How Much Does it Cost to Travel Australia with Kids?

How Much Does it Cost to Travel Australia with Kids?

Financial questions like ‘How much does it cost to travel Australia?” are the most common topic we’re asked about from our community and readers, so we thought it might be useful to give some idea of what it could possibly cost you to do a lap around Oz.

Sadly, this question just like many others related to travelling is another “how long is a piece of string” question; one that is highly dependent on your own personal travel choices and desires. For that reason, I can’t tell you exactly how much it costs to travel Australia, but I can give some insight into the typical costs and expenses you’re likely to face on the road, and how some of your choices may help to stretch your budget or swallow it up with great speed.

The average cost we see thrown around tends to be $100 per day, lots of families spend more than this and lots spend less, it depends on your setup and how luxurious or frugal you’d like your travel to be.

If you haven’t started to plan your lap of Australia, then go here first for some insight.

The Biggest Expenses You’ll Face, Travelling Australia.

Your biggest expense on the road is usually one of three things:

  • Fuel
  • Accommodation
  • Food

For Us The Biggest Expense When Travelling Australia Is Fuel.

That’s because our chosen travel vehicle for our trip was a Nissan Patrol. It’s a great four wheel drive and will get us almost anywhere and it has a very generous tow limit (one of the best on the market), the pay-off for this, is that it is a heavy vehicle, and it likes to drink A LOT of diesel. So, for us, I think at the moment we are getting about 700kms to our 110 litre dual tanks. This can vary on how much of the time we are towing, and the terrain we are towing in. Without towing, we get over 800kms to our dual tanks, and lately, it’s been costing around $140-$160 to fill up. Of course, if we’re in smaller towns or remote areas, diesel is going to cost us a lot more and the cost of filling both tanks is likely to head to $200+.

So, this means for us, if we want or need to move long distances quickly, we’re going to pay the price with a large fuel bill. We spread this large expense out by travelling relatively slowly, and shorter distances at a time.

Free Camping Keeps Accommodation Costs Down When Doing A Lap Of Aus.

how much cost to travel australia

We almost always free camp or budget camp. If we aren’t free camping, we’re budget camping. By budget camping we’re aiming for $20 per night or less. If you don’t like free camping or are not set-up to be self sufficient, then the reality is you’re accommodation expenses are going to be much larger than ours, especially if you’re aiming to stay in caravan parks.

For a family of five to stay in a caravan park, we generally would be looking at paying from $35 (this would be a very cheap park) right through to $120+ per night. It’s really difficult to afford long term travel if required to pay an average of $100 per night for a family.

There is nothing wrong with caravan parks just know this option costs more: Caravan parks have their place, we were always staying in caravan parks before we chose to do some long term travel. Caravan parks are the perfect place for families to stay on holiday. Caravan parks are a wonderful way to take an enjoyable break from the rigours of free camping and enjoy wonderful facilities. Some families are able to budget to stay in caravan parks as part of their journey. For us, we just couldn’t afford it.

There is often tension between long term travellers and caravan park owners. I wish it wasn’t the case, but it occurs because there’s often a lot of pressure forced upon councils in certain areas to close free camping areas so that people stay within caravan parks only. What generally happens in this case is that families and travellers either bypass the area all together or stay only a day or two and move on instead of staying longer and spending more money in town.

There needs to be a balance, and you need to make the choice that is affordable for your family. Setting yourself up to be able to free camp before you leave, will make your travels cheaper in the long run.

Keeping Food Costs Low When Travelling Australia With Kids

food cost travelling Australia

The trick to keeping food costs low when travelling Australia is planning! Planning your food and meals helps you to not only cut down on the expense of the food you buy; it also helps you to minimise any food wastage. There are several points to consider when it comes to food:

  • Larger towns and centres will mean cheaper food bills, it’s a good idea to stock up on non-perishables when you’re in areas with access to cheaper food prices.
  • Getting creative with staples will help keep your food bills down. Things like rice, pasta, coconut cream, tinned fish, tinned tomatoes and other tinned veggies, flour, sugar and salt will help you rustle up a great meal even when other ingredients aren’t readily available.
  • Take advantage of regional produce. While not everywhere in Australia is a food producing region; many of the areas you visit will provide access to beautiful fresh produce directly from the farm gate. Tasmania has an abundance of boutique food providers and food growers and our food bill there was great – unless you’re in a remote area as I mentioned already, then we had to buy smart!
  • Plan your meals and DON’T overcook! You’re not going to have the storage space you’re used to in a house, and you won’t have access to a giant fridge either; this means that storage space for leftover is limited! When you do have leftovers, be sure to eat them for the next meal or at the latest the next day, often caravan and camp fridges can struggle so it’s best to eat them quickly and do be sure to re-heat thoroughly.
  • Don’t Eat OUT!! Eating from cafe’s or takeaway stores will eat into your travel budget! Pack your lunch, take healthy snacks and only drink water out of a drink bottle you carry with you. This alone will save you thousands of dollars that are better spent elsewhere!

Other Tricks For Saving Money When Travelling & Keeping Costs Down

Don’t go to every attraction you come across: If you saw a zoo or a wildlife centre in the last town, really think about whether you need to visit one at your current stop. Some attractions are well worth the extra expense, some however will be a bit repetitive. Usually you will find free or gold-coin donation entry at local museums and historical centres which will often be a whole lot more beneficial for learning and understanding the region.

Keep Gas Stocked Up in Larger City Centres: We got stuck paying over $40 for a gas bottle refill in a remote area because we just didn’t realise there would be such a big price difference. We could have filled it up for $25 only 50kms before! It was a mistake we didn’t make twice.

 Visit Visitor Information Centres For Discounts: Not only do visitor information centres offer a wealth of local knowledge, you’ll also find visitor booklets on display and you’ll often be nicely surprised by the number of coupon vouchers on offer! Any saving is a saving that helps you travel further!

How Much Do You Spend Travelling Australia?

There are so many variables for the cost of travelling around the country that your experience may well differ from ours. Have you got any tips for our readers on how much it costs to travel or how to save money while on the road? We’d love to hear it, just leave a comment below.

Geocaching Around Australia With Kids

Geocaching Around Australia With Kids

I know, I know, our posts are terribly sporadic, but as usual, life gets busy and blogging becomes secondary to everything else going on, but you definitely need to know about our latest obsession; geocaching.

If you look at the container in Byron’s hands on the right, in the photo below; that is a geocache. It’s like a worldwide outdoor treasure hunt, and it’s a perfect activity for the entire family. We’re now official Geocaching around Australia with Kids 🙂

 family geocaching

It’s something we’d heard about years ago and had always said we “should” give it a go, but we’d never really bothered. Oh, how I wish we’d started earlier because it is absolutely the most fun thing we’ve undertaken as a family.

Because our travels have been a bit halted with the caravan renovation, we really needed something to add a bit of excitement for the kids, and it turns out geocaching is just that bit of fun we needed.

The kids had no idea we were heading out to have a little fun, we told them we were heading to the grocery store and piled them into the car. As we pulled over on the side of the road, with no idea what they were doing, we gave them clues about what they were looking for, and our first ever geocache was in their excited little hands.

The first day we set off to do a few that are close to where we’re staying. We did our first one on the way into town, located another small one in town, which offered a bit of a challenge and had all five of us stumped for a little while, but we had success after about 20 minutes of searching. Then, after a quick stop at the grocery store, we did another one on the way home.

family geocaching australia

It’s added a new dimension to our travels. A few days ago we were on a road trip to visit family, and we sussed out what geocaches would be available on the direct route to where we were going, and planned to do a couple of stops on the way.

The kids now keep a zip-lock bag of little goodies in the car, because there are caches that have the option to swap something out, and they are very enthusiastic about knowing if there’s caches in the direction we’re heading during trips anywhere.

So, if you don’t know what geocaching is, or haven’t given it a go, here’s some details to get you started. It’s really a lot of fun, and we’ll now be geocaching our way around Australia.

What is Geocaching?

Geocaching is like an outdoor treasure hunt, so you can see why it’s perfect for kids and families. Caches are hidden in places all around Australia and the world. Using a handheld GPS or your mobile phone, you use the GPS coordinates to try and track down the cache. They can be a variety of sizes and difficulty levels. Some contain nothing more than a log sheet that you sign to say you’ve been there. Other caches are larger and contain trinkets and goodies left by others, these allow you to swap out something in there and replace it with a trinket of your own for someone else to take later.

Who can Geocache?

There’s a massive worldwide geocaching community. If you love a bit of a challenge, a surprise and getting outdoors in a really fun way, then geocaching could be the activity you’ve been looking for! We think, for families it’s the perfect way to spend time together, face challenges and have a fun result at the end.

How do you get started with Geocaching?

We downloaded the free version of the official geocaching app from the iTunes app store. We found our first few caches using the free version and then updated to the paid version so we could use the extra features such as being able to search for geographical areas we were heading too, not just being limited to where we currently were. We suggest you take a look at the Geocaching 101 area of the offical website, and start from there.

So, please let us know if you’re a geocacher or if you’re planning to start, we’d love to hear your stories, leave us a comment below.

Week one on the road – Free Camping at Bulahdelah NSW

Week one on the road – Free Camping at Bulahdelah NSW

Jan 28th to Feb 3rd: It’s a surreal existence when your dreams are happening around you. It’s a spectacular sense of accomplishment, mixed with a dash of disbelief, a slight twist of vulnerability, and a nagging sensation that it’s all going to crash down around you sometime soon. At least that’s how it felt to me.

Our first few days on the road, well I guess, closer to a week were spent catching up with friends and family before we travelled off into the sunset to enjoy our nomadic dream. It was nice, and a sort-of in-between, where we were officially on the road travelling Australia, and yet floating around the familiar tracks of our past lives, not yet truly on our way.

The 28th of January saw us drive out of Matt’s Nan’s driveway with no real idea of where we’d stop for the night, it was everything we’d wished for; point the car in the direction we wanted to go, and just drive. Take things as they come, trust the universe would lead us to where it was we should go, and enjoy the journey, after all, the journey really is the destination!

travelling australia in a caravan with kids

As evening began to hit, we decided to pull up in Bulahdelah. This is a pure case of deciding to take a chance on a place we’d driven through probably hundreds of times before, and yet never really looked around. Living on the Mid North Coast made Bulahdelah the fuel and toilet stop of the Pacific Highway when travelling to Sydney; a nice mid-point. But, the highway has since by-passed the little town, and we’d noticed there was a free camp in the area so it was worth a look.

Truly, camp sites don’t get too much better than this one. It’s a dog friendly and family friendly free camp.

free camp at Bulahdelah NSW

We arrived to find a nice big vacant area right on the bank of the river, with a jetty to our left and the walkway to the bridge not too far away. There wasn’t any shade in our new found yard, but we figured we were only staying a night or two, so it we’d work around it.

Van up, table out and a couple of chairs, and we were dishing dinner before we knew it. We’d anticipated a late arrival so had thrown a big feed of beef stroganoff in the Dream Pot before leaving, it was perfect by the time we were ready to eat, and a nice reward after the drive and set up.

fishing with kids nsw

There was no time like the present for the kids. Bellies full, they had the rods unpacked, bait net in and were keen for a fish. It didn’t take long before the bait net was host to a small fish. Jackson didn’t like the look of it, with a few ominous spikes giving a warning not to get to close. He gave a yell to Matt to come take a look, and before Matt made it to the Jetty, a lovely guy in the campsite near went to take a look and not wearing his glasses put his hand in to retrieve the little thing.

Ouch! He’d been stung, and boy did we feel bad about it! First night in camp and we’d already inflicted an injury on some poor bloke! We dug out the bites and stings book and I enlisted the help of good old Google to identify the sucker, which we soon realised was a Bullrout. Luckily we carry plenty of pain relief and creams in the van, so we offered him some, and then advised to wash it with hot water as per the first aid directions, also assuring him if it got too bad we’d be happy to run him up to the hospital for them to take a look. Thankfully it was all fine and not too major, but lesson learned for the kids, not to let others touch their nets until we’re there. I’d hate to feel responsible for something bad happening to someone else, even if it’s unintentional.

Crisis averted, Matt and the kids fished well into the evening, before it was time to hit the sack, we figured we’d stay another night, and then see where the road led us.

fishing camping with kids

This plan, to leave the next day happened for several days, and we ended up staying there for five nights. We didn’t realise at the time that the site actually has a 3 night maximum, but it wasn’t full and we spent money in town every day which we thought the small businesses would appreciate so not a major issue.

camping with kids

Our days were filled with swimming, fishing, wandering through town to stock up on supplies, and hanging out with our new friends, the resident geese and ducks, who would often make their presence known and had quite a bit of character about them.The kids enjoyed having a go at camp cooking, and even washing the clothes, although the fascination wore off pretty quickly 🙂

cooking with kids when camping kids camp cooking

 We chatted to locals, met lots of other travellers, some who’d been on the road for some time, others who were testing the waters and deciding whether to dive in and head around Australia full time on the big lap. (of course we told them to go for it, life’s just too short, we hope to meet up with them on the road) 🙂

family camping nsw best spots

If you’re in the area, then we can highly recommend this free camp. It’s an initiative of the local Lions Club, to help aid the community after the highway bypass.  You need to be pretty self-contained, there is a tap on site for water top-ups, and there are toilets just a short 100 metre walk across the bridge, we carry our own shower, so that wasn’t an issue for us but I think there may be a shower at the showground for a fee.

free camping nsw

Please, if you do decide to stay, support the local businesses, it’s a great spot, one of the best we’ve experienced, and by doing some groceries, going to the pub just for a drink or even for dinner, topping up with fuel, or grabbing lures from the hardware like we did it helps prove that the camp is bringing income into the town, as there have been rumours that there has been some objections to the existence of the camp there. We injected around $400 into the town, and most other travellers we talked to spent relative amounts depending on their length of stay, so the small businesses are truly getting extra income from travellers like us, and goes some way to show that towns offering free camping as an alternative definitely benefit.

family friendly caming nsw

It was definitely a difficult place to leave behind. Our deadline for reaching Melbourne to sail on Spirit of Tasmania was looming, and we knew we needed to be there by the 8th of February, so we had to give in to the demands of time and wave goodbye to our riverside home and continue on our way.

 

The day it finally happened….

The day it finally happened….

Even now, as I write this to you all, it seems surreal.

Years of discussion, hard work, hard decisions, uncertainty, guilt and struggles both mentally and financially have taken their toll.

I truthfully can’t remember the first moment we decided we were really going to go on the biggest ever holiday with kids and tour Australia full time, it was something we’d always said we wanted to do. What we didn’t realise is just how difficult the journey to get to this point would be.

What we did realise though, was that we were on the way to finding our happiness, and yet didn’t feel happy. Things felt hard, and difficult, we were waiting for things to be right, and easy, and that just wasn’t going to happen.

Then, when Matt got sick, we realised the waiting had to be over, and we needed to be present in the moment and force our dreams to come true. Our dream of travelling full time has been a tough one to achieve, but, it taught us the most important lesson we’ve ever learned:

Dreams are hard to achieve, but it makes achieving them feel even more amazing

 

 

 

So, instead of waiting until we had the perfect gear, and the perfect finances in the bank, and the perfect work done to the car, we put all our effort into doing what we could with the time and money we had, to be prepared enough. “Perfection” is the killer of dreams, “enough” is a word that will set you free. So we have been quiet, we haven’t been blogging much, or on social media pretty much at all, but we’ve been busier than we’ve ever been in our lives, and here’s why:

A few “all nighters” and we stopped procrastinating, got done what we needed to, and here it is… the only picture I have of us driving off to our new lives, snapped by my sister in law.

travel australia set up

At 11pm on January 20, 2014, we rolled out of my brother and sister in law’s driveway near Dubbo. Waved them goodbye, along with my 2 nieces and nephew, and drove off into the wilderness to live our new nomadic lives. I would be lying if I said I was tear free, I couldn’t help but let a few tears flow, we’d been living with them for around 8 months while Matt was working and as chaotic as it was having 2 families living on top of each other, we’d all survived it pretty well and had a rhythm, even if it was a chaotic one. We’ll be forever grateful to them for everything they’ve done to help us achieve our dream.

We arrived at Mendooran, to the free campsite there, which is a beautiful camp ground with flush toilets and cold showers with lots of space and beautiful open skies, set up our van for the first “official” night on the road, and settled in to take in everything that we’d experienced on the path to that moment. Seeing as we arrived so late, we were happy to figure out that the Swan is able to be put up while still hitched to the car, and it doesn’t take long to set up either. Check out the picture below, it took my tears away and brought a smile to my face.

FirstNight2

So there you have it, we’re one the road. We’re full time nomads. No more short or medium trips, no more real home base to return to, this is it, we’ve got everything with us we need to get by. We feel excited, vulnerable, and no matter what happens throughout our journey, we all feel proud of sticking to our dreams and getting this far.

Look out Tasmania, we’re on our way……..

Kakadu with Kids – How to Make the Most of Kakadu as a Family

Kakadu with Kids – How to Make the Most of Kakadu as a Family

We’re going to take a look at Kakadu and it’s suitability for a family holiday destination. It’s a place I would encourage everyone to visit once in their lifetime. Seeing rock art that is centuries old gives you a real vision into just how small our part in this world is, and how important it is that we care for this land like the generations of people who lived here for centuries before us. If your family has any love of the great outdoors, then definitely it’s a must see. Kakadu left us changed, taught us about the true history of Australia, and left us in awe of the Aboriginal culture and it’s depth and importance when it comes to the future of the environment in Australia.

Where is Kakadu National Park Located?

Kakadu National Park is situated around 250kms from Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. When travelling South of Darwin, it is accessed by turning off the Stuart Highway, onto the Arnhem highway toward Humpty Doo, alternatively, by exiting the Stuart Highway near Pine Creek and turning onto the Arnhem Highway when travelling from further inland NT.

It’s important to note that travelling at dawn, dusk or night in the Northern Territory, or anywhere outside Australian cities, presents a higher risk of wildlife being injured. If you need to travel at these times, it’s important to travel slowly to ensure you’re able to reduce the risk of hitting wildlife and causing injury to both the wildlife and your vehicle. Keep this in mind when planning your travel itinerary.

The road into the park is all bitumen, so the main tourist areas are accessible via 2wd. There are some camp grounds and walk areas that are often only 4wd accessible. For travelling with younger kids, the shorter, more accessible walks and tours will provide a great experience, so a 4wd is definitely  not necessary.


View Kakadu in a larger map

Activities for Kids in Kakadu

Mamukala Wetlands: Stop in at Mamukala Wetlands for a spectacular view, with great signage and lots of bird life!

Family Visit Mamukala Wetlands Kakadu

Mamukala Wetlands

Ubirr Rock Art Site in Kakadu: Without a doubt, one of the greatest attractions for visiting Kakadu is to see Aboriginal Rock Art up close. Ubirr is an easily accessible area that offers wonderful rock art sites, and the opportunity to climb to the very top for spectacular views across the National Park. It’s a great idea to tag along on a ranger talk about the rock art, but if you’re there at other times there are great signs that tell the stories of the art as you walk around.

There are several options for taking in the sights around Ubirr. These include a wheelchair accessible route to take in much of the rock art sites, right through to the climb up to the Nadab lookout for spectacular views.

Note for experiencing Ubirr with kids: Take plenty of water and snacks, wear hats and sunscreen, be sure to have comfy shoes that won’t give blisters, and are suitable for walking the rock climb if going to the top lookout. Our children were 5, 3 and 1 when we did the climb to the lookout and were comfortable doing the entire walk. It’s VERY important to watch children closely when climbing to the lookout and while on the top, it’s a natural environment and does not provide child safe barriers (that would ruin the view). It’s perfectly find for families who feel comfortable tackling something like this, but extra care should definitely be taken with young children.

Top of Ubirr    Aboriginal Rock Art History kakadu

Ubirr with kids

(Angbangbang) Nourlangie and Nanguluwur art sites: These sites offer a spectacular gallery of Aboriginal Art, and are definitely not to be missed. There’s plenty of walking, but we found it fairly easy so if your kids are up to the challenge, then this nature wonderland is a spectacular walk with art that you won’t forget!

rock art sites kakadu

Kakadu Norlangie Rock Anbangbang

 

 

 

 

Yellow Water:  The aboriginal name for Yellow Water is Ngurrungurrudjba. This is a spectacular place for a family to take a Yellow Water cruise and see an abundance of Kakadu wildlife up close. See huge crocs sunning themselves and a wide range of birdlife as you cruise the Kakadu wetlands.

There are a range of boardwalks to take in the world renowned wetlands, or a range of cruise options that run all day. Cruises give you a chance to not only see wildlife up close, but to learn more about the region, history and wildlife from highly experienced guides.

yellow water cruise with kidsyellow water cruises sunset

 

Have you been to Kakadu with kids? Are you planning to go? Got any questions? Feel free to comment below or drop us a line 🙂