Extra tips for travelling to Australia

After a succesful Reismarkt (Travel Market) in Bruges, I made a list of the frequent questions people asked us about Australia. A lot of them you can find in the previous blogpost.  Most travellers still don’t fully understand how big Australia is. I’ve repeated it a lot that Sunday on the Reismarkt: a trip to Australia = carefully choose what you want to see and do, and keep in mind the climate! A few topics that came back with a lot of people:

1. wifi

2. tourism information

3. possible itineraries

4. articles

5. pinterest / flipboard

1. Wifi

Wifi in Australia is slow and expensive. In Melbourne / Sydney you can help yourself with a few free wifi hotspots. Everywhere else you have two options: super expensive wifi or super slow wifi (non usable, even for a simple picture upload). Luckily there is a solution for that problem (not a very cheap one though) but very handy! You can buy mifi modems. Little handy appliances that work on the 4G/3G network in Australia. Again, you have to look where you are going to travel to find the cheapest mobile operator, however the one with the best coverage is Telstra. They have a wide range of mobile broadband devices (with pre-paid options), check this link. Again: it’s not cheap, the other solution is to make a hotspot of your smartphone, just buy a Telstra prepaid card and connect your pc/tablet through your phone with the internet (important: you need a proof of identity if you buy the mifi modems in a Telstra shop).

2. Tourism information

In the previous blogpost, we’ve already named the main tourism website by state. But you also have smaller tourism websites of certain areas in Australia. A list:

3. Possible itineraries

IMG_5918Red Centre (7-8 days / 1224km ) : Alice Springs – Namatjira Drive (Glenn Helen, Simpsons Gap, Standley Chasm, ….) – Hermannsburg – Mereenie Loop (4WD) – Kings Canyon – Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park – Stuart Highway back to Alice Springs  (blog articles here)

Great Ocean Road (round trip:6-7 days /650km , to Adelaide 8-9 days /1000km ) : top tip -> start in Melbourne: in Australia you drive on the left side so if you start in Melbourne every turnoff on the GOR is on your “good” side (you don’t have to cross the street every time to get to the lookouts) :  Melbourne – Geelong – Torquay – Bells Beach – Point Addis – Anglesea (kangaroos at the golf course) – Aireys Inlet – Spit Point Lighthouse – Lorne – Erskine Falls – Teddy’s Lookout – Kenneth River (koala’s!) – Apollo Bay (Mariners Lookout!) – Great Otway National Park (koala’s + lighthouse!) – Johanna Beach (top beach! camping possible!) – Princetown – Gibson Steps – 12 Apostles – Loch Ard Gorge – The Arch – London Bridge – Bay of Islands – Bay of Martyrs – Warrnambool (end of Great Ocean Road) leaving you a few options -> inland back to Melbourne (the fastest way); follow the coastline to Adelaide (and visit Coorong National Park) or inland to Adelaide (and visit the Grampians) (blog articles here)

Melbourne – Sydney coastal route (7-8 days / 1200km ): Mornington Peninsula – Wilsons Promontory NP – Gippsland Lakes Coastal Park – Lakes Entrance – Croajingolong NP – Eden – Pambula Beach (kangaroos!) – Narooma – Batemans Bay – Grand Pacific Drive – Wollongong – Royal NP – Sydney (blog articles here)

Sydney – Melbourne inland (7-8 days / 1200km ) : Sydney – Blue Mountains – Canberra – Snowy Mountains – Melbourne (blog articles here)

Adelaide – Outback (12-14 days / 3000 km): Adelaide – Port Pirie – Mount Remarkable NP – Port Augusta – Whyalla – Lucky Bay – Tumby Bay – Port Lincoln – Lincoln NP – Coffin Bay NP (top! 4WD) – Gawler Ranges (4WD) – Mt Ive – Lake Gairdner –  Kingoonya – Coober Pedy – Breakaways – Dog Fence – William Creek (4WD) – Oodnadatta Track (4WD) – Lake Eyre NP –  Coward Springs – Marree – Farina – Flinders Ranges – Hawker – Clare – Adelaide (blog articles here)

Tasmania (10 days / 1400km) :  Hobart – Port Arthur – Coles Bay – Freycinet NP –  Bay of Fires – Mount William NP – Bridport – Launceston – Cradle Mountain NP – Strahan – Hobart (blog articles here)

Perth (10 days /  2500km): Perth – Hyden (Wave Rock) – Kalgoorlie (Super Pit) – Esperance – Cape Le Grand NP – Albany – Denmark – Walpole – Pemberton (big trees!) – Cape Leeuwin (lighthouse!) – Margaret River –  Busselton (jetty!) – Bunbury – Fremantle – Perth (blog articles here)

Perth – Darwin (24 days / 6000km ): Perth – Yanchep – Geraldton – Kalbarri NP – Hamelin Pool – Carnarvon – Exmouth – Cape Range NP – Karijini NP – Port Hedland –  Eighty Mile Beach – Broome – Dampier Peninsula (4WD) – Derby – Gibb River Road (4WD) or highway along Fitzroy crossing, Halls Creek, Purnululu to Kununurra –  Gregory NP – Katherine – Litchfield NP – Kakadu NP – Darwin (blog articles here)

5. Pinterest / Flipboard

Read the articles in our Australia Flipboard magazine:

View my Flipboard Magazine.

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