Remote fuel prices .... be prepaired !!!

Yes, so true, we worked it all out for a trip from Nt QLD to Alice, across the guts to Perth and if we took a very light set of gear (we have 3 kids also !!!) to do a quick camp over night and used accommodation for the rest it was cheaper, we had to carry it all in a std 105 series petrol, std tanks and we did not carry any extra fuel, we had a 60L engle but could of had a smaller one, you don't need to carry much food as it is not that far between stops, even with fuel it was simple, we could wash clothes, no worries about bedding and we have an awesome nights sleep in a motel or room and just be careful what you buy food wise, as you do anyway with 3 kids, we had 2 spares just in case and only had one flat, 80ks out of Isa, fixed it on the car with a "string" and it lasted all the way to Perth, it was simple to travel as we could maintain a good speed on the tar with no trailer and as good as a "petrol" cruiser gets on fuel .... what a lot of people don't factor in is the cost of there set-up's, they spend a fortune on camper trailers or vans and are limited where they can go, costs more in fuel and limited on speeds on the tar and most end up spending nights in accommodation in the end as they are over setting up a camper ......
A lot of complaints also say they are far more expensive these days, back years ago they were half the price, well I also used to earn $35,000 a year a "long time ago", most now earn $70,000 a year
yes "use them or lose them"..................

Well Joe, not sure I agree with your analysis of costs, In the last 15 months I have had 23 days out bush, even at $100 a night it soon adds up. Setting yourself up does not have to be very expensive. I personally would not count staying in hotels as getting away in the bush. I find when I’m away with a fire and cold beer people tend to congregate and have a chat. Conversely when staying in hotels I find more often or not people lock themselves in their rooms and watch getaway or some 4wd show, still different strokes.

We prefer our rooftop tent and free camps but we like to stay in small town caravan parks, they are mostly inexpensive and friendly and helps them earn a living! Just love tiny towns! Michael

Really have to agree there Michael. The smaller the town, the friendlier the locals. We stopped at Ivanhoe one time for a quick snack and it took two days to leave. This has been repeated many times in other small towns. There is just so much history and plenty of knowledgable long term town folk. Cheers, Bob.

Hi "Noldi",
What I base it on is the outlay some, not all, make, keeping in mind we have 3 kids, we look at the cost of buying for instance a camper trailer that can handle the roads we have been on and it is pushing up to $10,000 for a reasonable one, yes you can get them for half that but you have to be careful, that $10,000 goes a long way towards accommodation and it gives us the freedom to go places, also to set up just a car for camping with 3 kids takes a LOT of gear, we did pack enough to camp very "lightly" but could not wait to get a decent room .............
Mind you I have to admit we live bush and are VERY lucky in a lot of ways so we don't need to go to extreme's to have a fire ect, for us right now it is 10klms and we are on a very remote beach up in Cape York ...... actually it is our kids that are very lucky, we do the hard work to get here :-)

Joe sounds like kids are kids all over the country. I no longer have my camper as we sleep in the back of the ute, I believe a lot of the roads we now go on are to harsh for the CT. When I bout it (showing my age) it was $7,000 Had it for several years did some big trips ended up selling it for $5k. Pretty happy, but I take your point after 10 days in the bush a nice hotel with hot shower is worth the cost

Having managed a few very remote places I can vouch for it but I do accept that it is very hard to understand why from an "outside" point of view, thing is when fuel goes up the freight also goes up, most transport mobs now have a fuel "surcharge" that goes up and down like a yo-yo and even with a contract in place the freight costs will change at the will of fuel prices, power alone is expensive and when remote you have to get most stuff frozen, so you have "freezer" freight, the MOST expensive, you have to run freezers and most remote places are HOT, at Doomadgee we had a $44,000 pa power bill, that hurts, the same set up in a city would be 1/4 of that as they can buy what they need for the DAY, no big storage, and it is chilled and fresh ......
But good to see it does not deter you, nor us, we just factor it in and head off ... cheers Rosco

Where you my old teacher, I have been busted now ....
Anyway we are all tourists, travelers n dumb bushies n we cant spell anyway, my eyes are shot so I could not even make out if it was a "cap" or lowercase but it reads ok with a real quick read so I am sure most wont complain :-)
I cuold "text" it like ma kids do with "K"s and loll's and whatevr else they do, but strangly msot wuold raed it fine
I do agree I am a bit shabby at it but I hope my point is in the "mess" ..
Cheers

Yes it is a mess, I agree.

With a slight modification to the text it makes it even more interesting.
Like this! Merely one more stage of condensation.

Whereyoumyoldteacher,IhavebeenbustednowAnywaywearealltourists, travelersndumbbushiesnwecantspellanyway,myeyesareshotsoIcouldnotevenmakeoutifitwasa"cap"orlowercasebutitreadsokwitharealquickreadsoIamsuremostwontcomplain:-)Icuold"text"itlikemakidsdowith"K"sandloll'sandwhatevrelsetheydo,butstranglymsotwuoldraeditfineIdoagreeIamabitshabbyatitbutIhopemypointisinthe"mess" ..

Thanks Al
Myself and a mate are hitting the GCR come last week of April from west to east
I run on petrol , I assume I can get unleaded opal fuel
Does the opal fuel have a lower octane than say standard unleaded
Kind regards

G'day Albany nomads, yes we have Opal here, as do the other roadhouses along the route. opal is equivalent to 91 ulp.
Be sure to drop in and say g'day :-)

Cheers
Al

Hey CJ,

What's the maths formula you using, if you can show how you work it out , I am happy to believe you.

Hay Alan

Carrying the extra weight of a longranger and a few jerry cans cannot cost circa $150 to $200 extra in fuel consumption per tank. That implies doubling my fuel consumption by carrying 150 to 200kg extra.
Id rather fill up, bypass a ripoff station and support a roadhouse further on that has reasonable prices. That way I am rewarding the reputable roadhouse by buying even more fuel (filling up my normal plus longranger plus jerry cans) from him. :-)
CJ

CJ
But you said 50% increase is a ripoff, aim asking you how you know. You said if you do the maths it's a ripoff.
I am asking you to show me the maths. Not talk about carrying sufficient fuel to be able to buy cheaper.

Put up how you know it's ripoff, I am interested in how you know.

hey that's fine and nobody is forcing anyone to actually do what I simply "suggest" but the point I am getting at is the whole concept of stacking a car up with jerrys and all sorts of other stuff just to "avoid" the perceived "rip-offs" is kinda taking all the joy away from the original intention of getting away from exactly THAT, 100L in a tank should get you at least 800klms on bad day, if you have not passed a fuel station by then you are in trouble ......
I remember a classic in my travels where I was following a group of caravans and ole ferts, and they were all on the UHF about fuel at 3-ways in the NT, they came from Isa direction and heading to Darwin, they all made the decision to turn LEFT at the tee on Stuart Hwy and fill up the tanks at Tennent Creek just to avoid the "rip-off" at 3 ways, it just blew me away that they seemed to think they would save more by driving further, we worked out it would have saved each one about $10 bucks, and yes all in rigs worth about $100,000.oo PLUS, and all the talk was about was who was ripping off where and where they could save 10 cents next, NOT ONCE did we hear about any sights to visit or places to go and nothing about the country they were driving through ..........
There whole lives seemed to be totally wrapped up in the next "saving" and nothing more, it was actually sad, if not pathetic and yes I guess they have worked hard and saved and own what they have but what a BORING life to die looking for the next "rip-off" to avoid, sorry but I just don't and wont get that .....
The only time I have been impressed with a set up to store copious amounts of "fuel" so these particular people could tour LONG distance without having to "top-up" was a BULK wine storage tank, yes the "fuel" was WINE hahah they filled up about 40L down in the wine country and headed north, THAT my friend is maths, a 5000k + range in that tank ... brilliant people with the right focus, lets face it, do those maths, you will save more in wine $ than worrying about fuel $ ................. and a LOT happier

Joe

Its incredible that people can without even looking at a business cost to gain an understanding of why it is expensive make a determination that they were being ripped off.

I understand that they may not like paying the price but that doesn't mean the price is a rip off.

Our expectations of high wages for a quality lifestyle has grown, but we expect everyone else to provide for our lifestyle at a low cost.

Alan

In Australia we are actually very wealthy and lucky to be so but it has not done us all a great deal of good, you see more and more older people in very expensive rigs that have no idea how to handle them or the roads and so often also come un-stuck, you should see some rigs that come up here to Cape York, thousands spent on them to do the trip and it could be done easily in a std 4wd, the super long range tanks that people fit often make me wonder yet fuel stops are what, 400klms apart, at the furtherest, yet it cost them hunderds for the tanks and fitting, the local dudes do it in a crumoodore bro, to easy eh .....
That fact now is we are "money" rich and "time" poor and we have lost appreciation and respect of how hard it is to survive out bush, but don't get me wrong as I have "black-listed" some places only after I have been, they have been rude and just plain not nice people so I will NOT go back and will openly tell other people, but I try to visit first to make my own opinion and also one staff member can be bad for the rest, most often they don't last long and it goes around again ........

Hey Alan
Mate I am not complaining about paying higher prices at out of the way places and I do support them.
I think you are focussing on the rate/price and if my post did not spell that out properly I apologise.
What I am on about is how something can rise/increase by 50% .
I have seen many a forum where people complain if prices rise 10c a litre around Easter for fuel. People complain that it is taking advantage of families etc.well I recon $1.50 rise is the ripoff. It is the escalation in the price. I fully understand a high rate at out of the way places. But not such an increase. There are many businesses affected by general escalation and anything transported are affected by a price rise. But 10 maybe 15% not 50%
One can turn the question around. Can you somehow justify that they could escalate their price by 50%? Then I will believe you that it is fair, and I will go and fill up there.
I have travelled a fair bit in many remote places both in and out of season and have gladly payed top dollar for fuel and frozen bread. But those places do not fluctuate from one season to another by 50%
Cheers, CJ

CJ
I think joes reference to wadeye was a example of the cost you could pay. Certainly looking at other posts wadeye looks a special case. It's location I wouldn't say is remote.

Our local garage used to get a delivery every week, after the delivery the price would be set base on cost for the next week. Considering you can get a 10 15 cents fluctuation in normal price, his weekly change could be quite high. One week buy high, next week it could be very high.

If you then consider that same price cycle on a place that maybe only gets a delivery every two to three months,( well 33 on the canning used to get 1 a season). And the selling price can fluctuated quite a lot.

You could then say get more regular delievries, but smaller delivers cost more, so it's a vicious circle.

Alan

Fresh??? Cannot be, unless baked on the premises.

Correct about "fresh" as it is impossible to do unless baked on site but I will say that almost all communitys keep the "basic & essentials" goods at a very low margin and stack it on things like cigs, coke and other non-essential items, it is now a standard practice to have F&V, milk, bread, meat and any "healthy products at very low margins ....
The bread would be around $4-5 bucks a loaf, keeping in mind it has to be transported frozen and stored on site frozen and because most have fortnightly deliverys it is a big order that takes up a lot of space in the freezers, we at Mapoon order around 200kg of bread (frozen) each fortnight and it comes from Cairns, it has to go all the way around the tip of oz and back down to the port at Weipa, we then drive in every week in a small freezer/chiller truck and pick it up ....... that also goes for our F&V, so you imagine the time from picking to selling in our store, yes WEEKS so we also have a lot of wastage we have to wear, it takes about 2-3 days in just barge time .....

My outback motto - never pass by a fuel stop or a toilet - and don't complain about price or cleanness - the next ones might be worse.