Australia on a budget

After returning to Sydney following 3 months on the hedonistic east coast, it was time to bring my living expenses down to 3rd world levels and milk a few more weeks out of my travel budget. In doing so, I came across some pretty good ways to save money in what can be a very expensive country. I also found some not-so-effective ways of saving coin. Here's all I know about living on the cheap in Australia.

Good Ideas:

1. Make friends with the goon (aka: the animal). This is of course boxed wine. At a street price of around $10 for 4 litres, its the single best way to save money is Oz (putting aside the unspeakable horror of sobriety). The empty foil bag also makes a dandy pillow for those overnight bus rides (see tip #4).
2. 30 cent ice cream cones at McDonalds. This is unreal. In Sydney, where you'd be hard pressed to find a coffee or a slice of pizza for less than 4 bucks, you can pick up a delicious soft serve treat for a bit of couch change. Its surely the best dining value in the city.
3. Tenting. If you don't mind sleeping in the bush, then you're pretty much set. Free accommodation wherever you are. Tenting in city parks and like areas, is apparently illegal and not recommended...unless you can find some good bush cover. Stealth tenting can be a very useful skill to acquire though, should you ever need to camp in a city.
4. Overnight buses. This is a pretty standard one, and a no-brainer really. You're paying for the bus anyways (unless you're riding your bike, but thats advanced material that we'll leave alone for now ;), so why not get a free nights accommodation out of it too? With the 1,2 punch of finishing a bag of goon and the resulting pillow (tip #1), you'll think you've just checked in at the Hilton!

Bad Ideas:

1. Free radio!...when you buy four $9 vodka-guarana drinks at the bar. Unfortunately, it turns out that alcohol impairs judgment. What seemed like a better deal than the Louisiana purchase at the time turned out to be more of a Betamax purchase in the morning.
2. Saving on train tickets by...not buying train tickets. I tried this one in a moment of near mental shutdown. At some train stations you don't need to go through a turnstile to get onto the train. Brilliantly, I figured I'd outsmarted the system and waltzed on "au gratuis"! Well, someone had obviously thought things through one step farther than me and had installed exit turnstiles at all the major stops in the city. Luckily, I had my running shoes on, so I hopped the gate and pulled a runner! I didn't have to go far to evade the lazy transit cops, but it was nonetheless slightly too much effort (for a $4.50 savings) to make my "good idea" list.