#18Trip Costs

We traveled for nearly 6 months with two adults and three children aged 10, 8 and 7. Below is a simple breakdown of our expenditure. This could be used as a reference for other families with a similar rig but naturally it would vary depending on ones spending habits. We elected to utilise as many free tours and guided activities as possible and to free camp whenever the opportunity arose. We used caravan parks on 44 occasions and minimal fee sites 12 times. Without free camping the trip would have been far beyond the means of our family.

Fuel was the biggest expense but was helped by talking to other travelers and finding the location of the cheapest fuel prices. Fuel depots were commonly the cheapest and on one occasion was 10 cents per litre lower than the local service stations. We also had a safe range of around 1400 kilometres in the motorhome enabling us to travel past some of the more expensive fuel stops. We paid an average price of 97.2 cents per litre. The bus gave us a fuel consumption of 9.8 miles per gallon or 3.5 kilometres to the litre.

Bus maintenance included one oil change using 27 litres of oil. I also used a further 20 litres on topping up the engine oil. This translates to a little more than 1 litre per thousand kilometres. I intend to have this high oil usage checked.

I also needed to have new brake drums fitted to the rear along with brake linings. This was a costly but necessary exercise.

I replaced 5 wheels with new tubeless rims and secondhand 11R 22.5 tyres at Alice Springs. I had two new 10.00R 20 steer tyres fitted before leaving home. I hope to update these in the near future.