Our Lap of Oz: The Finer Details

Sadly, our five and a half month Lap of Oz has come to an end. Our boys were very sad to be heading back to the Gold Coast, as they really enjoyed the trip, so much more than we had anticipated.

We knew from the start, that our trip was going to be a budget trip. We didn’t really have any funds saved up, so we had to live within our means and I think we did pretty well. Yes, we did miss out on some big ticket attractions which would have been awesome, but really, the prices of some of the attractions are ridiculous. Australians should be able to see their own country without having to fork out a fortune.

Once we had the free camping worked out, we were able to save a ton of money. With our solar set up, we were able to free camp for up to seven days. Water was our main issue. With 3x95L tanks (1 of which is drinking water), we just couldn’t have a proper shower everyday which was something I really was not used too. 

Here are some of the finer details of our trip:

• We spent 146 nights on the road
• Left Gold Coast 16 May 2015, arriving back on the 9 October 2015
• Fuel was our biggest expense followed by food
• Total Kms travelled: 23886km
• Spent approximately $6760 on fuel
• Dearest Fuel: $2.033/L at Ayers Rock 
• Cheapest Fuel: $1.189/L in Melbourne
• We had 72 paid nights (caravan parks, farmsteads etc.) and 74 free nights (free camping)
• Spent a total of $2719.40 on paid accommodation
• Cheapest paid accommodation $5 per night (farmstay in WA)
• Dearest paid accommodation $60 per night (Carnarvon in WA)
• From the time we picked up the van, on the 28th April 2015 until the 3rd November 2015, we have refilled the gas bottles 3 times. We just ran out on the 3rd November, so we need another refill now.
• Gas refills: Stratco in Darwin $19.95 on the 6/7/15; Rays Outdoors in Perth $22.95 on the 26/8/15 and BBQ Galores in Bendigo $20.00 on the 24/9/15
• Our food bill was around $5177
• 31 Takeaway meals (includes takeaway dinners like KFC, Hungry Jacks and McDonalds as well as bakery visits and ice creams) 
• Spent approximately $3340 on shopping and entertainment. This includes entry fees to attractions, new clothes, 3 birthdays, postcards at nearly every stop of the boys journals, school supplies and a PS4 which was the boys birthday/Christmas present
• Thongs – with so many blowouts (over 15 that I had counted in the first 60 days of the trip), I decided in Darwin, to actually fork out a lot more money than usual and purchase us all a good quality pair of thongs. We are still wearing these thongs today, so it really was worth it!
• Had to get the windscreen replaced once. A large rock hit the bottom of the windscreen just outside of Kununurra. By the time we reached Broome, the crack had grown so much, it was nearly taking over the windscreen. 

Our trip came to a grand total of around $20,500 which we thought was really good.  We spent almost (1 day short) 21 weeks on the road which averages out to $976 per week ($140 per night) which included everything (even a dentist visit which resulted in a tooth being extracted), except for the bills.

To Read About each of the places we visited on our trip, click on the link below:

Lap of Oz 2015 

and then scroll to the bottom of the page to start at the beginning.