1 more sleep....!

Wow the last 2 weeks have gone fast!!

I can't believe Lucy and I actually leave Melbourne tomorrow. Crazy....!  We are packed, and as organised as we can be.  We will finish up saying the last of our goodbyes to some of our good friends today, then tomorrow its good bye to a predictably teary mum and dad and Melbourne Airport.

So tomorrow - being Friday the 3rd of September, we are flying to Darwin at 9.30pm on Tiger Airways, and arriving in Darwin at about 1.30am. We are staying at a youth hostel in the city centre over night, then on saturday we pick up our car and drive 300k's to Kakadu National Park.  The main objective for our time in Kakadu is to see some Aboriginal Rock Art.

For those of you who know me quite well, you know that I am a tight arse traveller. That is, I will not spend money where I dont have to, and if there is a cheaper way to do something...then I will find it!

When we were doing our research for travelling around Kakadu, we figured maybe we will just do a tour of the park, thinking that must be the cheapest and easiest way.

Well...it wasn't.  The cheapest tour we could find was $170....EACH! So thats $340 for 6 hours!! Insane...!

The way it would have broke down is this:

Accomodation Darwin x4 nights @ $30 p/night:     $120
Kakadu Tour                            @ $170:              $170
Food for 4 days                        @ $20 p/day        $80
                                                                   ____________
TOTAL                                                              $370
TOTAL FOR 4 DAYS ME & LUCY                   $740

$740!!!! FOR 4 DAYS!!!! I don't think so Darwin.

The way we are doing it is this:

Accomodation x1 night Darwin:                            $75
Car Hire for x3 Days                                           $200
Petrol                                                                 $100
Camping 2x nights @ Kakadu @ $10 p/night         $20
Food for 4 days (Cans of Beans & Bread!)           $25                                                
Accomodation x1 night at Family's house              FREE!
                                                                  _________________
TOTAL FOR 4 DAYS ME & LUCY                  $420

Now, $420 is still expensive by my travelling standars, but much better than $700 + !!

The budget for the rest of the trip (once we outside of EXPENSIVE australia!) is roughly $35 per day.....! It will be interesting to see if we can stick to this....!

So on that note I shall leave you, if I have chance I will update again tomorrow.  If not, you will hear from me in Darwin.

Jess xxxx