It depends on where you stay, free camps or caravan parks. Some weeks our exp are only the food we eat, others it is fuel and parks.
If you have 100k left after set up you should be fine. Invest it and the interest will help a lot.
We dont work as we go but have met a lot that do and they dont seem to have any prob getting work.

You say you have $100K to start with, meaning you have to buy a Caravan or Motor Home. What you have left is after that purchase. Most on this Forum are Pensioners, so we have a regular source of income, although some prefer to find work, whether it for extra money or for something extra to do. In your case it might be wise to find work, firstly because you are relatively young and secondly if you use your capital to support yourself on the road, time will come when your Bank balance will be down to zero !! 

If your Caravan/MH is set up for free camping, that's the way to go. Primary items you require are a complete solar system, batteries, refrigerator and a shower and toilet, whether you use internal or external shower/toilet facilities is a matter for you. Many free camp sites have toilets. Some have showers. When I'm on the road, I usually spend one night a week in a CP to do washing, take water on board, and use a dump point if one is available. 

There are jobs advertised at "Workabout Australia"

http://turu.com.au/parks/nsw/snowy-mountains/queanbeyan-riverside-tourist-park.aspx

Also many other sites like this. Several forum members work as they go.

Woolly wrote:

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Hi BG,
The $100k is roughly what we would have after completing set up, currently have a Fiat Ducato which we are in the process of setting up, will have all the above when finished with external shower/toilet due to size restraints of vehicle. We would be looking at a similar timing thing as you, free camp 99% of time & using CP's to do the necessities.

I suppose the big ? is how hard is it to pick up casual work here & there, to top up bank account occasionally. Something we will have to investigate fairly thoroughly before making the final plunge.

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 Depends on what you do, my trades a , that's how I started out travelling more than 46 years ago, building, driving trucks, farm and construction machinery. Sort of retired now, but still do a few odd building jobs and couple of times a year fill in for a mate on his road train when he wants a holiday. If you have a trade or skill they need in the bush, there's plenty of work around off the beaten track where tradies never go because of expense and distance. When got sick of trucking and building, played music and still do.

-- Edited by native pepper on Sunday 26th of January 2014 03:33:12 PM

I am 60, sold the lot but managed to have a couple of 100K in the bank for if something happens to me. At least SWMBO could get into a village somewhere. If the opposite happens I would need to find a new cook but I would keep going. SWMBO asked if she would have use of her golf clubs but I told her that she is left handed.

Lucky that I have a Road Train Licence so plenty of work for me. Speak to Dunmowin re the work during Grain Harvests. He has just done the Harvest in WA with CBH but Viterra in South Aus and Vic also use harvest workers. Use Mr Google. There are other places, see on this website, that offer accommodation, power, water, etc in exchange for minor duties.

We need about $1200 - $1500 per month if we stay in CP, a lot less when we free camp which up to this time has not been often enough. Still newbies on the road.

Bob

If you're on a Pension, there is no incentive to work unless you really want to. Income must be reported to Centrelink and if you earn too much, it means your Pension can be reduced. I know a few people including myself who wont work because of this, unless it's for cash in hand !!! .  I'd like to digress slightly and talk about savings. It is relevant to some because if you have money in Deposits you need to earn the highest rate possible, especially if you need extra money living on the road, and this is a point Woolly raised.

Many Banks, foreign and overseas  offer online banking, higher interest on savings for short terms, 3 to 6 months. At present I'm with ING and they pay 4.35% for 4 months. After 4 months the rate drops to 2.75%.  What I do is after 4 months I close the account and withdraw all the funds. I then open another account, say with Bankwest who are currently offering 4.3% for 6 months thereafter reducing to 2.70%. At the end of 6 months I would close that account and withdraw the funds and go again with another online Bank, maybe open a new account with ING if the rate is good enough. You can check rates at this site:

 

http://mozo.com.au/savings-accounts 

The point of shuffling all this money around is the interest return. If you have $100K at 4.35%, that is $4,350.00 interest per year, or $83.65 a week. It might pay your fuel bill for a week, but it's not a lot of money. If you stay at the low rate of 2.75%, your interest income will be 2750 per annum or $52.88 a week. $30.00 a week difference... The actual interest income will be a cat's whisker more because of the compounding interest.

Woolly wrote:

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What you are saying BG is very relevant, that $30 a week could make a huge difference to some people living on very tight budgets & really how long does it take to open an account on the net every 4 or 6 months.
An extra say $1500 a year is not a bad return for an hour or so on the computer.

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 Probably about 10 minutes. It may take a little longer first time. You need ID like a Passport or Medicare card. You input the Medicare or Passport info and some Banks verify it online. Others you might have to scan and e-mail or post it, so that can take a few days. Check out the link below for Mozo. Click on ING, which I use a lot, and check out the requirements. You also need another Bank account to "Link" to this special savings account. I use Commonwealth Bank. What that means is you transfer your funds from the linked account to the Online Bank. If you want to withdraw funds, you transfer funds from the online Bank back to your linked account. For example, if I wanted $1,000.00, I transfer that amount online from ING to Commonweath Bank. Then I withdraw the money from a CB ATM. No restriction on withdrawing funds. On the first day of every month, the interest is credited.

-- Edited by Big Gorilla on Sunday 26th of January 2014 06:10:43 PM

Check out the information posted recently on another thread:

 

http://thegreynomads.activeboard.com/forum.spark?aBID=51933&p=3&topicID=56357519

 

 

With limited funds it wouldn't be possible for us to always stay in CP - altho we did at the start of our nomading becos we didn't really know about free camping. We prefer free camping anyway but we've got solar; we top up our water wherever we can and always use it frugally. We find that there's often notices on the shop windows in rural towns wanting people to work in the shops, Maccas, etc, and the employment agencies will often have work available, especially in the mining towns becos everyone prefers to take the mining jobs which leave the towns depleted of workers. We've come across quite a few people that do fruit picking and follow the harvest trail - if you check that out on the internet you can get an idea of the thousands of people needed in different places at different times.