garyp

How much spending money could i get by on for a reccie to queensland 3 weeks for a family of 4 and spending sensibly?
gary

fairwayskid

Hey Gary

We just came back and spent about $5k for three weeks including accommodation and car rental for the three weeks so all in all not to bad. We are also a family of four. We traveled from the sunshine coast down to the gold coast and had accommodation in both also bought a sat nav . We spent a hell of alot less than we thought we would.

If you need any more info PM me

Paddy

phat-dave

$5k in three weeks???? $240/day for a family of four including meals and accommodation - no offense but that is rubbish.



edit: I just read your other thread about starting in Brisbane and travelling up to Cairns - This is a fantastic trip. I recently completed this trip with my fiance and did 13 days via car.

We went Brisbane to Bundaberg - 4.5 hours
Then onto Mackay - about 8 hours
Then into Cairns - 9.5 hours

While in Cairns we went further north to Cape Tribulation, The Daintree, Port Douglas and surrounding areas. We are Australian so probably didn't do too many "touristy" things but certainly enjoyed what North Queensland provides.

On the way home we travelled:

Cairns to Townsville - 4 hours
Townsville to Yeppoon - 9 hours
Yeppoon back to Brisbane - 9 hours

We spent a little over $9k for the two of us and didn't stay in any absoultely amazing 5 star places or eat too extravagantly.

Pollyana

They reckon they did it, so I guess they know how much they spent!

asprilla

$9k over 13days? what did you spend the money on?!!

bcworld

$700/day!

Ummmmmmm.

phat-dave

We're talking about tourist destinations - unfortunately they are expensive.

I don't have the receipts with me however from memory:

7 tanks of petrol = $450
13 days of hire vehicle @ $59/day ($767)
accommodation at trinity beach (cairns beaches) was 4 x $250 ($1050)
accommodation at port douglas was 3 x $290 ($870)
accommodation along the way in cheap motels was approx $130/night (650 ish)
cairns skyrail with kuranda+aboriginal tour = $134x2 ($268)
crocodile farm = $65x2 ($130)
cape tribulation/daintree tour = $150x2 ($300)
hot air balloon tour over atherton tablelands = $175x2 ($350)
whitewater rafting - $59x2 ($120ish)
game of golf at port douglas = $120x2 ($240)
tour out to great barrier reef with snorkling and island hopping = $149x2 ($300)
breakfast/lunch/dinner/drinks inc alcohol approx $150x2/day ($3900)

roughly $9000.

Tourism and hospitality is the major industry in North Queensland and they charge like a wounded bull. This is why so many Australian's holiday overseas instead of in our own country, it's cheaper to do a week or two in Fiji, Thailand, New Zealand etc than it is in our own state!

bcworld

Well you clearly went all out if you look at the range of activities you did!

I'm curious what you got for those hotel prices in Port Douglas and Trinity Beach if you're saying they weren't all 5*. Likewise $150 per person per day for eating out is pretty extravagant I'd say. You'd have to spend $20 on brekkie, $30 on lunch, $50 on dinner + $50 on grog every day, each!!??

I'm sure it's perfectly possible to manage on $5k for a family for 3 weeks if they do some self catering and make the most of free activities.

Take your point about holidaying at home being expensive though.....flights to Malaysia anyone....under $300!

phat-dave

maybe its an age/generation thing - we're in our mid twenties so the eating out/drinking doesnt seem extravagant? youre right with the pricing on meals etc but lets break that down a bit.... (conservatively)

brekkie = bacon & eggs + glass of oj = $15 or eggs benedict & juice for $20
lunch = chicken or steak burger roughly $15 plus a soft drink $3.5 or beer $7
dinner = $15-20 for a starter and $40 for a main - cocktail for the lady $15-20, beer for me $7 and a bottle of wine with dinner = $40 (very cheap bottle)

plus whatever bottles of water/soft drinks here and there you may get while doing your various activities throughout the day - i'd consider that quite conservative and theres approx $200 odd spent already!

and as for going all out on the activities, not really - there is only 4 days of actual activities, the rest was just lounging around relaxing. theyre generally broken up by morning/afternoon etc.

south east asia is definitely cheap - we have also returned from a fortnight trip in phuket and did more activities, shopped and basically lived like kings for less than we spent in cairns!

perhaps ive missed the point of a reccie - i thought you wanted to tour queensland to get an idea of whether its the place you want to be. holding back and penny pinching isnt part of experiencing the lifestyle.

i honestly do believe that $5k for three weeks is unrealistic if you really want to experience the lifestyle. if youve got kids, i cant understand how you could do it this cheap. (admitedly i dont have kids myself)

taylor25

well our accomodation for 1 month was over $9000!!! (luckily parents paid as they came with us)

Probably near enough the same on food, drink and bits and bobs ( yes $9000 but again it was more a holiday for parents, so we was eating out in expensive resturants in sydney for lunch and dinner, so about $300plus just for evening meal)

This doesnt incluse the 6 months upfront my parents paid for our rent and bond ($13,000) or all the furniture we bought (we came with nothing but clothes and our dds toys..lol)

Forgot about car hire also

Obvisously ours was a straight move though, not a reccie. Am sure you can do it cheaper if you want to. although i do agree with phat dave, that $5 for 3 weeks in unrealistic!

kelly

taylor25

this is the place we stayed, nothing out of this world for what we was paying!
http://www.rent-a-home.com.au/accomm...hotdealid=3099

Also the lady who owned it was very unprofessional, after paying $9000 by wire transfer, she tells us that her daughter booked it also for the first 4 days and so she had to arrange for us to stay somewhere else (at her expense)

She was ringing and emailing every other day, she had the cheek to call my mum and tell her that she forget it was mardi gras and because it was her mistake she couldnt force us to pay the extra for that week, but would we please consider paying it..lol (she wanted an extra $1000 for that week!!!) we obviously said no!!

Then my mum went to meet a week after we left to get our 2000 dollar bond back, she asked again if my mum would pay the extra 1000, she then only had so much on her and the rest eventually got paid in to our account weeks later....total hash up..lol

garyp

thanks for replies everyone.

caliburn

I just came back from a validation trip to Sydney. My hunch is that you should be able to do it for $6,000 comfortably.

Pollyana

I guess it shows the range that you can spend, depending on how much cash you have available

ray2gill

If you stay in the caravan parks like Big4 you can have a 5 berth cabin for $150 per night tops. We spent between £72 & £150 depending where we were and what the facilities were. Most have swimming pools and internet connections.

These are ensuite cabins. If you do a search for Big4 and then locations you wish to stay at you can look up the sites and what the costs are. We are just a couple but all the cabins we stayed in catered for a minimum of 4 - 6 people.

They are self catering so you can keep you food cost down to what you want.
We bought a small cool bag on arrival to keep butter, milk etc in when travelling from one place to another.