‘No option’: Soaring fuel prices costing Australian travellers thousands more at the bowser
Exclusive: Full-time travellers and digital nomads are blowing out their budgets at the fuel pump as petrol and diesel prices rocket back up to nearly $3 per litre.
While the average commuter can hop on public transport or rideshares to avoid the price sting, Seamus Campbell doesn’t have any other choice than to get behind the wheel – and it’s costing him dearly.
Full-time traveller Seamus Campbell said he is staying longer in places as diesel prices spike again. Seamus Campbell
Campbell, 70, has been living on the road for the last three-and-a-half years.
He describes his mode of transport, a 1999 Toyota ‘Troopy’, as dreadfully fuel-inefficient even without soaring oil prices.
“I track my rough average of dollars per 100 kilometres and it used to be about $23, but now it’s about $50,” Campbell told nine.com.au.
“Diesel has now hit around the $2.70 to $2.80 mark.”
Under those prices, a full tank of diesel can cost him up to $500.
Campbell has been camping in Alice Springs, in an area notoriously far from petrol stations and grocery shops.
The prohibitive cost of filling up has forced him to slow down.
“I like to say I amble along, so it’s very slow travel, which is one way of reducing fuel costs,” he said.
“I haven’t explored some areas as much. I’ve stayed in closer areas simply because of the fuel.”
Campbell is eyeing Perth as his next destination.
The price of petrol and diesel in Australia has climbed to levels not seen since April as the Iran war shuts down a second oil export route. Eddie Jim
The rising cost of the journey might upend his plans.
“Going over to Perth is going to cost me about $2000,” he said.
Kate Irwin and her husband Gordon just wrapped up a nearly 10,000-kilometre caravan trip from Brisbane to central Australia.
They set off just as fuel prices in Australia began climbing again in July and early August, following the re-escalation of the conflict between the US and Iran and the expiration of the government’s fuel excise discount.
The couple spent $5260.85 at the pump filling up their Landcruiser with diesel, the highest expense of the trip.
They used apps to try and locate the cheapest fuel stop, but in isolated country towns, they were often left “no option” but to fill up for more than $3 per litre.
Their most expensive stop was at a pump in Oodnadatta in remote South Australia, where diesel was $3.24.
Kate and Gordon spent more than $5200 on diesel during their five-week trip. Kate Irwin
“We did think about cancelling our trip,” Irwin explained.
“But we decided that the small towns we were visiting also need people to come and there was never a problem finding the fuel.”
A screenshot of money spent on diesel during Kate and her husband’s journey. Kate Irwin
More pain to come at the pump
Summer is fast approaching – a peak time for camping and caravanning in Australia.
The cost of diesel has surged almost 40 cents a litre this month alone, nearing record highs, and the price pain is expected to linger.
Motorists have been warned to “strap in” for at least two months of high average fuel prices that are likely to exceed $2.50 per litre for petrol and $3 for diesel.
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Supply chains expert David Leaney told nine.com.au and 9News that costs at the bowser were unlikely to abate until after US President Donald Trump’s popularity is tested in the midterm elections in November.
Despite the May federal budget forecasting oil prices to drop to $US80 a barrel by mid-2027, experts have predicted that oil could reach up to $US150 per barrel before any relief.
The federal government has ruled out the possibility of another fuel excise cut, dashing hopes of softening the blow ahead of Christmas.
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