Affordable ways to visit australia ?

[janvanruth]

Ever since my wifes cousin and her husband from australia visited us in holland some 35 years ago i have always wanted to visit australia.
As things will go it never happened as children and work got in the way.
Now the children are grown up and i quit working some time ago nothing is keeping me from pursuing my dream.
I dont intend to visit the way an american or japanese visits europe: see all of europe after returning home on the pictures taken while rushing form one place to the other.
I intend to spend at least a month, maybe two or three.

From reading in this forum, i joined recently because i acquired a hercus lathe, i got the impression that my idea of australia being not that expensive is not quit correct.
All things related to machining seem to be a lot more costly than they are overhere.
I had a look at ebay australia and was surprised, understatement!, at the prices second hand cars will fetch.
The rent of living quarters seemed to be quit reasonable untill i found out prices are quoted a week instead of a month.

Am i right in thinking that the cost of everyday living is in accordance with the prices of cars and housing?

Is there a way of travelling australia on a budget?


cheers jan

[cba_melbourne]

> Am i right in thinking that the cost of everyday living is in accordance with the prices of cars and housing?

Yes, you are absolutely right.

> Is there a way of travelling australia on a budget?

Depends what type you are. I personally feel that hiring a campervan or a motorhome is an excellent way to travel this country. It is less expensive than car hire and Motel/Hotel. If so inclined, you can stay at many absolutely beautyful national and state parks. For some strange reason, it appears that prices for a motorhome are cheaper if you book from Europe than here. You may also alternate the motorhome with a week or two hiring a houseboat on a river. Do not forget to visit Tasmania too, can take the campervan on a ferry. Very nice forests and parks there. Be warned, it is a huge country - 3 months are nothing.

[.RC.]

Years ago a lot of people got free tickets to come here and food and lodging was also supplied free of charge...

[Big Shed]

A lot of the European backpackers, perhaps a little younger than you:wink:, get around in these vans

http://www.jucy.com.au/

As we travel around we see a lot of them, there are others as well.

There are lots of backpackers hostels everywhere as well

http://www.yha.com.au/

We have friends in their sixties who travel in Europe and NZ using those.

Another possibility is house sitting or house swaps. Quite often people want to go away and are looking for someone to look after their house, or people swap houses for a period of time.
There are specific websites for this.

PS I am moving this thread to Travel as it doesn't really belong in Metalwork.

[rogerbaker]

Hi Jan
Just to give you an idea, we did a trip from Melbourne via Adelaide, Alice Springs, Darwin and down the west coast to Perth and back home to Melbourne. 3 months and 17000km. That works out to an average of 200km per day. We drove past a lot of stuff because we didnt have time. I would plan for at least 6 months if I do it again.

Roger

[janvanruth]

Years ago a lot of people got free tickets to come here and food and lodging was also supplied free of charge...

I know but the trouble they had to go through to be eligible..........

[janvanruth]

> Am i right in thinking that the cost of everyday living is in accordance with the prices of cars and housing?

Yes, you are absolutely right.

> Is there a way of travelling australia on a budget?

Depends what type you are. I personally feel that hiring a campervan or a motorhome is an excellent way to travel this country. It is less expensive than car hire and Motel/Hotel. If so inclined, you can stay at many absolutely beautyful national and state parks. For some strange reason, it appears that prices for a motorhome are cheaper if you book from Europe than here. You may also alternate the motorhome with a week or two hiring a houseboat on a river. Do not forget to visit Tasmania too, can take the campervan on a ferry. Very nice forests and parks there. Be warned, it is a huge country - 3 months are nothing.

A campervan would in fact be my preferred way of travelling .
I actually was planning to buy a toyota 4x4 converted to camper and have it shipped home to holland afterwards.
But that was before i found out how much it would cost to buy such a vehicle!
Now i am wondering how much it would be to have my vw t3 syncro campervan shipped to and from australia.

cheers
jan

[janvanruth]

Hi Jan
Just to give you an idea, we did a trip from Melbourne via Adelaide, Alice Springs, Darwin and down the west coast to Perth and back home to Melbourne. 3 months and 17000km. That works out to an average of 200km per day. We drove past a lot of stuff because we didnt have time. I would plan for at least 6 months if I do it again.

Roger

hi Roger,


Luckily i dont mind driving as long as i dont have to be in a hurry to get somewhere in time ( had enough of that in my working days).

cheers
jan

[janvanruth]

A lot of the European backpackers, perhaps a little younger than you:wink:, get around in these vans

http://www.jucy.com.au/

As we travel around we see a lot of them, there are others as well.

There are lots of backpackers hostels everywhere as well

http://www.yha.com.au/

We have friends in their sixties who travel in Europe and NZ using those.

Another possibility is house sitting or house swaps. Quite often people want to go away and are looking for someone to look after their house, or people swap houses for a period of time.
There are specific websites for this.

PS I am moving this thread to Travel as it doesn't really belong in Metalwork.

Thanks for moving the topic to the apropriate place

I checked out jucy but they only seem to rent out the middle of the road 2 wheel drive petrol automatic gear rather luxurious type of campervan.
Not quit my cup of tea.
I would prefer a spartan reliable 4x4 diesel with a tent on the roof, after all it would be the adventure of a lifetime...

However the youth hostels would provide a welcome brake every now and then, although, or maybe because? , i have gone past my youth a long time ago.

cheers

jan

[janvanruth]

> Am i right in thinking that the cost of everyday living is in accordance with the prices of cars and housing?

Yes, you are absolutely right.

> Is there a way of travelling australia on a budget?

Depends what type you are. I personally feel that hiring a campervan or a motorhome is an excellent way to travel this country. It is less expensive than car hire and Motel/Hotel. If so inclined, you can stay at many absolutely beautyful national and state parks. For some strange reason, it appears that prices for a motorhome are cheaper if you book from Europe than here. You may also alternate the motorhome with a week or two hiring a houseboat on a river. Do not forget to visit Tasmania too, can take the campervan on a ferry. Very nice forests and parks there. Be warned, it is a huge country - 3 months are nothing.

A campervan it will be.
Tasmania will depend upon the time of year as in wintertime temperatures are comparable to holland i believe.
And i dont intend to bring a heavy sweater to wear during the daytime...


cheers

jan

[RedShirtGuy]

Here's an alternative to above suggestions...go "WWOOFing"...Willing Workers on Organic Farms/World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.

http://wwoofinternational.org/
http://www.wwoof.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWOOF

That is...if you're so inclined. Maybe read up on them, call the "company", ask specific questions, and ask/plan with specific "farmers" and you might find that once you get over here, for the cost of your muscles and attitude, that you could quite possibly see the hugest amount of Australia, coast to coast, and what it's like to live/farm/provide as an Aussie, for a lot less than being a simple tourist...and gee...being an "Aussie" for a while would be sooooooooooooo much better than just simply seeing "the sights". (not that they're not somewhat interesting too)

...I don't mean "simple tourist" as an insult...just that if you experience "farming" and "living" here, in a whole bunch of different locations, you'll see an amazingly wide range of what "Australia as dirt, lifestyle, needs and requirements to survive, truly is". A well planned trip to all the different locations (not necessarily capital cities) will show you just how much of a wide variety of climates, flora and fauna we have here. Man....we've got massive deserts to tropical forests and everything in between. :)

[michael_m]

A campervan it will be.
Tasmania will depend upon the time of year as in wintertime temperatures are comparable to holland i believe.
And i dont intend to bring a heavy sweater to wear during the daytime...


cheers

jan

I would highly recommend a heavy sweater almost regardless of where you are and the time of year in Australia. You can get snow in summer in the higher country of Tasmania, and in the outback you can have the temperature drop below zero at night from a maximum above 30 during the day.

And that's without considering what Melbourne can throw at you in just one day! :D

Cheers, Mike

[ventureoverland]

Jan,
For reference, about 6 years ago, my LandRover Defender cost 1840 GBP from London to Sydney. That was in a 20ft sole use container, one way.



Thx
Jon

[DSEL74]

You might need to check out tourist visa requirements, and plan your stay around that. I have a feeling a Tourist ie not a working visa is max 3mths. It is valid for a year with a max of 3mths at a time. Which means if you leave you can come back 4 times. Pop to New Zealand or Bali and return is done by a lot of people.



Forgot to say, this forum covers all of Australia, how many good friends have you made here? You could "couch surf"….an aussie term for short term stays moving from friend to friend.

[BobL]

Here’s a good start on price comparisons: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=Australia&country2=Netherlands
It disagrees with your assertion on vehicle costs. for example a VW is actually 20% more in the Netherlands than in Australia. You’d also have to factor into this, VWs in Australia are more expensive than Holdens, Fords, Toyotas, etc.
Petrol is also more expensive in the Netherlands although we usually drive a bit further.


I think you would also have to take into account that wages in the Netherlands are 26% lower than in Australia.
That doesn't help an inbound traveller.


This list does raise an interesting question though: Why would a bottle of wine cost so much more here than in Netherlands, I’m led to believe Australia has a thriving and robust wine industry???? Did you see the numbers for cheese and beer.

I think you will find things vary a lot more in Australia than in the Netherlands. City to country and north west versus south east will show much bigger variations in Australia than in the Netherlands.

[cba_melbourne]

> This list does raise an interesting question though: Why would a bottle of wine cost so much more
> here than in Netherlands, I’m led to believe Australia has a thriving and robust wine industry????

Australian wine, like Australian Cheese, are both still grossly overpriced. Imported wines and cheeses even more so. But this is changing. At your next Aldi store you will find imported wines and cheeses from Europe at very reasonable prices. Just not available all the times.

[KBs PensNmore]

Jan, you're more than welcome to "couch surf" at my place:2tsup:
Kryn

[Optimark]

Two years ago my wife's sister and her husband from Germany came out to visit. We purchased (with their money) a Mercedes Sprinter motorhome, which was an ex rental unit. I added solar so the compressor refrigerator and lights could be run with no mains power as we stayed in the sticks for some lengthy periods, including one stop where we propped with no driving and no mains power for five days.

We did around 11,000 km in 2½ months on one trip, plus some other side trips either end. When the dust settled they lost $5,000 AUD on their motorhome, plus the diesel they used. To rent a like vehicle was going to be around $12,000 AUD but it would not be allowed to go to any place that had a dirt road, which is fairly restrictive. The other option would to hire a 4WD camper, they are available, but the cost was going to be around $15,000 AUD which just wasn't acceptable to them, or us.

I would suggest you think about applying for a six month visa, as it can be done. There are also 1 year visas as well, I know this as a neighbour has a friend staying at the moment and they are on a 12 month visa.

We have travelled over much of this country and time and distance is your enemy here. Next year we are heading off and we expect that short trip to take about 2½ months, the year after, our longer trip will take about 5 months.

You may think of purchasing a second hand motor home here, there are quite a few. Selling is a problem if you don't have someone living here able to do it for you, though.

As far as costs are concerned, we travelled for a couple of months in Germany this year, specialising in the northern part this time, from Poland in the east to Netherland in the west, with very brief incursions to both of those countries. We pretty much stayed in small hotels or in tourist areas in smaller again places and ate out. We usually spent around 80 Euro a day for bed and breakfast, Zimmer mit fruhstuck for both of us. The minimum would have been 70 Euro and the maximum was 150 Euro a day (at St Peter Ording) I think that's what it was called, used to be part of Holland not that long ago it seems. But the average cost for the time we were in Germany was about 90 Euro a day. This is reasonably close to what you would average on a long trip in this country staying at many places, but the standard outside of the big cities in this country is nowhere as good as Germany, more like Spain.

Regardless, you should be able to have a good time, it just costs money. :C

Mick.

[Big Shed]

Yes, most people in Europe don't grasp the distances in this country.

For instance I can drive from Adelaide to Mt Gambier (used to do that quite often) and do 500km and still be in South Australia, that same distance takes you from Amsterdam to Paris and you have visited 3 countries.

Last year we did a trip to Far North Queensland (FNQ) and we did 10,000km in just under 6 weeks. Earlier this year we did a trip to Tasmania, doesn't look that big but it is twice the size of the Netherlands, that trip was 5000kms as well as an overnight ferry trip (which cost a cool $1650 return for car and caravan).

People on another forum were getting visitors from the Netherlands, they wanted to do Cairns - Sydney with all the side trips in 2 weeks. Yes it can be done, but all you will see is bitumen!

Ultimately I agree with others, your best and cheapest bet is to buy a used 4wd with a tent already on top and either sell it your self before you leave or have someone sell it for you.

Again you will find the backpacker network very helpful in this, you can probably buy something like that from a backpacker leaving Oz at a good price.

[code4pay]

We did a 3 month house swap with some couples in Europe you swap house and car worked great for us. Very cheap way of doing it. Houseexchange.com is how we did it.

[janvanruth]

Here's an alternative to above suggestions...go "WWOOFing"...Willing Workers on Organic Farms/World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.

http://wwoofinternational.org/
http://www.wwoof.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWOOF

That is...if you're so inclined. Maybe read up on them, call the "company", ask specific questions, and ask/plan with specific "farmers" and you might find that once you get over here, for the cost of your muscles and attitude, that you could quite possibly see the hugest amount of Australia, coast to coast, and what it's like to live/farm/provide as an Aussie, for a lot less than being a simple tourist...and gee...being an "Aussie" for a while would be sooooooooooooo much better than just simply seeing "the sights". (not that they're not somewhat interesting too)

...I don't mean "simple tourist" as an insult...just that if you experience "farming" and "living" here, in a whole bunch of different locations, you'll see an amazingly wide range of what "Australia as dirt, lifestyle, needs and requirements to survive, truly is". A well planned trip to all the different locations (not necessarily capital cities) will show you just how much of a wide variety of climates, flora and fauna we have here. Man....we've got massive deserts to tropical forests and everything in between. :)

Thanks for the tip, checked it out.
For once in my life i will have no obligations what so ever to whom ever.
In the past on a vacation if i got bored i would either move on or find something useful to do.
I gather there are lots of useful things to do so i wont get bored.



cheers

jan

[janvanruth]

I would highly recommend a heavy sweater almost regardless of where you are and the time of year in Australia. You can get snow in summer in the higher country of Tasmania, and in the outback you can have the temperature drop below zero at night from a maximum above 30 during the day.

And that's without considering what Melbourne can throw at you in just one day! :D

Cheers, Mike

Hi Mike,
now thats why i said: during the daytime

cheers
jan

[janvanruth]

Jan,
For reference, about 6 years ago, my LandRover Defender cost 1840 GBP from London to Sydney. That was in a 20ft sole use container, one way.



Thx
Jon

hi Jon,

thanks for the info.

that's the way i was thinking about.
I'll check out on the dutch vw t3 syncro forum as i know there have been several people that had their vehicle shipped that way.


cheers

jan

[janvanruth]

We did a 3 month house swap with some couples in Europe you swap house and car worked great for us. Very cheap way of doing it. Houseexchange.com is how we did it.

Would be a possibility but i will be selling the house before leaving as i will not need it travelling the world and it will provide the money to do so.


cheers

jan

[janvanruth]

You might need to check out tourist visa requirements, and plan your stay around that. I have a feeling a Tourist ie not a working visa is max 3mths. It is valid for a year with a max of 3mths at a time. Which means if you leave you can come back 4 times. Pop to New Zealand or Bali and return is done by a lot of people.



Forgot to say, this forum covers all of Australia, how many good friends have you made here? You could "couch surf"….an aussie term for short term stays moving from friend to friend.

In years long gone by the brits and the dutch were free to even settle in australia i believe.
I' ll make sure the visa will be o.k., as i dont want to spend my time as an foreigner in an immigrants camp.
New Zealand was on my list anyway so it will have to fit in between then..

As far as i know i dont know a soul in australia, but isnt making friends one of the goals of travelling?

cheers

jan

[janvanruth]

Here’s a good start on price comparisons: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=Australia&country2=Netherlands
It disagrees with your assertion on vehicle costs. for example a VW is actually 20% more in the Netherlands than in Australia. You’d also have to factor into this, VWs in Australia are more expensive than Holdens, Fords, Toyotas, etc.
I think you would also have to take into account that wages in the Netherlands are 26% lower than in Australia.
So, all in all, I don’t think your concerns are warranted. I have friends who recently returned from a holiday in Europe, they were shocked at the prices in some countries - Netherlands included. Depends on your viewpoint and whether you are comparing apples with apples and taking wage disparities into consideration.
This list does raise an interesting question though: Why would a bottle of wine cost so much more here than in Netherlands, I’m led to believe Australia has a thriving and robust wine industry????

And by comparisons between Canberra and Amsterdam: http://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/comparison/canberra/amsterdam?
Of course this varies between cities, for example, Sydney is 10% dearer, whereas Adelaide is 5% cheaper. Australia is a large country with huge distances between cities and outback towns so cost of living varies greatly dependant on where you are.

hi,
thanks for the links.

New cars are more expensive in holland, the second hand ones aren't.
I compared prices of second hand ones on ebay australia with the prices i know of in holland, and they are a lot cheaper over here.

Groveries seem to be cheaper in australia than overhere, so is fuell.
And those are the things i wil be spending the major part of my money on.

Wages dont come into the equation as i dont have any and i only compare how much bang i get for a buck.

I must say i was baffled by the fact that housing is more expensive in australia than in holland.
Building itself must be real expensive in australia as groundprices in holland are up to euro 400 a square meter, and thats talking rural not city.





cheers

jan

[janvanruth]

Two years ago my wife's sister and her husband from Germany came out to visit. We purchased (with their money) a Mercedes Sprinter motorhome, which was an ex rental unit. I added solar so the compressor refrigerator and lights could be run with no mains power as we stayed in the sticks for some lengthy periods, including one stop where we propped with no driving and no mains power for five days.

We did around 11,000 km in 2½ months on one trip, plus some other side trips either end. When the dust settled they lost $5,000 AUD on their motorhome, plus the diesel they used. To rent a like vehicle was going to be around $12,000 AUD but it would not be allowed to go to any place that had a dirt road, which is fairly restrictive. The other option would to hire a 4WD camper, they are available, but the cost was going to be around $15,000 AUD which just wasn't acceptable to them, or us.

I would suggest you think about applying for a six month visa, as it can be done. There are also 1 year visas as well, I know this as a neighbour has a friend staying at the moment and they are on a 12 month visa.

We have travelled over much of this country and time and distance is your enemy here. Next year we are heading off and we expect that short trip to take about 2½ months, the year after, our longer trip will take about 5 months.

You may think of purchasing a second hand motor home here, there are quite a few. Selling is a problem if you don't have someone living here able to do it for you, though.

As far as costs are concerned, we travelled for a couple of months in Germany this year, specialising in the northern part this time, from Poland in the east to Netherland in the west, with very brief incursions to both of those countries. We pretty much stayed in small hotels or in tourist areas in smaller again places and ate out. We usually spent around 80 Euro a day for bed and breakfast, Zimmer mit fruhstuck for both of us. The minimum would have been 70 Euro and the maximum was 150 Euro a day (at St Peter Ording) I think that's what it was called, used to be part of Holland not that long ago it seems. But the average cost for the time we were in Germany was about 90 Euro a day. This is reasonably close to what you would average on a long trip in this country staying at many places, but the standard outside of the big cities in this country is nowhere as good as Germany, more like Spain.

Regardless, you should be able to have a good time, it just costs money. :C

Mick.

Hi Mick

thanks for the info.

I think i will be buying a campervan/bush taxi and selling afterwards or taking it home with me.
Another possibility, i hope, would be renting a privately owned campervan/bush taxi.
Nothing fancy but just reliable enough.
I would rather be spending the same amount of money on a sturdy, owner built, loved and cared for campervan/bush taxi with character than on a modern, all conveniences , company owned campervan.


cheers

jan

[janvanruth]

Yes, most people in Europe don't grasp the distances in this country.

For instance I can drive from Adelaide to Mt Gambier (used to do that quite often) and do 500km and still be in South Australia, that same distance takes you from Amsterdam to Paris and you have visited 3 countries.

Last year we did a trip to Far North Queensland (FNQ) and we did 10,000km in just under 6 weeks. Earlier this year we did a trip to Tasmania, doesn't look that big but it is twice the size of the Netherlands, that trip was 5000kms as well as an overnight ferry trip (which cost a cool $1650 return for car and caravan).

People on another forum were getting visitors from the Netherlands, they wanted to do Cairns - Sydney with all the side trips in 2 weeks. Yes it can be done, but all you will see is bitumen!

Ultimately I agree with others, your best and cheapest bet is to buy a used 4wd with a tent already on top and either sell it your self before you leave or have someone sell it for you.

Again you will find the backpacker network very helpful in this, you can probably buy something like that from a backpacker leaving Oz at a good price.

Hi

thanks for the info.

I was aware that australia is vast and distances are on a scale different than we are used to here.
But that's what makes it different and exciting...

I would love to get a used 4x4 be it a campervan or a with a tent on top.
The 4.2 liter non turbo diesel toyota bush taxi is on top of my list.
That one i would undoubtedly take home with me no matter what state it is in.

You mentioned the backpacker network, but how will i be able to find it?


cheers


jan

[Dingo Dog]

Hello Bloke

Only thing I have to add is that if you get as far as West Oz, be mindful of the Cyclone season in the North West, which starts in November and finishes in Aril the following year. Unless you like extremely hot weather like me :U, do not attempt that area in summer, expect days of 47C plus. Truck drivers in Oz do not stick to the left hand lane only are are not speed restricted like they are in Europe, Sunday is not a day of rest for them either. Expect to see prime movers with 3 trailers in tow doing the Nth West and inland parts of oz. There are a myrid of things to look out for, but that is part of the adventure of driving, as I found out when driving through Europe in 2011 & 2013.

I have a Bush Taxi that needs a new home.

Wish you a safe journey travelling through oz.

DD

[rsser]

Yeah, most of the semi-arid country like the Kimberley, Central Australia and the desert areas of Qld, NSW and SA shouldn't be tackled in late Spring or Summer. Too damn hot.

My Dutch uncle has visited Aus several times with his wife and has driven more of it than I have. He buys a 2nd hand campervan from some firm in Sydney and gets a guaranteed buy-back price when he returns it. This website outlines the idea but I have no idea which firm he used: http://www.buyingcampervansydney.com.au/guaranteed-buyback/

Jan, do your research on where to travel and what you can safely access. Too many overseas travellers set out driving through places that they are quite under-equipped for.

www.exploroz.com is a useful website for information on destinations, routes, equipment etc.