Lies, Damned Lies and ......

For our 100th blog post we thought it would be appropriate to have a look at some statistics from our trip.

We spent nearly 12 months travelling before our 6 months off last year, and in that time we drove about 44,000 km, of which around 19,000 km, or nearly half, was towing. Given we had a few longish stays at places during this time, such as 2 months in Darwin, this shows just how big Australia is, and the long distances between towns in some places. In the 6 months since we've been back on the road again, we've driven 18,000 km, with about 9,000 km of it being towing, so the 50/50 ratio is still holding good.

Of course, any discussion of driving stats has to include fuel consumption. The patrol has been averaging around 11 litres per 100 km when not towing, and about 18 when towing. The towing figure is very much affected by conditions, in particular the wind, with consumption soaring as high as 24 l/100km when towing directly into a strong wind across the Nullarbor.

Luckily, although diesel could not in anyone's imagination be described as cheap, it hasn't been as high as we experienced when we did our first trip in the van. We always fill up in town before a day's towing, and if it is going to be a long distance we also fill the sub-tank, however there are occasions when the distances are so great that we have to fill up again at roadhouses along the way, where prices can skyrocket. In the first half of this trip our average diesel cost was $1.336 per litre, while in the current phase it has been $1.323, both of which are significantly less than the $1.80 we were paying in 2008. The most expensive fuel we have purchased was $1.779 at the Nullarbor roadhouse, but we saw some for $2.04 at the Aileron roadhouse in central Australia. Fortunately, someone had warned us about this roadhouse so we were able to avoid buying there. Surprisingly, the cheapest fuel isn't always in the city, the cheapest we have paid was $1.149 in both Perth and Port Augusta in 2009.

In reality, while the cost of fuel is significant, it is still not a major factor in the overall cost of the trip, and the fact is that if you want to travel around the far-flung corners of this country it is just a cost you have to accept.