How much money did you take traveling!?!?

Impossible to estimate, for that length of time, especially as it involves a lot of things like travelling, that are unpredictable. Suggest that you take some cash, and a pre paid card, to draw from Banks, as an when you need it. A family member can top it up, if needed. http://www.moneysupermarket.com/prepaidcards/?feature=PrePaid&cardtype=CreditCard&p=0&ef_id=SsUCN0o-KSIAADtIfEoAAADA:20110925160516:s

id take out a few hundred

You know cash is not safe now these days, so take a credit card and spend wisely, take only little money with you.

If you estimate £1200 per month, or roughly £300 per week, it won't be luxurious living but you won't be totally skint either. I spent 5 weeks in Australia on a solo trip, visited 5 different centres for one week each, and stayed in backpackers every time for between $20 and $25 a night. Hotels could cost 4 times as much. I bought food in the supermarket to cook at night for an evening meal and used the rest as a packed lunch for my daytime explorations. I didn't visit restaurants much. I found travel within Australia expensive and surprisingly the Greyhound bus was often dearer than flying, and took much longer. In some of the city centres there is free public transport, bus, tram or train http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2011/07/lifehackers-free-public-transport-guide-2011-edition/ The CAT bus system in Perth is particularly good. Day trips to see the Barrier Reef and other tourist attractions were also quite dear, but I didn't plan one for every day. Lots of shops give information to backpackers, and free newspapers give little useful tidbits .... in Cairns, there was a yacht club which ran races one afternoon a week with a neighbouring club, and took paying passengers. That was fun, I think it cost $15 including refreshments afterwards. Compare with the Barrier Reef half day cruise $77, the Skyrail to Kuranda with Aborigine experience $146, Phillip Island fairy penguins trip $125 with pizza after. Sometimes I checked bus or train timetables and created my own trip. Suburban buses and trains were remarkably cheap compared with at home. I hired a car one week, and would only recommend it for destination freedom, to reach places without other easy transport. I paid for my flights to Oz before I left home, and booked the backpackers too. It was mostly a deposit for each backpackers, and pay the rest at the time of checking out. I brought $800 cash (roughly £400) and had another £2000 on my debit card (with Maestro logo) which worked fine in all the ATMs there. And I had several hundred of the debit card money left over, safely untouched in the bank account. I didn't get to Asia, but maybe you'll get answers from someone else about their experience. Edit Somewhere along the way over there I was advised to ask for backpackers, not hostels. I was told a hostel is a sort of halfway house for people who had been in trouble, and may explain the air of resentment I sensed in one place I stayed.