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Who told you Australia was expensive? Someone that didn't do it on the cheap like me...
I've lost track of how many people that have told me that Australia is an expensive place to travel. They must be living the luxury lifestyle if that's the case. Australia, if anything was one of the cheapest places I have ever travelled round, so much so that I made bucketloads of money when I was there, indeed enough to take 4 months off work. People, and particularly young backpackers are clearly going to the wrong spots, or perhaps ill-informed, badly prepared or simply spending money in the wrong way. Here's 12 reasons to prove the myth wrong, all from my own experience of living in Australia.
1. Sleeping - Although hostels are great, take a break from them. Don't be spending your entire time in hostels getting drunk! Camping is the best option for travelling cheap in Australia. A tent can be bought for $15 - 20 and some nights you will camp out for free. Make it your home for the next few months as you "backpack" round the land down under. Most campsites have toilets and showers, lots of them are even close to places where you can get part time/temporary jobs.
2. Eating - If you insist on eating out - then head to pubs that do $10 steaks and such offers. They often throw in a beer or a soft drink for this. One of the tricks I used while in Australia is monitoring pubs that did cheap big meals and the times they apply. I found that most of them are lunchtime specials. In which case, it's hardly a big deal to transfer your main meal of the day from dinner to lunch. Eat cereals and toast for breakfast. Don't be afraid to venture into Hungry Jacks or McDonalds for a cheap breakfast either. Hungry Jacks also offer unlimited refills - take your flask in. They're not going to chase out paying customers. And McDonalds has free wi-fi. If all else fails stick to vegemite sandwiches! Top notch!
3. Transport - First things first - travel overland! I spent around 2 years living in Australia and I didn't once fly internally. Book Greyhound buses and book them early if you know your dates, or even better meet up with others, buy a car (or share the cost of buying a car) and make it your home - you can sleep in it and live in it - buy a gas cooker, a battery pack and a wireless internet pre paid USB stick and suddenly you have everything you need. You get a job more easily if you have a car, you can soon earn enough to cover what the car cost you and you can also share lifts to save money on petrol. Make sure if you are getting a long distance Greyhound bus get it at night as you'll save money on accommodation (simple obvious tips are the best). Use notice boards and online backpack websites and groups to arrange transport with others and broaden your options.
4. Get a Working Visa (of some kind) - I can't understand how those that are eligible for a working holiday visa in Australia don't use it. The amount of travellers I met in Australia that said "we're only here for 3 months so we're not working" then followed it up by "this place is dear", well why didn't you just get a working visa then? Even working for just a week or two in Australia can earn you over a thousand Australian Dollars.
5. Entrance Fees - Again it sounds obvious but don't be paying entry into places - there are loads of FREE things to see and do in Australia. Hiking for one, some amazing landscapes to see, beaches (completely free), fancy dress parties (make your own costumes for free), museums are often also free entry (including the amazing War Memorial in Canberra), as is walking across Sydney Harbour Bridge. If you want to see Koalas and Kangaroos - these can all be done for free. Kennet River on the Great Ocean Road is a decent spot for Koala watching at sunrise. Kangaroos and wallabies are hard to miss.
6. Money saving coupons, tokens and vouchers - Seriously these types of coupons are everywhere and most travellers miss them. Try picking up leaflets and magazines in bars, travel agents, bus stations, airports etc and you will be extremely surprised to hear that they often contain money off and free entry vouchers. Sometimes you even get a free beer - head to the bar to get your free beer then leave!
7. Buy the Value Brands - When you go shopping, stop looking for the likes of Coca Cola and Heinz. Coles and Woolworths offer really decent value brands that are often just as good as the more popular and expensive brands. You really can save a lot on this - try it!
8. Avoid Nightclubs after 10pm - Ask yourself the question - did you go to Australia just to get drunk in nightclubs? No you didn't - you went to see the wonderful country and culture within. By all means visit some night clubs now and then but try and do it on a weeknight or a night with special offers. Most bars and clubs put their prices up after 10 pm (for entry and for drinks). The beer you had a 6pm on Happy Hour could have doubled in price by midnight. Do yourself a favour and have an early night or get a takeaway and have a cheap party at the hostel or campsite!
9. Internet - I also met a couple of guys in Brisbane moaning about the price of the internet. I never once paid to use internet in Australia. Leave facebook alone until you really need it. What do you think travellers did 20 years ago before the likes of facebook? Exactly! Get to meet people in the hostels and campsites and hang out with them. I went 5 weeks without being online when I was in Tasmania. I had some experiences and travel tales in that time that I wouldn't have got sitting on facebook! If you really, really insist on using internet in Australia at least be clever about it - maximise your usage of it when you have it for free in a hostel while you have it. The next campsite or hostel may not have it or may charge for it. If all else fails, bring a small laptop with you and buy the cheapest coffee in McDonalds and sit and use their free wifi (free all over Australia and normally for about 20 minutes).
10. Don't book things in advance. Why pay a deposit online for a hostel that you will stay in next week? Scared it will sell out? In the event of that type of thing ever happening, you'll have your tent and can offer to sleep in the garden for a $5, most hostels will take pity on you and let you sleep on their sofas anyway. Book as you go, and if its hostels go into the cheapest dorm.
11. Washing Clothes - Wear the same clothes again and again and hand wash them in sinks. I did this often in Australia. If you desperately need to use a washing machine - get a few cotton buds on sticks and place them into the coin slots in the laundry machines to get free laundry. Most of you reading will probably know this trick. A well known "secret" of travellers.
12. Fake student ID - Again things become cheaper when you pull out a student card. Nobody really cares if its fake or not. Give it a risk and save some dollars.
So all in all - get yourself to Australia and do it on the cheap. It really is a wonderful country to explore your way around. You will just love it.
Get out there and see Australia - what are you waiting for?
I've lost track of how many people that have told me that Australia is an expensive place to travel. They must be living the luxury lifestyle if that's the case. Australia, if anything was one of the cheapest places I have ever travelled round, so much so that I made bucketloads of money when I was there, indeed enough to take 4 months off work. People, and particularly young backpackers are clearly going to the wrong spots, or perhaps ill-informed, badly prepared or simply spending money in the wrong way. Here's 12 reasons to prove the myth wrong, all from my own experience of living in Australia.
1. Sleeping - Although hostels are great, take a break from them. Don't be spending your entire time in hostels getting drunk! Camping is the best option for travelling cheap in Australia. A tent can be bought for $15 - 20 and some nights you will camp out for free. Make it your home for the next few months as you "backpack" round the land down under. Most campsites have toilets and showers, lots of them are even close to places where you can get part time/temporary jobs.
2. Eating - If you insist on eating out - then head to pubs that do $10 steaks and such offers. They often throw in a beer or a soft drink for this. One of the tricks I used while in Australia is monitoring pubs that did cheap big meals and the times they apply. I found that most of them are lunchtime specials. In which case, it's hardly a big deal to transfer your main meal of the day from dinner to lunch. Eat cereals and toast for breakfast. Don't be afraid to venture into Hungry Jacks or McDonalds for a cheap breakfast either. Hungry Jacks also offer unlimited refills - take your flask in. They're not going to chase out paying customers. And McDonalds has free wi-fi. If all else fails stick to vegemite sandwiches! Top notch!
3. Transport - First things first - travel overland! I spent around 2 years living in Australia and I didn't once fly internally. Book Greyhound buses and book them early if you know your dates, or even better meet up with others, buy a car (or share the cost of buying a car) and make it your home - you can sleep in it and live in it - buy a gas cooker, a battery pack and a wireless internet pre paid USB stick and suddenly you have everything you need. You get a job more easily if you have a car, you can soon earn enough to cover what the car cost you and you can also share lifts to save money on petrol. Make sure if you are getting a long distance Greyhound bus get it at night as you'll save money on accommodation (simple obvious tips are the best). Use notice boards and online backpack websites and groups to arrange transport with others and broaden your options.
4. Get a Working Visa (of some kind) - I can't understand how those that are eligible for a working holiday visa in Australia don't use it. The amount of travellers I met in Australia that said "we're only here for 3 months so we're not working" then followed it up by "this place is dear", well why didn't you just get a working visa then? Even working for just a week or two in Australia can earn you over a thousand Australian Dollars.
5. Entrance Fees - Again it sounds obvious but don't be paying entry into places - there are loads of FREE things to see and do in Australia. Hiking for one, some amazing landscapes to see, beaches (completely free), fancy dress parties (make your own costumes for free), museums are often also free entry (including the amazing War Memorial in Canberra), as is walking across Sydney Harbour Bridge. If you want to see Koalas and Kangaroos - these can all be done for free. Kennet River on the Great Ocean Road is a decent spot for Koala watching at sunrise. Kangaroos and wallabies are hard to miss.
6. Money saving coupons, tokens and vouchers - Seriously these types of coupons are everywhere and most travellers miss them. Try picking up leaflets and magazines in bars, travel agents, bus stations, airports etc and you will be extremely surprised to hear that they often contain money off and free entry vouchers. Sometimes you even get a free beer - head to the bar to get your free beer then leave!
7. Buy the Value Brands - When you go shopping, stop looking for the likes of Coca Cola and Heinz. Coles and Woolworths offer really decent value brands that are often just as good as the more popular and expensive brands. You really can save a lot on this - try it!
8. Avoid Nightclubs after 10pm - Ask yourself the question - did you go to Australia just to get drunk in nightclubs? No you didn't - you went to see the wonderful country and culture within. By all means visit some night clubs now and then but try and do it on a weeknight or a night with special offers. Most bars and clubs put their prices up after 10 pm (for entry and for drinks). The beer you had a 6pm on Happy Hour could have doubled in price by midnight. Do yourself a favour and have an early night or get a takeaway and have a cheap party at the hostel or campsite!
9. Internet - I also met a couple of guys in Brisbane moaning about the price of the internet. I never once paid to use internet in Australia. Leave facebook alone until you really need it. What do you think travellers did 20 years ago before the likes of facebook? Exactly! Get to meet people in the hostels and campsites and hang out with them. I went 5 weeks without being online when I was in Tasmania. I had some experiences and travel tales in that time that I wouldn't have got sitting on facebook! If you really, really insist on using internet in Australia at least be clever about it - maximise your usage of it when you have it for free in a hostel while you have it. The next campsite or hostel may not have it or may charge for it. If all else fails, bring a small laptop with you and buy the cheapest coffee in McDonalds and sit and use their free wifi (free all over Australia and normally for about 20 minutes).
10. Don't book things in advance. Why pay a deposit online for a hostel that you will stay in next week? Scared it will sell out? In the event of that type of thing ever happening, you'll have your tent and can offer to sleep in the garden for a $5, most hostels will take pity on you and let you sleep on their sofas anyway. Book as you go, and if its hostels go into the cheapest dorm.
11. Washing Clothes - Wear the same clothes again and again and hand wash them in sinks. I did this often in Australia. If you desperately need to use a washing machine - get a few cotton buds on sticks and place them into the coin slots in the laundry machines to get free laundry. Most of you reading will probably know this trick. A well known "secret" of travellers.
12. Fake student ID - Again things become cheaper when you pull out a student card. Nobody really cares if its fake or not. Give it a risk and save some dollars.
So all in all - get yourself to Australia and do it on the cheap. It really is a wonderful country to explore your way around. You will just love it.
Get out there and see Australia - what are you waiting for?
About the Author:
For more amazing advice on doing Australia on the cheap check out Jonny Blair's resourceful travel, work and lifestyle website Dont Stop Living.. Check here for free reprint license: How To Do Australia on the Cheap!.
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