated.

THE BEST CAFES IN MELBOURNE

Here is the list of my favorite cafes near CBD in alphabetical order:

Prada Handbags are Cheaper in Australia Compared to Singapore

An article by GenX published 

at Melbourne Victoria Australia www.melbournevicaustralia.blogspot.com

Please do not reprint or republish in part or in any form.

I am sure many of you ladies are well aware that you can get luxury branded handbags cheaper in Europe. No one has ever told me that handbags are cheaper in Australia compared to Singapore or Malaysia. In August my wife told me she wanted a Prada Saffiano Leather Double Zip Tote with Strap while I was in Melbourne, so we walked into a Prada Store located at Collins Street and to my surprise I found that the bag she wanted was not that costly. So early last month while I was back in Malaysia I went to the Prada Store in KLCC and noted that the price of the bag my wife wanted cost more than RM2K extra here.
 

Then I was down in Singapore, and was surprised that the Prada Saffiano Leather Double Zip Shopping Handbag with Strap was priced about the same as in Malaysia. However in Singapore, like in Australia, if you were to take purchase the handbag and then take it out of the country, you will be reimbursed the GST at the airport. However, even considering the fact that you can be reimbursed for the GST at Changi Airport, the Prada handbag in Singapore still cost more than in Australia with GST!!!

I did published an article on my wife's new Prada Cameo Saffiano Leather Twin Zip Shopping Tote with Strap and my daughter's Prada Royal Blue Saffiano Leather Wallet that comes with Metal Strap at my Money For Luxury Blog. Click link below to read it and see photos of the Prada bags:

Prada Saffiano Leather Double Zip Shopping Tote and Wallet With Gold Metal Strap

In the above said article I listed the price of both the Prada Saffiano Leather Twin Zip Shopping Tote in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. As for Louis Vuitton handbags, in the article you will note that the LV Favorite PM cost about the same in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia.

In the article I mentioned that I initially bought the Louis Vuitton Favorite PM for my eldest daughter as a birthday gift, and then after that walked into the Prada Store where I saw the Prada Wallet with Strap which looks nicer. So I went and return the LV Favorite, hahaha.

There are 3 Prada stores in Melbourne and they are located at Collins Street in Mebourne CBD, Crown Casino and Chadstone Shopping Mall. And if you are a tourist or leaving Australia in a month's time, make sure you get the Tax Invoice when you purchase stuff costing more than AUD300 in a single receipt so that you can claim back the GST at Melbourne Airport after Immigration. For example, if you are at Myers, you can go to the Customer Service counter and request that all your shopping at Myers on the same day be combined into a single receipt.

An Article by GenX
GenX Profile and Definitions of Words Used.

Click here to see photos of my wife's Prada Saffiano Leather Shopping Tote with Strap and my daughter's Prada Saffiano Wallet with Gold Metal Strap. In this article I also listed the price of the Prada Double Zip Shopping Tote in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia. I also mentioned the price of Louis Vuitton Favorite PM in these said countries.

Click here to read my article titled The Best Spirit Prices (Whisky and Cognac) in Melbourne Australia

Click here to read my article The Best Savings Accounts in Australia

Click here to read my article The Best Transactions Accounts in Australia

Click here to read my article The Best Cafes and Chinese Restaurants in Melbourne

Melbourne Food Is Freaking Good Part III

An article by GenX published 

at Melbourne Victoria Australia www.melbournevicaustralia.blogspot.com

Please do not reprint or republish in part or in any form.

I was in Melbourne once again in early December 2012 for more than a week and I have more restaurants to recommend to you :)

I did drop by once again at Mercadante, Lygon Street for pasta (and then for dessert we crossed the road to Freddo for some ice-cream) and Hardware Societe for lunch. Both these restaurants were mentioned in my very first article on Melbourne's Food Outlets titled Melbourne Food and Coffee Is Freaking Good - click here to read it.

In my previous trips to Melbourne, I had dropped by Hardware Societe for Breakfast. However, this time around, my wife and I would sleep till pass 9am since this trip we did not have any specific programs for our trip down-under and was more like free and easy holiday. And if you want to have breakfast at Hardware Societe, you better be there before 10am or else most of the breakfast delicacies would be sold out and you are only left with pies to choose from.

Space Hotel Melbourne Queen Ensuite Room Review

An article by GenX published 

at Melbourne Victoria Australia www.melbournevicaustralia.blogspot.com

Please do not reprint or republish in part or in any form.

I revisited Melbourne in early December 2012 and once again stayed at Space Hotel, Russell Street, Melbourne. I took a cab from the airport to Space Hotel and it cost me AUD54 for the ride. It was after 1am when I reached Space Hotel and my room key card was given to me upon me presenting my Agoda voucher. The guy on duty did ask for my credit card and charged AUD1 to confirm that my card was valid.

The last time I stayed at Space Hotel was back in May 2012 where I shared a twin room with my son for a couple of nights and then moved to a single room by myself after he flew back to USA to start his summer internship job. That time we had to use the shared common bathroom. This time around, I went with my wife and therefore I booked the Queen Ensuite Bedroom.

Previously I booked my rooms directly via Space Hotel website because I found their weekly rates to be lower than Agoda.com rate per night; but this time around, I only stayed 2 nights at Space Hotel and found that Agoda daily rate was better than Space Hotel website rates. Click here to read my article on Agoda versus HotelClub for Online Room Reservations.

Without further ado, here are some photos taken of the Queen Ensuite Room I stayed in at Space Hotel. Fresh towels were provided daily and toiletries included bath gel, shampoo and conditioner. 

Melbourne Food Is Freaking Good Part II

An article by GenX published 

at Melbourne Victoria Australia www.melbournevicaustralia.blogspot.com

Please do not reprint or republish in part or in any form.

Back in June 2012, I published my article Melbourne Coffee and Food is Freaking Good. This article will be a continuation where I will post more photos of food that we can get in Melbourne - The World's Most Livable City.

Sushi Burger- Exhibition Street between Bourke St and Little Bourke Street

I highly recommend this place where you must try their Sushi Soft Shell Crab Burger which is really good. However, in order to dine in, you need to purchase minimum AUD12 per person; so, you need to order at least 2 sushi burgers or just take away if you can only eat one. 

Formule 1 Hotel Melbourne CBD Budget Hotel

An article by GenX published 

at Melbourne Victoria Australia www.melbournevicaustralia.blogspot.com

Please do not reprint or republish in part or in any form.

Update - This hotel has been renamed as Ibis Budget


Previously, I published an article titled Melbourne Clean Affordable Hotel Accommodation Single Person or Family of Four, where I mentioned that Space Hotel located at Russell Street, Melbourne is good if one is looking for a clean single occupancy room or on a tight budget for a family of four. In this article, I also touched on Ozstays Katz 2 Bedroom Apartments if one is looking for accommodation for 5 people as it comes with a sofa bed in the living room.

I was in Melbourne last week and this time I stayed at Formule 1 located at the corner of Elizabeth Street and Collins Street. The reason why I chose Formule 1 this time round was, once again I was on a tight budget and needed a room for three as my youngest daughter tagged along with my darling wife and me.

Melbourne Property Prices To Drop Further in 2012?

I happened to read an interesting and informative article in Bloomberg titled Melbourne Hasn't Seen Worst of Housing Drop As Glut Builds by Nichola Saminather and thought I share it with you guys.

Below are some of the points mentioned in the article above:

Home prices inflated more than 100% between 2002 and 2010 but has been heading south since then.

It seems that Melbourne property prices have fallen the most compared to other cities in Australia (for year end June 2012 - Australia financial year end).  

Population growth slowed for three (3) consecutive years (2009 to 2011).

Melbourne city homes relative to income are the most unaffordable after Hong Kong, Vancouver and Sydney.  

KPop in Melbourne and Sydney Australia - Where To Get Them

While walking around Melbourne CBD, I came across a shop selling Korean KPop DVDs and other related stuff. And was I pleasantly surprised that the shop had my eldest daughter favorite Korean Boy Band 2PM albums on sale.

I immediately took photos of the albums with the cheap Android Huawei X3 smart phone I got at Vodafone and emailed them my daughter who was attending class back in Malaysia. I am sure she  will be happy to note that she can get 2PM albums when she attends University in Melbourne next year.

The shop is located at Bourke Street opposite Target nearer to Russell Street.

Free Visa and MasterCard Debit Cards From Australia Banks

An article by GenX published 

at Melbourne Victoria Australia www.melbournevicaustralia.blogspot.com

Please do not reprint or republish in part or in any form.

I was in Melbourne Australia for about 3 weeks in total and this gave me the opportunity to go get FREE Visa and MasterCard Debit Cards from Australia banks. You see, unlike in Malaysia where non premier Debit Cards can be issued on the spot with pre-printed card numbers, in Australia the debit card number and your name are the embossed type like credit cards and usually need several days for the card to be ready for collection or sent to your mailing address.

Of course, I needed an Australia address too, which was not a problem as I have relatives staying right smack in Melbourne Central Business District where I can just walk to his apartment from my hotel :)

So what do I meant by FREE Visa and MasterCard Debit Cards from Australia Banks?

Most banks in Australia have a account to cater for day to day use which they term as Transaction Account which allows you to deposit and withdraw cash, use to pay bills online, transfer funds online, a debit card for face to face or online purchases and even cheque book. However, most banks charge a monthly fees and only waive it with certain conditions like monthly deposit of AUD2K or maintain a certain fixed monthly balance in the account. The good news is that there are few banks that do issue you FREE Visa or MasterCard Debit Card for FREE and you won't be charge a single sen penalty even if your account balance is ZERO. 

I am pleased to share with you the few truly good Australian banks that are not out to suck your hard earn money (not really applicable to my case since I have no income in Australia, haha).

Melbourne Clean Affordable Hotel Accommodation Single Person or Family of Four

My eldest son and I flew into Melbourne, Victoria, Australia sometime in the 2nd week of May 2012. However, my son had to leave for the United States after a few days stay as he had to report for his summer internship job. It was winter time in Australia and summer in USA. The rest of my family (my wife and 3 kids) would only join me in the early part of June 2012. So, I was alone in cold and sometimes rainy Melbourne for about 10 days.
 

Before I flew into Melbourne, I checked agoda.com for hotel prices and it would cost me a small fortune staying in a typical 3 star hotel for about 3 weeks. What I noted was that there were boarding type hotels where several people would share a room making the cost for a night pretty cheap.

Melbourne Aquarium - An Experience Not To Be Missed

 

In my article titled Melbourne Central Business District - Getting Around, I mentioned the locations of Melbourne Tourist Centres where you can obtain free maps and also seek directions to your destination. And there is one attraction that every visitor to Melbourne should visit, i.e. Melbourne Aquarium, located in Melbourne CBD itself at the junction of Flinders Street and King Street.

Below is a photo of the Melbourne Aquarium taken from SouthBank.

And from inside the Melbourne Aquarium you do get a good view of Southgate and Southbank.

Melbourne Coffee and Food is Freaking Good

I was in Melbourne for close to 3 weeks and had the opportunity to savour what Melbourne has to offer in terms of food. Well, I am pleased to inform you that you won't have any problems finding the right food because Melbourne offers you all kinds of great tasting food from all over the world.

If you need to put on weight, Melbourne is the place to be :) I definitely put on a few pounds while I was in Melbourne. I tell you, the coffee in Melbourne is really good; I guess this is because the milk there is fresh. And below is how coffee is served in Melbourne :)

Coffee serve at St Ali South Melbourne

The first place I dined in upon reaching Melbourne was at Stalactites, a Greek restaurant. I ordered the chicken souvlaki wrap with pita bread and the serving was huge for my standards. I asked for a knife and cut it into half and shared it with my cousin. My son on the other hand could finish one by himself. Anyway, the food tasted not too bad.

Melbourne Central Business District Australia - Getting Around

An article by GenX published 

at Melbourne Victoria Australia www.melbournevicaustralia.blogspot.com

Please do not reprint or republish in part or in any form.

Good day mate, in this post I will be listing out what I think you will need to get around Melbourne Central Business District (CBD).

Upon arriving at Melbourne airport, you can take a taxi to your hotel at Melbourne Central Business District for about AUD60. And if you are traveling in a party of more than 4 people, not a problem as there are taxi vans too, and it would be much cheaper than taking 2 taxis.

The first thing is to get a map upon arrival.You can get one at your hotel or at information centres. You can get a free tourist booklet shown below which comes with a map of Melbourne CBD.