2016 had been our most enjoyable time travelling since we had
commenced our grey nomad style journeys in 2013.
For us we seemed to have developed a substantial increase to
our relaxed state of mind, aided by the experience of encountering a huge amount
of outstanding scenery located in the top end of Australia. We experienced a
period of several months where the weather had been rather hot, which
contributed to the need of immersing our bodies into cooling waters in some
extraordinary beautiful inland locations. These key two contributing factors,
the superb scenery and dipping our bodies into what felt like holy fresh waters
worked together providing a relaxed state of mind where our bodies and senses cherished
these experiences.
There were other new encounters, attending a ballet performance
by the Queensland Ballet company, a bagpipe performance by the Royal Scots
Dragoon Guards which we ‘so’ enjoyed and climbing the iconic Sydney Harbour
Bridge.
Our end of year analysis showed we could / should continue
with the ‘Grey Nomad’ lifestyle with consideration of increasing the time frame
travelling from our present level of around 9 months a year.
Of interest one of our analyses for 2016 showed that we had spent
time in every Australian main land state this year with the exception of
missing out on Tasmania and that was without ‘doing the lap’. Another one of our analyses revealed it had taken
us the best part of 4 years to travel to the locations of the more recognised
Australian scenic highlights we hadn’t previously visited.
Our thoughts then turned to “how much time” would be
required to explore all the other beautiful non-publicised locations around
Australia we would love to experience? Would 10 or 15 years be enough? What a
great question and something to look forward to.
Our
cost summary for 2016.
As a work in progress we are changing our
presentation of costs incurred holidaying, travelling Australia in our caravan,
just a little.
All costs have been rounded out to the
nearest $100.
Days
spent travelling = 239
Kilometres travelled 20,500
Food expenditure = $4500
Fuel expenditure = $4800
Accommodation expenditure = $3500
Other living expenditures = $9400
Tow
Tug costs – including
yearly registration
Insurance,
maintenance costs
Including
$2300 for new tyres $6800
Caravan costs – including yearly registration
Insurance,
maintenance costs
Including
$1800 of new batteries $4700
We
spent 83 nights in National Parks, 46 in caravan parks, 84 at free camping
locations and 23 at showgrounds / low cost camping areas.
The average expenditure incurred
whilst travelling, ~ $77 per day.
The average daily expenditure does not
include
tow tug or caravan costs.
2017 will be a very different year
for us with planning for 2017 taking place during most of 2016. 2017 will be an
overseas experience with continued thoughts and planning for our future travels
and what would be most beneficial for our well-being during our retirement
years.
