30 January - a reflection on costs so far...

Overall, we have tried to combine stays so far in freedom camping and NZMCA member-only areas with 'proper' campsites every so often. It worked well and kept our costs down. We cooked almost every night and bought fresh produce from the road-side whenever we saw it (outside a poisoned area).













So far, we've spent 42 nights away from home and travelled just over 4,200kms. Our average costs totalled $12 per night per camping site in 25 different locations. The only other additional costs were food and washing. Fuel costs I'm yet to tally-up, but it all went on the discounted fuel cards, so shouldn't take long. The ute's fuel economy did approx 16l per 100kms overall. The trick with the fuel cards is to use the national rate when in South Island - so get the discount off the average costs nationwide - not the pump price which in South Island can be as much as 50c more expensive per litre! That's NOT funny when you're doing the kind of mileage we are! 

I think our next trip is likely to be less than that. Next update soon with photos to follow...