In the first few hours of my visit I was walking downtown Brisbane to find a meal. I still had no idea where things were. I was just wandering aimlessly in the downtown streets. I saw a sidewalk sign advertising a burger and a glass of Australian wine for $20!
Twenty bucks! That should be more like $15. Pass. With a tip that will run up to $25 !!!
It's $16 US, mate. There's no obligatory tipping in Australia. They allow restaurateurs and waitstaff work out wages here. The Australian minimum wage is more than twice the US minimum wage. I overestimated the actual cost of this meal by 50%, or $8 US.
Doh!
Pictured is my receipt from an early morning meal at a bus station McDonald's on the way to Moreton Island, a trip I will detail in a later post. The small coke is still expensive, $2.70 AUD is about $2, but I made the contemptible error of declining to either make it a meal (declining the greasy potato patty they call hash browns here too) or to super-size it.
My meatless EggMcMuffin and a small Coke was $6.15 AUD, or about $5 US. Still pricey for a bus station, but like I said, it probably would have been less if I accepted delivery of the potato grease bomb.
I did spend less money on this trip than I thought I might. This kind of over-reaction caused me to pass by a number of meals, souvenirs, and events. On balance, that was probably a good thing.
