Australia Travel Cost: How Much Does It Cost to Travel Australia?

It’s no secret that Australia is one of the most expensive countries to travel. Nonetheless, the cost of travel in Australia can fluctuate drastically, and it can be fitted to all kinds of budgets.

Firstly, this guide will give you an insight into the average cost of a trip around Australia. More specifically, if you are to live the van life or travel by vehicle.

Although Australia isn’t a cheap holiday location, there is plenty of beauty to see and lots to explore within the vast landscape. And, it’s clear to see why so many locals love to travel around this magnificent country.

Furthermore, the cost to travel Australia varies widely, though I hope this informative post gives you an insight into how much money you need to put aside.

Finally, take your travel style, eating habits and how much money you’re willing to spend into consideration; As these factors will have the biggest impact on your budget.

The Cost of Living in Australia

The Australian travel cost can muster up an excruciatingly high number if you live a lavish lifestyle. However, there are plenty of ways to pinch those pennies and save your money.

Firstly, there are many things to consider when travelling around Australia. Including the average price of petrol, food, accommodation etc. So, take some time to tally up the costs to give you an idea of how much money you need.

Item	Average Price
Takeaway Coffee	$4.50
White Bread Loaf	$2.80
Dozen Eggs	$4.70
Pint of Beer	$7.80
Litre of Unleaded Petrol	$1.55
Week of Rent	$476
Public Transport (One-Way Ticket)	$4.30

Moreover, this table gives you an insight into the average prices of rent, food staples and fuel prices. And, for the most part, accommodation in a hotel is usually around the $120 mark. Therefore, this table will give you an idea of how much money you need to save for your big lap of Australia.

Travelling Australia by Vehicle

To complete a lap around the coastline of Australia, you’re looking at doing roughly 26,000km, and this doesn’t include travelling inland for national forests, cities or other activities. Therefore, this number can blow up to be much larger, inflating your fuel cost drastically. Not to mention, this will likely be your largest cost to travel Australia.

Nonetheless, if you are to complete a lap while travelling in a converted campervan, the following is the average fuel cost.

Fuel Estimation:
Average fuel consumption of a van: 10L/100km
The total distance of Australia: 26,000km
The average fuel price in Australia: $1.50/L
= $3900.00

This price will fluctuate and is likely to cost you more considering you’ll want to visit more places, and you will also need to take your load into account.

Therefore, I’d recommend allowing at least $5000-$10,000 for fuel costs for the entire trip.

Use this fuel consumption calculator to figure out your rough fuel expense.

Meal Pricing Averages

You’ll be looking at spending roughly $91 per person for a week of home-cooked meals. However, this number can increase significantly if you decide to eat out while travelling. Considering when dining out, meals can range anywhere from $10-$120. However, the average meal in a pub (without drinks) is $20.

Furthermore, the dining expense will fluctuate depending on the region you are in and how much you rely on restaurants and cafes. Therefore, I would recommend sticking to cheaper eats like cafes and local restaurants with specials on the menu.

Finally, I recommend aiming to keep your meals around the $4 mark per serving. Moreover, this will give you an idea of how much money you need to spend and ensures you aren’t blowing money unnecessarily.

The Average Weekly Travel Cost

The Australia travel cost seems to sit around $1000-$1400. Therefore, keep track of your expenses and find ways that you could potentially pinch some of those pennies (if saving money is your goal).

I would recommend aiming to save up $1200 per week of travel so that you have plenty of funds to get you through the trip. And, while you mightn’t spend that much per week, if something happens to your vehicle mechanically, you will have some spare money to fix the damages.

Therefore, let’s add up the average price of two people travelling around Australia for six months.

$1200 x 26 weeks = $31,200

While this seems like a huge budget, this is also a very generous amount of spending for lots of tourist activities, dining, groceries and fuel. Furthermore, I would recommend allocating an absolute minimum of $500 a week for your Australian travel cost, as this seems to be the lowest and best budget possibility.

With this budget in mind, you will need to cook all of your own meals, limit alcohol intake and plan the road trip with the most efficient route in mind. Furthermore, read the next section to discover how you can reduce this estimation.

How to Travel Australia on a Budget

To reduce your cost of travel in Australia, you will need to sacrifice multiple luxuries. However, there are numerous things that I can recommend to save money and extend your travel period.

Firstly, avoid takeaway and dining at restaurants. Or, find some cheap eats in the area, and chat with some locals for the best buys. Additionally, I would recommend you avoid spending money on dining, considering a sandwich from a cafe could run you anywhere from $4-$12 and a coffee anywhere from $3-$8. So, consider these prices and think about making the majority of your meals.

Secondly, use your vehicle to travel places. Cab and Uber fares can rack up pretty quickly. Besides, most of the time, these services aren’t really necessary when you have your own vehicle. So, consider your need for using the services and only use them sparingly.

Thirdly, take advantage of weekly specials and items on sale at the grocery store. Moreover, this isn’t a difficult task to complete and can save a lot of money while living on the road. I would recommend creating a list of essentials and purchase them when they’re on special. Additionally, consider making a staple collection of low-cost ingredients to fuel yourself. Items like pasta, rice and beans are a great addition to this list.

Fourthly, pick your favourite tourist attractions and activities to do instead of taking part in all of them. Besides, there’s no need to do a specific task like a treetop walk at every national park you visit. Nonetheless, if this is an activity you enjoy, pick a handful of places to do it and head to your favourite choices.

Fifthly, take advantage of free services and facilities. So, if you’re travelling to a caravan park where there are gas barbeques, kitchen facilities and other amenities, make use of them! Moreover, this is the perfect chance to make plenty of meals without using your own stock of gas, water and electricity. Also, take advantage of charging up all your batteries!

Finally, join travel groups on Facebook and other social media to discover other budget options. Besides, this will give you ideas from other travellers, and the community is fantastic for supporting people living on the road. Not to mention, there are so many helpful individuals in these groups, and they’ll even let you in on locals secrets!

Wrapping Up

In conclusion, you can travel around Australia with any type of budget. Although it takes a lot of planning, and it pays to be prepared!

In the end, I would recommend you avoid rushing the trip as one of the greatest expenses is fuel. Therefore, if you can stick around in a camping location for an extra couple of days, you will increase the length of your trip and enjoy it for longer. Furthermore, you’ll be surprised with how much more you see and how it costs a similar amount.

Finally, use this information as a rough guide for your trip, as every road trip is different. However, this post should give you an idea of the Australian travel costs that you need to consider.