Spending money for 4 weeks in Australia

dawyldthing

IT all depends if you keep an eye on the exchange rate. Food wise it's similar eating out to the uk (up I had nandos a few times and it was say $10 as it would be £10, so ended up cheaper, if that makes sense). Oz zoo is a day trip from Brisbane and if you can fit it in I'd spend a few days on the Gold Coast, see the Dracula show on the Gold Coast - it's really good. I spent a few hours body boarding. But if you are paying for accomodation you'll need more than a grand a week for 3 of you as accomodation is really expensive out there. You'll love it. I went 2 years ago and would love to go back one day again. Exchange rate makes a huge difference

zagfles

DUKE wrote: »

Oh chelseablue, I'm sure it will be. Have a look on some of the forums on TripAdvisor to get a better idea of the cost of stuff, & things to do.

I put off NZ for years as I thought it would be far too expensive, but ended up doing 12 nights for just £2400! Although I've got family there so only needed a hotel for 4 nights, & flights were just £342 each!

Return from the UK?? Bargain! What airline?

We didn't do the really expensive touristy things, as I did just go to see family. I booked all transport & hotels online beforehand, & made a list of stuff that I was going to do. Everything cost twice as much as it does here, but we had everything that we wanted so it's not like we scrimped & scraped. I had the time of my life, & nothing will ever beat that!

We found NZ cheaper than here in general, for stuff like eating out, accomodation etc, though we did go off peak. We spent a load because we did expensive stuff like skydiving and ski-ing, and Hobbiton is ridiculously expensive. But otherwise we paid less than here, 2 bed motels were around £50-60 a night, eating out typically £12 a head with drinks.

LadyDee

chelseablue wrote: »

Will be getting one of the credit cards that does not charge abroad.

I could put hotel costs on the card and use the money we've saved for meals and activities.

Hope Australia is worth all this expense :rotfl:

Halifax Clarity Card, paid off in full online. Select local currency if you are withdrawing cash with your CC at an ATM - ATMs make a small charge so best not to keep withdrawing small amounts. If you are spending cash anything which ends .99c you don't get change.

Yes, yes and yes - worth it every time. Got my permanent resident's visa and just waiting to sell my house and I'm off for good.

Exchange rate is the best it's been for a year - currently 1.84 to the pound, so if you plan to take cash with you keep an eye on the exchange rate. Just hoping I sell my house before it goes back down!

If you are travelling on trams, buses or trains in Melbourne buy a Myki card (bit like an Oyster card).

markandkate

We have used youth hostels. They are excellent value and often have en suite family rooms and are usually in prominent place where people want to visit. They always have a communal kitchen where you can prepare meals even if its only toast and juice. The last one we stayed in had vouchers for meals at local restaurants and they also offer budget priced trips to local attractions

newatc

Accommodation will be more expensive than normal at that time (school holidays start about a week before Xmas). Australia has great number of motels which are generally good value. It's great to have flexibility as your travel around but you'll have to weigh that up against best places being full.
Blue Mountains which can be a day trip from Sydney should not be missed.
Uluru is great but a little expensive and will take several days out of your itinerary.
Difficult to come up with a cost but if this is not going to be a regular trip, then you must make the most of it. Travelling by car will enable to see you more of the country so maybe you could do Sydney-Melbourne by car. Personally I would fly to Cairns rather than Brisbane.
Its a fantastic country, I'm sure you will have a great time.

zagfles

markandkate wrote: »

We have used youth hostels. They are excellent value and often have en suite family rooms and are usually in prominent place where people want to visit. They always have a communal kitchen where you can prepare meals even if its only toast and juice. The last one we stayed in had vouchers for meals at local restaurants and they also offer budget priced trips to local attractions

Yup, not been to Aus for a long time but the hostels were brilliant there. So much more friendly than boring hotels, and as above it's not all dorms, you can get private rooms, and cook dinner with other guests and share experiences/tip on what to do, where to go next etc...

lady1964

Australia is absolutely worth it, we!!!8217;ve just got back from our second visit, our DD lives in Sydney so a perfect reason to visit!
We don!!!8217;t stay with her, we!!!8217;ve stayed at an hotel, serviced apartments and a cottage. With a 4 year old, you may find it better to look at a house or apartment rental, perhaps with a pool, you will benefit from the space. I would agree that Australia isn!!!8217;t cheap but if you self cater, you can keep your costs down and I would suggest food courts with your 4 year old for cheap & good eats. If you like wine with your dinner, try BYO restaurants to keep costs down and buy your wine from the bottle shop.
Taronga Zoo in Sydney is a great zoo (take a picnic) and there are beautiful beaches in Manly, Watson!!!8217;s Bay and in the Bondi-Coogee areas, all easy to get to on the bus or ferry.
Bear in mind December is summer, which might make a visit to Ularu unbearably hot, particularly for a small child. There are theme parks on the Gold Coast, which are likely to be pricey but you could look at resort packages for ideas of costs.
Look at Jetstar for internal flights, Virgin Australia are also good but probably a bit more expensive.
I haven!!!8217;t been to Melbourne so can!!!8217;t advise on there.
As for how much you should take, it!!!8217;s a hard one as your needs etc are likely to be very different to ours, I think I would budget £1k per week with a contingency of the same, so look at £5k in total if you can. You don!!!8217;t have to spend it all but if this is the trip of a lifetime, you may not want to be scrimping.

Neil49

There are plenty of Aldi stores in Oz and although not as cheap as in the UK they are still worth checking out. Also the food supermarkets in main out of town shopping malls are worth a detour rather than the city centre Woolworths etc.

As far as money goes we used cards virtually all the time. We had the Clarity credit card and a Monzo debit card, both of which give you the Mastercard rate of exchange. The Monzo was particularly good as the transaction appears on your smartphone within seconds showing the initial rate of exchange. I just kept topping it up in £ from my main bank account as required. The Starling account operates the same way.

We booked some accommodation via Booking.com and Hotels.com in advance when prices were good. It's high season when you go and Aussi schools are on holiday so don't leave it too late sorting out your accommodation. We got some nice apartments which allowed us to do our own cooking or bring in takeaways which kept the cost down.

Melbourne is a great place but just be aware that the Great Ocean Road is a long one day trip. Ideally book an overnight stop towards the end of the road to give yourselves time to enjoy the journey and then return to Melbourne the next day. We drove from Adelaide to Melbourne but did it over 4 days.

What ever you decide to do, it's a great country and we shall be going back for more.