During the 2010 Christmas Holidays my family went on a road trip from Sydney, Australia up the coast to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. It took us 11 days and we travelled 3,000km (1,864 miles). This could have been an expensive trip but we managed to save significant money along the way:
1. We drove from Sydney, Australia up the coast and stayed in Byron Bay for 3 days, then drove up to the Gold Coast for 3 days, then continued up to Noosa for another 3 days. It was a 14 hour drive from Noosa back down to Sydney, so we stopped overnight half way at Coffs Harbour at the Opal Cove resort. Our car is an average sized sedan, which can run on LPG / Natural Gas or Petrol / Gasoline. Running on LPG reduced our fuel expenses by half!
2. We booked our accommodation directly with the owner / manager, instead of using a travel agent. This takes a bit of time and research but it'll save you the commission fee from the travel agent.
3. Our accommodation was a mixture of Self Contained Apartments and Cabins in Holiday Parks. We found the cheapest deals on www.wotif.com and then called the Apartment and Holiday Park direct. Apartments on average cost us about $260 p/n, with a minimum of 2 nights stay. These were 4 - 5 star apartments with new interiors and a large swimming pool.
4. The day before we'd set off on the road to our next stop, we'd buy groceries from the supermarket and make our lunches and snacks for the day of travel ahead. This saves you stopping at roadhouses and fastfood outlets along the way. It also saves you time by not stopping as often!
5. By staying in Self Contained Apartments we were able to have meals in, instead of going out to cafes and restaurants all the time. This is a HUGE money saver. To treat ourselves we usually ate out 35% of the time.
6. We bought a $69 p.p Summer Pass for entry into the theme parks on the Goldcoast. This cost our family of four- 2 adults, 2 children, $276 to go to Dreamworld and Whitewater World as often as we liked over the 3 days we were there. The pass is still valid up until June 2011 but we're unlikely to use it during that time. Pity it's non-transferable.
Bye for now!
1. We drove from Sydney, Australia up the coast and stayed in Byron Bay for 3 days, then drove up to the Gold Coast for 3 days, then continued up to Noosa for another 3 days. It was a 14 hour drive from Noosa back down to Sydney, so we stopped overnight half way at Coffs Harbour at the Opal Cove resort. Our car is an average sized sedan, which can run on LPG / Natural Gas or Petrol / Gasoline. Running on LPG reduced our fuel expenses by half!
2. We booked our accommodation directly with the owner / manager, instead of using a travel agent. This takes a bit of time and research but it'll save you the commission fee from the travel agent.
3. Our accommodation was a mixture of Self Contained Apartments and Cabins in Holiday Parks. We found the cheapest deals on www.wotif.com and then called the Apartment and Holiday Park direct. Apartments on average cost us about $260 p/n, with a minimum of 2 nights stay. These were 4 - 5 star apartments with new interiors and a large swimming pool.
4. The day before we'd set off on the road to our next stop, we'd buy groceries from the supermarket and make our lunches and snacks for the day of travel ahead. This saves you stopping at roadhouses and fastfood outlets along the way. It also saves you time by not stopping as often!
5. By staying in Self Contained Apartments we were able to have meals in, instead of going out to cafes and restaurants all the time. This is a HUGE money saver. To treat ourselves we usually ate out 35% of the time.
6. We bought a $69 p.p Summer Pass for entry into the theme parks on the Goldcoast. This cost our family of four- 2 adults, 2 children, $276 to go to Dreamworld and Whitewater World as often as we liked over the 3 days we were there. The pass is still valid up until June 2011 but we're unlikely to use it during that time. Pity it's non-transferable.
Bye for now!
