While many Australians automatically think to travel Australia would cost too much, I’m going to share with you how much we spent on our two month van trip with Star RV motorhomes. I wrote down all of our fuel stops, how much campsites cost us and so much more. So, if you’re unsure how much it will cost you to do an Australian road trip of a lifetime, here’s my honest insights for what we paid.
| Get 10% off when hiring a Star RV van with our promo code: LIS10 |
Why we drove a Star RV motorhome around Australia
We drove the Polaris 6 by Star RV on our road trip which is the sister company to JUCY the camper van and car hire company.
If you’re wondering why we didn’t outright buy a camper van or motorhome, you know we did consider it. To be honest, it’s been on our list for years to invest in one, but when we thought about it, the reality set in and we wondered what we’d do if our van broke down in the middle of nowhere (trust me we did see this happen to other people).
With Star RV, we knew we didn’t have to worry about breaking down or having any problems with it.
They have a 24 hour phone service and the only time we had to call them was about a chipped windscreen (it happens all the time when you’re driving on the outback roads). We’ve also seen many people who have had to stay in random towns for weeks to get their vans fixed and we didn’t have all the time in the world to dedicate to that happening.
We loved how modern the Star RV vans are. They cater for couples, families and friends as their motorhomes fit up to six people (we even had our own beds!). It was honestly a dream being able to drive one of these vans and we’d 100% do another road trip with them again!
Check out my full review for What my Experience was Like Driving 15,000km Around Australia in a Star RV Motorhome.
What route did we do?
We ended up driving 15,000km from Perth to Esperance in South Western Australia, then up to Broome, over to Darwin and down to Adelaide and we didn’t have one problem with our van at all. We did all of this in two months which really wasn’t enough time and we wish we had longer to spend on the road.
Having never done a van trip to this extent before, we didn’t realise how much time is needed to put aside for driving (you’ll be driving slower than you would in a car) as well as packing up every time you drive anywhere. This means putting everything away so it doesn’t fly out of cupboards which have been left open.
But, we decided on this route because we have extensively travelled up and down the East Coast and WA, NT and SA were three states we hadn’t done together. I had seen parts of WA and NT before when I was a backpacker, but this time we wanted to explore more of Australia, get off the beaten track and connect with the country more.
We flew from Brisbane to Perth and picked up the van at the branch there. We then dropped it off in Adelaide and flew back home from there.
If you’re interested to learn more about the amazing Australia road trip itineraries you could do with Star RV, check out my guide 10 Perfect Australia Road Trip Itineraries When Driving a Star RV Motorhome which includes loads of hidden gems that even most Australians haven’t heard of. Think wild swimming holes, amazing national parks and so much more.
What our experience was like
To be honest, I don’t think anything could have prepared us for what a massive adventure we took on and how huge Australia really is. I think when you travel the East Coast, there’s always towns to stop by and visit. When you travel WA and NT, the land is so vast, you realise how big a distance you’re travelling.
And while we have backpacked around the world together three times, I don’t think I have seen the amount of jaw dropping places in such a short time as I did on this trip.
There are so many insane landscapes and bucket list activities that it’s only now that I’m back from the trip that I’m able to process everything we saw and did.
It did take us a while to get into van life (well more so than we thought it would), just because it’s definitely not the same as backpacking, but when we had to say goodbye to our van, we were so so sad to leave. If you decide you’re keen to know more about my thoughts on van life, check out my guide, 15 Things No One Tells you About Van Life Australia.
How much we spent on our van trip to travel Australia
Please bare in mind that we did this trip during from 1 May – 1 July being mostly shoulder season when rates weren’t as expensive as they would have been during peak season in Western Australia and Northern Territory.
Cost of camping
Now, we could have easily cut back on camping costs and stay at free camps using Wiki Camps but we literally only stayed in one or two on our trip. I think if we were van tripping for longer, we would have spent more time at free camps.
The only free camp we stayed at was at Mary Pool between Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing. Someone in Broome told me about this free camp and considering she had been on the road for four years with her family, she told us not to stay in the two towns because they weren’t very safe. And to be honest, I have to agree with her. It was our first proper eye opener seeing a town in the middle of the Kimberley with every building with cages on them to prevent anyone breaking in.
We rarely pre-booked any campsite, with Lucky Bay being the only one we booked a few days out. We would book sites on the day we travelled. We didn’t pay for Ayers Rock Campground as we were working with Uluru so we would have pre-booked this one way in advance as it’s the only campground next to the the national park.
The most expensive campsite we stayed in Lake Argyle Tourist Park (pictured above) which cost us $80 per night for a powered site. To be honest, it is an amazing caravan park with the famous infinity pool overlooking the lake and totally worth it. I think if we paid for Ayers Rock Campground, it would have been more expensive.
The cheapest campground was at Ti Tree Caravan Park on the way to Alice Springs which cost $38. Most of the caravan parks in WA and NT charged around $40-$60 a night for a powered site.
We ended up spending $3000 for two months worth of camping. We mostly stayed in powered sites but sometimes had to stay in unpowered because of demand.
Cost of Fuel
We were worried how much we would end up spending on fuel because we had no idea how much it would cost to fill up a tank in a motorhome. But, the team at Star RV told us a great tip about how to save money on fuel. They told us to sit between 80-90km p/hr and we’d end up getting double the amount of kms out of the tank. And it worked! Our tank cost us around $130 to fill up and would last around 600kms.
We also learnt to use the pre-paid fuel pumps that were just outside of towns in Western Australia as they were always considerably cheaper than going to a petrol station.
I think the most expensive petrol station we came across was between Halls Creek and Kununurra which was $2.80 a litre. The petrol station between Alice Springs and Uluru I think may have been even more expensive as it’s the only petrol station between the two places.
One thing to know is to fill up every time you see a petrol station, especially if you’re driving in remote areas like in WA or NT. We stopped every single day to fill up and some days could be multiple times depending on the distance.
We ended up spending $3900 on petrol which took us 15,000km around Australia in 2 months.
| Get 10% off when hiring a Star RV van with our promo code: LIS10 |
Cost of food
We mainly shopped at Coles and stocked up, especially in places like Geraldton in WA where we knew we wouldn’t go to another Coles until we got to Broome. We did see one in Tom Price but we didn’t shop there. Be mindful that in remote areas the price of food can be crazy. We saw blueberries for $13 in Exmouth for example.
One thing we made sure is that we stocked up on loads of water. Although I know you want to keep the weight down in your motorhome, we made sure we always had at least 5 boxes of 10 litre spring water that we bought from Coles. We did this in case we had any problems on the road or if we got stuck anywhere. There are also some national park campgrounds like Lucky Bay and Dales Campground in Karijini that have zero water so you need to bring your own.
We didn’t keep tabs on food costs but we bought the same food we would usually buy at home (around $300 per week) and we only ate out literally about twice during the entire trip.
Food cost: Approx $2400
Cost of activities
Activities in Australia can be expensive! We had to be picky about what we did as you could easily spend a fortune on some of the bucket list things to do. While there were a few things you simply can’t miss like a Uluru helicopter ride or the Horizontal Falls in Broome, you will need to pick and choose which activities you want to do. We were fortunate to get a few activities discounted due to running this website which we mention below.
We spent $500 each on attempting to swim with whale sharks which we later learnt we should have done in Exmouth, not in Coral Bay. It was such a massive bucket list for us and was so disappointing to learn that Exmouth really is the only place to do it.
We also spent $500 each on a 2 hour scenic flight over The Bungle Bungles and Lake Argyle which was amazing and definitely worth it.
We reviewed a Horizontal Falls tour which would have cost us $1300 each which is expensive but it’s one of those once in a lifetime experiences that you really can’t miss. Would we have paid for it now we know what it was like? Absolutely.
We also did a Kakadu tour at a reduced rate which cost us about $1500 instead of double the rate. Technically we could have driven ourselves to Kakadu National Park (there wasn’t much information about whether you could do it in a motorhome, but since going we’ve realised you can) but I’m glad we did the tour as we learnt so much about the incredibly pristine and sublime national park. Honestly there is nothing like Kakadu in Australia, it is honestly the Africa of Australia.
We ended up spending $3500 on tours.
Cost of stuff we bought for the trip
We paid $400 for Star Link which was a god send for us to be able to work while on the road. We actually shipped it home so we can use it for our next road trip! A lot of places around Australia have really poor internet and although we could only use it when we stopped, it was definitely needed.
We also bought a few bits and bobs from Kmart as well as a cheap tarp (I wish we invested in a better one for the two months) as well.
And lastly our Jet Star flights cost $590 for both of us to Perth with 80kg of luggage (we bought a lot of tech equipment with us!) and about the same cost to get back to Brisbane from Adelaide.
Summary
While we could have easily got the cost down, we also had a few activities comped which saved us a lot. We could have easily cut the campsite cost in half or more and just stayed at free camps. We could have also got the miscellaneous costs down too.
So in total, this is how much we spent on our Australian road trip!
- Campgrounds: $3000
- Fuel: $3900
- Food: $2400
- Activities: $3500
- Misc: $7200 (flights, alcohol (Steve drank a fair bit of beer on the road), Star Link, any extras)
- Total: $20,000
If you’re thinking of visiting Australia and would love to embark on a road trip of a lifetime, make sure you check out the incredible Star RV vans, and use my code: LIS10 to get 10% off when booking.
Read our Australia van trip guides
If you’re thinking of embarking on a classic big lap or road trip around Australia, check out our van life guides to help you prepare.
- How Much My 2 Month Van Trip Cost With Star RV to Travel Australia
- 10 Perfect Australia Road Trip Itineraries When Driving a Star RV Motorhome
- 15 Things That No One Tells You About Van Life Australia
- What My Experience Was Like Driving 15,000km Around Australia in a Star RV Motorhome
- 10 Things to Know Before Hiring a Motorhome in Australia for the First Time with Star RV
