Photo: ©  2010 AP via AAP/Joerg Sarbach

Each year, our wallets are given an absolute spanking at the bowser right before the Easter break.

Prices are tipped to shoot from $1.25 to $1.39 per litre in Sydney and Melbourne by this long weekend, and will go even higher in the country. 

And experts say there is no reason for motorists to be paying such high prices.

"The wholesale price has been falling … [so] we do need to see that average price coming down [at the bowser]," economist Craig James told the Sydney Morning Herald.