Four weeks in Australia left my hair sun-bleached, both our pasty skins less pasty (I would even go so far as to say we got a slight tan), and our wallets much lighter, if not our tummies.

But how much did we actually spend?

Note: To get an accurate approximation of how much in USD we spent, I used the exchange rate that our cards gave us on the day on or nearest to the date that any cash purchase was made.

G’day, Oz!

February-March: US$3,547.80/28 days ≈ US$126.71 /day

Transportation: US$1,119.19

Accommodation: US$722.32

Food: US$683.92

Adventure/sightseeing: US$632.43

Miscellaneous: US$389.94

Remember, this is TOTAL, for both of us, not per person! Considering this includes three flights (NZ -> Melbourne, Melbourne -> Sydney, and Sydney -> Cairns); a photo-op with Cairns’ most adorable koala, Charlie; tickets to see Eddie Izzard’s Force Majeure in Melbourne (and yes, that IS Jeff wearing his “I’m Jeff Vader” shirt in our photo with Charlie); lots of eating out; accommodation snafus; and an all-inclusive day-trip to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, we didn’t do too bad!

Grand Total So far: US$7,820.69 (New Zealand) + US$3,547.80 (Australia) = US$11,368.49

Divide that by 116 days of travel, and we come out at almost exactly US$98 per day for both of us, which fits perfectly under our goal of US$50 per person per day! Outside of Europe, New Zealand and Australia are two of the most expensive countries to travel to, so being able to stick to our budget (and even beat it by a hair) is something we’re pretty proud of.

Of course, after Australia is Japan, another one of the world’s most expensive countries… I wonder if our budget will withstand three solid months of daily all-you-can-eat sushi*?