Our next biggest expenditure for the month was for transportation. We spent a total of $425.43. We r

For the month of September, we were in Australia. We finished our stay on a family owned permaculture farm in Casino, spent one night in Surfer’s Paradise, and then drove up to Toowoomba for a 6 week housesit. While in Toowoomba, we celebrated Sydney’s 10 th birthday and made some good friends.
As I have mentioned before in our previous budget for August, our three-month long stay in Australia has been filled with ups and downs. On the positive side, we have made some good friends along the way, which has made each place we have visited feel a little like a home and the wildlife of Australia is truly fascinating. But we have also found that anything remotely connected to tourism is insanely expensive. This has really limited some of the activities we would have liked to have done, but we felt like we couldn’t justify spending the money.  For example, after our housesit in Toowoomba we had thought about seeing Fraser Island, but it just was way too expensive for us.
So how did we do during our second month of being in Australia? Excitingly we had our cheapest month so far on our around the world adventure. We spent a total of $1501.92. This works out to $50.06 per day or $16.69 per person per day.  Through the month of September $1 USD equaled approximately $1.13 AUD.
We spent a total of $785.36 on food. Further broken down, we spent $662.23 on groceries and $123.13 on dining out. A couple factors helped keep our food costs down for the month of September. For six days of the month, we were doing a HelpX opportunity on a permaculture farm in Casino where we helped out in exchange for food and accommodations. We also really tried to avoid eating out to minimize food costs. Australia is definitely one of the most expensive places we have encountered on our around the world adventure for eating out. Admittedly we did splurge and go out for Chinese gba wta tour tennis codes food for Sydney’s birthday.
Fortunately groceries are significantly cheaper versus eating out. Before we had arrived in Australia, gba wta tour tennis codes we had been told by fellow gba wta tour tennis codes travelers that the place to shop for groceries was at Aldi. After comparing prices at other supermarkets such as Coles or Woolworths, we concur. Aldi does not have a lot of options, but definitely has enough options to do the majority of your shopping there and will help you save money.
Our next biggest expenditure gba wta tour tennis codes for the month was for transportation. We spent a total of $425.43. We rented a car for 13 days to drive up from Sydney gba wta tour tennis codes to Toowoomba for our house sit. The vehicle rental fell between the budget months of August and September, so it has been divided between the two. September’s portion gba wta tour tennis codes of the car rental was $281.58. One thing that we learned from our experience about renting a car in Australia is be aware of potentially hefty one-way fees. We paid a shocking $200 in way one-way fees to pick up the car in Sydney and drop it off in Toowoomba.
During our house sit in Toowomba, the owner was generous enough to let us use her car. However we found Toowoomba gba wta tour tennis codes to be a very walkable city, so we walked most places. This helped us save money. Most of the fuel cost reflected in September’s budget was for getting from Casino to Toowoomba. Our fuel costs for the month were $126.09. On average fuel cost about $1.50 AUD per liter or $1.33 USD. This works out to be about $5.03 per gallon. This is not the most expensive fuel we have encountered on our adventure, but is still more than in the US.  We also had the miscellaneous cost for parking and tolls for a total of $14.02.
Our expenditures for lodging were $136.38. This was for the one night stay in Surfer’s gba wta tour tennis codes Paradise and for internet while at the hotel. Lodging in Australia is definitely gba wta tour tennis codes not cheap with most accommodations for a family are $100+ per night. To help us keep on budget while in Australia, we have had to be creative. We did this several ways.
During our gap between our house sit in Melbourne and Toowoomba, we decided to try out HelpX. For little over a week, we helped out on a permaculture farm near Casino, Australia in exchange for food and accommodation. During the week, we learned a little about the principles gba wta tour tennis codes of permaculture, planted things, built things, and made new friends. Overall our experience was very positive. gba wta tour tennis codes HelpX has opportunities worldwide and offers a wide range of experiences from helping design websites, to childcare, to helping out on a permaculture farms.
Another way we found to help keep our lodging costs down was housesitting. We were lucky and secured a house sit for 6 weeks in Toowoomba gba wta tour tennis codes through Trusted Housesitters. Although Toowoomba was definitely off the beaten path, we had a nice stay. We enjoyed taking care of the four cute furry friends and some chooks (chickens). Thanks to my daughter s outgoing nature, we were also able to connect with some other homeschooling families and one family especially really took us in and made Toowoomba feel a little like home. It was very sad to say goodbye to Toowoomba and Bernadette and family.
Like I mentioned, housesitting is a great way to keep costs down. However, it is very competitive. My advice to you if you are interested in doing housesitting apply as soon as the position is posted and just keep on applying. Don’t get frustrated if you don’t hear back from people. The right house sit will come along. We have talked to several people who have said that they received hundreds of applications when they posted their house sit opportunity. Also, on average for each house sit we have done we have had to apply to 20 to 30 opportunities. Here s a tip, before leaving try do some house sitting in your local area to build up those references.
Our next biggest expenditure for the month of September was for miscellaneous items for a total of $86.76. gba wta tour tennis codes This included for 2 books, a haircut, adapter plug, hat for Kerri, some small birthday gifts of Sydney, gba wta tour tennis codes and party supplies.  Sadly, I lost my beautiful Italian sun hat, but was able to find a replacement.  A sun hat for me is one of my must have objects while traveling.  While in Toowoomba, we also celebrated Sydney’s birthday. We bought Sydney some small gifts and were fortunate enough to invite our new friends over for birthday party for Sydney. We had fun playing pin the tail on the horse, eating cake, and even made octopus piñatas.
We spent a total of $66.99 on entertainment. This included going to a homeschooling gym class at the PCYC in Toowoomba, seeing the Equine horse show, horse riding and doing a “fossil dig” at the mall. During our month we were very fortunate to be invited to a homeschooling gym class and the opportunity to meet up with several families. gba wta tour tennis codes Sydney had a blast. Sydney requested for her birthday to go see the Equine Show in Toowoomba. During the show she was able to learn a little about how to take care of a horse, the different breeds and also see the different styles of horse riding. While in Toowoomba, we were able to locate some really cheap horse riding group classes for Sydney at $30 AUD for 2 hours of riding.
One nice thing about Australia is that most National Parks are free and most cities have some phenomenal parks with BBQ’s and play areas for kids. We found this especially true for Toowoomba and we really enjoyed the parks around gba wta tour tennis codes the city. We were fortunate enough to be in Toowoomba for the Carnival of Flowers and all the parks were beautiful with all the flowers blooming.
gba wta tour tennis codes Australia has been full of ups and downs, but we are so glad that we had the opportunity to spend 3 months in the country. We have made some good friends along the way, experienced a bit of Australia of the beaten path, and seen some really cool animals.
I grew up in the beautiful town of Los Alamos, New Mexico. Before gba wta tour tennis codes leaving on our round the world adventure gba wta tour tennis codes I was a nurse working at a teaching hospital. I have always loved traveling and seeing new places gba wta tour tennis codes and I am excited that I have this opportunity to travel and share this adventure with my daughter and husband.
I am planning to go RTW with my family of 6 and I learn a lot from your blog, so thank you. One question I have is about health insurance. I have a distinct memory gba wta tour tennis codes of reading a post on the plan you chose but I cannot find that post now. Am I imagining things? gba wta tour tennis codes Could you direct me to the post if it exists? I would also be interested in knowing what vaccines you got for your trip if you have written about that. Thanks gba wta tour tennis codes and continued gba wta tour tennis codes happy trails!
Hi Jen We are very excited to hear that you are planning a RTW trip! You will not regret it. We currently have IMG Global for health insurance, gba wta tour tennis codes but have not had to use it. We choose IMG, because gba wta tour tennis codes other traveling families recommended it and seemed to provide good coverage for a reasonable price.
Regarding vaccines, we got typhoid, rabies, Japanese encephalitis, hepatitis gba wta tour tennis codes A and B. We decided do do the rabies vaccine because Sydney is such an animal lover and didn t want to have to worry about the what if scenario. Also Sydney already had the hep A and B with routine childhood shots. She did not receive Japanese encephalitis because she was too young. I would recommend looking at the CDC website, as there will be different recommendations for certain areas like Africa, which we didn t really explore a lot of. We have also met travelers who have held off on doing immunization until getting to a cheaper country like Thailand where the cost could be significantly cheaper. Hopes this helps! Happy Travels.