Last year my partner Bill and I spent 42 weeks driving 40,000 of the country’s roughest, toughest and dustiest kilometres on a lap of mainland Australia. The one thing everyone asks us is “how much does a trip like that cost?”
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Everyone’s trip is different, depending on what you drive, where you go, where you stay and what you eat and drink. We were in a 4WD (a 2012 Mitsubishi Triton dual-cab one-tonner) and towing an off-road camper trailer (Johnno’s deluxe). In terms of day-to-day expenses we averaged just under $150 a day, including fuel (the highest we paid was $3.40 a litre in the western deserts, but $2-$2.70 in remote areas was not unusual), camping fees and the occasional night in a pub if the weather was foul, food and alcohol – we probably could have got that down a little if my partner was a better fisherman, and if I’d chosen cheaper wine, but hey, life’s too short!
You’ll find more in Lee Atkinson’s new book, The Big Lap. You can pre-order a copy at www.pozible.com/biglap. Orders close 9 April 2015.
