Unlike many of the countries I’d travelled in before, Australia is different because of its first world status and high cost of living! Don’t let this deter you however, Australia is still a wild, beautiful and incredible place that is only expensive to travel in if you don’t know some good tricks to keeping costs down. Here are 9 great tips for backpacking Australia cheaply to get you started.
9. Find Free Wi-Fi Zones
When I first arrived Down Under I couldn’t believe everywhere was charging me to use wi-fi, including hostels where I’d paid to stay! Ever the budget-conscious traveller however, I quickly worked out that, instead of paying, I could simple head to the nearest library, which every town has, and log on for free, either via computers or my own device. Telstra Air is also a winner for free public hotspots in most towns and the last resort if nothing else was open? Maccas aka McDonalds! These folks are always good for free wi-fi if nothing else!
8. Shop at Markets
Supermarkets are expensive here, even for a basic shop, probably due to a lack of competition, so get down to the nearest market instead and bag yourself a cheap, load of veggies there. Australia love local and independent traders and almost all towns have a market full of them at least once a week. So go on, bag yourself a bargain and support the local community at the same time.
7. Use AU Flight App
This is such a great app for comparing the price of internal Australian flights. Given the size of the country, you’ll probably be getting on a plane to go somewhere else in Australia at least once during you trip, and this is the app to help you do that cheaply. The search includes budget airlines like Jetstar and Tiger, as well as regular airline carriers such as Quantas and Virgin, so you can easily gauge who offers you the best deal.
6. Explore National Parks
There are literally hundreds of national parks and state forests across Australia, most of which offer a wealth of free activities such as hiking, fishing, waterfall swimming and picnic-ing! Many also have basic, but wonderfully cheap, camping facilities that range in cost from free – $20 per night – perfect for star-gazing and when the budget gets tight. I’ve used the network right across the country and it’s a great way to start backpacking Australia cheaply and discover for the vastness of it all for yourself.
5. Get on Gumtree
As soon as you get to Australia, open an account and use Gumtree for everything – somewhere to stay, somewhere to work, someone to give you a lift and someone who can sell you, cheaply, whatever you need – from surfboards to cars. It’s the duct tape of travel Down Under!
4. Work on WWoofing
There’s no denying Australia can be an expensive country, so making it more affordable through volunteering in exchange for food and accommodation can be a great way to extend your time here. One such scheme is WWoofing, which stands for Willing Workers on Organic Farms. Just go to their website, pay a small annual fee and get a whole heap of resources including a book with a list of every registered farm host in the country. Farming in Australia can be a really good way of accessing remote and unusual areas that you wouldn’t see otherwise and it’s definitely a good way of backpacking Australia cheaply.
3. Don’t Eat Out
Wages are high in Australia, which means eating out, even in a café, can be an expensive business. It may sound obvious, but one of my best tips if you’re interested in backpacking Australia cheaply is to stick to home cooked meals. Visit the markets and build yourself a yummy picnic, or go to the supermarket and then head back to cook up a storm in your hostel kitchen.
2. Sort Out a Ride Share
Sure you can take the Greyhound like everybody else, but why not hop on coseats.com or join a relevant facebook group and score a cheaper, quicker rideshare instead. Hundreds of tourists and locals are always shuttling up and down the coast looking to share fuel costs and fun conversation, so be brave and give it a go – this is definitely the way forward if you’re trying your hand at backpacking Australia cheaply.
1. Start Relocating
The other equally brilliant, if not better, option for backpacking Australia cheaply is to starting looking for relocation deals. These are when hire car companies let you drive their vehicles between different for locations next to nothing – they’ll even normally throw in some fuel vouchers too! Look at getting some people onboard to share the costs of that with you and reduce your costs even more.
So those are my 9 great tips for backpacking Australia cheaply. Have you got any others to add? Let us know and we can share the budget travel love!
