Best EOFY sales for Australia is Overseas

Today is the last day of the financial year and Australia closes this year off with a bang, with the Aussie Dollar at its highest point against the British Pound for the last 25+ years! I took a look at Google Finance's charts to see exactly how much the AUD has appreciated against the GBP and USD over the last seven years and it was a real eye opener.

Click to take a closer look.

Over the last seven years, the Aussie Dollar has appreciated by 56% against the US Dollar and a whopping 78% against the British Pound! Pow! With the continuing unrest over Greece and other EU nations struggling to discipline their banks, Australia is the place to be. Now be a little nicer when bargain hunting this financial year knowing that you are already a fair way ahead from the rest of the world.

Modo Mio at Burswood opens

There's a new Italian in town and we're wondering whether anyone has visited Modo Mio yet? Replacing the Victoria Station with an upper class Italian Restaurant, Burswood is clearly pitching to change the bogan tag that is has inherited as a result of the mining boom. Chef Giampaolo Maffini from Milan will be in charge and we are hoping to check it out some time. Until then.. anyone been there?

What is the Exchange Rate for Mastercard Today?

Have you ever wondered what the prevailing foreign currency exchange rate is used by your credit card? Here is the website for Mastercard's Currency Conversion tool. The best thing about this page is that you can go back to any date and see what the rate was.

Check it out here

If you can find the website for AMEX or VISA's currency exchange rate, give us a yell.

Perth Stadium will be at Burswood

The location of the new Perth stadium has today been confirmed. The Burswood area, to be renamed in the future to Eastside, will host Eagles and Dockers games as well as international rugby and possibly soccer games. There are plans to build a footbridge across the Swan River and to build a new train station which will feed into the four main train lines in Perth. The seating capacity of the new stadium is tipped to be 60,000 with the option to expand that to 70,000 with the new stadium opening 2018.

Qantas Club Memberships $370 off for 72 hrs

If you always wanted to be a Qantas club member but it was just a little out of reach, perhaps the 72 hour sale will help. The biggest saving from the normal price is the 1 year membership with $370 off the normal fee of $840, 45% off. However, if you can commit over 2 years, you can buy the two year membership for only $850 ($425 per year). Membership benefits include 

• Q tag for checking in luggage with priority
• Entry into the Qantas Club lounges around Australia / world which feature complimentary refreshments, business facilities including wireless internet throughout the lounges and shower facilities
• Free entry for one guest (travelling if international airport, not travelling also allowed for domestic flights)
• Up to 10kg more baggage when travelling

And with talk of a Qantas engineer's strike, lounge access is becoming more and more valuable.

ANZ website keeps logging you off?

The ANZ website has a habit of logging me off prematurely, citing security reasons and I just recently figured out why. For some of us, the speed at which websites load can be too unproductive for us that we start clicking buttons for the second time or opening up a link from that website on a new window. Well, that's what causes you to be logged off. If you try to process more than one task at a time on the ANZ website, it will log you off. Hope that helps someone out there.

Which AMEX Platinum - Velocity?

I have to admit, I'm quite a sucker for credit card rewards programs. When Virgin Australia announced the Velocity Platinum card, it got me sitting up. First thing that came to mind was, what about the Platinum Edge and Platinum Reserve cards? Seems like AMEX love their Platinum and needed to find some other avenues to push them. So here's the comparison between the Velocity Platinum and the other existing Platinum cards.

The Velocity Platinum card is mainly for

• People who don't just wish for a Business Class upgrades but actually DO fly Business Class. This card will give you the perpetual option to buy one get one free for business class tickets. This means you have unlimited opportunities to bring your wife or significant other on your business trips for free! That's a massive perk and one that would probably justify the $349 annual fee. Perth to Melbourne Business Class tickets cost around $1400.
• People who fly Virgin if you are a Qantas-all-the-way traveller, it's probably time you logged onto Qantas.com.au rather than reading on. This card will give two complimentary entries into the Virgin Lounge which is supposed to be only accessible for Virgin airlines passengers. Also the card comes with 3 velocity points per $1 spent on Virgin. 
• People in Perth This card comes with a free domestic flight to select cities in Australia (see this post here for a list of cities you can go to). Perth residents may find this card quite limiting as the free flights redeemable with this card are only flights to  Broome, Karratha, Newman and Port Hedland (subject to change).
• Travel a lot and use AMEX to pay for it If you use your AMEX to book a flight, you will also get complimentary travel insurance whether it is a domestic or international flight. Handy if you don't fall into any of their exclusion clauses. 
• Oh yeah and you get 30,000 points for signing up.

Hope that helps someone out there, trying to decide which card to get. If you are not a heavy traveller but like the idea of a free flight each year, the AMEX Platinum Edge card for $149/yr is probably for you. And if you like Bali and access to international airport lounges, go for the Platinum Reserve card for $395/yr.

Who should get AMEX Velocity Gold?

Are you considering the AMEX Velocity Gold card? They are currently offering 20,000 bonus points for those that sign up, so we ask, who are the people who would find this offer most attractive?

• If you fly Virgin a lot The Velocity Gold card gives you 2.5 velocity points for every dollar spent with Virgin
• If you fly Virgin at all You will also receive two complimentary entries into the Virgin Lounge which have recently been upgraded in Brisbane and Melbourne. These are normally worth $35 per entry but apparently you need to be flying Virgin to get into the lounge so no point getting this card if you won't be flying Virgin this year. 
• If you fly at all The card also comes with free travel insurance when you purchase your tickets using this credit card, for international and domestic flights.

Is there a similar AMEX offer?

If you don't fly much, this card isn't worth the annual fee of $199 as there are plenty of other credit cards that offer rewards points for less. If you are interested in getting an AMEX card, perhaps the AMEX Platinum Edge which is only $149 per year would be better. This card also comes with a free return domestic flight on Virgin Australia.

New 40kmh Restrictions in City

Perth is going a little slower from Monday 20 June 2011 as new restrictions are placed on speed limits around the CBD and Northbridge. The affected areas are shown below.

Top 100 Restaurants in Perth

According to Urbanspoon, the following restaurants are the Top 100 restaurants in Perth.

Rank	Restaurant	Serves	Price
1	Andaluz Bar & Tapas	Wine Bar
2	Little Creatures Brewery	Modern Australian
3	Cantina 663	Mediterranean
4	Clarence's Bar	Modern Australian
5	Jus Burgers	Burgers
6	The Prophet	Middle Eastern
7	Alfred's Kitchen	Burgers
8	Sayers	Coffee
9	Ria	Malaysian
10	Ciao Italia	Pizza
11	Ha-Lu	Japanese
12	Kulcha Cafe	Asian
13	V Burger Bar	Burgers
14	Grill'd	Burgers
15	Toast	Breakfast/Brunch
16	Must Winebar	French
17	Missy Moos Burger Bar	Burgers
18	The Imp	Breakfast/Brunch
19	To To Vietnamese	Vietnamese
20	Mrs. S	Breakfast/Brunch
21	West End Deli	Breakfast/Brunch
22	Restaurant Amuse	European
23	Novembar's Cafe & Takeaway	Burgers
24	La Galette De France Nedlands	Coffee
25	Pizzaca Caffe | Pizzeria	Pizza
26	Elixir Cafe	Breakfast/Brunch
27	Galileo Buona Cucina	Italian
28	Crumpet	Breakfast/Brunch
29	Great Mellie	French
30	Jackson's	Modern Australian
31	Balthazar	Modern Australian
32	Frisk Espresso Northbridge	Coffee
33	Jus Burgers	Burgers
34	The Bonsai Restaurant Cafe and Lounge	Japanese
35	Boucla	Mediterranean
36	Gypsy Tapas House	Tapas
37	Sherbet Cafe & Bake Shop	Breakfast/Brunch
38	Duende	Mediterranean
39	Flipside Burger Bar	Burgers
40	Hawker's Cuisine	Malaysian
41	Nine Fine Food	European
42	Rústico Tapas & Bar	Tapas
43	Elixir Coffee	Sandwiches/Subs
44	Swish 'n' Chips	Fast Food
45	Little Stove	Breakfast/Brunch
46	Mela Indian Sweets & Eats	Indian
47	Blend Cafe	Pizza
48	Flipside Burger Bar	Burgers
49	Thai Gourmet Cafe	Thai
50	Bilby's Chargrilled Burgers	Burgers
51	Five Bar	Modern Australian
52	Himalayan Nepalese	Nepalese
53	Hanami	Japanese
54	Hong Kong BBQ Northbridge	Barbecue
55	Itsara	Thai
56	Annalakshmi on the Swan	Indian
57	Dancing Goat	Breakfast/Brunch
58	Nahm Thai	Thai
59	Kitsch Bar	Asian
60	Ristretto Espresso	Coffee
61	Riche Authentique Chocolat Belge	French
62	Moore & Moore	Modern Australian
63	Viet Hoa	Vietnamese
64	Bouchon Bistro	French
65	Kiri Japanese	Japanese
66	Good Fortune Duck House	Chinese
67	Tra Vinh	Vietnamese
68	Attivo	Modern Australian
69	Hush Espresso	Coffee
70	Voyage Kitchen & Delicatessen	Coffee
71	Ohnamiya Japanese	Japanese
72	The Quarter	European
73	Catalano's Cafe	Italian
74	Il Lido Italian Canteen	Italian
75	Ecco	Pizza
76	Kai Japanese	Japanese
77	Coode St Cafe	Modern Australian
78	Maya Indian Restaurant	Indian
79	Little Saigon	Vietnamese
80	Chez Jean-Claude Patisserie	Sandwiches/Subs
81	Yelo	Coffee
82	Brisbane Hotel	Modern Australian
83	Saowanee's Place	Thai
84	Jun	Japanese
85	Musashi	Japanese
86	Zekka	Coffee
87	Dusit Thai	Thai
88	Kanta Japanese Kitchen and Sushi	Japanese
89	Low Down Espresso Bar	Coffee
90	Phi Yen	Vietnamese
91	Taka's Kitchen	Japanese
92	Estia	Greek
93	Koko Black	Desserts/Ice Cream
94	Mooba	Breakfast/Brunch
95	Jean Pierre Sancho	French
96	Royal India	Indian
97	The Flying Taco	Mexican
98	Blackbird Restaurant	Modern Australian
99	Kailis Brothers Fish Cafe	Seafood
100	Raktacino	Pizza