As this is supposedly, a FIRE blog, even though it’s now a ‘watch how Frogdancer Jones does retirement’ blog, I thought I’d tot up the travel costs for the road trip I made with my friends from Latvia and then when I was on my own.
When Liga first contacted me with the news that she was coming to Australia and we decided to spend some time together, going to Uluru was not on my mind. After all, I’d just booked a trip to Uluru with the Ghan for September 2024, two months before Liga would be there. Why on earth would I go back there again so soon? Obviously, I’d do a road trip with them along the Great Ocean Road, drop them off at Adelaide and they’d either fly or drive to Uluru.
Then Liga told me that the rental car companies would charge them an extra $900 if they left the car at Uluru, because they’d have to hire someone to drive it back to Adelaide. Ouch! There’d be no way to avoid that because after Uluru they were flying over to Cairns.
Coupled with the fact that there are no direct flights from Adelaide to Uluru, which meant that they’d have to fly from Adelaide back to Melbourne or Brisbane before flying over to Uluru, meant that it made much more sense for me to keep driving after Adelaide.
Liga also said she wanted “to drive the car with the desert stretching away on either side.” That sounded pretty good to me too, so despite my qualms about Outback driving, we arranged for the Crazy Road Trip to happen.
I decided to put aside 4K for the whole 3.5 weeks. It was an arbitrary number that wasn’t calculated with any real thought. It seemed like an amount of money that should be adequate, but wasn’t too extravagant. I had a few things organised with the girls that affected my outgoings for this trip.
I was paying for all the petrol, as a “congratulations on your 7th continent” present for Liga.
We were sharing accommodation, which cut down individual costs for each of us.
I’d already paid for my week’s holiday in the Snowy Mountains, as it was part of my timeshare.
I’d just been to Uluru, so I wasn’t anticipating buying many souvenirs at all.
I was intending to take my Vita-Weats and Vegemite for Frogdancer’s sad breakfasts to cut down on costs, as well as taking wine and some groceries/snacks. I also packed the toastie-maker for when I was in the apartment at Lake Crackenvack. We had the car, so I had the space.
As it happened, I bought a couple of souvenirs as well as some Christmas presents. I didn’t include the presents in my final total, as they were things I would have bought anyway.
The girls paid for 3 restaurant/winery meals for me as a thank-you, which was lovely of them.
Petrol in the Outback isn’t cheap. The most I paid was $3/litre, which is far more than we pay in Melbourne.
So how did I go?
I couldn’t believe it!
I actually came home with change from the 4K! Three and a half weeks of holidays and I spent $3,988.
Yep, just squeaked by with $12 to spare! How funny is that? I wasn’t totting the costs up as I went. I only worked out the total after I got back.
The toastie-maker saved me a lot of money because all I had to buy for dinners was a couple of loaves of bread and some fillings. Baked beans, ham and cheese – nothing gourmet. I’d eaten at restaurants with the Ligas and along the way on my own, so I was happy to slum it at Lake Crackenback. It helped that the celebratory lunch I bought at the resort restaurant wasn’t that impressive.
My sad breakfasts cost me around a dollar each time. The Ligas were spending anywhere from $10 – $20 for breakfast each morning, so that saved me a ton. I like vegemite for breakfast, so it wasn’t a hardship, though I couldn’t look a Vita-Weat in the face for a few weeks after I got back home.
I booked the first 3 nights of accommodation on my solo trip when I was still at home, looking for the cheapest motel rooms. After that, I’d search for a room when I entered the town I wanted to stop in for the night. The only time this didn’t work well was a Winton, where I paid $160 for a room for the night. The cheapest was Bourke, where I paid $75/night for 2 nights. It was very basic, with a shared bathroom, but I figured I could suck it up for 2 nights.
I was very happy that I’d inadvertently stayed within budget!
Dad Joke of the Day:
Good to see that you had a wonderful trip and managed to stay on budget.
As someone who likes to gift Finance Books to people I thought you might like to hear that my 23 year old Daughters boss gave all his employee’s a bottle of Moet and the Barefoot Investor book for Christmas. I thought this was great as a lot of young women work for him.
That’s a great idea! All of my kids and nieces have it too. (I didn’t give Moet, though!)
I’m good with frugality but a sketchy hotel with a shared bathroom? That’s not happening for me! Glad things went as planned, I think even though you didn’t spend much time estimating the cost of the trip, a lifetime of experience came through with a very accurate prediction. Road trips with people you enjoy, those are the best of times!
Haha! I only had to sghare the bathroom on the 2nd night – he first night I was the only female guest. Not bad for $75!
It was so fun reading along your adventure, and amazing that you came in under budget. You are a great example of remembering when it’s worth spending money and when it’s not! I wouldn’t have thought to bring the toastie maker – reasoning that eating in the communities would be part of the experience – but especially on the solo parts it makes a lot of sense. (BTW I looked up panini press and then electric sandwich maker and the price difference is laughable.)
p.s. I would totally have stayed in the semi shabby hotel with shared bathroom 🙂 Spending lots of money on lodging really goes against the grain for me!
It’s lucky I don’t have fancy tastes!