We're "inpat," but my only sibling and his family are expat (Europe), and much of my mother's family (my aunts, uncles, and cousins) live in various parts of Europe. It's not "Australia expensive" (we live on the US East coast, and near a decent sized, though not huge, airport -- there's exactly one direct route to Europe that leaves from our home base -- but it's not cheap.
Anyway, my short answer to your question is that we just try to include travel money as an important expense. Obviously it's not essential, there are other things that take priority, but it's pretty high on the list.
Is there any chance you or your hubby do work that would lend itself to a stint in Australia? I'm contemplating trying to find a job to land myself in my brother's family's home base (likely with his help) for either a summer or a year, at some point, though just to be clear this would be something that would help cover some costs rather than all of the costs of being there. But still. It does help that my DH is RE (though not FI unless you count me as a means of support), so his whereabouts are flexible, though unfortunately he's not overly fond of my brother's family's home base as a locale to visit (or live).
