What did our Australia RV trip cost?

Yesterday, I received the insurance refund for the original flights that we had booked to Australia. If you remember, back in May Ruth was ill with a painful kidney infection and we ended up cancelling the original flights that we had booked.

So, the cancellation insurance did in fact cover all of our expenses for the part of the trip that we cancelled. It was also processed fairly quickly, but we didn't get the payment until we arrived back in Canada to pick up our mail.

Although the replacement tickets were more expensive, they also included the fact that we got to stop in Singapore for 3 nights, which we really enjoyed as well as an overnight in Bali, which gave us a taste of a country that I'm sure we will return to one day. Then on the return, we ended up with 3 nights in Hawaii which we would not have had with the original flights.

Before we could get there we had to buy Visas for Australia. Total cost for the two of us was $176.18 CAD.

Next, we had to actually get there. We flew Calgary to Singapore, Singapore to Bali, Bali to Adelaide. And on the return, we flew Sydney to Honolulu, and Honolulu to Saskatoon. Total cost for all of those flights for the two of us was $2,941 CAD. Quite a bit more expensive than what we originally had planned. But again, we got to do quite a few things that weren't in the original plan.

We had bought the Australia RV for $18,000 AUD.

But let me tell you the story of how that happened. The original asking price had been $25,000 AUD. I was prepared to pay $23,500 AUD when the owners got back to me saying that they needed to sell quickly and were willing to let it go for $18,000 AUD if they could make a quick deal. I had done the research and I knew this was a deal so we jumped on it.

We also put some repair and maintenance and upgrades into it during the time we used it, and when it came time for us to sell it, I asked $23,500 AUD firm, knowing that that is what I had been prepared to pay for it in the first place. And from the response I got, I should have been asking more. It sold to the first person who looked at it.

So, including all upgrade, repair and maintenance costs, licensing and transfer and insurance fees, exchange rate differences, and the original storage fees, we netted a profit of $2,345 CAD on the deal.

We put 4,500 kms (2,800 miles) on the rig and spent $893 CAD on fuel.

We spent $112 CAD on propane. This seems high, but it's because it was fairly chilly at night and we had to stay warm!

We spent $1,240 CAD on groceries.

We spent $323 CAD on miscellaneous stuff... cellular access, laundry... etc.

(We also bought Ruth a laptop while in Australia, but I am not including it here).

We spent $226 CAD on "entertainment" and this includes all meals out.

We spent $1,000 CAD on accommodation. But the vast majority of this figure was for our overnight stays in Singapore, Sydney, and Honolulu. In fact, while we were RV'ing, we only spent $141 during the whole two and a half months RVing in Australia.

From the time we left Canada May 19th to the time we arrived back in Canada August 23rd we had been gone for 96 days.

In total (including our airfare and our time in Singapore, Bali, and Hawaii) we spent $6,911. But, we made a profit of $2,345 on the sale of the RV.

So, our total cost for the trip was $4,566 CAD ($3,434 USD). Divided by 96 days, we spent $47 CAD ($36 USD) per day for the two of us. Yes, this also includes the flights and the RV!

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