Quote:
Originally Posted by clive milne
Travel costs:
As has been mentioned previously, this is not a small country.
If you were to drive from Brisbane to Cairns 1700km, Cairns to Darwin 2850km, Darwin to Uluru 2000km, Uluru to Sydney via the Flinder's 3400km (which is on the route) Without including any time or mileage for sightseeing, you have just spent 11 days of your holiday driving from sun up to sunset through 6000 miles of mostly featureless and flat desert. That is a an experience you wont forget, but you need to ask yourself if that is the experience you really want? To visualize that sort of distance, it's about the same as driving in a straight line between Texas and Tokyo, or Texas and Moscow.
You should also keep in mind that the cost of fuel in Australia is a bit higher than in the US. The price varies considerably as a function of location and when you buy it. In the metro area you can get it as cheap as $3.40 US/Gallon if you buy it on a Wednesday. On Thursday from the same gas station the price might be up around $3.90. Once you leave the cities behind, (and by that I mean anywhere other than Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide & Brisbane) You will be lucky to see anything under $4/G. Once you leave the smaller towns behind (which will be the majority of your trip) budget $4.6/G at a minimum.
I'll let you do the sums....
The option is to fly.
A good internet based booking agency can be found here:
http://www.webjet.com.au
A flight from Brisbane to Cairns for example can be had for as little as US$85 without too much trouble. If you were to drive instead, it would cost you around US$190 in fuel, another US$150-$250 for two days of car hire, and probably another $50 in roadside food that you would sooner forget. And that is the shortest leg of your journey with the most reasonable petrol prices. |
If I go to Uluru, I will probably have to fly (or maybe take the gahn?) I was half expecting this. I knew that gas would be more expensive. Around here we pay from $2.55-$2.75(USA)/g. I was figuring to at least double that figure. As far as food goes, I would like to try some of the local cuisine (not sure about vegemite) going out to eat every day would be costly. I planned on just picking up some food at a grocery store to take with me and I will just drink water. I am fine with just maybe a can of beans or a sandwich but I do like my morning cup of coffee!
Joe