Good grief!
I live in Darwin, an “alleged” Capital city. I live within 500mtrs of both chains, and go to markets etc regularly.
The local quality is appalling, you couldn’t give it away down south!
The prices you all quote are “to dream of” here, no bull!
I’ve got a heap of dockets, here’s a sample-
Navel Oranges- $7.99/kg
Delicious Apples-$8.69/kg
Tomatoes-range between $5.99-$$8.99/kg
Bread/multigrain, minimum$3.60 up to $$6.00
Sprite Zero(I don’t buy it but checked anyway) $2.50(normal retail $3.20)
Silverside Beef- $27.00/kg
The warm clothes don’t apply up here, thank The Great Wombat, but I’ve sent the odd docket down to a parsimonious sister in Adelaide, and scared her off coming up here, unfortunately, lol!
Green Vegies of any kind START at $8-$10/kg, spuds on special are $6-$8/kg. onions $5-$10/kg, even a single lettuce costs $4 !
Count your blessings!

The top end, including Alice Springs, always has been and always will be MUCH more expensive than the rest of Australia. Just look at house prices in the Alice; they've been going up, up, up for many years (no world economic crisis there). It cost's around $300,000 to $400,000 to get an even half decent house/land package there. Even then what you get is usually an older house, surrounded by mere dirt and in an unappealing location - - - - and all in a very isolated town with horrendous social problems. To get a nice home, in a reasonable location, you need close to half a million dollars. The property prices in Darwin are also high.

HIGH? LOL , you said a mouthful!
I rent a tiny one-bedroom flat in the city, $220p/w, and that's cheap!
Houses START at a half million bucks, in the worst places, anywhere "nice" will cost you $1.5million plus!
Units in towers are not available under $750,000.and that's the wrecked ones, anything decent starts at $1.000.000!
If I didn't work, I couldn't afford to live here, other than as a "long-grasser"!

This weeks prices in WA at Coles - the specials

Bananas 2.79 a kg
lettuces 89c each
pink lady apples, 2.89 a kg
navel oranges 3.79 for a 3kg bag.

Frankly I think thats great value for money and shows that Coles
are getting their crap together and becoming competitive, with the
change in management.

Max, I'd say refridgerated freight will always make things expensive,
up where you live. You should live in a sensible place :)

Truckies reckon they need 4$ to 5$ a km, to make their trips
worthwhile and its a lot of km to where you are.

Grocery website quietly checks out
By Sid Maher and Patricia Karvelas

The Australian
June 27, 2009 08:00am

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,25697810-5007133,00.html

"THE Rudd government has dumped the centrepiece of its election promise to keep down grocery prices, axing its controversial Grocery Choice website less than a week before its scheduled relaunch."

Gee, thanks Yabby, that makes me feel so-o-o-o-o much better, as my wallet bleeds!
A lot of what we get here is reject stock from down south, and the freight costs are a bare fraction of the profit margin, we are a "captive market", and they cash in on it ruthlessly.
I'm glad to see Australians such as you are so sympathetic to others in a bad situation, you rural types are notorious for your empathy, your willingness to support those who suffer from the tyrannies of distance!
Thanks cobber.