34 - 2016 Summary

 

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.