I won't lie to you - Australia isn't cheap, but you can do it on a budget. I lived in Australia on a two-year working holiday visa, and between jobs I often went off for a bit of travelling. So, how much do you need to travel Australia for one month? I've split it into four sections - transport, accom, food and spending, to help calculate. This is the bare minimum, so perfect for budgeters.
Transport
This can range as you’ve got loads of ways of getting around Oz – trains, planes and automobiles, literally… and boats! I would say Greyhound is the best way to get up and down the East Coast (hop-on-hop-off Sydney to Cairns is around $650), and between Alice Springs and Darwin (I got this for $150 – way in advance). There are always cheap flights between most cities too (usually excluding Perth and Darwin) for about $90 one-way. I flew Brisbane to Cairns for that price, and also Adelaide to Melbourne.
In terms of public transport, I’d say set aside $40 a week (the average for unlimited travel on a travel card). Perth is a little isolated, so my friends did an epic road trip between Darwin and Perth, which I wish I’d gone on, and the average for a campervan per day is about $50. Take 10 days to do it and that would be around $500 (remember this could be divided between a few of you – for this, let’s say you're sharing between two people).
So per person for four weeks – and if you’re going to see practically everywhere in Australia – you should set aside around $1,570 AUD.
Accommodation
I lived in hostels for the majority of my time in Australia, and the average cost of a hostel per night is $25AUD (you get discounts if you stay in the same hostel for a week). If I terrified you with the thought of the transport cost, then let's just stick to staying in hostels - they're the most fun anyway. If you do the campervan thing, you won’t need to spend on hostels for those 10 days, so let's say you need 20 nights of hostel accommodation.
Per person for 20 days hostel: $500.
Food
Let’s say your hostel includes free breakfast (a lot of them do, or at least a free pancake morning) – and you can do a weekly shop for about $25. The great thing about hostels is they almost always have a half-decent kitchen for you to cook your own meals. Throw in a few brunches (maybe four) at around $12, and a few dinners (maybe ten) at around $20 and we’ll say that’s your food allocation.
Per person for 30 days food: $348. You can definitely easily go over this – I would. So if you want to have more money for food, I get ya.
Spending
This depends on how many places you’re going and exactly what you want to do. Attractions can cost big bucks, but things such as beach days are pretty much free. Let’s say that every week you want to visit 2 attractions at an average of $50 each, and the standard tours such as Whitsundays at around $400, Fraser Island at about $325 (or get a combo tour for about $650), diving at the Great Barrier Reef for around $160, and an Aussie Outback trip at around $400.
Per person spending money for 30 days: around $1,700 AUD.
Your budget for one month in Australia: $4118 (approx £2,500) maybe just round it up to an even $5000.
This is how much money you need to travel Australia for a month. But actually, this is the minimum you need in your bank when you go over to do a working-holiday visa - so, if you're under 31, why not consider it? It was one of the best things I've ever done. If you're just sticking to a month of gallivanting around the country, then this is the minimum you need - but you could very easily go over it. Especially if you're not about slumming it in a hostel.
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