Diaries of a Travelling Author - Travelling Australia

We spent two months travelling Australia from Tasmania, up the Eastern shore and then up and down the Western Coast. We changed from city hotels to living in a camper van, hiking and city sight seeing. In this blog you will see pictures of our travels, and I will give our detailed itinerary, plus any tips or recommendations we found along the way.

Let's begin!

Tasmania

Most important, rent a car. We didn't have a car in Tasmania and the public transport, unless you're going to Hobart, was useless. It took us 3 hours to get somewhere 1 hour away. So, rent a car.

Tasmania was beautiful and Hobart was a nice city with great gardens and a wonderful San Churro cafe, which I highly recommend. We also found an animal sanctuary, Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, where you can feed and pet wild Kangaroos and see the very sleepy Tasmanian devils.

We went to Tasmania to visit a friend and relax after a 3 week trip in New Zealand, so we didn't do as much hiking as we should have. We did hike Mt Wellington which I recommend as it has beautiful, if windy, scenery from the summit and a lot of varied paths to hike. Tasmania has many other hiking destinations and with a car you should go and see them all.

Melbourne

Melbourne is a very vibrant city with lots of cultures and a mix of modern and old architecture. Free things to do include the extensive Botanical Garden, all of the graffiti streets you could ever want, and the St Kilda Penguins. Buskers line the busy streets and there is always some form of festival on.

I highly recommend dropping into Melbourne's library and trying out their wonderful cafe, as well as travelling to Coburg to eat at The Boot Factory, a cafe situated in an old prison. Melbourne has so many restaurants from every culture, so if you have a specific food in mind, don't panic, they will have it somewhere.

You can also visit many historic towns on Melbourne's outskirts, public transport here is better than in Tasmania, but Australia is always easier with a car.

Sydney - Brisbane

Sydney is a huge city, but this means there are lots of things to do. Obviously, the Sydney Opera house is a must see and you can get wonderful views of it from the free Botanical Garden and follow the river round to go into the Opera house itself. At night they have a free outdoor viewing of aboriginal art with music on the Opera house itself.

Leaving the city you can get a cheap boat across to Manly where you can do a coast walk or go surfing on it's iconic beaches.

After Sydney we hired a camper van to drive upto Brisbane. You must visit the Blue Mountains. The three sisters are average but an easy walk to tick off your list. Our favourite hike was the Canyon Walk track at Blackheath. I cannot recommend it enough. It was so beautiful and interesting, with plenty vegetation, shade, and waterfalls to see.

If you're going to rent a van and drive in Australia, I recommend downloading Wiki Camps;

https://www.wikicamps.com.au/

For a small yearly fee you can get access to a map which shows you all free and paid camp sights in the area so that you can plan your trip as you go. We wanted to be free on our van trip, so we didn't plan anywhere to sleep in advance. Instead, after lunch/ seeing what we'd like to do that day and how long we'd be, we would message a camp sight or pull up at a free spot just before sun set.

All the way up the coast you can find little towns with interesting things. In one town was a beautiful Mangrove walk where we saw sting rays and a variety of other fish. We also stumbled across a bee cafe which sold hand made honey, and camped beneath a swarm of fox bats.

After the Blue Mountains, our next favourite spot was Byron Bay. Yes, it is touristy, but it is a hipsters paradise and though busy, was so relaxing.

Brisbane was our drop off point for our van. It is a great city for nightlife and shopping, again boasting a beautiful free botanical garden and a free ferry service along the river, so you don't have to walk for miles to cross a bridge. The city has many lizards roaming free and they're not that afraid of humans.

Cairns

In Cairns you enter tropical Australia, it has an entirely different feeling to the rest of the country. Of course, from here we went to Port Douglas and dived on the Great Barrier Reef, but we also stayed in Cairns itself for a little while. You can walk along the coast which is hot and beautiful but you cannot enter the water except in secure swimming areas due to dangerous wild life.

Whilst staying we went up the Rainforest Skyrail, a gondola which takes you up into the mountains for spectacular waterfall views. When you reach the top you can walk around Kuranda, a beautiful town which is a little bit of a tourist trap, though not an unpleasant one. Up here you can go for short hikes through the forests, and I recommend popping into the butterfly sanctuary if you're a keen photographer.

To return to Cairns we used the Kuranda railway line which is a very old track with a very interesting history. You book this with the skyrail and it's well worth the money for the breathtaking views and stories.

Perth

Perth was as expected. A great place to relax, walk and dine out. Like other cities in Australia it has a great diverse culture so you can find almost anything your heart desires. The waters, however, are full of jelly fish. Which are fun to look at, but don't fall in.

Highway 95 and the Coastal Road

Our great western road trip begins on Highway 95, a straight road leading through the desert to Darwin. Take lots of water and fuel with you! There are towns but if you get stuck it could be a dangerous situation to find yourself in. You share the road mainly with lorry trains and a few other vans and caravans. But mostly, you will see animals.

After about five days of driving we reached Karajini national park. Get a park pass from a visitor centre before entering the park. This will cover you for all of the national parks you will enter along the west coast and is well worth the money.

In Karajini you can hike in Canyons galore but be wary of the flies. They will plague you. Take a fly net hat so they at least don't irritate your face.

After Karajini we headed west towards the coastal road. This road takes you to Exmouth, Monkey Mia and many other well known beach towns. They're very small towns, your choice in food supplies is going to become limited. But it's worth it for the amazing snorkelling and diving opportunities. As the land is more untouched than the east we saw far more variety of fish and wildlife along the west coast, including Sharks, Manta Rays, Turtles and much more. Take a water proof camera with you!

In Monkey Mia you can see the Dolphins but this will cost you extra on your park pass. Worth it! They come so close you can look into their eyes!

Nearer Perth you will hit the Pinnacles which your park pass includes. They're very interesting and no-one fully understands them. You can drive around them as well as walk. I recommend doing both as they're unique experiences.

Along this coast there are less free places to park as you're almost always in some form of national park, but use your wiki camps to find the cheapest options around.

Also be aware that phone signal is a thing of the past when you journey up and down the west coast. Download the google map images so that you can see where you're going and how far away you approximately are from things, but the distances are never accurate. Drive towards any green area of the map and you will find amazing hiking spots and every coastal town will inform you of the best reefs to dive or snorkel on. And remember your cars limits, do not go off road unless you're sure you will make it.

Enjoy this wild experience!

I hope you found this useful in planning your Australia experience! If you like what you see please subscribe. You can also follow me on Youtube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Safe Travels!

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