You're in good company.

G'day Footy. A couple of months back my daughter did a school project on rising fuel costs and the associated social impact. One of the things topics was this exact subject. We posted on here (I think you may have replied) and got some good responses. About 80% of respondents said they would not let it affect their travel plans.

From the article "Most motorists said it was not interest rates that would stop their driving holidays but the cost of filling their cars; 70 per cent said they would have to spend less on attractions if they traveled."

I wonder how many of the people surveyed actually go on motoring holidays. We run a boat during summer - we use about 30L fuel per day on average. Used for 25 days a year equates only about $500 - $600

Goodday Footie,
I have cut back on fishing trips, or arrange to go with a mate to share costs.
Went fishing with my mate on monday, and used his 2.8 td rodeo to tow my boat. Got us their slowly and economical, but felt as though the boat was a bit heavey for it coming down some windy twisty bits. Reminded me why I brought the Jack which does not know its their.
Cheers Pete

G'day Footy,

I wonder if today's US$118 per barrel price will do anything to improve travel costs here.

I wonder if we will even get to see the fall in bowser prices any time soon. If we can believe the authorities they said that a $1 fall in the oil price per barrel equated to a 1c fall at the bowser. Given that we were paying peak prices when oil was near $150 per barrel this means that the bowser price should be down around 32c in the near future.

Did someone say they saw a flying pink pig go past their window ? I thought I saw a swarm of em...:-)))

Back to the subject at hand.

Anyone who says the high fuel prices wont have any impact in any way on their travel plans is still in denial.
I was staggered to read in the forum about the cost some people expended getting to the EO gathering at Innaminka and back home. Did I read correctly that some people spent over $2,000 on fuel just getting there and back. For a few days that's a huge expense. I'm not saying that the gathering wasn't worth the expense and I probably would admit that I wish I had of made the journey myself however, I bet the impact of higher fuel costs on those members who did attend will have an impact on further travel over the ensuing weeks and months.

I'm sure tourism operators all over the country are feeling the impact of higher fuel costs.

Never mind countries like China and India reducing their appetite for fuel consumption to get our costs down, bring on the alternative fuel methods of transport I say. The sooner we start seeing viable alternative methods of transport on our roads the sooner you will start to see genuine reductions in fuel costs. There is no way those towel wearing dudes in the middle east want to loose their oil markets to alternative fuels and they will quickly reduce the oil costs to ensure markets remain loyal to fossil fuel consumption.
(Just my opinion)

Cheers.

Courier Mail today has an article, some bright spark in the Health department who noticed a lack of nurses available for relief work in the outback thought - what do retired nurses do in cities? They buy a 4WD and hitch a caravan and go travelling.

So thus the plan, Health Department now offers recently retired nurses a 4WD and a caravan, and no doubt fuel, if they travel the outback doing relief work for nurses. And of course, they can do what they like with the 4WD and the caravan when they are not on duty.

Very clever.

I am retired and on a pension, but love travelling.

I have recently completed a trip through the Qld Channel Country, and is some of those more remote locations fuel was around $2 per litre.

Because I do not usually have a time problem, I now find that if I want to "stretch" my fuel usage, I stay longer in places where I don't need to drive much. This will be a new approach for me, but it will keep me on the road.

Being retired makes its easier to do this, but I do feel for the travellers and families with limited time trying to get a holiday in and needing to refuel on a daily basis.

Jack

I suspect that its a combination of price rises which appear to be resonsible for people curtailing their travels.

Ok, fuel has risen, but so to has the cost of servicing the vehicle, provisions for a trip, booze and smokes, not to mention hikes in rents, the reserve banks increases in interest rates...etc....etc...

4wders as with all the community are getting hit every which way but loose these days. I suspect not only travellers and tourists are tightening their belts but everyone else is too.

I bought my usual pie, sausage roll and iced coffee for brekky from our local bakery this morning, yesterday it cost me $5-80. Today I paid $8-90.
This is serious folks.....stuff the price of fuel.......my staple diet is under threat here......hehehe.

Cheers.....Lionel.

It has it's positives - less traffic on the open road and less crowded camping spots etc.

As we dabble in tourism as a side line for our drought effected sheep station I could tell you that rising fuel costs are definitely having an impact on tourism (Flinders Ranges tourism at least). Last year particularly we noticed a decline in people travelling around our area. We still get our usual groups staying at our Shearer's Quarters but our most popular attraction over the years, Blinman Hut, is only receiving half of the guests it's used too - which is a shame really.

Here is something i posted on my blog Hope you get a laugh!



Cheers,

Lisa