This Happy Place

Best Australia Travel Guide

• Get a phone plan —The telephone company Telstra has really improved their service and offers great phone packages that have great coverage throughout the country. Their call/text rates aren’t that high either, so the credit will last you awhile. Vodafone has amazing deals (sometimes better) too but they have more limited coverage around the country.
• Drink goon (box wine) —Goon is infamous on the Australian backpacker hostel trail. This cheap box of wine is the best way to drink, get a buzz, and save a lot of money at the same time. 4 liters typically costs 13 AUD (compared to a six pack of beer for the same price). Drink this before you go out and save on spending money at the bar (where it is about 10 AUD per drink).
• Cook often —Again, eating out is not cheap. The best way to reduce your costs is to cook as many meals as possible. ALDI is the cheapest supermarket in the country, followed by Coles and then Woolworths (though sometimes you don’t get a choice at which place you can shop it! Some small towns only have one!).
• Car share —Australia is a big country that can be expensive to get around. If you are traveling with friends, it’s smart to buy a used car or campervan (or rent a new one from one of the many rental companies in the country) and split the costs of gas. You can also hitch a ride with other travelers using sites like Gumtree, Jayride, or a hostel message board.
• Book tours as a package —This country has a lot of exciting activities and tours that eat into any budget. Booking activities together through a hostel or tour agency will get you a discount and save you hundreds of dollars as a repeat customer.
• Seek out free internet — The internet in Australia is painfully slow and expensive (just ask any Australian how they feel about this), but libraries and McDonalds have free WiFi that you can use.
• Work for your room — Many hostels offer travelers the opportunity to work for their accommodation. In exchange for a few hours a day of cleaning, you get a free bed to sleep in. Commitments vary but most hostels ask that you stay for at least a week.
• WWOOF it! —WWOOFing is a program that allows you to work on organic farms in exchange for free room and board. Everyone I’ve met who stays in the country long term does it for at least one month. You don’t even need to know anything about farming – you’re mostly picking fruit the whole time! It’s a great way to reduce your expenses and make an impact on the local environment.
• Couchsurf — Accommodation in Australia can be quite pricey. If you plan ahead, you can usually find really nice Couchsurfing hosts all throughout the country. This way, you not only have a place to stay but you’ll have a local host that can tell you the best places to go and things to see.
• Fill up your water bottle — The tap water is clean and safe to drink in Australia. Cutting the 2-3 AUD for each bottle of water will reduce your daily spending. Not buying bottles of water also good environmental impact too!

(For more city specific money–saving tips, see the city destination guides.)

Top Things to See and Do in Australia

• Visit Uluru — Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) is one of the best attractions in the country. Make sure you are there for both sunset and sunrise because both are equally as spectacular. It’s a pretty breathtaking sight considering it’s just a big rock! Also, make sure to visit the Aboriginal center nearby where you can learn about the local population. I hated waking up early to see the sunrise but I loved watching the red hues change as the sun rose in the sky (see the photo above!).
• Dive the Great Barrier Reef — Find your very own Nemo in the Great Barrier Reef. There’s a ton of marine life and beautiful coral here to explore—this is a must-do activity. Trips start around 180 AUD for the day. Even if you don’t dive, you can still take a boat out to the reef and go snorkeling. Try to get on a boat that has a permit to go to dive sites a couple of hours from the shore so you can avoid the onslaught of other tourist boats and divers that inundate the shallower dive sites closer to shore. Here is a video of my trip to the reef (minus the fish pooping in front of my face):
• — The world’s largest sand island is a popular place to do some camping, swim, hike, and avoid dingoes. It’s also extremely popular with the locals because of its rustic beauty is easily accessible from the mainland. They camp a lot on the island. You can hire your own 4WD car or take an overnight tour through the island that’s famous for its fresh water lake (and dingoes). Sadly, you can’t go in the water nearby as it’s rough and full of sharks!
• Go to Cairns — Cairns is Australia’s gateway to northern Queensland. From here you can visit the Great Barrier Reef, the Daintree rainforest, the Atherton tablelands, Cape Tribulation, and much more. Cairns is a pretty typical tropical city, and life here focuses on taking the time to smell the roses. With so much to see, the city deserves a very long stay. Plan to visit for a week which will give you enough time to explore the area, plus spend some time lounging by the pool. This town may be small, but it will leave you wanting more.
• Hang out in Brisbane on the South Bank — Brisbane is a “business city”, so unlike Sydney or Melbourne, there isn’t a lot of “culture” here. South Bank has some nice restaurants, and there are some decent pubs, but overall, the city isn’t one of the most exciting places to visit in Australia. However, it’s worth a stop to hang out on South Bank (which I loved) and meet travelers heading north.
• Sail the Whitsundays — A three-day, two-night sailing trip starting around 540 AUD is a popular way to see some of the most beautiful sand islands in the world. Whitehaven beach on a clear day is mesmerizing—I even ran into a couple of turtles and dolphins while in the are! A few of the islands have resorts if you want to go on your own and stay longer in paradise but I prefer taking a boat around the islands. It remains one of my favorite activities in the country.
• Hike the Daintree — The world’s oldest rainforest (yes, older than the Amazon) offers hikes that range from easy to challenging, dense jungles, beautiful mountains, waterfalls, wildlife, and cliffs. Make sure you spend a few days hiking around and getting out of touristy Cairns. If you really want to get off the beaten path, head all the way up to Cape Tribulation, and enjoy some real peace and quiet (just watch out for jellyfish when you go swimming. There are few folks to help if something goes wrong). There a lot of tour companies in the area but I like Uncle Brian’s tours the best (though he goes more into Atherton Tablelands and not up super far north).
• Enjoy Sydney — Australia’s largest city has a range of activities to keep you busy. Climb the Sydney Harbor bridge, surf in Bondi Beach, party in King’s Cross, sail across the harbor, visit the Opera House, and take in world-class innovation in Darling Harbor. Sydney is a bustling big city that still has a laid back, beach vibe to it. It’s amazing (though very expensive). Be sure to head up to the laid-back suburb of Manly and get out of the Bondi beach tourist scene!
• Chill out in Melbourne — Melbourne is much more relaxed than Sydney (and, personally, I like it a lot more). There are more cafes and restaurants with fewer clubs, crowds, and better music. This is the place to relax by the river, walk through the gigantic city gardens (all day and every day), eat amazing food (Melbourne is the food capital of Australia), jam out at amazing rock concerts, and party in St. Kilda—my favorite nightlife spot. Melbourne has a well-deserved reputation as the country’s hip city.
• Have a Sunday Session in Perth — Perth is Australia’s west coast capital and is often overlooked by most travelers. It’s expensive to get out there from the east coast so most travelers avoid it, but I love it! In fact, it’s probably my favorite city in all of Australia. Perth feels more like a large town than a city and is the best place to have a “Sunday Session” (an Aussie tradition of drinking on Sunday afternoons). From the beaches, food, and beer (be sure to take a day trip to Freemantle), Perth is just awesome.
• Explore the Outback — No trip to Australia is complete without a trip to the outback to see crocodiles, valleys, lakes, and the red desert. Find your own Crocodile Dundee as you explore the Red Center and Western Australia. Must visit places I love: Karijini National Park, the Kimberlys, Kakadu, and Litchfield National Park.
• Surf on the Gold Coast — Australia is famous for its surfing, and one of the best places to learn is on the Gold Coast right outside of Brisbane. You’ll find world-class waves, a wide beach, and lots of available lessons. If you don’t like the Gold Coast, there is always Noosa, Byron Bay, Bondi Beach, Perth, and—well, you get the idea. There’s a lot of surfing in Australia!
• Take a wine tour — Whether you go down to Margret River, Hunter Valley, or the Barossa Valley, you will have many chances to taste Aussie wine right from the source. Visiting the wine country should be on your list of things to do. If you rent a car, you can stay longer or you can do guided tours from major cities. I think it’s best to base yourself in the area and spend about 3-5 days in each area tasting as much wine as possible!
• The Ningaloo Reef — The Great Barrier Reef gets all the hype, but the Ningaloo Reef on the west coast is a far better reef system. Because it’s less developed and attracts fewer tourists, there are actually more fish and wildlife—you can even swim with whale sharks! Plus, at some points, the reef comes so close to the shore that you can swim right up to it on your own. More fish + less crowds = a better time.
• Visit Western Australia — The most overlooked area in the country is the west coast where the country really shines. Here you can escape the crowds of the east coast, explore the outback, the Ningaloo Reef, Coral Bay (one of my favorite spots in the world), Broome, Perth, and the Margaret River. It’s much less developed than the east coast, more distance between each place, and not as much of a tourist infrastructure to get you around (the bus is also a nightmare) but if you take one piece of advice...