Let's talk Money...

Let's get real about the cost of a trip like this...

When I started to process the thought of this trip and how much it was going to cost us. I started to follow FB groups and one thing I found was that no one talked about MONEY, and how much it would cost to travel with a caravan and three kids on a half lap of Australia.

So here it is... I've kept every single receipt for the whole eight weeks!!

The Caravan - 5 birth 
First off, we don't own a caravan - we decided to hire one. I didn't like the thought of buying a 50 to 70,000 caravan for our first trip (what if I didn't like it, what if the kids hated it) and what if we get home and the caravan would sit there and not be used for a while. 
So to hire the Van for 9 weeks, it was a total of $6900, $1000 was a bond! Which we didn't get back (we had a few minor things that went wrong and needed to be fixed) which was fine.

The petrol - Big Expense
Petrol was a BIG one that we didn't budget enough for. We did some research before we left but it wasn't enough. The size of the Cravan, how much weight we are carrying.
Total fuel for 14,247km was $3672.72

Food -
We had planned to eat in the caravan most of the time, and mostly up the centre, I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for fresh food. So Adam and I spent a day cryovacing meat for one of the Waco fridges. I spent $240 on meat from the butchers.
Total food for an 8 week trip with 2 adults and 3 children was $3808.67

Take away - 
We didn't eat out very often but when we did it was beautiful seafood platters for two. Take away isn't cheap with a family of 5..
Total take away food for 8 weeks is - $726.50

Washing Machine -
Now the Caravan did have a little 2.5KG washing machine, but it only worked when plugged into the main power. But to be honest it didn't really do a good job, it took about an hour to do a load and it used the water in the van which was better off being used with a shower instead. Before we left I had a change tin that I had been throwing all my coins into. So I got it changed into $1 and $2 coins before we left for washing money = $280.00 Most washing machines at Caravan parks were $4.00 per load, and if you needed the dryers then another $4 to (keeping in mind that the dryers sometimes needed two loads to dry the towels etc)
Total washing money for a family of 5 for eight weeks was $420.00

Free camping sites - 
This is something that we really wanted to do heaps of, but when we got to our first night of free camping it was bloody cold and the heater didn't work unless plugged into mains. So we froze the first night and then decided to stay at parks until we got up a little more with the warmer weather. If we were to do it again we would have a caravan with a diesel heater so we could free camp more often. (Free camping was either on the side of the road or a friends driveway)
Total night free camping 12

Paid camping sites -
An unexpected expense as we planned to do heaps of free camping. Now one BIG tip is to plan a little before you go. We didn't book anything until the day before (we didn't want to be on a time frame) If your a family with a big Caravan, some parks don't have a huge range of spots for large caravans. Our caravan was 27-foot long and we got a lot of knockbacks, cause they couldn't accommodate the size. When you think about it a lot of people travelling used to be couples that have retired and they don't have big Van's.. but times are changing guys! (Paid sites are power and water / ensuite sites / Kakadu is no power or water, but still had to pay to stay)

HOT TIP - Most Caravan parks will charge for the adult and a flat rate then you have to pay an additional price per child. So on average, we were paying anywhere from $45 per night (this is a cheap park) to $98 per (ensuite site) 
Total nights at Caravan parks - $1486.00

Phone bill -
When your travelling and don't have a Dongle, my mobile was the phone that was used for hot spots and with the kids and shit wifi at parks it was used a lot. 
The total extra phone bill is $435.00 for 8 weeks with 5 devices (on top of my $99 phone plan each month)

Coffee - 
Now I'm only putting this in because it was something that we spent money on whether it was at a fuel stop of just a morning coffee (just to clarify - I DON'T DRINK COFFEE) so for one person and a few cups of tea and the to odd hot chocolate for the kids.
Total cost of hot drinks for 8 weeks - $265.95 

Tours -
So we didn't want to be tight arses on the trip, but we also didn't want to do everything on the first trip. So what we did do was great and wouldn't change a thing. Sometimes it's the free things that the kids loved the most.
Total expenses for tours for 8 weeks with a family of 5 - $2601.79

Extra stuff - 
Some things we did have to buy along the way, extra blankets, thongs for the kids, some more summer clothes. If we had a rainy day we would head to a shopping centre for a few hours
Total spend at places like Big W or target - $800.13


We had a picture in our heads that it was going to cost us about $800 per week (living in a dream) The next trip we plan, we'll be allowing a minimum of $1200 - $1500 per week. Then I wouldn't be watching the bank balance each day.

Caravan - $6900.00
Petrol - $3672.72
Food - $3808.67
Take away - $726.50
Washing machines - $420.00
Camping sites - $1486.00
Phone bill - $435.00
Coffee - $265.95 
Tours - $2601.79
Extra's - $800.13

Grand total - $21,116.76 (what a whopper) 

If I take the cost of the caravan out (cause some of you may own one) take away, phone bill, coffee and extra's.

$11,989.18 - divide it by 8 weeks, on average we would need $1498.64 per week! So if I was planning another trip (and we will) we would have a much better idea of a savings plan.

I hope this has been helpful and you get something out of my blogs, thanks for following and reading about the trip. If anyone is thinking about doing a trip like this don't wait till your old and grey. Do it now!

TB 💋