15 - Summary for 2020

 

SUMMARY 2020

2020 was a year of new experiences for us and most other people around the world, the year of the covid-19 pandemic.

We had spent the best part of 2 years planning our activities for 2020. Our primary focus on our Canada based daughter’s wedding to take place near Toronto on the eastern side of Canada.

We had been provided with further inspiration from a lovely, like minded Canadian couple whom we had met in 2017 and spent time with during our Canadian adventure then.

Taylor and Ernie came up with a very agreeable plan for us to land at Vancouver on the western side of Canada and they would take us on a road trip around Canada over a period of about 6 months, including time spent with our daughter and her Canadian family. This was also to be a dream trip for Taylor and Ernie with further incentive from us to visit localities they had only dreamed about.

January 2020, we finalised all our required bookings, paying a substantial sum of money, committing to our planned time in Canada.

It was almost exactly one week later when the media announced the corona virus pandemic effecting the community in Wuhan, China.

By March, Australia went into lock-down mode, including the cancellation of flights in and out of Australia, trying to prevent the spread of covid-19 (corona virus) in the community. All of our 2020 plans suddenly evaporated or should we say were flushed down the per-verbal gurgle r. We were house bound for about three months only venturing out for food or medical reasons.

In our home state of South Australia, restrictions started to ease by June and we were permitted to travel around our own state, but adjoining state borders remained closed. Like many other people we were feeling the effects of limited movement and enjoyed time travel-ling with our caravan in the beautiful Flinders Ranges, located about 500 kilometres north from home. Freedom of movement felt wonderfully good.

With the opening of Northern Territory borders in July we headed north, leaving the cold winter conditions of southern Australia behind. Our target destination the warmer northern regions of Australia, about 3,000 kilometres up the road. There were still ongoing restrictions due to the effects of covid-19 consequences, though it felt good to be out and about providing a much need boost for our well-being.

Even with the disappointment of our daughters cancelled wedding due to the covid-19 pandemic, we still experienced many happy times in 2020. During our yearly travels (since 2013) we meet many nice people and for us 2020 was a year with some extraordinary lovely people experiences.

The below indication of our 2020 travel lifestyle costings include our February and June travels along with our extended travel time from July.

 

Our cost summary for 2020.

 

All costs have been rounded out to the nearest $100.

Days spent travelling              =                      183      down about 35% due to covid-19

Expenditure incurred whilst travelling, ~       $55 per day – (averaged out)

Kilometres travelled                                      15,000

Food expenditure       =                                  $2,500

Fuel expenditure         =                                  $3,900

Accommodation expenditure            =          $1,900

Other living expenditures       =                      $1,600

 

Our other incurred main travel expenses not included in above.

 New tyres for 4wd & Caravan                      $3,800             to hopefully last over 4-5 years

New oven & hot water service                     $3,100             hopefully to last for 20 years

 

We spent 57 nights in National Parks, 27 in caravan parks, 63 at free camping locations and 34 at showgrounds / low-cost camping areas.