Rising fuel prices...

Well, our petrol prices have jumped about 15 cents in the last 3 weeks, in fact it went up 12 cents in one week!! Now we are waiting for the cost of everything to increase.

Already Air New Zealand has announced that airfares for domestic and international traffic are to rise by 10% from the beginning of May. That means it's going to be a lot harder to visit Phil in the South Island from now on. The flight from Wellington to Christchurch only takes half an hour, the alternative is the ferry across Cook Strait and then a looong drive- probably about 8 1/2 to 9 hours travel (not counting the time it takes to travel from my town to Wellington). And that costs way more money if you take your car on the ferry and drive yourself down! Ah well.

I am trying to save for a trip down South in January/February next year and had budgeted for $1700 for a 7-8 day trip - allowing for taking the car on the ferry, petrol, accommodation and food (and a bit for fun). Andrew said "mum it would be cheaper to go overseas for a week!" I would stay in backpackers and hopefully Phil and Magenta would come for part of that time. However with the petrol increasing like it is, I may not get enough money together in time. No matter how hard I try, I can't save more than about $30 a week unless I do a lot of extra work.

Never mind, if it doesn't come about at least I will have SOME extra money in my savings account aye!