Centrelink in its wisdom has decreed that a
single pensioner on a full pension can survive on $48 a day. Toss in rent
assistance and utilities allowances and we have the grand total of $60 a day.
But I have an extra stash. The Canadian government generously gives me a
monthly payment for the two years I worked there. By the time Canada takes its
tax and Australia factors it into my income, I now have the princely sum of $64
a day to fund my travel – which actually doesn’t sound too bad. For the moment I ignore the fact that I am
still paying my rent weekly, registration and insurances continue and regular
bills still drop into my letter box at home and I take my internet connection
with me. So $64 x 30 days = $1920 a month. I am happily underestimating
but I will take $600 off that for rent and home expenses so that leaves me
$1320. Divide that by 30 days and I have $44 a day – just about what Centrelink
thinks I need!
But I’ve been keeping
a travel diary and I know it is costing me about $2000 a month. Divide that by
30 and that tells me I am spending about $70 a day. I can manage that. I have a small allocated
pension from my superannuation that the government obligingly says I can keep for myself,
so in the short term, I can cover my travel at the rate I am spending. Well, I
think I can! I’m not much good at figures but I think I am under control. If
you are good with numbers, check out my reasoning and tell me if I have it
right – but not till I get home. I don’t want to get nervous about finances –
and it won’t change what I am doing and how I am doing it.
At home I can keep within a budget but it is a bit harder on
the road. There is no point in travelling and not being able to stop and see
things, and a lot of places have admission fees. Even if a donation is expected, you are told
what do donate – a gold coin, a small gold coin, a folded note. Travelling
alone also means I have to go out of my way sometimes to interact with people
or I’d go crazy. I am happy to have a coffee or stop for a light lunch just for
human contact. If I also eat breakfast and dinner and buy an occasional bottle
of wine and nibblies for happy hour, I may average up to $20 a day on food –
more than I’d spend at home but not unreasonable. It
costs $70 to fill the car with fuel. My one night at a motel cost $80. Caravan
parks average about $30. National parks and cheap sites are between $5 and
$15. Roadside stops are free – but often difficult to find one that seems safe,
especially on the mainland. Tasmania had more freebies.
Going back to my $70 a day, I have plenty of choices. I can
fill the car and drive a shortish distance, stay free on the side of the road or
in a reserve and eat for two days. I can stay in a caravan park for two days
and not move the car. I can stay cheap and eat for a few days if I am not
driving far. I can do a four hour drive which takes virtually a full tank of
fuel but neither sleep nor eat that day. There are lots of wonderful
combinations that I have already enjoyed and others that I may have experienced
without knowing it! Of course, it is not so cut and dried. Sometimes I spend a
couple of hundred dollars then nothing at all for days. $70 is just an average
but I thought the options were interesting. Who knows, the figures may even add
up!! I have often been told my logic is
flawed and I know my maths is questionable but I still have fuel in the car and
cash in my pocket. Seems okay to me!
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