Graham replied:

Will,
Don't under estimate your fuel costs. Fuel is far and away the major expense, and when yuou pay upwards of $1.40 per litre is some parts it starts to add up. We recently travelled from T/ville to Darwin via the gulf and a few side trips here and there over a 3 week period and consumed 800 litres of diesel at a average cost of $1.11 a litre.
Safe journies.

ExplorOz Team - David replied:

Will,During our years of travelling we have always worked on $100 per day for the two of use. Two children under 5 will change the costing slightly. One thing to consider is that you type of camping (1 star or 5 star), distance travelled per day, attractions you visit etc will all affect you dialy expenses. We have had days with the 3 of use for $40 and other for $300 it just depends on a lot of factors. With the increase in fuel costs and our child we now look at about $120/day.Hope this helps - David

Will replied:

Thanks guys...we're pretty much going to be doing a mixture of established camping grounds and national parks in a pop top camper trailer. There was a website I found ages ago that had an example budget but Im buggered if I can remember what it was called. It had really good info with a complete checklist (could have even been this one, but I cant find it! It had a reference to the difference between drinking cask wine and the good stuff and the impact on your budget!)
Cheers and see you on the road somewhere!

Cairns Offroad Training & Tours replied:

Just for interest sake, we charge $100 per car for our tagalongs plus $30 per day per person for meals if they require catering.
Cheers Rob

John replied:

On the subject of fuel costs, currently Safeway supermarkets have a 6cent a liter discount on fuel if you spend $30 or more. these vouchers can be redeemed at any Safeway fuel outlet around the country (fuel outlets can be found at woolworthslimited.com.au & go to store locations)these vouchers are good for a couple of months. The trick is that if there are two of you take a trolley each, spend 30 bucks each and score 2 vouchers, dont forget the liquor dept,we have actually left a store with 4 vouchers after just one visit. Last year we traveled to QLD from MELB useing 6c vouchers in melbourne, shepparton, parkes, moree, etc etc.and with the Prado pulling a camper trailer made quite a saving.

wendy s replied:

We've just done a 3 year trip: 2 adults, Defender, towing 14 foot van, average stop in each place 2-3 weeks. Covered 120,000km. Our budget of $400 a week worked for us: $100 for diesel and vehicle costs, including rego etc; $100 for accommodation (always caravan parks, national parks, except for occasional free camping in places like Simpson);$200 for all else - food, wine, occasional "tourist" trips - but we were pretty frugal about these.Over the 3 years we came in some $700 under budget on accommodation.

Kate replied:

Hi Will, my partner & I just returned from 3 months travelling around Queensland - our costs for everthing except grog and smokes was $2,700 yes believe it or not. Several hints - some NP are now more expensive than ever ($5 car / day, $5 pp per night = $15 and some have very little facilities eg around Tenderfield, then you would maybe have to pay for the kids - not sure) We have the Camping and Rest Areas around Aust books - see ExplorOz Shop (no financial interest) which we have been using extensively in our travels. We only stay in caravan parks if nothing else is available or I have to do the big washing. We have found the state forests to be the most friendly and cheaper options if no rest areas or free camps. The Motorhomes Association also has a website somewhere that lists camps and facilities - but couldn't find it either. There is this one you could try http://members.optusnet.com.au/~hiway/text/lifestyle.html
It is the Highway Wanderers and could be a start