After leaving Asia I’m readjusting my budget to deal with the shock of being back in Oz and NZ! Here’s how I’m getting on…!
After finally bouncing out of Asia after an amazing 4 months there I headed back Down Under to Australia where I headed straight to my favourite place on the planet – Byron Bay!
It was a huge shock to the system readjusting to Aussie prices after the budget friendly stint in Asia but it was good to be back amongst the waves in Oz!
After 2 weeks of enjoying the Bay I hopped over to New Zealand. Of courseI headed straight to Raglan to catch up with my little bro who I hadn’t seen for a few years and we’ve spent the last few weeks surfing some of the amazing waves here and generally chilling out and enjoying life!
It’s been a good month!
Anyway here’s my stats round up for February 2015;
Travel Breakdown
Overland Distance; 484.01km
Flight Distance; 2289.08km
Total Distance; 2,773.09km
Countries; Australia, New Zealand
Main Spots; Brisbane, Byron Bay, Auckland, Raglan
Transport Taken; plane, local bus, car, mini bus, surfboard
Flights – BNE-AKL (Emirates)
Money Breakdown
Australia – £443.58 over 15 days = £29.57 per day
New Zealand – £179.26 over 14 days = £12.80 per day
Total spent – £622.84 over 28 days = £22.24 per day
I’m pretty stoked to be keeping my budget under £30 which has been my personal target for Oz and NZ. My time in Raglan is massively helped by doing work for accommodation though, which has saved me about £10 a day on a camping pitch!
Cheapest Place – Raglan in New Zealand has been heaps cheap, mainly as I’m living in a tent and cooking all my meals alongside my bro and some of his buddies. I’ve slipped back into the simple eat, sleep, surf, repeat lifestyle I love which certainly cuts my budget right down as you can tell!
Most Expensive Place – Byron Bay was insanely expensive accommodation this time around as it’s peak season which kind of caught me off guard – most dorm rooms were from $40AUD a night! Crazy times! Given Taras lack of motivation to help me cook we ate out heaps too which upped my budget heaps…she’s expensive to have around!
Biggest Splurge/Unforeseen Expense – This month I did buy a surfboard for $650NZD (£325), although I haven’t included it in my budget as it’s not so travel related! I’ll probably get back most of that when I sell it on though which is good!
Highlight – Apart from surfing in Byron which always makes my highlights finally catching up with the little bro after 2 years apart is the massive highlight of the month, stoked to be sharing some waves and beers with him whilst I’m in New Zealand!
Lowlight – Nearly not getting to Oz! I stupidly forgot to sort my e-visa and was nearly denied boarding at Singapore Airport! Lucky for me they could put it through at the check in counter, it was a nerve wracking 20 minutes wait but I made it!haha! See even us travel pros make mistakes sometimes! ;)
Top Shot
Probably this self portrait of me going for a sunset surf in Raglan at Indicators. The perfect way to end any day is watching the glow of a setting sun from the ocean – my happy place!
What’s Next?
Well I haven’t divulged much of my future plans yet, but I’ve just finished off a blog post to go live later this week with my upcoming travel plans – but the bulk of March will be spent in New Zealand surfing before the next exciting chapter starts…I’m going to leave you in suspense though!haha!
Oh looking at this it is not as expensive as I thought! I was a bit put off as I would have only had a month in Aus and NZ and thought it would blow my budget so chose to stay in Asia! As it is pretty cheap I may give it a go Early next year, thanks for the info.
Loving the new lay out on the site :)
Hey Sally,
Keep in mind that I wasn’t paying for accom in NZ as I was working for accom – check out my Oz monthly budget for a better idea of what you’ll spend;
https://www.backpackerbanter.com/blog/budget-for-a-month-in-australia