Off.road.rookies

Week 20
*late 🙃

Going from Cloncurry to Mount Isa to Four Ways to Gregory, and ending up in Doomadgee at a spur of the moment decision. The week did hit the finances hard! Between having access to take-out, a car and van service, and access to a Kmart in Isa 😣 Gregory was the most picturesque place! It felt dreamy waking up to the crystal clear water rushing right by the caravan door. Now we’re are at the polar opposite end of things tucked away behind 2m fencing in teacher housing. But still genuinely loving this time here too.

Accommodation $0- free camped the whole week thankfully, freeing up spending money for Red Rooster
Fuel $330- we did so well at Isa averaging $1.95p/l! And then got slammed with a $3p/l top up in Doomadgee.
Food $600- we splurged on allllll the luxury items at Coles and Woolies. I thought the week would end up saving us money having access to big grocery stores. But in reality we just got overexcited having access to all our homely options.
Take out 🫣 $270
Expenses $2400- $2100 was car & van service (a new starter motor included in that 😑), as well as gas for the van, and a few oils etc from Repco for us to tingle with ourselves. The rest was Kmart & bike tyres, as the prickles out here are NEXT LEVEL!

At least we can tick the services off the list of expenses 😮‍💨

Week 16
Officially 4 months in the van!
This week we moved quickly… Going from spending weeks at one location, to now jumping spots daily while I have no work along here. From Charleville, Tambo, Blackall, Lara Wetlands, Barcaldine, Ilfracombe, to Longreach. I feel like we’ve made a lot of ground, but not really had the chance to properly experience the towns. I won’t lie- we bypassed a lot of the paid activities. Especially in Longreach… Boy do they have a heavy price tag in Longreach! We really have to pace what experiences we do, looking ahead at what we want to do in upcoming towns.

Accommodation $250- Another night at Charleville campsite, and then Lara Wetlands absorbed the rest. Back to free camping again now.
Food $495- we splurged on a few drinks at the Tambo chicken races, and loaded up at the butcher in Charleville leaving us with a fair bit of meat leftover for this week 🤞🏼
Fuel $310- I didn’t think this was too bad for the distance covered! Averaging $2.40 Unleaded 95.
Spending- $470 🫣 my trip to the movie theatre, topping up on supplements to get winter ready, phone bill and the kids camp chairs.

We aren’t sure how quickly we will move on now. All determined by what work I pick up next…

Obviously you have to take a quick turn off the planned route when you see a sign for a look out…