Budgeting for Australia

Money for possible fines driving, parking etc!
Insurances, life or health or driving?
You need to check and see if your US insurance company will go in all circumstances.
Medicare Atstralia, does it help you as non workers.
Doctors or hospital visits can be very expensive.

aussieguarddog43, good comments. Parking falls under my vehicle heading and for Australia I am probably light and am going to add a dollar a day to this column. I need to investigate what driving insurance will cost and again add to my daily cost. Health insurance, flights to Australia, shipping vehicle and one or two other items are covered in my world trip budget. And finally, we are under the illusion we won't have to visit a hospital.:)

Vehicle insurance is one thing where you need to research fully as it wouldvaryfrom country to country in a foreign vehicle.
Money for possible fines? Come on #1.

One suggestion regarding accommodation, is that you may not get a double room for $130 AUD, particularly in the major cities, it may be more like $150-160 AUD, but you can often get a private room with a shared bathroom in a backpacker type hostel for $70-90 AUD.
That is the type of room I generally go for when travelling in Australia.

Westwood, you, I and the many on here over the years, would know how many times, over the years, that on here, people have asked about fines, whether they will get nabbed when they leave Australia, what will happen if they don't pay.
Parking inspectors can be vicious, and while they do follow the rules, some will nab you for even a few seconds late.
Going 5kms over the speed limit, granted some cars do have over the speed limit alerters on the dash board, that you can set...
What about Australia rego, you are effectively driving on Australian roads, while you are paying for fuel, what about the what ifs, prangs/(accidents), even if you don't cause it, others can/might. Many times, I have heard the thump of car vs car on the road, personally, I don't drive.
OP, you will need a lot more than Aud$5k, even if you don't use it, the mere fact is that, you are going to be driving in Australia, if you are not driving, then I would be more "lenient", yes, a lot of people on here say I talk too much bull, but you be the judge, of if what happens...
Plus, have you got any experience of driving on the Australian side of the road?

http://www.aaa.asn.au/storage/BRING%20YOUR%20CAR%20TO%20AUSTRALIA.pdf

Oh dear. What next. You don't drive, do you!!

Staying in cabins in caravan parks is another popular option in Australia. They would often be less than your $A135 per night with the advantage of your own cooking facilities.

Most towns will have at least one caravan park and most caravan parks will have cabins. Cabins will vary enormously in the quality and price. Some will be quite old and basic and therefore relatively cheap others will be quite luxurious (and pricey), and this can be all in the same park as the park owners have upgraded over time.
Cabins in caravan parks are essentially portable building apartments so will have their own bathroom and kitchen and the kitchen will be fully equipped with plates, cutlery, pots etc. (even down to dishwashing liquid and tea towels). However you will often have to supply your own linen (i.e. sheets, pillow cases and towels) so you may need to buy that stuff.
Outside school holidays and towns with significant numbers of itinerant workers (mines, fruit picking etc) you would only need to book a day or so ahead. For school holidays do a google on Queensland school holidays.

You will find major towns will have a tourist information office open 7 days a week. These are very good sources of info for caravan parks to allow you to plan a few days ahead.

When we were in Europe last year we used “free” walking tours to get oriented in the city centre and found them great. They are tip based so not really free (unless you nick off just before the end and don’t give a tip). For example in Melbourne -

http://www.imfree.com.au/melbourne/

I know there is also a free hop on hop off bus trip around the city -

http://www.thatsmelbourne.com.au/visitors/transport/shuttle/Pages/VisitorShuttle.aspx

Great site with all the information in one place. I don't think any of the info is new to me but it is the first time I found it in one place. I have bookmarked this site. Thank you.