Critique my budget

Wow! How exciting...sounds like you are planning a great trip. I think your budget depends on how many countries/regions you plan to visit within the 60 days or so you have allocated to each place. Eg. The numbers for south america seem ok to me presuming you are not going to be doing heaps of travelling from town to town and country to country? I would say if you are doing minimal moving around and sticking to maybe 2 countries you should be fine.
For Australia: I thought it was maybe a bit odd that you had your budget only slightly higher for a very expensive first world country than you did for some of the more 'developing' countries you are going to visit. I think you will struggle in australia on $45 a day - keep in mind that that is probably only about AUD $50 - with the Aus dollar going so well. Plus, its a big country - unless you are planning to stick to just NSW alone or just QLD - it will be hard to not run into some bigger costs when travelling. And it would be a shame to come to Australia and not see Sydney, the Sunshine and Gold Coasts, Byron Bay...Melbourne, and even over to Perth/NT if you can.
So I would factor in how much money you want to spend on flights within australia...and factor in a little more money for the fact it isn't a cheap country.
That said, I found that even in places people have told me I needed to spend heaps, I can stretch my dollar a long way so please don't let my words dishearten you. You can always find a way to have an awesome time with little cash - no matter where in the world you are. And maybe for some countries your estimates will be a bit high so that money will help you cover Australia.
Good luck, have a great trip!

I agree with the above. Australia on $45 will be a stretch, particularly when you consider the vast distances you have to travel to see the place. If you plan on doing some of the big tourist highlights - scuba diving the reef, 4X4ing on Fraser Island, Whitsunday sailing etc...then costs can add up pretty quickly. However, if you are planning on biking and camping, then maybe you can do it without breaking the bank. I can't tell you how much I spent when I was there, I didn't really budget, but just did everything as cheaply as possible, and spent a lot of nights pitching a tent for free on the side of the road and living off instant noodles.
But, if you are a budget traveler, then you can save a lot of money in your other destinations. I don't know where you are going in South America, but it'll make a big difference in budget. Chile is almost as expensive as Australia and I'm told Brazil is not cheap either. I'm told Argentina is a pretty good deal these days. But Peru and Bolivia at least can be done very cheaply. My girlfriend and I spend a couple months in these two countries two years ago and budgeted $50 for the two of us combined (so 25 each). We were pretty much right on budget in Peru, but in Bolivia we never came close to spending that much. We stayed in budget but clean and comfortable lodging, ate meals in local restaurants, but never had to pass up on activities because we couldn't afford it. So you should be able to save some money there.
In Southeast Asia as well, you've budgeted about pretty close to double what I tend to spend in these countries. Having said that, if you are traveling in Thailand during the high season and hitting some of the more popular destinations then it's a little more. I went to Phuket (never again) and a few other beach resorts over Christmas this year and it was the first time I've ever struggled to stay within my normal $20 or so budget. Actually, I just barely kept it within $30/day. However,since you've budgeted 40/day, there's no reason why you shouldn't save quite a bit of money here, and be able t spend more in Australia.
The southwest of China is really cheap, not much more than Thailand, but I can't help you with the coastal cites (I hear it's significantly more), Mongolia, nor the Middle East.

I was in Thailand in 2003 as well as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and Malaysia and we averaged $19 per person ... since then seems like the dollar has been reduced by up to 50 percent ... meaning 2003's $19 is now closer to $30 ... I added to that more money to stay in 'nicer' hotels on occasion since I'm getting pretty old (37!)

In Australia we planned to fly to Sydney, buy used bikes and panniers, and start biking along the coast. We'd just go one-day ... probably south then west ... and when we get to the end sell the bikes and take a bus back to Sydney. We plan on camping and cooking our own the entire time. We did the same in New Zealand in 2003 and averaged about $24 per day, IIRC.

For S. America we plan to ski in Chile and Argentina using our own gear, then mail the gear back and travel north to Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. I was planning on $60 per person for the skiing per day and then $35-40 per person the rest of the time. But I've never been to any of these countries.

since then seems like the dollar has been reduced by up to 50 percent ... meaning 2003's $19 is now closer to $30

Yes, it's harder for US Dollar travellers than before. There's also been considerable price inflation in some SE Asian countries over the last few years, particularly budget accommodation on Thai islands. Looks like you'll be there around high season when accommodation prices can be quite inflated in places like Ko Phi Phi. Also when I went back to Cambodia this year I found accommodation had gone up in price quite a lot since 2006.

Your budget will also depend on how many people are travelling: if there are two of you, it is much more cost-effective as in SE Asia you generally pay per room not per person.

That said, USD 40 per day is still around 1200 baht ... which should be plenty if you keep a watchful eye on your budget and avoid the more expensive resort areas in Thailand. I find the things that take most of my budget in the region are drinking/partying, and internal travel. It's particularly tempting to take internal flights within SE Asia these days, as many destinations are served by inexpensive flights from Air Asia and other low-cost airlines. And although not dear, flights are still expensive when compared to train or bus travel.

I think $50AUD for Australia is doable but its the tight end of it. but if you are going to spend little time in the Cities, then you should have no trouble.

I have to disagree with the person about the gold coast - totally missable. ugh!

" We'd just go one-day ... probably south then west ... " that's a bit vague do you mean south into Victoria and then west along the great ocean road. Can't you find a better part of the country to travel. Surely this is really not it, although the great ocean road is quite good, but better for hiking along i think or as part of the trip from melbourne to Perth.

As the first option of where to cycle in Australia, I would suggest the outback - say from Darwin to Alice Springs then turn back East to Sydney or even cross the Nullabor or follow the West Coast. These are the places where you will find something truly original and totally Australian. That said, a tour around Tasmania has a great deal going for it, as regards cycling if you try to get to all the best places - and you could in two months or less.

I think you are very off. How many people are traveling?

In Australia, will need more like 60-70 dollars a day. Australia is an expensive country and the dollar is weak. You need even more if you decide to venture off the east coast and see W.A. Travel costs in OZ are a lot....and you don't include any of the tours to ayers rock and fraser island that will blow your budget.

In Asia (south east and china), you can get buy on 20 dollars a day. If you want to be a bit more posh, 25. Vietnam wont cost you more than 10 dollars a day on backpacker budget.. Laos is also dirt cheap.

-Matt
nomadicmatt