July Expenses

Here in Australia we have finished off the month of July, while most of our readers are in Canada or the United States where they are just starting the last day of the month.

It is interesting for us to be able to show you that the costs to RV full time in Australia aren't much different than Canada or the United States. Our total expenses for the month of July came in at $2,113 CAD ($1,610 USD) and that included buying Ruth a new $752 CAD ($575 USD) laptop.

Beach kangaroos

Once again, we got up and started driving right away. We figure that it easily warms up in the cab, so we might as well do some driving to start the day. Then, by the time we park somewhere sunny, the camper warms up quickly as well.

But, we were out in a state forest area and we wanted to do a short hike and see a lookout before heading back into the town of Narooma.

Innovative ways to use scenes of Australia to decorate your home

New South Wales is a wonderful place. It has stunning wildlife, beautiful scenery and opportunities to enjoy all sorts of activities. In short, everything you can think of. Unsurprisingly, the area attracts a lot of tourists. Last year, they came in huge numbers numbers, over 100 million visitors.

Naturally, most of them took lots of photos. So, today, we thought we would take a look at some of the different ways tourists can use those images to decorate their homes.

Glad that we look after each other so well

Woke up and put the solar panel out right away to collect as much of that free electricity as we could. Gotta make hay when the sun is shining. Or if no hay, at least some electricity!

Across the bay, I was watching some people interested in something on the shore line. This harbor has a resident seal population, and they were watching them work their way up onto the rocks to enjoy the warmth of the sun.

No sunshine today, but we've had a good stretch of fantastic weather!

We didn't hear a single vehicle drive by us all night, just as we expected. We got up at daybreak though, and drove into the town of Tuross Head.

We found a fairly level parking spot, close to a public bathroom. The only thing it was missing was some sunshine, but we had woken up to overcast skies so the shade in our parking area didn't make much difference!

It's not that easy to find a free overnight spot, but we are pretty good at it!

The first stop of the day was the Congo Campground in Eurobodalla National Park. We had no intention of overnighting there, we just wanted to see if there were any trails to take advantage of.

It turned out that there wasn't much to see at that particular spot. And had we wanted to camp, it was going to cost $8.50 AUD per person. Not unrealistic, but there was no real reason for us to stay.

What's on the schedule for the rest of 2019?

I mentioned yesterday that it is almost August. That means there is only five months left to the year. But, a lot can be accomplished in five months. So I thought I would tell you what's on our schedule for the rest of this year.

Our Australia trip is coming to a close. We've been here for two months today!

Every nook and cranny along the way.

Hard to believe we are coming up on August and that we have been almost two months already exploring Australia in Bundy and Joyce.

We're getting close to Sydney, which is only 300 kms (180 miles) away now. So now that we're back on the coast, we've slowed right down and will explore every nook and cranny along the way.

"Dolphins.... there are dolphins in the river!"

It's a great free campsite here at Clyde River National Park, but the two available sites are both in all day shade. So when we woke up in the morning, we decided to head right away to the town of Bateman's Bay, only 8 kms (5 miles) away.

I was busy getting things ready to go, and I heard Ruth yell about something.

A quick tour of Australia's capital city, then back to the coast!

When we woke up, we hit the road right away. The winds had died down and it was fairly calm for the rest of the day.

We drove to the city of Canberra (pop 400,000), which is Australia's capital city. Many people would think that the capital of Australia is either Melbourne or Sydney, but they would be wrong. The same way that many people think that Toronto is the capital of Canada!

Vigorous, damaging winds.

We had seen the wind warnings this morning, and so with no dire need to go anywhere we figured we were better off to stay put. Anybody who has driven with an RV knows that gusty wind days are no fun for driving... so while we do see other RVs out on the roadway, we have no ambition to put ourselves through that.

And our new friends Ian and Kaye decided the same thing!

Well, that's enough of that!

We had a totally peaceful evening camped beside the river in Numeralla, and we slept well.

It wasn't even that cold when we went to bed, so we were somewhat surprised that we were able to see our breath when we woke up... and there was frost on the ceiling of the camper... yes, on the inside!

We are certainly not driving up into the snow!

Strange weather. When we went to bed Saturday night, the temperature had dropped like a rock, down to 2C (36F). We had even put our pajamas on! But by the time we woke up, it was 13C (55F). Not exactly warm by any means, but a lot better than when we went to bed.

We got up and did some driving right away. We had to go through a mountain pass area, which brought our elevation from essentially sea level to 1,000 meters (3,200 ft).

Change of plans... heading inland...

We had such a quiet night in the middle of nowhere! When we got up, our immediate destination was a waterfalls I had read about... it was only 6 kms (3.5 miles) away on a dirt track.

And it only took us a half an hour to do that distance! Yes, driving.

Whale sighting!

We got up and drove right away this morning... just to warm up! They have typically been calling for between 7C and 9C at night, and last night was no different. But when we woke up, it was only 2C (36F) and there was frost on the hood of the truck.

We're okay sleeping like that, but it's kinda chilly getting out of bed.

One of our first worthwhile Australian sunset photos!

Checkout from the "holiday park" was at 10:00am. FIRM. NO EXCEPTIONS, as we read when we had signed in.

That's a little early. I would have thought 11:00am or even noon made more sense. But, we knew the rules! So we were up at a half decent hour and getting things packed up.

Fortunately, if we were to slip and fall, the water was only about two feet deep!

There is a trail that goes around the lake here at Eden. Most of it is maintained, but there is a section of about  a kilometer (0.6 miles) where they haven't been able to negotiate with landowners enough to complete the circular route.

We did the trail the other day in the counterclockwise route, and had to negotiate our way through some private property. But we had seen a trail going in the clockwise direction that perhaps avoided that problem.

We have decided for sure that we will be selling our Australian RV...

The main reason we are here at the holiday park is because I had some internet work to do. I manage a group RV deals page on facebook, and of course we are in the middle of "Prime Days" with Amazon. So it's a busy time.

And, while I can run this group no matter where we are in the world, it is a little more inconvenient when we are in this part of the world.

Lots of jelly blubber in this area!

It seems we're into a stretch of decent weather. No rain in the forecast to speak of. Plus... we're on holiday, staying at a well equipped holiday RV park for 4 nights in a row.

They have a nice boardwalk that goes part way around the lake. So we went for a walk this morning, hoping to accomplish the entire loop.

We're on holiday for the next four nights!

We left the free Genoa Campground at around 10:30am and our route finally has us heading north. In Australia in the winter, most RVs are heading north because that's where the warmer weather is.

We didn't have far to travel though... we had our sights set of the town of Eden, and of course the Garden of Eden.

More beautiful coast photos...

Since we have been here, we have found that the winter overnight temperature in the southeastern Australia area usually goes down to around 7C (45F). But it can vary between 3C to 11C (37F to 52F).

When we are sleeping, we are fine... even if it gets down to the lower end of the scale.

But when it is time to get up... we don't want to!

A bit of a rant, and then a beautiful day!

We were camped Thursday night at Binn Beach Campground... a free, unserviced spot in the middle of nowhere with room for maybe four or five rigs.

After dark, some kind of van arrived. It was dark, so we never saw the people themselves. But they proceeded to set themselves up and they were no problem at all.

Until about 5:00 o'clock in the morning!

Deserted Australian beaches

Yes, we are having to put up with some cooler weather here in the south of Australia. But the benefit is that there is hardly anybody around. People in Canada and the U.S. head south in the winter. But here in Australia, they head north when things get cold!

So we don't find too many other people out exploring like we do.

Booked a trip to Ecuador!

Our travel schedule for the balance of this year had been pretty much full, but we had a gap of about three weeks in October where I was actively looking for something for us to do.

We are going to be in Ottawa for all of September and the first part of October, and our flight back to Austin, Texas to pick up our motorhome isn't until November 5th.

Spoiled with our own bathroom and electric hookup

We slept great at the 36 hour RV rest stop. It was chilly when we woke up though... we didn't want to get out of bed! And even though the sun was coming up, we were in an area shaded by lots of trees. So the most logical decision was to get up and drive.

Bundy the truck warms up quickly though.

$200 fine for camping by the riverside

We woke up at 7:00am, but stayed in bed until 7:30am... just to stay warm! Actually, it was the warmest night we've had for a while, but there was a pitter patter of rain on the roof, and when we did finally decide to get up, we got up and drove.

Not that far though...  to the small city of Bairnsdale (pop 15,000).

The Mexico RV Caravan group is chosen!

Yesterday morning, we spoke to the final couple applying to come with us to Mexico this coming 2019-2020 season.

And yesterday evening, we made the tortuous decisions involved with choosing which of the six parties would occupy the three vacant spots. It was so tough to do because any of them would have been fine for this trip!

Another great free camping spot, and a colorful sunset...

Another beautiful winter day here in Australia. Sunny blue skies, with a high of 18C (65F). Very comfortable. It's still a little chilly overnight at 3C (38F), but that's almost over with.

We chose to use the brand new shower facilities once again at Heyfield before leaving. Then, we pulled in to top up the fuel tank at the lowest diesel price we've seen yet... $1.36 AUD per liter ($1.25 CAD per liter, $3.60 USD per gallon).

A nice day with some chores accomplished

It's not all fun and games for us RV'ing here in Australia. We still have to get things done... cleaning, maintenance, that sort of thing!

And with another beautiful day in store for us, we decided to stay put and get some of these things done.

A detour to the town of Heyfield... an RV Friendly Town

We slept fine in the marina parking lot in Sale. Woke up to fog, but it quickly burned off to a nice blue sky morning.

We set the solar panel out to take advantage of the sun. And, we had the door open enjoying the fresh air of the morning.

A new laptop for Ruth

We got up early and drove right away into the small city of Sale (pop 15,000). We found a big, nearly empty parking lot by the marina and set up there. It was a nice sunny morning, so we put out the solar panel and let the battery catch some rays while we did some internet work.

Such a nice morning that we even had the door wide open!

Ruth needs a new laptop

Slept fine at the free RV parking area at Port Albert. We went for a walk around town in the morning, but by the time we were getting ready to leave, the wind was picking up.

And, they were calling for gusty winds all day. Nice bright blue skies, but gusty winds!

We're sure he thought we were lost!

We did the full month of June traveling in the camper here in Australia, and I posted our expense report earlier today. You can read it here...

https://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2019/07/a-month-in-camper-in-australia-june.html

This morning was July the 1st here in Australia. It's Canada Day! Except, it wasn't yet Canada Day in Canada! It won't be July the 1st until tomorrow in Canada.

Isn't it fun trying to wrap your head around all of this time change stuff?

A month in a camper in Australia... June Expenses

Well, we did pretty good. In fact, even though the grand total for the month is slightly higher than planned, our actual day to day living expenses here in Australia are pretty much right as we expected.

We spent a total of $2,175 CAD ($1,660 USD) for the month.

It's interesting, but most people told us prior to this trip to be aware that Australia is very expensive.