CARAVAN TASMANIA ON A BUDGET

Last updated on 7 January, 2020

Tasmania Round Up

It is hard to believe our time wayfaring around Tasmania is now over. What a time we had! visiting the areas of Launceston, the Tamar Valley, the North Coast, the West Coast, the Huon Valley, Hobart, the Tasman Peninsular, the East Coast, the North Midlands and the Highlands.

Below is our summary report outlining how we went on our $400 per week budget, the highlights of what we did and the places we visited.

Sarah Island Tasmania
Sarah Island, Tasmania

Our Stats

Duration: 105 Days = 15 weeks

Distance Travelled: 6018km total = 57km per day or 401km per week

Fuel Consumption: 19.5l per 100km

Cataract Gorge Launceston Tasmania
Cataract Gorge, Launceston Tasmania

Expense and Budget

Our weekly budget of $400 per week continued to be achievable for the most part as we travelled around Tasmania . Our actual expenditure as noted below ended up being $418 per week. This means we went over budget by $270 in total after 15 weeks. We are extremely happy with this given everything we were able to do and that we made a number of upgrades to and maintained our vehicle and caravan within our weekly budget as well.

Expenditure Breakdown

(All figures provided are rounded to the nearest dollar)

  • Groceries: $1735 total = $17 per day or $115 per week
  • Fuel: $1705 total = $16 per day or $114 per week
  • Car & Caravan Maintenance & Updates: $818 total = $8 per day or $55 per week
  • Entertainment & Tours: $561 total = $5 per day or $37 per week
  • Campground Fees: $304 total = $3 per day or $20 per week
  • Mobiles & Internet: $304 total = $3 per day or $20 per week
  • Odds & Sods: $259 total = $2 per day or $17 per week
  • Restaurants, Takeaway & Pubs: $187 total = $2 per day or $12 per week
  • Gas: $125 total = $1 per day or $8 per week
  • Golf Comp Fees: $73 total = $0.70 per day or $5 per week
  • Postage: $53 total = $0.50 per day or $4 per week
  • Showers: $48 total = $0.45 per day or $3 per week
  • Chemist: $40 total = $0.40 per day or $3 per week
  • Op Shops: $29 total = $0.30 per day or $2 per week
  • Laundry: $18 total = $0.20 per day or $1 per week
  • Dog Minding: $5
  • Parking: $3

 Total: $6268 total = $60 per day or $418 per week

Spirit of Tasmania

When traveling to Tasmania with your vehicle and caravan or camper trailer it is important to include the cost of the Spirit of Tasmania (SoT) as it is a significant cost. We paid $1645 for our return journey on SOT and have since learned this is very reasonable with others we met paying up to $3000. SoT Fees added an additional $16 per day or $110 per week to our Tasmanian trip making it our third highest expense.

Our expenses including the Spirit of Tasmania were: $7878 total = $75 per day or $525 per week.

Sunset Musselroe Bay Tasmania
Sunset, Musselroe Bay Tasmania

Other Expenses

Our other expense not included above is our kayak and PFDs we purchase while in Tasmania totalling $420 or our insurances, vehicle and caravan registrations.

It has also been noted in previous updates provided on our Facebook page that our expenses do not include alcohol. This is for two reasons i) we brought with us in our caravan a number of bottles and ii) while we like a drink we do not drink regularly.

Beaconsfield Tasmania
Beaconsfield, Tasmania

Car and Caravan Maintenance and Updates

Our Josephine (caravan) and Walter (vehicle) are getting on in age and with Tasmania being our first big leg of our wayfaring life it hardly surprised us that we ended up spending nearly $700 between the pair. We left home thinking there would likely be updates and upgrades we would want to do along the way as we settled into our life on the road and we were correct. In addition to this, they are our abode on the road and as with any home there is regular maintenance that needs to be done. Our view is, if we look after them then it is more likely they will look after us so we did what we needed to do to look after them. Our biggest expenditures on the pair were:

  • 250w Solar Panel
  • Car Roof Racks
  • Tyres x 2 (Caravan)
  • Tail Lights (Replacement) on Caravan
  • Rear Car Brakes
  • Oil
Wineglass Bay Freychinet National Park Tasmania
Wineglass Bay, Freychinet National Park Tasmania

What We Did In Tasmania

Caravanning and living on the road on a tight budget doesn’t mean there isn’t funds for sightseeing, entertainment and tours, what it does mean is we prioritise and select what truly interests us. All tolled we spent $561 on paid tours and entry fees. We also did a stack of activities that were free having great fun and making great memories along the way.

Paid Tours and Entries

  • Cascade Female Factory, Hobart
  • Charity Movie Night, Queenstown
  • Galley Museum, Queenstown
  • Gordon River Cruise, Strahan
  • MONA, Hobart
  • National Parks Vehicle Pass (60 days) used at:
    • Cradle Mountain, Cradle Mountain National Park
    • Wineglass Bay, Freychinet National Park
    • Eddystone Lighthouse & Mount William Summit Walk, Mount William National Park
    • Shipstern Bluff Walk, Cape Raoul National Park
  • Port Arthur Historical Site, Port Arthur
  • Pub in the Paddock, Pyengana
  • Tall Timbers Indoor Pool, Smithton
  • The Day on the Green, Relbia
  • The Ship That Never Was (Play), Strahan
  • The Wall, Derwent Bridge
Bay of Fires Tasmania
Bay of Fires, Tasmania

 What We Did for Free in Tasmania

There is so much to see and do in Tasmania that doesn’t require any money being spent. When traveling on a budget making the most of these activities and sightseeing is an easy way to keep your spending to a minimum while still enjoying and experiencing what Tasmania has to offer. Here’s some of what we did for free:

  • Beaconsfield Mine, Beaconsfield (outdoor display, museum was closed when we were there)
  • Bicheno Blowhole, Bicheno
  • Cataract Gorge, Launceston
  • Clarendon Estate, Nile
  • Convict Road Trail, Orford
  • Devils Kitchen, Eaglehawk Neck
  • Fishing (various sea or ocean locations)
  • Goat Island, Preservation Bay
  • Henty Dunes, Strahan
  • Hobart Waterfront, Hobart
  • Hollybank Forest Reserve
  • Horsetail Falls, Queenstown
  • Ironblow Lookout, Queenstown
  • Lilydale Falls Walk, Lilydale
  • Mickey’s Beach Track, Randalls Bay
  • Mount Arthur Track, Lilydale
  • Mount Paris Dam, Derby
  • Mount Wellington
  • Mural Walk, Sheffield
  • Philosphers Fall Walk, Waratah
  • Poatina Labyrinth, Poatina
  • QVMAG, Launceston
  • Ralph Falls, Ringarooma
  • Redbill Point Reserve, Beauty Point
  • Ross Historical Trail, Ross
  • Salamanca Markets, Hobart
  • Saltworks Conservation Reserve
  • Snug Falls Walk, Snug
  • Spray (Glow Worm) Tunnel, Zeehan
  • Steppes Sculptures
  • Table Cape Lighthouse and Lookout 
  • Tarkine Drive, North West Coast
  • Tasman Arch, Tasman Peninsular
  • Tasman Blowhole, Tasman Peninsular
  • Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
  • Tessellated Pathway, Tasman Peninsular
  • The Nut, Stanley
  • Topiary Walk, Railton
Sunset Pyengana Tasmania
Sunset, Pyengana Tasmania

Towns or Places We Stayed or Visited

In addition to the above we visited many towns along the way as well. Getting out, walking around or staying at campground in a town is a great way to see Tasmania especially on a budget. These are the places we did more than just drive through were – 

  • Ansons Bay
  • Arthur River
  • Bay of Fires
  • Beaconsfield
  • Beauty Point
  • Bellervie
  • Boat Harbour Beach
  • Bothwell
  • Bridport
  • Cambridge
  • Campbell Town
  • Coles Bay
  • Cressy
  • Cygnet
  • Deloraine
  • Derwent Bridge
  • Devonport
  • Eaglehawk Neck
  • Forth
  • Geeveston
  • George Town
  • Gordon
  • Hobart
  • Huonville
  • Kempton
  • Latrobe
  • Launceston
  • Ledgewood
  • Lilydale
  • Little Pine Lagoon
  • Little Swanport
  • Longford
  • Lowanna
  • Low Head
  • Macquarie Heads
  • Meander
  • Musselroe Bay
  • Nelson Bay
  • Nile
  • Orford
  • Ouse
  • Parrawe
  • Penguin
  • Poatina
  • Port Sorell
  • Preservation Bay
  • Primrose Sands
  • Pyengana
  • Roseberry
  • Queenstown
  • Railton
  • Randalls Bay
  • Reilba
  • Richmond
  • Ross
  • Scottsdale
  • Sheffield
  • Shelly Beach
  • Smithton
  • Snug
  • Stanley
  • St Helens and St Helens Point
  • St Marys
  • Strahan
  • Stormlea
  • Swansea
  • Table Cape
  • Tomahawk
  • Triabunna
  • Tullah
  • Ulverstone
  • Waratah
  • Westbury
  • Wynyard
Kayaking on Lake Leake Tasmania
Kayaking on Lake Leake Tasmania

 Kayaking

During our time at Boat Habour Beach we were fortunate to meet a couple who kindly let us use their kayak for a couple of hours. After this I was hooked and wanted one! It took a few weeks to find one which meet our needs including being able to fit all three of us (2 adults and a border collie), be within budget and be located for pick up somewhere we could get to. 

I love our kayak and look regularly for opportunities to use it. For us our kayak is a means for getting out on the water, keeping active and gives us something we can do (after the initial expense) for free. Places we kayaked in Tasmania were:

  • Ansons Bay & Inlet, Policemans Point
  • Boat Harbour Beach
  • Chain of Lagoons, Lagoons Beach
  • Lake Leake
  • Lisdillon Salt Work Conservation Area, Little Swanport
  • Little Pine Lagoon, Little Pine
  • Meander River, Deloraine
  • Musselroe Bay, Musselroe
  • Prosser Bay, Orford
  • Prosser River, Orford
  • Triabunna Estuary, Triabunna

 Golf

Daryl is a keen golfer and enjoys the chance to play in comps at different courses. He has found it is a great way to meet locals and find out some local knowledge. Unfortunately Daryl didn’t get to play as often he had hoped as too often comp days didn’t line up with when we were in a location. He did however get to play at:

  • Freychinet Golf Club
  • Geeveston Golf Club
  • Orford Golf Club
  • Stanley Golf Club
  • The Country Club (Launceston)
  • Ulverstone Golf Club
Policemans Point Campground Ansons Bay Tasmania
Policemans Point Campground, Ansons Bay Tasmania

Campgrounds

For a full list of the campgrounds we stayed at during our 15 weeks in Tasmania, including reviews and costs please see our article Updated: Camping Tasmania for an Average of $3 per Night. In this article we also discuss how we kept our camping fees down to $3 per night! using free and low cost campgrounds. Also it should be noted that because we are traveling with our border collie Chika the campgrounds were also dog friendly.

Clarendon Estate Nile Tasmania
Clarendon Estate, Nile Tasmania

Mobile and Internet

When traveling we like many others relied on access to internet especially on our phones. During our time in Tasmania we used Boost who use the Telstra network and found they were reliable and we had service anywhere a Telstra customer did. 

Other ways to save your mobile internet costs and data usage is to also use the free wifi available:

  • LiNC Services (Libraries) which is limited to 500mgb per day per device but is usually enough to do device updates, stream about 1.5 hrs of TV viewing on iView or download a few apps.
  • Tasmania Government Free Wifi which is located in the same areas as Telstra Air but you don’t have to be a Telstra customer. This free service is available for 30 minutes per day per location and can be used on any device with wifi capabilities. 
  • Telstra Air which is accessible to Telstra customers or customers whose providers use the Telstra network (so on Boost we were able to use it). We found this service could only be connected to our mobiles or device with a SIM card. 

It is important to know that there are many places across Tasmania outside of Hobart and Launceston where only the Telstra network is available and the Optus network is not available.

Our time in Tassie was fabulous and really is possible on a budget. While we have said our goodbye to the South Island we undoubtedly will visit again one day. 

We will be continuing our wayfaring life with a trek through eastern Victoria and NSW as we head back to Sydney to catch up with our family and friends for May 2018. After this we are heading to South Australia for at least 6 months. We would love it if you followed our blog or us on Facebook or Instagram. Thank you and safe travels. 


Originally written and published: 20 March 2018
Edited and republished: 12 December 2019

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