How much money?

Old Jan 13th, 2003, 12:03 PM
  #1  
Lynn
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How much money?

We will be going to Cairns/PortDouglas for about three days and then to Sydney for three more nights. We will be buying most meals and do some sight seeing. We want to bring home some gifts. How much money should we plan on spending. We won't eat at the most expensive restaurants ! Our hotels are paid for. Any idea ???
 
Old Jan 13th, 2003, 04:00 PM
  #2  
Graeme
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How long is a piece of strng? Seriously,$US100 per couple per day should be plenty.I am sure they will let you spend more if you want to and you could get by on a bit less if you had to.
 
Old Jan 14th, 2003, 07:55 AM
  #3  
Lynn
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Sorry for the dumb question...but we have not travelled before and have no idea what to expect!! I thought this site was for information for travellers. That was all I wanted.
 
Old Jan 14th, 2003, 09:14 AM
  #4  
deb
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Hi, Lynn, When are you going to be in Port? We are there Easter Weekend ourselves! I have only visited Australia, (not a local) but my experience financially is , WHAT A BARGIN ! The exchange rate is pretty good right now. Has been better but, still good value. What I found is say, you put a $100AUD dinner on your card, when you get home the bill is waiting for you but it's only $65.00 approx. Not bad. Plus , things are not expensive there. A full day of ferry rides in The Rocks at Sydney Harbour(all day ticket) is only about $14.00AUD. Very cheap. Can take you anywere on the harbor you may want to visit. and there is alot of sightseeing on the Harbour. Gorgeous !!! Watsons Bay stop is fun for for fresh fish and chips at Doyles and the awsome views.

The souviner(sp) shops in the Rocks at Sydney harbor were VERY reasonable. Took home heaps of stuff for friends and didn't spend much at all, really !ie: polo shirt with logo for hubby was only around $25AUD .Which is somewhere around $15US. Meals, likewise, same prices as US but with the exchange rate, a very good deal. I found a trick of going to the Bank of American, you have to know someone with an account there if you don't have one. They have a currency converter 800 number, and you just call and give them an amount you want to take out of your acct, and in a few weeks a little brown envelope comes in the mail with your Australian Dollars in it. Its fun to spend $180 US and have them send you $300 in AUSSI dollars! Don't worry, you will have plenty of money to spend.At the last check, the exchange rate was pushing $59 to their 100. So with a few percentage points for conversion fees, think of around every $65 US you take, will give you $100 there!! Australia is definately at great vacations value for Americans. Have fun,
Deb
 
Old Jan 15th, 2003, 10:00 AM
  #5  
shannon
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Lynn,

This is a very subjective question and can be hard to answer.

We had days where we spent less than $50 bucks and days where we spent $300.

It all depends upon your activities, the cost of the meals and your tastes in gifts/souvenirs.

I didn't want junky stuff so I spent 125 US on a real Didjeridoo. I wanted a nice handpainted boomerang to match--that cost me about $30 US. Not to say that you can't buy the $5 US boomerang and be happy.

It was $25 AUD for fish and chips dinner at Watson's Bay restaurant at Sydney Harbor not including beer/drinks for 1 person.

But we ate a lot of times in the food courts in the basement/main floors of shopping areas or work buildings...for example there were a ton near the Sydney Hilton which is in the central business district...had lots of variety...asian, indian, deli, mcdonald's etc....pretzel stands, juice bars, ice cream. We could eat for $6 AUD and be stuffed.

These options weren't as plentiful when we stayed the 2nd half of our trip in Sydney at the Sheraton 4pts Darling Harbor.

Typical dinners at Italian restaurants ran approx 12-22 $AUD.

Figure about a 55% exchange rate.

full day tours were 100/pp AUD. fast boat jet rides in the harbor were $75 aud approx

couple of bucks here and there for the subway or monorail or ferries across the harbor

diving trip was $220AUD including 2 dives, fees, and that doesn't include tshirts, photos or videos...

YOU can get by really cheap if you don't need to rent a car, gas can be quite expensive because they use liters and i think it is around 3 liters to our gallon and the prices weren't that cheap....

GBR stuff is spread out so unless you plan to just hang out around your local hotel and don't need transportation you will save money there.


 
Old Jan 15th, 2003, 11:19 AM
  #6  
Rich
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Hi Lynn,
Exchange rates are pretty good at the moment, last year we guessed A$150 /day and carried a small amount of cash around $200 this lasted for ages, but we paid for most meals on credit card as the exchange rate is even better than using cash, as deb said when you get home its always less than you thought.
We came home without touching many T Cheques.
I don't know where you are coming from but if you live in the UK be aware when shipping home a Didgereedoo,the tax man will sting you for import tax about 3 weeks after the Didge arrives by courier.When I sent my childrens Didges back from Cairns the tax was more than the cost of 1 didge and shipping !
I would suggest for 6 days A$800-1000 will be more than enough.

Have fun

Rich
 
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