Australia is the perfect country to travel with a
camper van! Wide open roads, countless beautiful spots to pull over
and camp, the freedom to go where and when you want, it is no wonder
so many Aussies on retirement buy themselves a mobile home and spend
years going around the country.
Nothing beats finding your own camping spot in the wild, having
a cold beer admiring a wildly coloured outback sunset and a dinner
cooked on the campfire under the magnificent starry skies.
There is a choice of car rental companies where you
can book your car or campervan online to be assured of a car on
your arrival, most offer one way rentals between major cities. Nothing
beats the freedom of having your own car and stopping when and where
you want.
Australia is a huge country and a lot of people do
not realize how huge until they start driving it. If you're on a
three week holiday and want to see a few different corners of the
country then you don't have the time to do it on the road like the
backpackers that come for a year, and you will no doubt catch a
few flights. You miss the scenery along the way but it is a good
way to get across this ginormous continent fast and comfortable.
Around Australia by tour-bus
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest
Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
Halfway between Cairns and Darwin in the Gulf of Carpenteria
Instead of traveling from A to B on some boring coach
or plane and then booking a tour again on arrival, why not combine
them! There are many tours that will take you on one-way trips around
Australia, stopping regularly to enjoy the sights, spend the nights
camping in the bush under magnificent starry skies or outback pubs,
make friends along the way and actually enjoy getting from A to
B !
Adelaide to Melbourne - in
3days / 2 nights you'll get from Adelaide to Melbourne and see Mt.
Gambier, the Grampians, the Great Ocean Road, Geelong, Ballarat
and get dropped off at Melbourne airport or city. More
info....
For the wine lovers there is another trip that takes a slightly
different route and takes in the Coonawarra wine region. More
info....
Byron Bay to Surfers Paradise:
Pioneering
Spirit |
|
BYRON BAY
TO SURFERS PARADISE - DAY TOUR - $48
We depart Byron Bay 9.30am except Wednesday and Saturday.
The Pioneering Spirit has been operating with Ivan
as the proprietor for 10 years. The tour costs $48
and includes:
Entry to National parks, Wine tasting, Morning tea
and lunch (vegetarians catered for), Swimming in pristine
river pools,
Bush walk at Natural Arch (Springbrook National Park)
and FREE return to Byron Bay any time the tour returns.
More
info.... |
|
Phone
02 - 66857721
Mobile 0412 - 048333 |
|
Adelaide to Alice Springs:
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest
Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
A rare event, rain in the desert and a boggedGroovy Grape bus between
William Creek and Coober Pedy
Groovy Grape does a great ten day trip from Adelaide
to Alice Springs that includes the Flinders Ranges, William Creek,
Coober Pedy, Ayers Rock, the Olgas and Kings Canyon. Contact
via email
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest
Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
The Cool Croc bus on the Queensland/Northern Territory border
More
long distance one-way bus trips...
Around Australia by horse
Havehorsewilltravel.com.au
is a great Australian BYO Horse Travel Website to find out the latest
on where to stop, where to stay, trails to ride and events to attend.
Whether you want to cover some miles, or just get away for a holiday
with your horse.
Don't
have your own horse? Click here for a selection of shorter horse
rides....
Around Australia by ship
Spirit of Tasmania have now doubled the ships, doubled
the crossings and doubled the convenience! With two ships you are
able to sail to or from Tassie overnight - every night!
Spirit of Tasmania I and II give you all the fun, excitement and
romance of sea travel, so crossing Bass Strait will be one of the
highlights of your trip. Feel your holiday start the moment you
step on board as you sit back, relax and watch the waves roll by,
or take advantage of all the great facilities on board.
What's more, you can take your standard-sized car
across Bass Strait for only $61.- each way.
Just think of the freedom you will have - and the money you will
save - by taking your own car on holiday with you. You can tour
Tasmania or the mainland at your own pace, discovering your own
secret corners along the way. It also makes packing easy, as you
can take as much as you like: just load up your car with extra suitcases,
fishing rods, golf clubs - you name it! More
info...
Around Australia by motorbike
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest
Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld
Australia is a perfect country for motorbikes with
its long, wide open roads and beautiful scenery. Dependent on what
you want to see you'll have to choose your type of bike, the Harley
pictured above may look cool but is not very suitable for exploring
the more remote regions. Also you'll have to decide whether to buy
or rent or join a tour. Bikeroundoz.com
is a good place to start planning your adventure.
For a really remote adventure try Cape York, one
of the world's last remaining wilderness areas. See the Cape York
Motorcylce Adventures website for more
info...
Around Australia with a caravan
Traveling with a caravan? Check out www.froggyswebs.com
for some info and photos on caravanning
Around Australia by bicycle
This mode of traveling only appeals to a few, due
to the enormous distances and the fact that Australian roads and
drivers are not very bike-friendly. In outback areas you may find
that sometimes there is more than 200 km. between road houses, temperatures
are in the high thirties, cattle stations are unfenced and scrub
bulls can be unpredictable and a fair bit of (head) wind can blow
a well. On the east coast distances between towns are smaller but
there are more cars and trucks to dodge. Nevertheless when you travel
around Australia you are bound to see cyclists in the most remote
areas battling on through heat and distance. Enough seem to do it
to make it worthwile for Lonely Planet to publish a special travel
guide for cyclists;
Around Australia by camel
A few years ago a friend of mine was going around
Oz and in Adelaide met a couple who was going around the country
on camels. He decided to team up with them for the Nullarbor leg.
By car this is a lenghty drive but on the camels it took them THREE
MONTHS to get from Adelaide to Norseman!
This would be a bit too much for most people but you'll
be pleased to know there are four day desert tours on camels that
you can book online. More
info....
Hitch-hiking around Australia
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest
Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
In the early 1990s hitch-hiking around Australia lost
popularity when throughout 1992 and 1993 police kept finding bodies
of European tourists in the Belanglo State Forest near Berrima,
New South Wales. A total of seven bodies was dug up and Ivan Milat
was arrested and charged with their murders and was locked away
for probably the remainder of his life. After this the tradition
of hitch-hiking has never recovered again, and it might even be
illegal now, we'll do some research into this and let you know.
Around Australia by cargo ship
From Cairns you can go up the eastcoast to the top
of Cape York and back on a cargo ship that supplies remote coastal
communities, it departs once a week and takes about two days for
each journey, can also be done as a one-way when you fly the other
way. Popular with four wheel drivers that only drive the rough 1000
kms to the top once and then put the truck on the ship for the return
journey. Sea Swift’s flagship vessel, the MV Trinity Bay,
carries up to thirty eight passengers per week on it's voyage from
Cairns to Cape York, including stops at Horn Island, Thursday Island
and Bamaga. More
info....
Around Australia by kayak
American Eric Stiller and Aussie Tony Brown attempted
for three months to kayak the 10,000 miles around Australia in a
17-foot-long kayak. Their plan was to just' Keep Australia on your
left' , which is also the title of the book they wrote on their
experiences. When later interviewed Eric Stiller said: "It
seemed like a good idea at the time."
Around Australia by mail-plane
From Cairns you can join the postie in his plane for
an awesome flight all over the remote Cape York peninsula. More
info....
Around Australia by train
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest
Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
Though trains are not the favourite mode of transport
of the Aussies you can get around most of the country by train and
now, after more than a hundred years of talking about it, they have
even built a railway to Darwin! See our page on rail
journeys for more info...
Around Australia by yacht
Hang around a sailing club and check the notice board
or talk to the locals, often sailing boats will take on crew to
help out with work and expenses, one such place is Cairns where
many cruising yachts leave around May to get to Darwin in time for
the June Darwin to Ambon race.
Around Australia on foot
This would not appeal to many people, especially those
who can't convince their boss to give them at least a year's holidays
but this is what Deborah De Williams is doing now ( march 2004),
she is walking in a clockwise direction along Australia's National
Highway 1 and returning to Melbourne on Friday 15th October 2004.
During her ‘Journey for Kids’ Deborah is raising money
for Kids Help Line, Australia’s only 24 hour, free, confidential
and anonymous telephone and online counselling. For more information
click
here.
Newsflash April 2004: after Deborah had battled cyclones and floods
some youngsters in Halls Creek stole, amongst other things, her
walkingshoes!
If you'd like to explore Sydney on foot see Walksydneystreets.net
, the website of 90 year old Alan Waddell who has walked 2000 kms
thorugh every street of 135 Sydney suburbs.
If this mode of transport appeals to you this might be the travel
guide for you;
Maps of Australia
One thing that will help you find your way around
Australia is a good map, you can buy your maps of Australia online
at Ausmaps.com
You know any good ways to get around Australia?
Then tell us!
