Approximate cost for two-week trip to Australia for 2 adults, 1 child?
 

Hello,

I've been a frequent reader/poster on the Europe page, but this is my first visit to the Australia/Asia page.

I'm hoping to take my family (my wife and one child -- not sure how old she'll be when we go) to Australia in the next few years before she starts school.

Neither one of us has been to Australia, but we've been to Europe many times, so we're comfortable in flying long distances.

We're located in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I'm just starting to try to set aside money to budget for this type of trip.

We're reasonably frugal travelers, so we're not interested in luxury hotels. Nice chain hotels or B&Bs are of interest.

We'd likely hit the major cities, but we'd be interested in other places as well.

I realize flights and other prices will vary depending on the time of year we'd be going. I don't think we'd want to go in summertime in Australia. We'd be more interested in spring or fall.

Any information would be most welcome.

Thanks!
Tim

You question is very hard to answer because we don't know what your interests are and where you really want to go. If you want to sit in a cabin in a caravan park in a small town by the sea outside the big cities then the answer is about $200 per week - if you want to do some then that has to be added to. More information please.
To give you some idea though - if you were to spend that time in an apartment on the Gold Coast going along the waterways, eating at the clubs or cooking yourself and going to the theme parks then budget on about $500 Aust per week.

Liz is right - your question is difficult to answer. My husband is flying to Australia tonight and I'm joining him next week.

Airfare to Australia is not cheap. Ours is probably $2200 CAD each. However, I got really good seat sales within Australia. We're flying from Sydney to the Gold coast, then from Brisbane to Darwin, and then back to Sydney. Those 3 flights were just over $300 AUD - seemed like a real deal to me.

We've got a few days in Sydney, then we're going to Byron Bay, Noosa and Darwin. Our accommodation ranges from $98 AUD / night (Darwin) to $160 AUD (Coogee in Sydney). We're also "reasonably frugal" travellers, and I wasn't too happy paying $160 / night. We're visiting my mother-in-law in Sydney - she's in a very small apartment, so we wanted to get a hotel room instead of staying with her. (My husband will be spending a week with her before I arrive and we both think he'll be quite happy to move to a hotel when I get there!) There's not a lot of choice near her in terms of hotels.

I found that prices would have been lower in March, which was when we originally planned to travel. Unfortunately I had to change the dates because of my job, so it's costing us more.

I'm not sure what food will cost. I've heard recently from a co-worker that prices were slightly higher than Toronto prices. I guess that all depends on where you eat!

I think Liz's estimate of $500 AUD a week seems rather low for accommodation, food, entertainment, but again it all depends on what you're doing and when you're doing it.

Outside the ordinary considerations of what cost level of accommodations, food and entertainment you want, two things affect Australian travel costs: the time of year you go, and the international exchange rate. Obviously you can only control the former.

I spent four weeks this past Christmas into January with a group of 12 family and friends. When we started planning the trip (Feb. 2003), an Australian dollar would cost you about 55 cents. By the time we got there, it cost 75 to 80 cents. I see that it is still around 76 cents.

We went in the most expensive season, and had a large group staying only for short times (most 1 night, max 3). We stayed almost exclusively in B&Bs. They ran the gamut in price from $90 AU (Hervey Bay) to $165 AU (Eumundi - Sunshine Coast) for a couple in a double room. We were limited in choices because of the size of our group, since many B&Bs have only 2 or 3 rooms to let. And all the places we stayed had much lower rates in the "off" seasons.

Even so, we found the B&B costs well worth it. The hosts were universally gracious and helpful about sharing information on local attractions, and the facilities were always outstanding.

If you are looking at minimizing costs and don't mind roughing it a little, look at the accommodations in National Parks. We spent a night at Cape Hillsborough NP, on the ocean about 30 minutes north of Mackay. "Beach huts" that slept 4 ran $88 AU per night, and included hot water, linens, kitchens, a decent outdoor restaurant, a pool, and wallabies and assorted wildlife frolicking right in your backyard. It was a great place for kids.

If you're interested in B&Bs, some websites I found helpful in locating and booking appropriate ones are: www. babs.com.au, ozbnbdir.com, and ozstays.com.

I'll be happy to share more specific information on the ones we stayed at in: Gladstone; Hervey Bay; Eumundi; Ballandean; Macksville; and Forster/Tuncurry. While we did stay at the Sydney Harbour B&B, it was not one I'd recommend with a child along.

Karen

The cost of our last holiday.
5 nights. Victoria Aust to Gold Coast Qld. cheap fare with Virgin $79 each one way. Hire car Eurocar $320.
2 Nights on special b & b package Versace Hotel 6 star. $680. my xmas present!
Ferry to small Island $50. return. (Not on the usual tourist map & would not recommend )stayed in self contained house for 2 nights @ $120. per night. Last night a good deal through net. $186. dinner bed & breakfast fuel $56.(didn't drive very far) flights home $79. each. Total $1848. with only 1 dinner & three breakfasts. No entry into any tourist attraction.

Home for 2 nights then off to South Australia.

Melb to Adelaide $49 each on net special with virgin. Hire car Thrifty...one of the few which will allow Kangaroo Island. $365.
Overnight self contain cabin $120.(cont breakfast incl) Cape Jervis. Ferry to Kangaroo Island & return including hire car $268. @ nights in self contained house on Island $120 each night. 1. night on return Cape Jervis Station b & b $120. (full breakfast included.) 1. night McLaren Vale motel good rate on net $150. dinner bed & cont breakfast. Fuel $112. Total $1491. Not including entry into any tourist venue.

How quickly money fly's out of our fingers. Enjoy

Like I said in the first place - if you look around and check things out you can most certainly budget very nicely on $500 Aust per week i.e. I recently did a costing of a cabin at a holiday park ( 5 star ) for one week on the Gold Coast......$160. Say, family pass to Dreamworld for instance $100 , visit to Currumbin Bird sanctuary $30, trip to Carrara Markets ..... nil$ but buy some really nice things to eat. Free bus connections to other attractions i,e, evening outdoor market at Oasis Centre. Picnics on the beach $0 but for food, walks in the rain forest $0 The theme parks have free buses, there is no cost to go to the beach. Trip to Brisbane for the day for a family of 3 $50..... there's the budget and there's the week gone