Travel progress

(As at 1 September 2024)

 

 

Tasmania trip zoomed in

 

 

Stats for the First Year on the Road

(From 7 July 2023 to 6 July 2024)

 

The numbers are in for our first year, full time on the road.  The information below relates to the period from July 2023 to June 2024 and reflects some of the stats we kept during our trip.

We have visited all the states except for Western Australia.

We spent more than half our time in New South Wales and Tasmania. On average, we spent about 4 days per campsite. We stayed in 100 different camp sites in the year.

 

 

More than 65% of the time we were off grid, with no 240V power hookup.  We heavily relied on the battery system in the caravan.  The lowest our 400ah battery bank drop to, was 49%.  The amount of off-grid camping varied significantly amongst the states we visited.  The longest period off grid was 69-days, starting at Yarck in Victoria and ending at Port Lincoln in South Australia.

We were surprised how much the season and latitude impacted the solar.

More than 70% of our time in New South Wales was on powered sites.  We spend 32 nights plugged in at Woodenbong to catch up with friends and family and 31 days at Reflections Holiday Park in Coffs Harbour. The latter was paid by RACQ as part of a roadside assistance claim when we had issues with our car.

 

 

There were many different camping options available, but our preference was free or low-cost camping, where possible.  The availability of free camping depends on the area.  We were able to avoid paid Caravan Parks in more than 55% of cases and never got turned back at any free or low-cost camp. Tasmania, South Australia and remote Queensland were our favourites areas for off-grid camping.

Although Northern Territory has many free camps, the ones close to the major attractions, were very expensive.

 

 

In the year we travelled 28309 kilometres and used 4803 litres of diesel. On average, we travelled 77 kilometres per day.

 

 

We had an average fuel consumption of 16.96 litres/100km.  This included trips with and without the caravan.  The best consumption of 10.4 litres/100km was recorded in Sorel, Tasmania.  The worst consumption was 28.5 litres/100km and was at Burnie, also in Tasmania.

 

 

We filled up 73 times. In more remote areas we filled up where fuel was available, regardless of what we had in the tank. We got our cheapest fuel in Geelong, Victoria at $1.75. The most expensive fuel was in Kulgera, Northern Territory at $2.79.  Our average cost per litre was $2.02.

 

 

In addition to our normal budget, we kept a travel budget. Despite quite a few individual blow outs, we ended the year 9% under budget. The most significant saving was in camping cost. This can be attributed to the amount of free camping.  The fact that we travelled relatively slow, also contributed to the savings.

 

 

We visited more than 1100 places of interest during the year and had unforgettable experiences along the way.