Budgeting for Australia

Australia doesn’t have a reputation as a budget destination but independent cyclists can get by as cheaply here as anywhere.

The key is that you’ll have to enjoy camping and cooking for yourself.

For a couple, we found about A$40 (€18-20 a day) in daily running expenses was sufficient – less than what we spent in some parts of Southeast Asia.

This is surprising on the surface but our budget rose in Southeast Asia because we gave in to a lot of little temptations that were cheap individually but added up over the days and weeks. We lived a more spartan lifestyle in Australia.

In Australia, we rarely took hotels and cooked a lot of cheap meals. Porridge for breakfast and pasta with mixed vegetables and perhaps a little ground beef from the butcher were our two staples. We did treat ourselves to a box of wine about once a week.

We visited very few tourist attractions with admission fees and always tried to access the internet for free at libraries (not always possible) or limit our paid use to about 1 hour every week. Where possible, we took advantage of Australia’s free camping sites.

Some typical costs are:

Box of wine – A$15
Hour of internet – A$6
Caravan park – A$15-30 (depending on services)
National Park campsite – A$6.50/per person
Cappuccino in a cafe – A$3.50
Loaf of bread – A$4
Pasta (500g) – A$2
Tin of tomatoes – A$1
Block of cheese (250g) – A$4
Pepperoni stick (250g) – A$4-6

• Budgeting for Central Asia
• Cycling Australia
• National Parks in Western Australia
• Caravan Parks in Western Australia
• When to go to Australia