Penny-Pinching in Oz

Fact: Australia is EXPENSIVE! We were seriously stressed by the finances for this part of our trip, as we realized about 48 hours after landing that we had not budgeted nearly enough.  Prices are close to ridiculous – a coffee from McDonald’s was about $4, a kilogram of green peppers was $8, a pint of beer at a pub was around $10, a six-pack at the liquor store was $16!!! Bananas were $10 per kilogram!!! I never thought I’d see Gully give up his banana-a-day habit, but all of a sudden bananas were luxury items. And the grimiest hostels still went for about $100 per room per night…

So we had to change our plan fast. We hadn’t really been planning on it, but we decided to buy a car and camp our way through Australia to save money, and it worked out really well!!  We saved a ton of money, and had a much better experience than if we had been stuck on public transportation.

The breakdown for 73 days in Australia:

Lodging: $2043

Thanks to all our friends who hosted us in Oz!! We spent 17 nights with friends and 56 nights in a tent.

Food and drinks: $2588

We made about 99% of our meals ourselves. 

Entertainment and Activities: $507

This is super low.  It’s pretty cheap to lie around on the beach all day.

Necessities (clothing, shampoo, internet, sending packages home etc): $1053

Car: $1673

The car plus insurance was $295, gas and road tolls and parking was $1101, and maintenance was $278.  WAY cheaper than our last Mitsubishi!!

Other transportation: $402

This includes a weekend car rental from before we bought the car, and public transportation in Sydney.

Total: $8266!

Now that we’re in Vietnam, the prices in Australia seem even crazier.  We pay less for a cozy hotel room here than we did to sleep in a cold wet field there.  Go figure.

-E

Our warm and cozy hotel (the big white building)

The pagoda across the street