Melbourne – top of the world (in prices) 墨爾本的世界之最（貴）

While dad and I were looking for places for afternoon tea in the city on Sunday 25th July, I was astounded by the prices.
7月25日（星期日）跟家父到市中心閒逛後找地方吃下午茶，驚覺物價如此貴！

We first came across a French-style patisserie/boulangerie and had a quick look through the cake cupboard. While the prices of pastries were still acceptable (albeit slightly expensive), we quickly turned away as we found that many of the cakes were not that cheap. Lemon tarts and similar delicacies cost A$7.4 each (HK$50, US$6.3, 5 euros), and we were wondering if they were really worth the price even though we could well afford them. Still there were no shortage of customers – and that was why two price-conscious (or substitute with a more disparaging adjective) people could sneak in and out of the shop unnoticed.
我倆先到一家法式包蛋糕店，看看窗櫥內糕點的價錢，酥皮餡餅還不算太貴，但一看到其他糕點的價錢，我倆祇有轉身掉頭走的份兒，每個澳幣$7.4（港幣$50、$6.3美元、5歐元）的檸檬撻（檸檬餡餅），我倆不是負擔不起，但很懷疑是否物有所值。那家蛋糕店，少了我們兩個寒酸顧客也不少，反正樂得花錢的顧客擠滿一店，所以我倆走進商店和離開都無人理會。

Then we walked into an arcade and were attracted to a tea house by its display of sumptuous cakes. We also noticed that many people ordered a high tea set, with an assortment of delicacies arranged in tiered plates. We thought it would be worth a try some other time, since there was quite a big crowd of people waiting outside already. But as I looked up the website of the tea house at home, I was less staggered that the place would ask for A$45 per head (HK$315, US$40, 31.5 euros), than that it was actually more expensive than at the top hotel of Hong Kong! After all, that hotel was actually one of the best in the world with a long list of international accolades and restaurants receiving Michelin stars. What was the tea house thinking – does it consider itself to be even better than crème de la crème?
之後走進一家商場內的小餐廳，窗櫥的蛋糕甚是吸引，餐廳內不少顧客都在享用傳統英式下午茶（high tea），也同樣誘人，心想改天來試試也好，因為在餐廳外面等候的人的確不少。但回家上網查看下午茶的價錢，最令人吃驚的不是價錢本身，而是每位澳幣$45（港幣$315、$40美元、31.5歐元）的收費，竟然比香港最頂尖的酒店更貴！那家酒店來頭不少，在全世界數一數二的有名，酒店好幾家食肆也在米芝蓮（米其林）指南摘星，那家小餐廳難道認為自己有過之而無不及？

Maybe it actually is, and perhaps I should pay a visit to find out. But between a rather tiny non-descript shop in an arcade and a hotel lobby with high ceilings, granite floors, splendid décor, live music performance and spacious seating, where would I rather be? Call it prejudice, but the choice is pretty obvious if you ask me. Similarly what the aforementioned patisserie was charging for its cakes was actually more than the most renowned bakeries of Vienna – it’s worth bearing in mind that those Viennese bakeries have a combined history of almost a thousand years behind them and were appointed by the royal family for good reasons: their craft and their variety. Again, maybe I shouldn’t pass judgements so early since the proof is in the eating (quite literally), but to my mind the patisserie has quite a long way to go before it could match what the Viennese bakeries have to offer.
當然我一天沒到那家小餐廳試過，一天也不可下定論，但如果兩者擇其一，我會寧可到一家不見經傳、地方淺窄的小店，還是一家華麗堂皇、高樓底、雲石地版、有現場音樂伴奏和座位闊敞舒適的酒店呢？我想不用大家多猜想吧。之前提及過的法式蛋糕店，價錢其實比維也納最頂級的蛋糕店還要貴，別忘了維也納那幾家，加起來的歷史超過一千年，而且是當年皇室御用，相信他們是手工有一定水準和款式夠多吧，也許是我的偏見，但那家法式蛋糕店想與維也納那幾家項背，依我看來還要下一番苦功呢。

Both cases begs the same question: what justifies those Melbourne businesses to charge so much, even more than the more reputed establishments in other parts of the world supposedly more expensive than Australia? Do they have something really special or different to offer its customers? If not, how have they dreamt up such pricing?
我真的想問，究竟這些墨爾本的商人憑甚麼可以開價開得這麼高，連其他理論上消費指數高於澳洲的地方的更知名商號也望塵不及？是不是這些澳洲生意有甚麼獨特之處或特別優秀的地方？若非然者，他們如何「夠膽」定出這些天價？

Dining is not the only thing that sometimes appears unjustifiably expensive. Although Australian ski fields are smaller, not as high in altitude and receive a less amount and poorer quality of snow than the major resorts in other parts of the world, I found out from a newspaper some time ago that a skiing day pass in some snowfields closest to Melbourne would cost more than $100 (US$90, 70 euros). That was enough to cover a day pass, clothing and equipment hire as well as my share of petrol cost for my skiing trip to Scheffau, Austria two years ago! Travelling within Australia is not necessarily economical either. Some of the tourist attractions around Melbourne charge pretty hefty entry fees, while travelling afar internally doesn’t cost much less than flying abroad. It’s no surprise that smart travellers would rather go to South-East Asia or the USA for a better worth of their money.
收費貴得不合理的不祇是外出用膳。澳洲滑雪場範圍小，山不夠高，雪的質和量都遜於世界主要的滑雪場，但我有天讀報才知道，收費偏偏比其他地方貴。離墨爾本最近的雪山，其一天滑雪通行票的價錢（最少100澳元，即90美元、70歐元），足夠我兩年前在奧地利Scheffau買通行票、租器具和跟同事分擔汽油費了！在澳洲境內旅遊可不便宜，好些市內景點門票都貴得令人咋舌，想到遠一點的地方玩上幾天的話，花費跟出國實在相差不遠，精明的人往往寧可到東南亞或美國旅遊了。

I am not the only one noticing how expensive some aspects of living has become in Melbourne. My Danish colleague and British colleague were one day discussing the dining scene in Melbourne. The Danish colleague commented that restaurant prices in Melbourne were in fact not too different from Denmark but there was a greater choice of cuisine. The British colleague added that eating out often did not cost much more than buying food from the supermarket and cooking for herself. While what the British colleague said might be a bit exaggerated (but from personal experience I also understand that shopping for a single person seems less economical than for a family or a group of people), this little conversation is certainly reflective of the state of consumer prices in Melbourne.
驚覺墨爾本物價貴的，何祇我一人。早一陣子我的丹麥同事跟英國同事談到在這裡外出吃飯，丹麥同事說價錢和丹麥其實差不多，不過這裡勝在選擇多一點，英國同事也附和，說外出吃飯跟在家自己煮食花費也是差不多，我想英國同事可能有點言過其實（但我也很明白，一個人的生活費，當然不及一班人和一家人般划算），但三言兩語中也反映了墨爾本的物價水平了。

Of course not everything is expensive in Australia. At least petrol is cheap compared to most advanced economies, cars are not too expensive, property prices and rents are attractive to many international investors, and golf club memberships are so cheap that all the other four people sharing office with me are all avid golfers!
當然澳洲也不是所有東西都昂貴，起碼汽油比大部分發達國家便宜，汽車也不算太貴，樓價和租金對國際投資者來說仍有吸引力，高爾夫球球會會藉更是平民化價錢，怪不得我同一辦公室的同事都如此熱衷打高爾夫球了！

My whingeing will most likely not change anything, so it’s better to accept it (begrudgingly) and look at what the sometimes exorbitant prices in Melbourne mean. Melbourne people must be pretty well-to-do in general and are willing spenders. I don’t have hard salary statistics at hand, but at least I can say that the lower paid in Australia are definitely much better off than the Hong Kong counterparts (shameful on Hong Kong actually) and on par with the richer European countries, while I feel the middle tier is probably slightly ahead in Australia with a tad better gross pay than Hong Kong (especially at current exchange rate) and lower tax rate than Europe. The outward signs of wealth among Australians are inescapable when one sees them crowding pricey eating places, juggling multiple carrier bags in shopping centres and driving more larger cars or European cars. Melbourne businesses must also be making handsome profits. Regardless of the underlying staff costs and rents, when shops are selling products (books, good clothing, shoes, many electrical appliances, cinema tickets and you name it) at appreciably higher prices than many other countries, you can’t help to wonder how fat the profit margins are. So if you are thinking of setting up a retail or restaurant business, yes, Melbourne – and other major Australian cities – will not disappoint you!
無論我如何抱怨，也改變不了現實，倒不如忍聲吞氣無奈接受，和想想天價反映的現像。我猜想墨爾本人一般而言一定挺富裕而且花錢花得起，雖然手頭上沒有確實統計數字，但澳洲低收入階層，處境必定遠比香港的好（這其實真是香港之恥），亦應會跟歐洲較富裕的國家看齊，中層收入而言，澳洲會稍勝香港（以稅前計，何況現時澳幣也升了值）而稅率又比歐洲低，所以在澳洲不難看到財富日多的象徵，例如貴價食肆門庭若市，商場購客攜著大包小包，街上大型汽車和歐洲高價車也愈來愈多。在墨爾本營商想必有利可圖，不管背後員工和租金開支是如何，如果售價比全世界這麼多地方都要高（不論是書籍、品質較好的衣履、不少電器或電子產品、電影票或其他更多產品），利潤總會可觀吧，所以有意開零售和餐飲生意者，來墨爾本或澳洲其他大城市必定不會讓你失望！