Oh knowledgeable geeks of Bit-tech, I call upon thee. I have sacrificed one sheep and a Curly Wurly Cheesecake to the Almighty Relix in hope of achieving my answer! I've wanted to do the whole travelling thing since I was at school, never really had the money to do it. Got a job after sixth form on a temporary contract, earned some moolah but my contract runs out in January. There's a possibility they will keep me on but unless it is on a permanent contract it seems as good a time as any to sod off and fulfil a desire. I've always wanted to go around Australia, travelling (up or down) the east coast. Flights to Melbourne aren't too pricey and it seems a good place to start and make my way to Cairns to fly home. What I ask of you is your knowledge and experience. Some of you may have done something similar and could give me tips or what not. I've looked into things such as the Greyhound bus which seem like a great idea to get me to my final destination. Is this a good way of doing it or are there better alternatives? I also planned on joining the YHA so I'll have a place to stay. Is this worthwhile? Are there friendly enough people that let you kip on their sofa and bring you breakfast in the morning? Tips? I plan on doing it out of a backpack, trying to find work as I'm there while also having a turd load of fun. I'm hoping to save up five grand for the trip but will pay for my plane ticket and equipment beforehand, I also want to stay for as long as possible (until I either run out of money or get kicked out). One last thing... any Aussie Bit-techers... can I stay with you?
Oh, sounds fun! I actually did quite a bit of travelling myself about 4-5 years ago so may be able to give you some advise, although I can't answer all your questions... Firstly regarding travel in Australia, I would avoid all those "Oz Experience" bus things like the plague. I'm not too sure your age but it looked like being on a school trip. I personally would have hated it. Not sure about Greyhound (although it was relatively inexpensive from what I remember in the US but Amtrak was a bargain), but you could always buy a cheap car (and of course sell it before you leave to re-coup pretty much all the money - you see adverts in hostels and in papers all the time from travellers wanting to unload the cars they bought before they depart. And of course, if you always hire a car which is pretty cheap, especially if you find a few people to chip in who want to leave where they are (again, hostel adverts are the best way if you can't find anyone). I don't think all hostels are covered by the YHA card thing, but I can remember that some were so if it is inexpensive it might be a good idea to help save a bit of cash while you are there - hostel fees mount up quite a bit and in some places they are extortionate! You may be able to find people who will let you crash and theirs. I was lucky and found a few different people I could stay with and stayed a week or two with each of them (didn't really want to out stay my welcome). They also fed me too! Awesome. A good idea to achieve this is to hook up with local girls tbh. I met people that just lived in tents too! They were in groups though, if you are travelling alone (as I did) you will probably want to stay in a hostel as its a good place to meet people. If you like somewhere, check out gumtree and try and find a room in a house with other travellers. It works out cheaper then hostels a lot of the time and you get and you also get a bit more luxury! There are also many hostels who place ads or even help you look for work. Some work (manual work like farms) let you stay there while you work. I did this for a while but didn't really like it - out in the middle of nowhere with no beer or women, poor pay, and they only fed me one meal a day for 12-15 hours work. You may find something better then me though. It all depends on what you want to do. The main cities were the best places for me to find work - Sydney had an abundance but this was pre-recession and the pay is pretty damn good, Australia is easier on your pocket then England. If you want to work there, you probably already know that you need a VISA to work which lasts one year only. It might be worth just going for a bit and then decide what you want to do and how your money situation is going because this will be pretty much your only opportunity to use this working VISA unless you get sponsored. I think you have to leave the country to apply for a new one so try popping to Fiji/Bali/NZ for a week, I don't think its too expensive. That is all I can think of atm except for little bits like not skimping on a decent back pack. Go to a shop and try them to see which is right - I bought mine off ebay as it was a bargain but it gave me hell digging into my shoulders. Some Swedish guys I knocked around with for a while had awesome back packs which were bigger then mine but felt like carrying a fluffy cloud on your shoulders. When you are there. you might want to do all the common tourist things like a trip to the Whitsundays and Fraiser Island. There are many people/companies that sells this trips so shop around and definitely barter with them. If I think of more later I will post it... GL & HF! *Wall of text crits for 9000!*
Awesome wall of text! Firstly, I'm 19, will be 20 when I go, which makes car hire a no go zone (as far as I am aware). Oz Experience and the like: definitely not my scene, had looked at it and it took me a couple of minutes to realise it wasn't for me. As you said, school trip. I'm aiming to do this very much my own way and don't need any form of structure like that really. A 6 month Greyhound pass (which does the route I want) is $445AUD (I'm not 100% on exchange rate at the moment) which doesn't seem too bad if I really make the most of the it. However, I'd like to get some real reviews to see if it is worth the money; sounds like a handy thing on paper though. I'll research the YHA card; as for staying at peoples', when my father did this (about 28 years ago) he found plenty of friendly people to stay with. I don't know how much the times have changed but I'm hoping there will be folks willing to sacrifice their sofa for a few nights. As for hooking up with local girls... I'd never even thought of that; honest ! I will probably end up taking a tent as it may well come in very handy but it definitely wont be my first choice for safety and legality reasons and what not. Fruit picking jobs and the like are the usual ones I've read about and something I'm more than happy to do and, as you said, they are advertised a lot in hostels. When my dad was there he ended up parking cars for a living; something a bit different and it paid his way. As for the VISA, that will most likely be something I decide while I'm out there. I've never been to Australia so don't even know if I'll like it! If I do find a place I like and a job then I'm sure heading to New Zealand for a week or 2 wouldn't be the end of the world to sort out staying arrangements. Cheers for the awesome help, I've looked at a few backpacks online but we have a outdoor kinda shop locally I can go and try some in. Definitely hitting up the usual tourist stuff and going to throw myself from great heights attached to a rubber band or a bed sheet or something.
Buses are cheaper but I dunno about you but I hate sitting on buses especially when its 10+ hours for some of the journeys. I'm about an hour north of Melbourne and from here to sydney is about a 10-11 hour bus trip
Check out www.onebag.com for tips on the art of travelling light. More importantly though, have a great time!
That's exactly the drawback I thought of. I know there are trains that are similar to the Greyhound bus but it's something I'm going to have to research. My dad spoke about internal flights too. @Da_Rude_Baboon: this website is ace! Well written and informative, I'm having a good read through now.
Travelling light is essential actually now its been mentioned - I didn't use half the stuff I packed. At the end of the day you will end up buying some few bits while you are out there I am sure. I would advise against taking a tent however. Its quite a bit of weight to lug about if you aren't even sure you will use it yet! Save your cash and buy one out there if you need one.
Yeah, I think the tent thing has become more apparent from reading onebag.com You're definitely right, not a great idea packing one. Oh and ... plus rep for all in the thread!
There are domestic flights to quite a lot of places over here now. Have a look at Virgin Airlines, Tiger Airways and Qantas for flight info. Flew from Melbourne to the Gold Coast (Near Brisbane) for AUS$60 just the other week
And things that don't move should be treated the same. There are trees that will poison you with barbs. Australia is poisonous.
