I am going to Australia and New Zealand for 12 weeks in total. How much spending money will i need?

Question

I estimate to have about £2500, will i struggle with this amount?

I intend to get bus passes to get around, such as Australian Greyhound, and NZ Kiwi experience -are these recommended?

I also expect i will be staying in hostels- hopefully in twin rooms if i can afford it with my friend.

We will be travelling Mid May to Cairns, and making our way down to Sydney by Greyhound bus.

We will then be flying from Sydney to Christchurch, NZ and travelling round South Island by bus.

I am mostly concerned about my budget, but if anyone has visited and has any reccomendations for places to go i would be very grateful!

:)

Thanks

Answer 1

Firstly, I assume that your airtickets from Sydney to NZ have been paid for but your stray/bus pass has not?

It will be a very tight budget, however, if you are willing to eat pot noodles a couple of nights a week (ie not paying for it) and you do not constantly spend money on the expensive tourist items  then you will be fine.

However, I do have a suggestion and that is, ask the hostel if they have a ‘work for bed’ system. You might be asked to do, say, 2 hours work for the bed in the hostel.

Please be aware that neither Australia or NZ is particularly “cheap” or at least not in comparison to South East Asia which a LOT of backpackers often seem surprised about.

Enjoy your trip. If you are careful about spending on some items you will have more cash for spending on others.

Answer 2

It will be very tight, particularly if your bus travel and airfare to NZ are to come out of your $5000. Get your bus passes before you leave home, and plan on staying in hostels for the entire trip. Once you get into the hostel scene, you will get plenty of ideas and recommendations from other travellers who are also on a tight budget. If you eat (and drink) frugally, you should be able to manage, but do make sure you have some source of emergency money if you run out of funds.

Answer 3

Thar converts to about $450 per week if you intend on partying lots it may not be enough.

But generally it would be a reasonable sum to work with.