Queensland expensive?

TheBeast17

Hi, Im thinking of going to visit family in Yeppoon Queensland for 3 weeks in August. Ive heard Australia is very expensive though.

Just wanted to ask do people that have been or live there have any info?
I just want to know about food,drink and touristy things(zoos and that kinda thing) as i will not be paying for accommodation.

Thinking of having about 1000 Euros to spend do people think this would be enough?

markymark21

TheBeast17 wrote: »

Hi, Im thinking of going to visit family in Yeppoon Queensland for 3 weeks in August. Ive heard Australia is very expensive though.

Just wanted to ask do people that have been or live there have any info?
I just want to know about food,drink and touristy things(zoos and that kinda thing) as i will not be paying for accommodation.

Thinking of having about 1000 Euros to spend do people think this would be enough?

1000 euro is cutting things a bit mate, thats only 50 a day. Australia is quite expensive

Joe Gt

beer is between 5-10
Australia zoo is i think about $60 for the day
12' in subway is $10
meal in McD's is sub 10 also

The Sweeper

1000 yoyos is about 1200 dollars at the current exchange rate. $400 a week may sound like a lot but you can eat into that very quickly indeed doing the tourist thing.

Yeppoon is coastal - it'll be warm and humid and quite beautiful in places. The nearest town is Rockhampton. Rockhampton is a big jumping off town for the mining and mineral industry so there are a lot of places to eat and drink but it's not the cheapest place in the world.

Try handing up something for your keep each week with family - between $100 and $150 would be a nice contribution each week to cover your share of the groceries and the hot water and the air conditioning and so on. That then means you'll probably be able to have breakfast and lunch at home and a few dinners in the house too, which will be a whole lot cheaper than eating out three meals a day. (If you're eating at home a lot I'd be looking at the $150 more than the $100 - and buy your own booze on top of that.)

If you have to eat out as in Maccas (McDonalds) or Subway (as opposed to a nice restaurant meal) pay attention to the specials. McDonalds, for instance, has a lunctime special between 12 and 2pm where you'll spend about $7 for a feed that would otherwise cost you $12. Don't mix and match food at Maccas because you'll end up spending $19 on your lunch (e.g. don't go 'oh I don't want that as part of a meal deal' etc.) Subway also has specials during the day.

I recently drove with himself from Melbourne up to Townsville over 10 days (via Sydney and Brisbane) and our biggest bugbear was spending huge money on shit food. When you're on the road and literally trying to cover 500km daily and feed yourself three meals a day, the prevalence of McDonalds, KFC and Hungry Jacks (Burger King) makes it really difficult to find better food. Three days in we went into a supermarket and bought a 24-case of bottled water, two bags of apples and a couple of boxes of muesli bars so breakfast and mid-morning snacks were covered and it would keep us out of places like Maccas. You can get decent coffee in the little bakeries that dot most towns and as long as you don't succumb to the temptation to supplement that with a danish or custard tart your pocket will remain happy and your stomach will too.

The other thing to try for dinner is takeaways - chinese and thai, flick straight to the 'rice or noodles' panel and get some mixed stir fry with meat, veg and rice or noodles in a single plastic tub for $10 or under.

If you're staying with family, you're better off handing up grocery money and eating two meals a day at home and keeping your money for a decent meal out in the evenings. You can usually get a pub meal and a couple of pints of lager to wash it down for $25 or under (some places will charge $9 for a chicken schnitzel and chips, some places will want $22 for the same meal). A pint of lager will set you back between $5.50 and $8 in a pub depending on the pub and location, a bottle of lager (say Corona) will be anywhere between $6.50 and $9. A case of 24 bottles bought in the bottle shop and brought home for the fridge will be between $40 and $60 - there are great specials on in the QLD bottle shops at the moment where you can get a case for $40-45.

I doubt you'll be using public transport at all.

In terms of zoos, Australia Zoo is an eight hour drive away from Yeppoon to give it some perspective. You could try out the Koorana Crocodile farm or take a boat trip out to tour the Keppel Islands. If you're staying with family you'll probably find they've a few things lined up to do with you or show to you.