It really depends where you live for rental costs (as with any city), have a look here this is our main real estate website: www.allhomes.com.au
Not sure if you were a public transport user in Sydney but it's shit here, unless you work in one of the main centres and catch buses in peak times. Expect to use your car most of the time, so you may use more petrol, but that said, eveyrthing's a lot closer than Sydney!
Food and utlities shouldn't be any different although you'll probably use the heater a lot more