travel expencess ?

Hi Jan,
It sounds like you are starting to get serious now!
To answer your question, I have heard muted that you should allow $100/person per day. I don't know how kiddly winks fit into this theory.
In my own experience allowing for petrol, accomodation & food, it would be pretty close to the mark.
The variations would be:
Moving every day or staying put.
Caravan parks or free camping .
Where - fuel varies from $1.10 to $2.00 something.
Whether you want steak or mince.

What we do is stay every 3rd night in a Park, so we can have a hot shower, and charge up all the electrical gear including car batteries and then free camp for the next few nights and so on.
Camping grounds in NT are compulsory but relatively cheap, compared to say WA north west during school holidays where they are quite expensive.
Hope this helps and I am sure you will get plenty more advise here.
Regards,
Steve

Jan, the above guide seems pretty close. However it will cost you more than you budget for. Things break down. Food costs more. Then there's the scenic flight that the kids just had to have. Having to go the long way around because of weather. etc etc.
Travelling on a shoestring is something to be avoided if at all possible. There are just too many "what ifs".
Maybe thats just me. I know a lot of people who do it.

The keeper of the travel notes book [ expenses division ] informs me that our travels , be it a quicky on a 4 day w/end or on a 6/7 week sojourn our daily average works out at $120 per day all up , NOT per person , self ,swmbo + 7yr old , fuel , food ,camp fees , ect ect ,some days cost is $0 other days $bulk ,average $120 .

Some couples we have bumped into worked on the $100.00 per day for both of them.
Since fuel is one of your biggest costs, price per vehicle might be a better guide.
Feeding a couple of extra mouths is not that much, and hopefully if young enough, entrance fees not too much more than a couple.
But,
They were doing around the block in 6mths or more and doing it cheap.
It could easily be $200.00 in a day when travelling because of fuel.
They had the time to sit it out in one spot, or enjoy a good spot until the budget came back to par within a few days.
That was a year or so ago before fuel prices shot throught the roof.
They mainly ate in camp, and were selective about paying entrance fees etc.

When the better half and I travel we tend to do bigger milages over shorter periods and usually do less than $1000.00 a week. (We feel it isn't too bad compared to some friends who would spend the same or more on a unit down the Gold Coast.)
e.g northern Flinders from Brisy in just under 2 weeks and 6000k.
Central oz from Brisy, 5 weeks and 9000k.

Basically all you have to work out is what your fuel expenses will be for the journey to give you an estimate. Across Australia fuel prices at the moment range from $1.10 to $1.50 for unleaded petrol and $1.20 to $1.60 for diesel and up to $2.50 in very remote places.

I have worked out that our cost of living at home, for 2 x senior citizens, is around $50 per day and that is inclusive of everything. When you go travelling some of these costs just translate back to your time on the road. You have to eat and drink anyway and pay the bills which mount up at home as well.

When on holidays you may want to spend some money at Take Away Food outlets and this will add to the cost. If you a re free camping then there is little extra cost. If you are staying on powered Caravan Park Sites then look at $25 per day average.

Vehicle repairs, tyre repairs and other ancilliary costs have to be included in your estimate.

We had a relatively cheap holiday this year(bush camping for 42 days) but copped a broken windscreen and had to replace the vehicle radiator, which eventually added an extra $800 to the cost of the holiday.

Hi Jan,

We have done a number of trips over the last 10 years from weekend sojurns to 6 weeks remote travel and camping. Looking back our average was on any trip around $900 - $1000 a week for 2 adults and 2 kids or $150 a day for weekends / long weekends.

Over the last 2 years this average has come down to around $700 - $800 with the camper trailer as we make every effort in the world to find free camps and take as much food and drink as we can fit to limit resupply in remote towns (we do support them however by buying some basics and treats for the kids). We also carry a lot of fuel and fill up where cheap and with vouchers.

On big trips we start buying food 2 months before starting with the items with the longest use by dates and gradually get to the perishables that we buy a couple of days before. This makes a huge difference in outlaying money for a trip as you can spread the cost.

Another thing you can do is pre pay for luxuries such as senic flights and cruises a few months in advance. This only works if your itinerary is top notch and you are able to follow it with out any problems but again it limits the amount you fork out over the trip.

The cost savings come in the planning of the trip. If you have a good plan for meals, camping, fuel and activites and you can stick to that plan then you will have a great trip that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I remember reading in one of the 4WD Monthly mags about the Jones's who travelled around Australia over 18 months for $700 a week. That is a bloody good effort but they had a plan and stuck to it.

We always have a little entertainment fund on trips to allow for the unexpected activity that pops up in some areas. This can be a town show, boat trip or the like that we thought was worthwhile but hadn't planned for.

Regards
David

I went on a trip to northern WA a few months ago and averaged a bit under $75/day over four weeks. That's probably not directly comparable to what you'd be dealing with, since I was travelling alone and I'm a uni student hence doing most things as cheaply as possible. I was also driving a small car (a Corolla) which uses maybe 1/2 as much fuel as some of figures I've seen quoted on here for 4WDs - around 7L/100km. (I may be limited in where I can go in a normal car but at least I can afford to go places...still managed to see a little bit of the Kimberley, even went along the Gibb River to Windjana Gorge.)

That $75/day includes fuel, food and accomodation and a few other expenses; I was staying mostly in national parks and unpowered sites at caravan parks; most of the time preparing my own meals rather than eating out; and not going on any expensive outings like helicopter flights. Just over half the cost of the trip was petrol. It doesn't include a couple of unexpected incidents: my tent began to fall apart in Broome - I'd borrowed my parents' old one which was a couple of decades old and it wasn't too fond of being used again. I also discovered when I got back that my car was an insurance write-off after a minor mis-hap I had while I was away :-/ These things happen...

Cameron

Just two of us went to Tasmania, coming back via Flinders Ranges earlier this year. Not much of the trip was on desert fuel prices. This includes almost $1,300 for the ferry, and higher cost must do's - Gordon River cruise and Queenstown train ride, all specific to Tassie only. If you are only going to be somewhere once in a lifetime, try and budget for a few higher cost excursions. Some souvenirs, entrance fees, and camps sites once a week or so (although sometimes for a few consecutive days in order to stay and tour in certain locations). Free camped, or stayed with friends (new and old) most of the time. Didn't eat out, simple cooking with lowest cost ingredients, cheese and bikkies or pies in the pie warmer for lunch. Normal vehicle servicing schedule, 1 new tyre only, unforeseen breakages only around $300. Total cost $15,000, which worked out to $5,000 per month. We covered around 18,000 kms. Fuel consumption is quite heavy pulling a big caravan. On top of this, bills at home still continued, as daughter was at home looking after the farm.

This has set our budget for the future.