To me there are 3 main types of lighting needs you need to consider:

General Camp Lighting

That’s the ambient lighting around the camp site. In Australia camp lighting has a big problem- it attracts the insects like you wouldn’t believe! You may want to think about that before you set up your camp! Keep the lighting a reasonable distance from tents and the cooking area. Although some swear by the old-fashioned gas mantle lights I find them annoyingly fiddly to set up and damage prone. I prefer the new low power LED lights which run on batteries or power and are cool to run, have low power requirements and don’t attract the insects as much

Tent Camp Lighting

Inside a tent I found that you only needed a small tent light- which run on batteries and clip onto the roof using its own magnetic strip. Not enough to read by good enough to find your shoes.

Personal Lighting

This is where LED camping lights come into their own.  I prefer a headline style torch – which keeps the hands free and works well for both reading in bed and cooking. I also found for a computer you can get LED lights which power of the computer’s USB port – though of course  this will drain your battery a bit.

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Up front set-up costs

Vehicle Costs

• The difference in vehicle purchase price and resale.

• Stamp Duty 2-3% of the car’s purchase price

• Insurance allow say $300 pa and bring evidence of your claim history.

• Registration varies between states but can be up to A$700 for a 4WD – you should take this into account when negotiating the purchase price. This includes 3^rd party injury but not 3^rd property.

• Tyres for a 4WD will cost anything from A$200 up – much much more in the real bush. Again include the likelihood of needing replacements in up front cost negotiations.

• An older diesel engine requires servicing every A$5000 to A$6000km not the normal 10,000km recommended for petrol engines. The diesel service cost A$180-A$200 depending on what needed replacing such as oil and filters.

• The stuff that breaks. We ended up spending A$3,000 in repairs on a vehicle that cost us A$7,000. Mostly it was stuff that needed doing because we were using the vehicle off-road and remote. We replaced the battery twice because the first one wasn’t rated high enough, we replaced shocks and the front end bearings which were leaking. We deliberately replaced all hoses and belts near the start of the trip, as we didn’t know their history and didn’t want any of them breaking in the middle of nowhere.

Other Gear

We spent another A$1,500 on camping gear, spares for the vehicle and tools.

On the Road Costs

I break on-road costs down as following in order of importance:

Fuel: Our 1985 Landcruiser drank diesel at an average of 12-14 liter / 100 km – this a pretty good figure and you will use a lot more fuel if you are towing or running a petrol engine. Diesel and petrol cost approximately the same in the outback. We fuel ranged in price from $1.20 in Queensland coast (the state with the lowest fuel tax) up to $1.90 in remote areas. We spent on averaged A$35/day but it obviously varied widely!

Accommodation: we spent A$40 on average – this was probably on the high end because we stayed in cabins in the cold weather and stayed in hostels or similar in the cities – we’ve camped approximately 60% of the time.

Food: Including other consumables like beer and wine, shampoo, laundry powder. Also including eating out came to about A$51 /day. At the start of trip, out of habit, we tended to eat out for lunch, this was often $25/2. We later on realised that it was a lot cheaper and often better food if we made our own. We drink lightly and didn’t eat fish very often – only on the coast.

Miscellaneous: This included medical visits and prescription charges, clothing, cash which we forgot to account for, entrance fees (very little on average), National Park entry fees, souvenirs (very few), internet access fees, mobile phone recharges. This averaged A$35/day.

Do these costs sound about right to you? What is your experience of costs on the road?

Budget Camping Setup

The cheapest way to large amounts of money internationally is to pay a set fee per a transaction rather than paying a percentage of the cash transferred. Using an international credit or debit card means that you will be paying up to 2% on money received – that adds up to a lot. A better option is an international transfer which charges a one-off fee, but this will require you to have an Australian bank account to receive money into

Opening a Bank Account in Australia

Opening a bank account in Australia is straightforward and you can set it up before you leave home allowing you to transfer money before leaving home. For example this is Commonwealth Bank’s offering but all the major banks (ANZ, WestPac etc) offer something similar. You do however have to specify a branch so you need to sure of the city that you will start in. You will also not be able to withdraw money from the account until you are seen in person with your passport and collect your EFTPOS cards.

You will have to pay a flat few dollars a month fee but that includes all electronic transactions. So get cash out of your own bank’s ATM’s and use EFTPOS when possible with retailers and you will only pay the flat fee. To actually buy the vehicle, given the daily limit of around $800 per card per 24hour withdrawal limit you will probably have to get a bank check.

Money on the Road

Australia is very wired when it comes to paying for items. Its rare that you will need cash and the most common means of payment is EFTPOS where your card is used to direct debit a linked account. Often retailers will allow you to withdraw cash as well, usually up to a limit.

However a card will not get you anywhere and in outback areas you should probably always carry the equivalent of a 100 liters of fuel in cash for the rare occasion when a remote station supplying fuel doesn’t have EFTPOS or the telephone lines are down (which are required for the transaction to be authorized). A credit and/or debit card from your home country is a good idea as a totally separate way of paying in case anything goes wrong with the local account.

Sydney to Perth 4110km or 2550miles (4 hours flying time), Sydney to Cairns is 3143km or 1950 miles (3 hours flying time)

Sydney to Melbourne is 9 hours if you drive up the Hume Highway, and see, well highway, or you could take a couple of weeks and actually see the gorgeous coastal scenery along the NSW and Victorian coasts on the Princess Highway.

Which is to say planning a trip across Australia and ending up in Perth doesn’t necessarily mean that you should return to Sydney for your international flight. Now that mainstream airlines have started to price tickets as two one-way tickets its no cheaper in general to buy a return ticket.

In general your route options for arriving and departing Australia are :

flights from Europe via Asia: major airlines which fly to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth include Qantas, Air New Zealand, Singapore Air, Malaysian, Thai, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines . These airlines fly Australia via their Asian hubs (e.g. Hong Kong, Singapore or Bangkok), normally a free stop over and some will continue on to New Zealand with a free Australian stop over. The budget airlines of Asia are now expanding too so that its worth checking out Air Asia X, Oasis Air, Tiger Airways Virgin Blue(which also does internal Australia, New Zealand flights)

flights from North America via the Pacific: this route is still not open for competition so your options are more limited and include Qantas, Air New Zealand, United and Virgin Blue. Flights are typically to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and possibly Cairns There are other indirect options via Pacific destinations such as Fiji, Hawaii, Tahiti but are more expensive and only worth it if you wish to stop off.

flights from North America or Europe via the Middle East: Emirates use Dubai as a hub and fly direct to the east coast USA – Dubai and direct to Perth as well as Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane

flights from New Zealand: Qantas, Air New Zealand and Virgin Pacific have the most flights direct from Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane Cairns, Adelaide and Perth (direct only AirNZ)

flights from South America:are limited and expensive – your option is basically Aerolineas Argentinos from Buenos Aires, via Auckland to Sydney and LAN Chile/Air New Zealand from Santiago via Easter Island and Tahiti.

Budget Long Haul Flights. Its now possible to fly around the world on budget airlines its a fast developing area which is all good for the average cost of airlines as often your full-service airlines will match the budget price anyway! However check out this link you want to persue this option

If you are actually camping for $20-$30 for 2 adults you will get a a camp site with or without power, a common ablutions block, almost always with free hot water, occasionally hot water requires a gold coin ($1 or $2) and almost always a coin operated washing-machine and a washing line. The site will often have a pad of concrete on it for the annex next to caravans – though less dusty for tent camping as well. You may or may not get grass depending on the cost of water locally.

The price difference between powered and un-powered is about $5. A powered site gives you access to a (single) power point is just that on a junction box so a 10m extension lead and a multi-point power box are must haves if you are going to power camp. It always annoyed me that I was charged the same amount to run a battery charger, laptop and a toaster as the guy next door who could run his aircon, satellite TV and microwave for the same price.

Most grounds have some type of BBQ gas or electric, often free sometimes a gold coin – start saving your change!

Less often you will get a camp kitchen which can have any or all of stove, oven, microwave, electric toaster and jug, fridge, freezer. Very occasionally they will also provide pots, pans, plates etc. If a place has a backpacker accommodation as well then there is sometimes the option to hire these items but if you are camping.

Often also there will be a small shop for basics, a games room, a TV room (usually locked at 10pm), children’s play areas.

In the more expensive parks you basically have resort facilities including large swimming pools, spas, tour desks, restaurants, bars, children’s programmes, courtesy buses.

Tourist Park Associations

There are 3 groups of tourist parks in Australia – all of which offer a VIP card or similar where for a small fee you join and then get a 10% discount on accommodation plus their printed guide listing all their parks.

We found these to be excellent value and ended up joining all three and saving money on them all. All the parks are independently owned and operated but we found that with the 3 guide books we had a pretty comprehensive list of properties, including location maps so you know how far out of town they were. It also made booking quicker as you didn’t have to always give all your details again. There is no point joining before arriving in Australia you can join at the first park you stay at and generally get a retrospective discount on your stay. They will happily take an overseas address too.

We initially stayed at an impressive Big4 camp ground on the Sunshine Coast liked what we saw and joined that group. Once we got to Tasmania we discovered that Family Parks of Australia had the best coverage of locations so joined them – as we were staying in cabins because of the weather we saved a heap of money there. Finally we stayed in a Top Tourist Park in Darwin because of its location again in a cabin and after a week they gave us a free membership – nice! You will not always find an affiliated campground – for example there are heaps of campgrounds on the Cape York Peninsular and also there are campgrounds at Kings Canyon and Uluru (Ayers Rock) – these aren’t affiliated to anyone though – its not worth their while to be part of an advertising network as you will be staying with anyway because of their location.

Top Tourist Parks

They claim with 190 properties to have the most number of parks in Australia. We ended up staying for a week in a cabin at Darwin and ended up being given the membership for free – which was a nice touch.

Cost: $25 for 2 years

Discount: 10% up to maximum of $25 per stay

Family Parks of Australia (FPA)

Cost: $25 for 24 months

Discount: 10% up to maximum of $20 per stay (sites) or $40 per stay (cabins)

Includes properties in New Zealand as well

Big 4

Cost: $40 for 2 years

Discount: 10% up to maximum of $30 per stay.

Hope these details help – questions – leave a comment!

There are some universal rules which have developed which will keep you a whole lot safer:

1. If you break down do not leave the vehicle. There are numerous cases when someone decided to walk for help and by the time the vehicle was found their body was as well. A vehicle will provide shelter from the sun and is lot easier to see than a person. It has things you can burn (like tyres) if someone flies overhead.
2. If you see someone stopped, slow down and make sure that they are OK. Always stop and check that they have the right gear to fix the problem and/or don’t need extra hands. remember the roadside assistance is not going to come to you out here!
3. Don’t drive at night, don’t even drive an hour or so before sunset. Wildlife causes most one vehicle accidents in the bush, we’ve seen dead kangaroos, emus, cattle and even a buffalo – these animals will make a big mess of a vehicle and invariably are more active at night and very hard to see
4. The maximum safe speed for most vehicles on a dirt road is 80km/hr regardless of what the posted speed limit is. 4WD take longer to stop, because they are heavier, and are easier to tip over, particularly if they a roof rack on.
5. If the road is stony – slow down more – we drove parts of the Kimberleys at 50km/hr and never had a flat tyre – we met others who had had 2 flats in 1 hour! If you are getting flat tyres either your tyres aren’t in good condition or you are driving too fast.
6. Don’t drive when tired – just because you can drive 2 or 3 hours without a break on seal doesn’t mean you can do the same thing on dirt – it requires a lot more concentration, and implications of getting wrong a whole lot worse.
7. Carry a few hundred in cash, not all outback fuel stops take cards or the lines may be down .
8. Carry more water than you need, the vehicle may need some too. We carried 50l for 2 people with a radiator which required about 750ml every 1,000 or so.
9. Never carry petrol within a vehicle even in a jerry can – its too flammable. Diesel is however OK to carry inside – another reason to go with a diesel vehicle.
10. Some roads require permits from the traditional landowners do your research and apply in advance if necessary.

Why this blog

When I was planning this trip I found a real lack of information for the beginner who wanted to 4WD in Australia. There are several print publications and forums which will help you decide between the current model Land cruiser or Explorer, but little info on how to buy a decent second hand vehicle and how to choose what to put in it. No one told me that the $2 plastic striped bags would last 3 months even when overloaded, but that a top of the line camp bed would fail within 2 months. In some way it reminded me of the situation nearly 30 years ago when I started backpacking – then only one guide book catered for those who didn’t want to stay in hotels and take taxis every other book assumed that you had money to burn. The 4WD industry seems to be in the same place today. Even the Internet doesn’t provide much information for those who aren’t yet looking for a impermanent lifestyle i.e. the grey nomads but who aren’t hardcore off-road driving enthusiasts. So I’m hoping that this blog will fit a bit of niche for those who would like to get away into the great Australian outback but who don’t really know where to begin.

Why Australia?

Australia is huge, more a continent than a country. Yet it has a tiny population, almost all of whom live on the east coast and in cities. Its a first world country where its pretty easy to buy a vehicle as a non-resident Due to the spread out population lots of Australia’s most beautiful places are only accessible by gravel roads and often a 4WD or 4×4 will get you there in better shape than a 2WD. Escaping to the bush is an iconic Australian experience but ironically most overseas visitors come to the heavily populated east coast but quick flight to Uluru (Ayers Rock)

Why 4WD?

Australia is big, really really big, and very very empty. Telstra, the biggest mobile phone provider, claims to cover 98% of the population – which must be true because you can’t lie in advertising in Australia, however at the same time they only cover 5% of the land area – that tells you know that there is an awful lot of empty space out there – which is why you can easily drive for a week with no cellphone coverage, Carins to Mataranka via the Savannah Way if you are interested. The sealed roads, where they exist, tend to be excellent, but an awful lot of roads, including those to some of the most beautiful areas, dirt, ranging from good to very bad some aren’t even formed. So they are dusty and dry – that is until its rain- then they are almost immediately impassible. A high-clearance 4×4 will give you far more options than a city car. For us the price to pay, in initial cost, maintenance and diesel, was well-worth the freedom. Often the first question a local asks if you enquire about road conditions is “what are you driving” – the correct answer to this is a Land cruiser!

We started with little camping or 4WD experience. My partner and I are New Zealanders, I’d done a little 4WDing as part of my job 20 years ago, and as a geologist I’d lived in outback Australia, My partner had been to the East Coast of Australia on holiday but not inland. Neither of us are “handy” or mechanically inclined. We did a course for the basics of off-road driving but the rest of it we picked up the hard way and in the end I think we proved that if we could do it without any serious mishap then almost anyone can!