Travelling within Australia

[katmeow]

I have this mission: to see a large proportion of my own country before I head overseas. There's a few reasons for this. Namely that I think it's nice to be able to converse with people overseas about different places in Australia. Lots of people I've met whilst on the trips I've been on said they asked any Aussies they met before coming here about different places to visit and most had no idea about where anything was. But more than that, I think Australia is a pretty spectacular country with so many contrasts and amazing places to visit.

So far, I've been round most of NT, the east coast of QLD and a large portion of the South NSW/Vic coast along with spending a bit of time in all the capital cities bar Perth and Hobart. I'm currently planning my next adventure which will be starting in Melbourne after new years and heading over to Perth and checking out the West Coast.

I'd like to dedicate this thread to stories about any of the weird and wonderful places you may have visited in Australia. Feel free to add pics too!

Some of my highlights have been:

*The Stuart Highway in NT. So many random places. Like Ti Tree - the geographical centre of Australia, with a population of about 30. The lady in the roadhouse told us that if you pick your nose, the whole town will know about it. Wycliffe Well: UFO sighting capital of Aus. The roadhouse is covered with statues of little green men. Jesus & Christ: a camel and donkey who hang out on the side of the road just near Wauchope, sticking their heads into tourist busses to say hello.

*Curtin Springs in NT. We camped out here in swags under the stars. I've never seen a sunset/sunrise so amazing. The sky is so clear and the view just goes on forever. Unfortunately none of my pics from this trip are scanned onto the pc.

*Ayers Rock/The Olgas. Ayers Rock is really something special. You see so many pictures of it, but it just doesn't compare to seeing it up close. The Olgas were simply awe inspiring.

*Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays.

The picture doesn't do it any justice at all, but this place is stunning. 6km of the whitest, softest sand I've ever seen in my life.

*Fraser Island: There are too many cool things about Fraser Island to mention. I did a three day drive yourself 4wd tour with a group of people I'd never met before and it definitely wasn't enough to see everything.

The Maheno Shipwreck

Champagne Pools

Anyhow, that's probably enough from me for now. Hopefully, I'll have more to add after Feb next year! Any tips on places to see in the west would be appreciated


I'm also interested in hearing from people who've chosen not too see any of Australia. I've spoken to a lot of Aussies who have a downright negative opinion about travelling within Australia and I'm just wondering if anyone who feels the same way can shed some light on why this is so.

 

[Chaos Butterfly]

Me and the boy are doing the same sort of thing. Last Christmas/New Years, we did Sydney to Melbourne, then the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide, then back to Sydney through Mildura and Canberra. Was a great trip!

This year we are heading down to tour around Tasmania! It's going to be awesome

Australia is such an amazingly large and beautiful place with so many different things to see and do, that not going and seeing/doing them seems like a bit of a waste...

I've still got to go to the NT and also to North Queensland, as I haven't been above the Sunshine Coast, and I also need to head out west again, as I've only been to Perth, and didn't get to see much of it at the time. So much to see! I need more holiday time

CB

 

[lostNfound]

ive driven all the way down the coast from brisbane to cape tribulation and back.
also done the brisbane to melbourne trip by road. the sydney to melbourne part i went down the princes highway coast road.
so like kat, my next trip will be across to W.A.

I recommend visiting the town of 1770 in north queensland.

 

[joannie_mhm]

^1770 is the place of all my childhood camping holidays (plus my mum and dad honeymooned there)- awesome place.

I highly recommend a trip around Tassie.

So many gorgeous little country towns, enough history to last you a lifetime, Port Arthur is beautiful and fascinating and haunting all at the same time, spectacular mountains to climb... I've never enjoyed a holiday as much as I did driving around Tassie ( as a 15 year old with my parents, and that's saying something!)

 

[EJ]

*Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays.

I was at Whitehaven Beach this time last week. You're right, no picture can do it justice, it is by far the most picturesque beach i've ever seen. Not only the white sand that never get hot unlike the yellow sands of Sydney, but the water is so clear. Great spot.

I spent 5 days on the Whitsundays, 3 of those days/nights were on the Anaconda III, a mega yacht. To anyone who's thinking of holidaying in the area, I very highly reccommend booking yourself onto one of the many tourist yachts, usually docked near Airlie Beach.

To be honest, most of the time I spent on land (e.g. Airlie Beach, Hamilton/Daydream/Long Island, etc.) I found fairly boring. Yeah, nice spots, but by far the highlight of my trip was out on the water, snorkling/diving different areas of the Great Barrier Reef. My favourite spot for diving was at Blue Pearl Bay, just off Hayman Island. Bait Reef, about 17km from the nearest land, was pretty special too, though anywhere on the GBR is great. Even if you can't/don't want to dive, the snorkling is still amazing.

 

[Miss Peks]

I think I'd like to do the same thing properly as well. My main focuses are to go to the NT, then travel all the way down the West coast, and just do that slowly. I'd also like to go upwards from Brisbane to Cairns as I haven't done that properly yet either. Pretty much everywhere else I've been to already.

I'll probably do it if some of my mates come from the UK. I figure we can get a 4wd or something and do it that way. It's been discussed, but whether it happens is a different thing.

 

[Samadhi]

I used to work for Queensland Rail as a stewie on the intrastate trains, and i got to see a a portion of Queensland that way, one of the best ways, IMHO... train travel. I got to see a large portion of the coastal areas of QLD from Brisbane to Cairns, Brisbane to Longreach, Brisbane to Mt Isa, and Brisbane to Charleville. Stopovers at various towns due to my schedule or due to traintrack/train fuckups meant that i could also explore quite a few of the towns along the way. Longreach is quiet, but i saw THE MOST spectacular sunsets in that area.

Interstate, i've only been to NSW(Sydney and surrounding areas: northern beaches, Northern NSW hinterland/coast) and Victoria (Melbs, Yarra Valley). In the next couple of years, i plan to visit every capital city that i've not been to and a few other places as well: Broome and the NT in general are high on my list. I'm lucky that a cousin of mine lives in Darwin and we have friends in Perth).



One other place i really want to visit again (the first time i was 12 and didnt' take it in), is Black Mountain, north of Cairns. It's a pretty freaky place, just a massive pile of HUGE black boulders, i'd love to climb it, and possibly explore some of the cave system. Having said that, a heap of people have done so, but have never come out.

I have a nagging desire to hire a campervan or buy a shitty one and do it up, jump in and just drive around Australia. At the moment, it's not on the horizon, but it's something that i'll definitely do in the next 5 years... get odd jobs on the way, fruitpicking, etc, it would be so much fun! :D

 

[kryalkastleE]

sounds like you have already seen it all kat!!!

 

[GABAlover]

I have been to the US, Thailand and Hong Kong and not seen much of Australia yet. Those photos and stories made me want to see more of OZ. I think I'll find a travel partner and head out this holidays.

Girls: anyone interested ?

 

[katmeow]

^ I actually really enjoy travelling on my own. The trip I did in NT was with a close friend and it really strained the friendship towards the end. I did the QLD trip by myself and had an unreal time. No sacrifices on activities I wanted to do, plus it forced me out of my comfort zone in terms of talking to new people. If you've going for a while, it's quite easy to hook up with people you meet along the way and travel with them for a bit then move on when you're ready to do your own thing again

EJ - I just did one of the one day jetboat tours as I'd already spent 5 days out on a boat doing my open water cert, but the yachting trips looked awesome! I sort of wish I had gone on one, but I ended up staying in a hostel with a really cool group of people in Airlie for a few days instead.

 

[breakyaself]

I actually couldnt think of anything more boring than travelling Australia.

 

[katmeow]

^ See, this is what I was getting at towards the end of my first post. I'd really like to know why people feel this way?

 

[breakyaself]

I find Australia bland; full of uncultured, bigoted people who I easily identify with and consequently have little to learn from; to have kilometers of baren uninteresting land; predictable daily rituals which confuse me as to whether I am actually on holiday; while occassional beautiful scenery, nothing I havent seen before, and isnt not accessable with more than a 2 hour drive from where I live; lack of momuments that contain religious and historical importance, again another loss of opportunity for learning through discovery ;to have a lack of excitement induced by being surrounded by the unfamiliar;

I could probably go on...

 

[GABAlover]

I thought I had a bad attitude...

katmeow, that's interesting what you said. I thought the same thing before travelling overseas to Thailand last year but I was bored stupid.

Maybe it's easy for females to hook up with others, maybe I need to be more outgoing, maybe I shouldn't have gone to Patong Beach and Pattaya lol.

 

[doofqueen]

I can't wait to see oz! I will definitely do it before i go OS. I plan on buying a van and travelling for a year with my son around oz when he finishes his HSC (he's not getting his 'trust fund' till he does this) but then again he might not want to come with his mum by then so i might end up doing it by myself!