Fuel prices are very topical and Australia is no different to the rest of the world with rising fuel prices. I recently read an article from the American RV Travel where it was mentioned fuel was $2.99USD a gallon – the cheapest seen for a while. That is the equivalent of about $1.00 per litre. Here on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia we are paying $1.30 per litre of unleaded petrol.

Queensland though is the cheapest state for fuel in Australia. Sydney is currently $1.45/litre and outback Northern Territory is $1.80/litre.

A subscriber from Nanaimo in British Columbia, Canada, informs us the price for fuel in Canada is $1.13CAD/litre. This converts to $3.77USD/gallon so Canadian travellers are paying the same as Australians, and are not faring as well as their southern counterparts in the USA.

Most Australian motorhomes have a diesel engine. Feedback from one subscriber this week informs us that diesel was $2.03/litre on the Nullarbor. There does not appear to be any light at the end of the tunnel for the near future and prices are expected to rise further.

How does all this affect our motorhoming lifestyle? When I travelled some years ago the price of diesel averaged $0.83 per litre. The highest we paid was $1.04 on the Nullarbor and the lowest was $0.63 in Brisbane. Our trip was 22,000kms (13,750 miles) and the total cost of fuel was $4630 Three years later we travelled again, although I do not have this same detail of prices, they were not a lot different. At today’s prices only four years further on, with an increase of 80 %, which would be $8334 This is huge impact if you are planning a certain distance in a certain time frame – a trip “round the block” for your long service leave of about 12 weeks, for example.

The impact is lessened if you are a full-timer and do not have a time frame. You can stay where you are for longer, until the next payday. But for the pensioner there is only so much in the next pay packet so you may have to stay for yet another one.

Some full timers though are travelling on a time frame – off to the next state to meet a new grandchild, off somewhere else to attend a family wedding or birthday. Some of these events are now being missed or people are leaving the motorhome at home to catch a plane for the family affairs.

Feedback from one subscriber tells that her travels have been slow recently but she has plans for a few big trips in the near future. From her point of view she does not think fuel costs should interrupt plans for travel – she may just stay over a little longer when she does travel. Others, that use their motorhomes for short trips are staying closer to home and not doing the big trips.

Unfortunately for others it is taking its toll and some are not travelling. As fuel prices increase so does the rest of the basic necessities of life – Australia is dependent on the trucking industry for most transport and this in turn has an impact on the cost of living.

Will anything change in the foreseeable future – I doubt it. One way to lessen the effect on our lifestyle is to make our motorhomes more self sufficient. This way we can free camp (boondocking) more often and for longer, offsetting the increasing cost of the fuel and therefore preserving our lifestyle.

Other fuel saving tips you might think about include: Lighten the weight of your motorhome. There are several ways to do this. Look at what you are carrying and decide if you really need it. For full timers this will be more difficult as it is your home. We recently had friends here and we called their bu and trailer the “Tardus” as they had so many belongings in there. As they had no home base this was it. So in this situation it is difficult to lighten the load.

If you are only short term travellers though and you are heading to the outback leave the surf boards at home. Are you really going to use that boat you tow along? Think about what you really need. Leave half the clothes at home – you really only need casual clothes and one good outfit and a jacket and jeans for when it gets cold.

Another way to lighten the load is not to carry so much liquid. If you have large fresh, grey and black water tanks, empty the grey as often as possible and only keep as much fresh water as you actually need for the days between supplies.

Get rid of the clutter off the external body of the motorhome to make it more aerodynamic. Remove unused ariels, mirrors that are bigger than you need, front mounted tool boxes or bicycles, and unneeded or poorly designed bull bars.

Don’t weight the rear end of the motorhome down with all sorts of heavy hobby toys. A motorbike or storage box off the rear bumper will weight the rear end down, thus raising the front end. This in turn had a very negative effect causing under-body drag. If the front end is slightly down the air flow will be predominately over the vehicle, and not under it, resulting in better fuel economy.

If you are building a motorhome use lightweight materials. Interior panels made from MDF, customwood, or chipboard are relatively heavy. Newer technology products like “Cluka” or “Foamex” are less than half the weight. Our recently built kitchen was able to be picked up and moved around, one handed, by the cabinet maker who loved working with the product. Although it was much more expensive than the heavier alternatives we are confident this will be made up with economy and performance of the vehicle.

Another thing to consider is the amount of fuel used in running your generator. If you use a small generator only as a backup this will not be an issue. If you run (or intend to run) large generators for many hours a day seriously consider a solar setup. The cost of the panels will be comparable with a larger generator with a lot less weight, and through an invertor, can run all appliances except the air conditioner. Also running an efficient electric 12/24 volt fridge means less gas to buy and carry.

Do what ever you can to save on fuel costs and try not to let it affect your lifestyle. I, for one, do not intend to slow my plans for travel – I will just have to stay a little longer in one area and enjoy the views and company.

© 2006 Gail Bennett (motorhominglifestyle.com). If you would like to reproduce this article on your website please contact gail@motorhominglifestyle.com