As we have been holidaying in a caravan on and off for 10 years before this trip, we pretty much knew what to expect so there have been no surprises except for the high cost of everything in Western Australia, from groceries to caravan parks.
The main cost of course is fuel. The cost of diesel out in the bush, that is away from the cities, is varied. We have paid as little as $1.519 (after a 4c discount) in Mt Isa to as much as $1.999 (without a discount) at Camooweal (QLD) and Nanutarra (WA). We have seen it as high as $2.19 in WA at a roadhouse in the Pilbara....didn't have to buy it though...that is the beauty of having long range fuel tanks and being aware of what we have in the tank and how far to go to the next fuel stop.
We use an app called Road Trip HD to record our fuel and accommodation. It is a great app and easy to use. It tells me that we have been averaging 19.73 L/100km. It also tells us the cost of fuel averaged over the length of the trip in days and as well as overall. It does the same with accommodation. I also use it to record the park discounts that we get to see whether being a Big4 member or a Top Tourist member is worth it. The Big 4 membership costs $50 and Top Tourist $30 for two years and you get a 10% discount on van park sites and sometimes a further 10% if staying for a week.
The other cost is food but it should be no different to eating "at home". We have been out to restaurants a couple of times and had take-away fish and chips one night. We are conscious of not going out for coffee, in fact, we hardly have done that.
We share the cooking with our travelling companions, John and Deb, taking turns in cooking dinner. This is great because, not only does if give each couple a physical break from cooking, it also provides a greater variety in the type of meal we sit down to each night. The couple in the lead for the day, if we are on the move, provides morning tea and it has worked out that mostly, they end up cooking dinner as well.
We find that planning meals is important on two fronts. One, we buy just what we need for the next three times it is our turn to cook and we don't run out of things when bush camping because there is no corner store to duck down to and two, we keep our stocks down in the pantry to just what we need due to space and weight considerations.
As we are on the road for a long period of time, we limit happy hours in regards to the nibbles but will still have a glass or two, which would be no different than if we were "at home".
The other cost is vehicle and van maintenance, we feel is so important to look after it as you don't want to get stuck out in the sticks. There are things to consider in that regard. Have a monitoring system fitted to your tyres is a good investment and on this trip, it has already saved John's vehicle as when we pulled out of Mary Pool Bush camp his "Tyre Dog" alarm went off, so he stopped and checked and sure enough, his rear passenger vehicle tyre was going flat. Nick and John changed the tyre and John had it repaired in Fitzroy Crossing. It could have been a very different story if he had got on the road, travelling at 93Klm/hr and have a tyre blow while towing the van. We will be getting the same system fitted to our rig.
 |
| The joys of changing a tyre in red dust! |
Investing in a UHF radio and tuning it to channel 40 is a good move out in the bush, it will warn you of things like approaching wide loads, road works and detours.
The only other thing is the toilet that has to be changed every three days, so making sure that we have a good supply of toilet "chemicals". We don't use a chemical one, what we use is environmentally friendly and can be put down any type of toilet system. Not that we have to do that very often as there are dump points everywhere.
Well, there you have it.....the Nitty Gritty.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you reading about our journey and for your comments. I read all comments but may not aways be able to respond.