AUSTRALIA: Travel Recommendations

PERTH:

This is the biggest city on the west coast of Australia. Most travellers that venture to Australia tend to stick to the east coast but if your curiousity overwhelms you and you get the urge to head to the less populated west coast of Australia, I promise that it won't dissapoint you. Perth is a magnificiently green and clean city that lies right on the coastline. It has more of a business feel to the city than most places you pass by on the east coast but there is alot to do and several different backpackers that you could stay at that should suit your budget ($25 AUD/ Night). Where I stayed and recommend is Billabong backpackers. A rather busy place with very friendly staff and to top it all off they have an outdoor poor that could consume more of your time than you might have initially plan on. This is a great starting point if your planning to find others to team up with to make a trek up the west coast. When I was there I met loads of fellow travellers eagerly looking for people who they could team up with to do a trip. I would recommend atleast 6-7 days in Perth. The things I did that I highly recommend would be:

~ Venture downtown to the main city centre area and take a ride up the Swan Bells Tower to get a great view of the city below.
~ Catch a bus up to Kings Park and get lost walking the maze of trails and be sure to check out the War memorial area.
~ Spend a night or two on Rottsnest Island and be sure to hire a bicycle to ride around as transport is very limited.
~ Hire a car and take the 3-4 hour drive north to check out the Pinnacles
~ Wake up really early, Hire a car and drive south down to Bunbury and if your lucky you could get to swim with Dolphins.
~ Spend a day or two kicking back and relaxing on the marvelous beaches of Cottesloe or Freemantle.

MELBOURNE:

This place is by far the centre of the music hub of Australia. A backpackers heaven indeed and I have failed to meet a fellow traveller who did not thoroughly enjoy their melbourne experience. If you go here in search of an exciting nightlife, well you've come to the right place. You can walk down and lose yourself in some of the most random of alley ways in the city and almost always stumble upon a rocking bar that just seems to pop up out of nowhere.

If you are craving a more relaxing beach day to kick back and gaze endlessly into that vast openness of the seaside than St. Kilda is just the place for you. Melbourne to me, was a city that seemed to have alot to offer. Not to mention their is a massive stadium too called the MCG where your just a number and 1 of 80,000+ spectators rally together to cheer on their favourite clubs in this spectacular australian game of footy A.K.A. AFL.

GREAT OCEAN ROAD:

This drive is said to be one of the most beautiful drives you can take on our planet. Without a doubt this stunning coastline will surely leave anyone who ventures here breathless and screaming for more. This stretch of road is 243 km (151 miles) of pavement that winds all along the southern coastline of Australia. It is alot of ground to cover and I highly recommend taking your time during the drive and make as many scenic stops at all the lookout points as possible. If you happen to be here at the right time of the year its quite common to see the massive humpback whales passing by just off the coastline during their migration path away or back towards Antartica. I had the luxury of doing the road trip with a few Australian girls I had met in NZ and we took 3 days to do the drive and there are plenty of budget accommodations to stay at any of the towns/small cities along the way.

SYDNEY:

This is probably one of my top 5 favorite cities I've ever been to. Once arriving in Sydney I recommend to stay downtown central in a hostel called: Wake UP!. It is a very busy hostel but usually full of fellow backpackers eagerly waiting to begin carving their path up the east coast and there is an info booth in the hostel which has a wicked assortment of useful information for Sydney and area. If you decide not to stay in grand central I recommend staying in an area close by sydney called COOGE BEACH. There are several different hostels to stay there but I stayed at the Wizard of OZ and it was pretty cool and just a short 2 minute walk from the beach. There's nothing cheap about Sydney so be prepared!! There is a really nice walk you can talk from Cooge beach to Bondi beach. It takes about an hour and a half but unleashes splendid views of the coastline and if you time it right, you may see humpback whales out in the waters migrating their way up the east coast. BONDI BEACH is a must see for various reasons but I will warn you, its usually quite crowded and a little disappointing if you have your expectations set high. If you go down the coast a little ways, there are much nicer and quiter beaches along the sydney coastline. I never went but heard that Manly beach or Maroubra beach are nice spots, just watch out for the Surfer Gangs there. If animals are your thing, I suggest heading to the Taronga Zoo which is quite decent and you can get a ferry out of Circular Quay to it quite easily which is a great opportunity to take some photos of the ever so famous opera house and harbour bridge.



BLUE MOUNTAINS:

This is a National park that is situated just 2 hours by train from Sydney and a place I highly recommend going to. There are tons of great hikes you can do in the mountain park area and is the place to go to see the famous cliffside statues commonly called the 3 sisters. If have the time to stay overnight or for a few days, there is a hostel in the town area called flying fox and its a really cozy place to stay!

PORT MAQUARIE:

NEW CASTLE:

PORT STEPHENS:

COFFS HARBOUR:



BYRON BAY:

NIMBIN:

Is a small village that is approximately 70 Km west of Byron Bay. This place is probably one of the most bizarre yet memorable places you could visit in Australia along the east coast. With is bustling population of 352 people (2006 survey) its possible to spot most of the locals in just a few hours here. I can assure you that if you go here, this village is sure to rate high on the wow factor. It is a magical place that seems to be stuck in time full of pot smoking hippies and if you have the appetite for marijuana cookies or any other paraphernalia, this is your place to be. A writer Austin pick explained it perfectly: "It is as if a smoky avenue of amsterdam has been placed in the middle of the mountains behind frontier-styly building facades... Nimbin is a strange place indeed".

SURFERS PARADISE:

Is quite a popular stop for backpackers flocking along the ever so busy east coast but seemed to be a bit touristy for my liking so i didn't not spend any time here. I do have a good friend who did spend a considerable amount of time here so this is his recommendation for places to stay. Some good hostels include: The Islander (a bit pricey but great location), Surf and Sun, and Sleeping in Surfers. They are all decent so go with whatever is cheapest. He got a great opportunity to sell pub crawl tickets to travellers or other party goers along the beaches here and make a good amount of cash doing it so if this interests you and looking to earn some extra cash along your travels, Definitely let me know and I can get in contact with him for you.

SOUTHPORT:

This is a small town outside of Surfers, probably cheaper accomodation if you're looking to stay for a while and is only a 20 minute bus ride away. Accommodation near the University is probably your best bet.

FRASER ISLAND:




BRISBANE:

Not a whole lot there but did a walk thru the city along the river which was nice. Make sure you get to the Steve Irwin Autralia zoo about an hour north of brisbane, its wicked cool and they still have all the worlds deadliest snakes that steve irwin caught himself. When you arrive find out what time the crocidile show is at! its definitly worth seeing forsure.

NOOSA:

Is a really chilled out spot. I got up early to watch the sunrise and it was incredible! definitly worth it! We rented a catarmaran and sailed out into the open waters so if you or rich or someone ur with knows how to use them, definitly rent for a few hours and do your own cruise and keep a look out for dolphins. we ended up sailing with them and they were jumping all around our boat and close enough i reached into the water and touched the fin on one of them.. Amazing!!

1770:

There's not a whole lot of options of places to stay but if you book ahead there's 1 really cool hostel that was full but ask around and other travellers will know which one it is.
In this town you can hire chopper motorcycles (they train you how to ride one) and you have got to do the Chopper Tour its an all day ride with a big group and a must Do forsure


** Please be careful when you book whitsundays trip, there's lots of different boats you can take and the nicer the boat is the more expensive its gonna be so just don't book the first deal you find and shop around. We did the 'Freight train' and it was quite affordable and had a blast. you can even set up a fun dive when you get out there on it! if you take this boat and your host is Tane, tell him your my cousin. (i'm not sure if he's still on the boat but he may be!!

One thing i recommend doing if it fits your budget is doing the Yongala ship wreck Dive, it's in a small town called AYER. google it and find out if you can do it with open water i think you might need advanced cert. Its a bit pricey but worth every penny and you see more fish on 1 dive than any dive you could ever do on the reef!

THE GREAT BARRIER REEF:

If you have not heard already 70% or more of the dives done on the reef is out of Cairns.. Don't DO IT! i heard the reef is damaged bad from all the traffic and stupid tourists stepping on the reefs. Its better to wait to dive the reef till you get up to port douglas or cape trib cause its way more untouched and much more marine life there!

MAGNETIC ISLAND:

Stay at base backpackers and doing a hike up to the north tip of the island to the viewpoint, its gorgeous.

CAIRNS:

Stay at Calypso backpackers! its by far the best one and a great atmosphere!! Another great hostel is Mulligans ( i think thats the name ) it's basically a hotel/hostel but rumor has it, you gotta try it out for atleast a night. While in Cairns, make sure you go out one night to one of the two popular bars called the Woolshed or the Rhino Bar! its such a riot, there's no way you can't have fun there!!

PORT DOUGLAS:

I went to port douglas and there's a few hostels to stay at. If you have the courage go down to the harbour and rent out a tin motor boat and crusie up the crocidile infested river and have your own crocidile hunt! that's what we did! The beach is lovely in port douglas and i highly recommend doing the trail up to the lookout point over the coastline! its stunning

CAPE TRIBULATION:

I did not go here but wished I had the time as I heard alot of good things about it.

Have you experienced the goon bags yet? (boxed 4L of wine for 10 dollars) its dirt cheap and gets your pretty tipsy! If you travel in Austrailia and don't get to experience the wonders of the GOON, you will have missed out for certain!