A year out to travel Asia, Australia and New Zealand
My itinerary for Australia was as follows:
We flew into Sydney and started with all the famous sites, Sydney Opera house, the botanical gardens and got a taste if the amazing night life that the city has to offer. Then went on to Byron Bay by bus which took roughly 13 hours. The town is very beautiful and has a lovely laid back vibe. We stayed by the beach for a few weeks and didn’t find much in the way of work at the time so we decided to make our way to Melbourne. Melbourne is a bustling city with plenty to do. We situated ourselves in St.Kilda, a popular place close to the city. Found jobs and checked out many of the sites like Melbourne museum, the great ocean road which has a beautiful view of the twelve apostles and of course checked out the many restaurants and popular night life spots in town.
After a few months we felt like we had gotten to know Melbourne very well and wanted a new adventure, we had heard that there was quite a bit of work in remote areas so we flew to Perth to find out more. We stayed a few days in Perth to check out the sites. Then got in contact with an agency who split us up and sent some off to a mining town and myself to a town called Kalgoorlie to work in a remote bar. This work is quite popular to service the secluded towns who are short staffed, so we were all up for it.
I was matched with a bar and worked on getting to know the friendly locals who invited me to activities on the weekends which was fun. This lasted a few weeks to raise some funds for the next adventure. We all met back up in Perth and decided to group up with other friends and travel up the west coast of Australia and what a great idea it was. We drove from Perth to The Pinnacles, which is slightly inland from Port Headland but are well worth the visit. They are limestone formations within Nambung National Park that stand up majestically and are so out of the ordinary.
We had heard of Hutt Lagoon which is a natural pink lake formed with the combination of algae and salt. So we had to get some pics there, since 2017 the lakes haven’t been so pink which is a shame as it was an ideal place to snap up pics for your social media. Close by is was a micronation of Australia, previously called the Hutt River Province that was run by one of its locals Leonard Casely who we took photos with and he showed us around.
We took a stop at Shell Beach which was literally full of shells and very little sand to see which was stunning. Monkey Mia was next on the itinerary where we watched dolphins com very close to the shore which was the perfect photo opportunity. Then on to Broome which is well known for its stunning Cable beach where you can take a sunset camel ride. We didn’t stay long because we wanted to visit Derby, which is home to the Boab prison tree which is roughly 1,500 years old a tree that hasn’t been confirmed but may have housed prisoners at one stage. There are beautiful gorges in a town called Katherine that we visited to cool off, the weather was very hot and dry, even our water was warm to drink. The views are amazing and many walkways through them makes it feel almost like cave structures for some parts. We had driven quite far so we decided at this point to fly from Darwin to Cairns. Cairns is a beautiful city and the gateway to the great barrier reef and here I took my scuba diving licence PADI. The water was a small bit murky on the day due to the weather conditions but we still managed to see baby shark, fish, coral and a strange looking brown sea cucumber. After spending much time on the road we took a job in an outback bar 12 hours’ drive from Cairns. It was in a town called Cloncurry. Here the locals were friendly and showed us around, even brought us out fishing where we only managed to catch catfish but it was an amazing opportunity and they told us the water was infested with “crocs”. The sunsets were spectacular and the birds that flocked in the evening had all kinds of fabulous colours. After saving up some money we made our way back to Cairns and flew down to Brisbane, a few weeks there and then on to New Zealand. I went solo to visit the north and souths islands as I knew it would be a long time before I made it to this side of the world again. Australia is still my favourite place in the whole world to visit, it’s so diverse, from the beautiful beaches of the Gold coast, the mountains in New South Wales, natural beauty of the west coast and of course the stunning brown colours of “Uluru” in the Outback. The people are welcoming and friendly, transport is excellent so its easy to get around, safe, family friendly with many outdoor parks with water features and of course the BBQ areas which are free to use in most places.
There is something for everyone in Australia so why not reach out and we can discuss more. Plus I have recently received my “Aussie specialist” badge so I am equipped to provide good suggestions on where to go and what to do while on your trip to Australia.
Catherine