Australia
Aussie RVers struggle with high fuel prices
By Gail Bennett

Road train petrol tankers are a frequent sight in the Australian Outback. They carry all sorts of freight but are not allowed to travel in cities or in most areas along the eastern seaboard. The normal size is three trailers but this one is five, the maximum size. This one has a whopping 85 tires.

Fuel prices are very topical and Australia is no different to the rest of the world with rising fuel prices. I recently read an article in RV Travel where it was mentioned fuel was $2.99USD a gallon – the cheapest seen for a while. Here on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia we are paying $1.30AUD per litre of unleaded petrol (gas). As there are 3.785 litres to the US gallon we are paying the equivalent of $4.92AUD/ gallon or $3.75USD/gallon.

Queensland though is the cheapest state for fuel in Australia. Sydney is currently $1.45AUD/litre ($4.19US/gallon) and outback Northern Territory is $1.80AUD/litre ($5.20USD/gallon).

A subscriber from Nanaimo in British Columbia, Canada, informs us the price for fuel in Canada is $1.13CAD/litre. This converts to $3.77USD/gallon so Canadian travellers are paying the same as Australians, and are not faring as well as their southern counterparts in the USA.

Most Australian motorhomes have a diesel engine. Feedback from one subscriber this week informs us that diesel was $2.03 AUD/litre ($5.86 USD/gallon) on the Nullarbor. As in the US there does not appear to be any light at the end of the tunnel for the near future and prices are expected to rise further.

How does all this affect our motorhoming lifestyle? When I traveled some years ago the price of diesel averaged $0.83 per litre. The highest we paid was $1.04 on the Nullarbor and the lowest was $0.63 in Brisbane. Our trip was 22,000 kms (13,750 miles) and the total cost of fuel was $4,630. Three years later we traveled again, although I do not have this same detail of prices, they were not much different. At today's prices only four years later fuel would cost $8,334. This is huge difference if you are planning a certain distance in a certain time frame – a trip “round the block” for your long service leave of about 12 weeks, for example.

The impact is lessened if you are a full-timer and do not have a time frame. You can stay where you are for longer, until the next payday. But for the pensioner there is only so much in the next pay packet so you may have to stay for yet another one.

Some full timers though are travelling on a time frame -- off to the next state to meet a new grandchild, off somewhere else to attend a family wedding or birthday. Some of these events are now being missed or people are leaving the motorhome at home to catch a plane for the family affairs.

Feedback from one subscriber tells that her travels have been slow recently but she has plans for a few big trips in the near future. From her point of view she does not think fuel costs should interrupt plans for travel – she may just stay over a little longer when she does travel. Others, that use their motorhomes for short trips are staying closer to home and not doing the big trips.

Unfortunately for others it is taking its toll and some are not travelling. As fuel prices increase so does the rest of the basic necessities of life – Australia is dependent on the trucking industry for most transport and this in turn has an impact on the cost of living.

Will anything change in the foreseeable future -- I doubt it. One way to lessen the effect on our lifestyle is to make our motorhomes more self sufficient. This way we can free camp (boondocking) more often and longer, offsetting the increasing cost of the fuel and therefore preserving our lifestyle. I, for one, do not intend to slow my plans for travel – I will just have to stay a little longer and enjoy the view.

For more articles on the motorhoming lifestyle and motorhoming in Australia subscribe to the Motorhoming Lifestyle Ezine at www.motorhominglifestyle.com.



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