The great Aussie touring dream is alive and well.
Earlier this week, I came across an article which shared what I thought were some interesting stats on the cost of touring Australia. The guys that posted it are Jeffery Clan and a van, a family with 2 young boys (2 and 5 YO), who returned last week from an almost 9 month trip around Australia. They travelled for 260 days, completing almost 46,000 km driving around Australia in a Holden Trailblazer and Billabong Wonderer Caravan.
I found their key stats most interesting. They are below
Total spend – $48,200 (that’s $1,285 per week)
⛽️ $11,411 Total Fuel ($304.29 week) ? $5267 Camp Sites ($20.05 per night) ? $777 Total Alcohol tab..mostly James lol ? $7354 Total Groceries ($196 week) ☕ $5943 in Coffee & eating out ($158 week)…over half of this was coffee at least 2 per day at around $11 each time..yikes ? $9339 in experiences. This is paid entry to national parks, boat cruises, shark swim ect ect and $2065 of this included the boat to Tasmaina ? $337 at laundromats ($9 per week)
I posted this to our Facebook page, where it quickly became one of our most popular recent posts. With stagnant house prices, sharemarket volatility, and media reporting future sentiment to be shaky, it makes sense that people are interested in domestic travel rather than the big overseas vacation.
I’ll never forget spending 8 weeks on the road travelling Australia with my grandparents and my Mum when I was 10 years old. It was such an amazing experience, and I definitely didn’t miss out on anything at school!
Regardless of the reason for the interest, it is really pleasing to see that so many Australians want to get out and road trip their way around this great country. The Jeffery Clan have shed some great light on the cost of touring for 8 months with a young family, but the beauty is that this is not a fixed amount. Want to go cheaper? You could go for a shorter period of time. You could take a tent or swag and camp, saving fuel by not having to tow a van. Or even take a camper trailer which will reduce the fuel bill compared to a Caravan. You could even pick-up some work on the way around to help sustain the trip. There are so many choices out there and ways to make it work – it’s up to you to build your dream trip.
It’s no mean feat what the Jeffery Clan have achieved and while it came with significant cost, I’ll bet you they’ll look back on this trip as one of the best of their life. So what are you waiting for?
Got a question about touring the Country that you’d like answered?
We are going to reach out to the Jeffery Clan and ask them to answer your questions about travelling Australia. If you’d like a question answered, please email thecampfire@club4x4.com.au with the questions you’d like to ask. We’ll put them to the Jeffery Clan and post their responses in the next edition of the Campfire.
Hope to see you out there!
Aiden
