Kimby's Australia expense report
Jan 27, 2010 22:01:43 GMT
Post by Kimby on Jan 27, 2010 22:01:43 GMT
We had a most enjoyable 3-week trip (19 full days on the ground) to Australia in October-November 2009, and I’m just getting around to posting about it now.
Our normal travel style is to go on our own in the autumn during the less-crowded and less-expensive shoulder season, renting a vehicle and travelling without reservations for the most part. Part of the joy of travel for us is finding ways to enjoy a country/region without spending bucketloads of money. With the US dollar tanking against the Australian dollar – $1.08 AUD = $1 US – that was a bit of a challenge, however, and our trip ended up costing $7850 US (8480 AUD), or $374 US per day (404 AUD) for the two of us, including airfare.
FLIGHTS: We usually use frequent-flyer miles to get to our destination country, but to avoid having to endure TWO 13-hour flights plus an overnight in Seoul, Korea, we purchased Qantas tickets to Australia, our biggest single expense: $2216 USD for the two of us to fly open-jaw into Cairns via Brisbane and home from Sydney. (From LA, it would have been $1695 US for two.) These fares are quoted in dollars because they were booked in USD.
Domestic flights (Cairns to Alice Springs, and Alice Springs to Sydney) added another $1075 US for the two of us (also pre-booked in USD). Excluding the international airfare, our trip cost was a more reasonable 5895 AUD, or 310 AUD per day for two. Still not budget travel by any stretch of the imagination, but far less than a packaged tour.
CAMPERVANS: Though we would normally rent a compact car and stay in hotels/inns, for this trip we rented two campervans, one in North Queensland for 10 days out of Cairns, and a second unit out of Alice Springs for 5 days in the Red Centre. We used Backpacker Campervans, who rent slightly older models retired from the Britz and Maui fleets, but we found their vehicles to be in good condition and reliable. Both vans had hot & cold running water, shower & toilet, plus a small fridge and three-burner stove (as well as microwave & toaster that require electric hookup). The Backpacker price was inclusive of some things that you pay extra for from Britz, like bedding. (We did not buy any extra insurance.) Rates were 10 AUD higher per day in October than November. Campervans rent by the calendar day - unlike rental cars which you rent by 24-hour periods - so it is to your advantage to pick up your camper early on the first day of the rental and return it late on the final day. (If you fly and pick up a 2nd camper on the same day, however, they will credit you for the overlapping day.) The fuel economy ranged from 17 to 25 miles per gallon, surprisingly good by American standards.
We had struggled over whether to rent a small car and stay in inexpensive hotels (or cabins at campgrounds) or to rent a campervan for this trip. Since the campervan serves as your room as well as your wheels, and has the added advantage of having a kitchen so you can economize on meals too, we feel it was a good choice. Including fuel, groceries and camping fees, our Queensland rental cost us 207 AUD per day, and the Red Centre rental about 237 AUD per day (longer distances driven). (The per-kilometer cost of camper + fuel was AUD 1.38 in NQL and AUD .55 in the Red Centre.) Since hotels under 100 AUD were hard to find and dining out in Oz is expensive, we feel the camper compared favorably, plus it gave us tons of flexibility. Though "free camping" wasn't as easy as in New Zealand, we were able to find many places to camp that were “off the grid” and didn’t cost anything. (If you require the electric hookups and toilet/shower block of an official campground, you can expect to add 20-30 AUD per night, or about 7AUD for a park campground with a pit toilet only.)
OTHER LODGINGS: We stayed in hotels the first & last night of our Queensland visit, the last night of our Red Center visit in Alice Springs, and 3 nights in Sydney at the end of the trip. The Sheridan Plaza in Cairns was 82 AUD per night (pre-booked from the States), the Reef Palms in Cairns was 96 AUD (booked by Internet from our 1st Cairns hotel, whose rate went up to 140 AUD when we asked about a 2nd night), the All Seasons Oasis in Alice Springs was 113 AUD (booked on the Accor website) and the Russell Hotel B&B right in the Rocks district of Sydney was 135 per night with shared bath (booked through the hotel’s own website).
EXPENSE TOTALS BY REGION: Our Queensland sojourn including shuttle from airport, 2 nights hotel, 10 days with a campervan, fuel, groceries, camping fees, Daintree ferry and Great Barrier Reef snorkel, added up to 2654 AUD, or 241 AUD (223 USD) per day for the two of us. The Red Centre excursion including 5 days with the campervan, fuel, groceries, one night hotel, Uluru admission, Telegraph museum admission and RT shuttle was 1372 AUD or 274 AUD (254 USD) per day for two. The final 3 days in Sydney (our new favorite city in the world) including hotel, airport shuttle, meals, ferry to zoo, zoo admission and aquarium admission was 667 AUD or 222 AUD (206 USD) per day for two.
Though it might just have been our most expensive trip ever, we enjoyed Australia much more than we expected to and felt it was money well-spent.
(Better late than never. Illustrated travelogue to follow. Eventually.)
Our normal travel style is to go on our own in the autumn during the less-crowded and less-expensive shoulder season, renting a vehicle and travelling without reservations for the most part. Part of the joy of travel for us is finding ways to enjoy a country/region without spending bucketloads of money. With the US dollar tanking against the Australian dollar – $1.08 AUD = $1 US – that was a bit of a challenge, however, and our trip ended up costing $7850 US (8480 AUD), or $374 US per day (404 AUD) for the two of us, including airfare.
FLIGHTS: We usually use frequent-flyer miles to get to our destination country, but to avoid having to endure TWO 13-hour flights plus an overnight in Seoul, Korea, we purchased Qantas tickets to Australia, our biggest single expense: $2216 USD for the two of us to fly open-jaw into Cairns via Brisbane and home from Sydney. (From LA, it would have been $1695 US for two.) These fares are quoted in dollars because they were booked in USD.
Domestic flights (Cairns to Alice Springs, and Alice Springs to Sydney) added another $1075 US for the two of us (also pre-booked in USD). Excluding the international airfare, our trip cost was a more reasonable 5895 AUD, or 310 AUD per day for two. Still not budget travel by any stretch of the imagination, but far less than a packaged tour.
CAMPERVANS: Though we would normally rent a compact car and stay in hotels/inns, for this trip we rented two campervans, one in North Queensland for 10 days out of Cairns, and a second unit out of Alice Springs for 5 days in the Red Centre. We used Backpacker Campervans, who rent slightly older models retired from the Britz and Maui fleets, but we found their vehicles to be in good condition and reliable. Both vans had hot & cold running water, shower & toilet, plus a small fridge and three-burner stove (as well as microwave & toaster that require electric hookup). The Backpacker price was inclusive of some things that you pay extra for from Britz, like bedding. (We did not buy any extra insurance.) Rates were 10 AUD higher per day in October than November. Campervans rent by the calendar day - unlike rental cars which you rent by 24-hour periods - so it is to your advantage to pick up your camper early on the first day of the rental and return it late on the final day. (If you fly and pick up a 2nd camper on the same day, however, they will credit you for the overlapping day.) The fuel economy ranged from 17 to 25 miles per gallon, surprisingly good by American standards.
We had struggled over whether to rent a small car and stay in inexpensive hotels (or cabins at campgrounds) or to rent a campervan for this trip. Since the campervan serves as your room as well as your wheels, and has the added advantage of having a kitchen so you can economize on meals too, we feel it was a good choice. Including fuel, groceries and camping fees, our Queensland rental cost us 207 AUD per day, and the Red Centre rental about 237 AUD per day (longer distances driven). (The per-kilometer cost of camper + fuel was AUD 1.38 in NQL and AUD .55 in the Red Centre.) Since hotels under 100 AUD were hard to find and dining out in Oz is expensive, we feel the camper compared favorably, plus it gave us tons of flexibility. Though "free camping" wasn't as easy as in New Zealand, we were able to find many places to camp that were “off the grid” and didn’t cost anything. (If you require the electric hookups and toilet/shower block of an official campground, you can expect to add 20-30 AUD per night, or about 7AUD for a park campground with a pit toilet only.)
OTHER LODGINGS: We stayed in hotels the first & last night of our Queensland visit, the last night of our Red Center visit in Alice Springs, and 3 nights in Sydney at the end of the trip. The Sheridan Plaza in Cairns was 82 AUD per night (pre-booked from the States), the Reef Palms in Cairns was 96 AUD (booked by Internet from our 1st Cairns hotel, whose rate went up to 140 AUD when we asked about a 2nd night), the All Seasons Oasis in Alice Springs was 113 AUD (booked on the Accor website) and the Russell Hotel B&B right in the Rocks district of Sydney was 135 per night with shared bath (booked through the hotel’s own website).
EXPENSE TOTALS BY REGION: Our Queensland sojourn including shuttle from airport, 2 nights hotel, 10 days with a campervan, fuel, groceries, camping fees, Daintree ferry and Great Barrier Reef snorkel, added up to 2654 AUD, or 241 AUD (223 USD) per day for the two of us. The Red Centre excursion including 5 days with the campervan, fuel, groceries, one night hotel, Uluru admission, Telegraph museum admission and RT shuttle was 1372 AUD or 274 AUD (254 USD) per day for two. The final 3 days in Sydney (our new favorite city in the world) including hotel, airport shuttle, meals, ferry to zoo, zoo admission and aquarium admission was 667 AUD or 222 AUD (206 USD) per day for two.
Though it might just have been our most expensive trip ever, we enjoyed Australia much more than we expected to and felt it was money well-spent.
(Better late than never. Illustrated travelogue to follow. Eventually.)
