The kind of sign you might think is a joke, if you hadn't travelled around Australia by car. They have them for 'last fuel for 240km' or watch for animals for the next however many kms too.
For those of your that don't think they're real...
... this is the one we spotted in Cobar, on our way to Broken Hill!
So it is a thing.
On our journey to Uluru and around South Australia, we actually expected this to pop up more than it did. We have a 110 litre long range fuel tank, and we always carried a full 20 litre jerry can as well, just in case. We also decided right at the beginning of the trip that we would stop at every fuel stop and top up, because we didn't want to get caught out!
I suppose if we had travelled these roads 20 or 30 years ago, we might have had to worry about such a thing, but we found that now there is not so much need to.
It is very important to note that we drove on well travelled, sealed roads a lot of the time for the Uluru-Flinders Ranges trip. The only time we were a little concerned about fuel was on the Oodnadatta Track, where people and towns and shops were few and far between. If you are travelling on the roads less travelled, especially in the Outback and very rural Australia, this should always be a concern!
On the trip where we made it to Uluru, I kept a note of all of our fuel stops that we made - the cost per litre, where we were and how far we traveled. This means that I can actually tell you how much to budget for fuel on a trip similar to the one we did!
I will keep this kind of log for all of our trips, so as I go along, I can update my Ultimate Guide (coming soon!) as we travel different roads around Australia :).
So. How much should you budget for fuel for a 14 day trip to King's Canyon, Uluru, Alice Springs and the Flinders Ranges, starting and ending in Sydney?
The short answer: 7600km used 999.24 litres of fuel, which cost us $1535.86. We got around 13L per 100km on this trip.
There are, of course, SO many variables here. Are you travelling the same roads as us? Is it really hot? What model car do you have? How loaded up is your car? Is your vehicle running optimally? How are petrol prices at the moment? I could go on.
We drive a 2000 (I think) Holden Rodeo; it's part time 4WD, 6 cylinder engine with all terrain tyres; also with a canopy, roof cage, and I think we would have weighed close to 3 tonnes on this trip! We also know for sure that the engine/cooling system isn't in the greatest of conditions - although we had patched it up since the last time (see our practice Uluru trip here).
We stopped in all of these places for fuel, over the course of 14 days.
And at the time of travel, the prices at each of these looked like the below - I have named the petrol station we used if I noted it down :)
April 2017 - important to note that we were travelling over Easter and in school holidays.
(all prices in cents)
- Caltex Pendle Hill: 139.9
- BP Dubbo West: 134.9
- Inland Cobar: 135.9
- Peterborough, SA: 126.9
- Puma, Port Augusta: 125.9
- Spuds, Pimba: 155.9
- Marla Roadhouse: 165.9
- Kulgara Roadhouse: 177.9
- King's Canyon: 210.9
- Ayers Rock: 192.8
- Puma, Alice Springs: 156.9
- Marla Roadhouse: 165.9
- Shell, Coober Pedy: 149.9
- Marree, SA: 180
- Hawker, SA: 141.9
- Caltex, Gladstone: 127.9
- OTR, Renmark: 128.9
- Caltex, Hay South: 131.9
- Coles, Wagga Wagga: 136.9
So our cheapest fuel was in Port Augusta, in South Australia, and then once we started heading up towards the Northern Territory, the price just escalated! The most expensive was King's Canyon, with Ayer's Rock just behind that.
That is to be expected though - that fuel prices will jump up the more rural you go; I also wouldn't guarantee the quality of the fuel the more remote you are either. We didn't have any issues in that department, but it is something to be aware of.
With 19 fuel stops, the average price of fuel was 151.95c. The price of fuel around Australia jumps up and down randomly all the time, but this is a fairly good average to budget with, expecting it to be a touch less in large cities, and more in remote towns.
I hope you find this a helpful guide to fuel!
Join me next week when I chat about Wikicamps :)
Hx
So. How much should you budget for fuel for a 14 day trip to King's Canyon, Uluru, Alice Springs and the Flinders Ranges, starting and ending in Sydney?
The short answer: 7600km used 999.24 litres of fuel, which cost us $1535.86. We got around 13L per 100km on this trip.
There are, of course, SO many variables here. Are you travelling the same roads as us? Is it really hot? What model car do you have? How loaded up is your car? Is your vehicle running optimally? How are petrol prices at the moment? I could go on.
We drive a 2000 (I think) Holden Rodeo; it's part time 4WD, 6 cylinder engine with all terrain tyres; also with a canopy, roof cage, and I think we would have weighed close to 3 tonnes on this trip! We also know for sure that the engine/cooling system isn't in the greatest of conditions - although we had patched it up since the last time (see our practice Uluru trip here).
We stopped in all of these places for fuel, over the course of 14 days.
And at the time of travel, the prices at each of these looked like the below - I have named the petrol station we used if I noted it down :)
April 2017 - important to note that we were travelling over Easter and in school holidays.
(all prices in cents)
- Caltex Pendle Hill: 139.9
- BP Dubbo West: 134.9
- Inland Cobar: 135.9
- Peterborough, SA: 126.9
- Puma, Port Augusta: 125.9
- Spuds, Pimba: 155.9
- Marla Roadhouse: 165.9
- Kulgara Roadhouse: 177.9
- King's Canyon: 210.9
- Ayers Rock: 192.8
- Puma, Alice Springs: 156.9
- Marla Roadhouse: 165.9
- Shell, Coober Pedy: 149.9
- Marree, SA: 180
- Hawker, SA: 141.9
- Caltex, Gladstone: 127.9
- OTR, Renmark: 128.9
- Caltex, Hay South: 131.9
- Coles, Wagga Wagga: 136.9
So our cheapest fuel was in Port Augusta, in South Australia, and then once we started heading up towards the Northern Territory, the price just escalated! The most expensive was King's Canyon, with Ayer's Rock just behind that.
That is to be expected though - that fuel prices will jump up the more rural you go; I also wouldn't guarantee the quality of the fuel the more remote you are either. We didn't have any issues in that department, but it is something to be aware of.
With 19 fuel stops, the average price of fuel was 151.95c. The price of fuel around Australia jumps up and down randomly all the time, but this is a fairly good average to budget with, expecting it to be a touch less in large cities, and more in remote towns.
I hope you find this a helpful guide to fuel!
Join me next week when I chat about Wikicamps :)
Hx
No comments
Post a Comment