Estimates on Expenditure during travel

When checked against American and the Western Europe standards, Australia is an affordable destination. On the other hand if you compare it to the Southeast Asia, you will find that it is definitely not a budget holiday destination. Most of the money is usually spent on transport as well as accommodation. For a traveller who has a middle range in terms of spending a day’s budget will be around 110 dollars to 160 dollars per person. This amount includes car hire, sight seeing, hotel or motel accommodation and good food. However if you are staying in the cities you would have to revise that figure upwards by 50 dollars but revise it downwards if staying  in areas that are less toured.

The other thing that can inflate or reduce ones budget is the means of transport that is used. A 4WD would be expensive to use because of the fuel consumption. A 2WD is more wallet- friendly but it is even cheaper to use public transport.

For those travelling with children there are many ways of keeping them entertained without necessarily spending much. For example you can take them to beach for some swimming, go for park visits, take them to camping grounds and book them in motels that have various kids’ attractions.

Travel can further be made cheaper by staying in hostels or by camping. You can prepare meals on your own, minimize on entertainment as much as possible and use public means of transport. In this way you’ll find that you can get by spending around 70 to 80 dollars a day.  However around 100 dollars a day can enable you to have a nice time.


Information on Money

Exchanging money or travellers’ cheques is quite easy in Australia. Banks in all of Australia and licensed money changers in cities and big towns offer these services


Travellers’ cheques

Nowadays travellers’ cheques are not used as often as they were in the recent past. Debit and credit cards that are internationally linked have become popular owing to the convenience of using them. All the same some international brands of travellers’ cheques such as Amex can be easily exchanged. In Australia there are no restrictions on the exporting or the importing of travellers’ cheques


Taxes

The tax levied on goods and services (Goods and Services Tax) is usually a flat of 10% for all goods and services such as transport, accommodation, furniture, and clothing among other things. However basic food such as milk and bread, fruits and vegetables are exempted from this tax. The law requires that the tax be included in the shelf prices. Air as well as sea travel that is international is free from this tax. Also, domestic flights purchased by non residents outside Australia are exempted from this tax.


Tax refunds

When 300 dollars is spent in the purchase of either new or second hand goods from a single supplier in 30 days before leaving Australia, the Tourist Refund Scheme entitles you to a refund of any Goods and Services Tax or Wine equalization Tax (WET) that has bee paid. Not all goods qualify for this scheme. Those that benefit from it must be worn or taken in as hand luggage into the ship or plane. The refund also applies to goods that have been bought from different suppliers provided that from each at least 300 dollars has been spent. Further information can be sourced online.