alpacayourbackpack.

Dream Big. Live Hard. Travel Far.

[alpacayourbackpack]

Melbourne

Just 5 weeks and over 3000 miles, we’d finished our long distance drives and reached our final (and I think my favourite) stop in Australia. In a few days we would be saying goodbye to Oli, who was going back home for the new school year, and heading over to New Zealand. Just over 3 days in Melbourne we squeezed in all the culture, a lot of the goon and found a few of the local gems. We were really lucky in meeting a group of the coolest girls in the Philippines, who invited us to stay with them when we finally made it to the south of Australia 2 months later! We crammed our beast of a camper on their driveway to avoid parking charges and camped down on a sofabed/sofa on the days we didn’t end up in someone else’s hostel! Our first night, they introduced us to the glamourous pubs where we hid goon under our coats and drank it in the toilets. Needless to say this ended in not remembering how we navigated the train system without a MYKEY card, meeting our new friends from Fraser Island and waking up in bed with a stuffed wombat in a hostel we hadn’t paid. Melbourne definitely had a great nightlife – from what I could remember.  The girls took us on our private walking tour of the city and introduced us to the crazy game of Aussie rules at the famous MCG. One which we found highly entertaining, especially when the fans sang the winning teams song, which is quite different from the football chants back home. We drank in some seriously cool backstreet bars, even one that used to be a mental asylum, but the best bit was the BYO & dumplings down Chinatown. Plates and plates of amazing dumplings whilst drinking your own $7 wine was a phenomenon I hope finds it back to the UK! We visited shopping centres, more bars and restaurants that were also betting shop (weird but great Chicken Parma) before we had to say goodbye to Oli. We dropped him at the airport, and after our goodbyes, I was actually a little sad to see our annoying campervan buddy go. We had another day, popping to the Melbourne library to check out an exhibition before dropping the camper back to it’s offices – which proved very difficult to get back from!! When we finally reached the girls house, we cooked a classic spag bol to say thanks for having us, then tried to pack all of our new winter clothes into our already stuffed backpacks.

[alpacayourbackpack]

Great Ocean Road

Compared to the north half of the East Coast, heading from Byron down south, everything becomes further away from each other and much less concentrated. We knew there was more to do and spent more time up north, so now our journeys became longer and with very little in between on our way down to our final stop in Melbourne. Of course, we made it a little harder for ourselves by going past Melbourne and onto the Great Ocean road for a more scenic drive along the coast. We finished our previous journey going around Melbourne and stopping just outside Geelong before starting our Ocean Drive the next morning. Our ultimate destination being the 12 apostles before turning round and coming back the way we came. It was a long day driving, but that’s the point of this attraction. With a stop at a little cafe for lunch on the way, we reached the 12 Apostles (or the 9 that were left) in the afternoon, with enough time to walk to the edge and then down the steep stairs to the beach. You don’t need a whole day there, although it’s a great picnic spot, so our plan worked pretty well. And we headed back towards Melbourne stopping at a quiet little campsite on the way where we cooked our dinner and played pool all evening in the upstairs lounge.

[alpacayourbackpack]

Blue Mountains

From city to nature, we drove into the Blue Mountains on our way south. It doesn’t take long to get out of the bustling city and onto the open roads. It’s not a particularly long way, and the views are pretty stunning – I can see why it’s called ‘blue’. However it as quite different from what I had expected. Reading some points about campervans getting stuck, we were expecting narrow, hilly roads, of which there were some! But as part of a pretty big town that just seems to stop as you reach the main spot. There are some walking trails you can do, but we went for the quick option of viewpoint, photo, lunch break and back on the road. It’s a great on the way stop, but otherwise it’s a lot of effort to get there and back on a day trip.

[alpacayourbackpack]

Sydney

Compared to most other travellers, we didn’t stay very long in Sydney. It took us 2 days to get there with another random camp stop in the middle and still arriving late afternoon the next day, cooking up a storm in the camp kitchen, and getting nibbled by an overly friendly possum. With the campervan, it was very hard to get into the city centre and especially find accommodation with parking. So we settled on a campsite on the outskirts called Lane Cove. It was a short walk to a metro station and we got ourselves opal cards for the next few days. They are really easy to use and pretty cheap considering the travel we used it for. You can’t go to Sydney and not see Bondi, so we squeezed a quick trip on the city buses (included in our Opal cards) to go and see what the fuss was about. However, because of the time of year and the wet weather – we may need to come back one day to see it in it’s full summertime glory! After it being recommended we decided to go on one of the free walking tours – advertised as free but they do ask you for a donation on what you think it’s worth at the end. Feel free to slip away from the group and run when you feel guilty for not giving them a penny! If it weren’t for being on a budget and needing to eat that night, it was a very informative and fun tour and I would have given her at least $10! We were taken to many of the famous spots, a quiet little place to grab coffee and a muffin, and ended up between the Harbour Bridge and Sydney opera house. Perfect spot for a photo opportunity. Our tour guide even told us about a secret lookout on the bridge, which is almost as high but no wear near as expensive as walking over it. We grabbed dinner at a local restaurant after being told we were not in appropriate clothing to dine in the 360 restaurant at the top of Tower Eye – it is pretty posh and we’d been walking all day. So instead we headed back to the harbour for a glass of wine overlooking the Opera House and the lights of the city, which I guess wasn’t a bad compromise.

[alpacayourbackpack]

Aquarius Backpackers Byron Bay in Byron Bay, Australia - Find Cheap Hostels and Rooms at Hostelworld.com

7th Apr 2018 most recent review of Aquarius Backpackers Byron Bay in Byron Bay. Read reviews from 1439 Hostelworld.com customers who stayed here over the last 12 months. 85% overall rating on Hostelworld.com. View Photos of Aquarius Backpackers Byron Bay and book online with Hostelworld.com.

Byron bay

We picked a random camping spot as it became too late to keep driving, then spent most of the next day making our way down to Byron Bay and then trying to find a campsite. Third campsite down, we realised this place was pricey! So drove in a few more circles, enquired a bit more and found that the Aquarius Hostel was a cheaper option and we could park the camper for FREE, and it meant I had a proper bed for the night! We checked in, put on our swim stuff and headed down to the beach. Even in the ‘winter’ months and heading further south, we still got a bit of sunbathing in and played a few games on the beach. We had a heavy night on the (very cheap!) wine in the hostel bar – and some karaoke, but found out this strange place had some very weird drinking rules. Like no downing drinks!! What?! Anyway the next morning hurt, and I was reminded that I tried to make friends with a snake – maybe a reason for the drinking rules. The afternoon was spent wandering the wide array of shops, mainly surf themed and enquring about some surf lessons and scuba diving. It seemed like a great place to surf but I was more intrigued by the diving. Apparently with a good chance of seeing dolphins and whales and at a reasonable price, I was absolutely gutted to be the next mornings departure had been cancelled. We were slowly running out of time so another night wasn’t an option, so I guess it just goes on the list of places we have to go back to!

[alpacayourbackpack]

Gold Coast

Another whistle-stop tour, we didn’t have much time to spend here and the weather wasn’t really beach weather to want to spend a few days surfing, although it’s a good place for surfing lessons if you want them! After a walk along the beach and a failed attempt to get into a café (we needed ID as it had a betting counter, and I left mine in the camper) we ended up playing cards in the campervan. I was meeting a friend who moved to Oz last year for dinner. As she was the local she chose the restaurant; Easy Street Diner, a cute little restaurant that did wicked smoothies and great burgers. But after dinner we started our journey down to Byron Bay.

[alpacayourbackpack]

Brisbane

We did a classic city explore and walked around the highlights of Brisbane for the day, a little hungover from the night before’s drinking session at the hostel bar. There’s not loads to see in the centre of the city, but it’s a nice walk and we made it into a few shops and had lunch on the embankment. Careful of the Ibis, they are ballsy birds and we watched one steal a whole piece of battered fish right of a woman’s plate! Brisbane also has Australia’s only street beach but the weather wasn’t good enough to laze around in a bikini and play in the water. We walked to Chinatown for some dinner but found a lot of things closed and ended up in a pub with steak and chips. Yet again an amazing steak and it was so cheap! We stayed Brisbane City Backpackers which was in a pretty good location and the facilities were good but the bar was the best bit. We ended up having a whole 8 bed dorm to ourselves! 

[alpacayourbackpack]

Australia Zoo

One of the world’s most famous zoos, also known as Steve Irwin zoo, is just outside Brisbane. For most people it’s the stop for them to hold a cute koala, and would have been mine too if it wasn’t for the budget. But the zoo itself is worth the money and you can stroke the koalas and wallabies for free! It’s absolutely huge so make sure you plan a whole day there, you’ll be walking around most of the time as there’s so much to see and make sure you catch one of the croc shows in the arena. The wallaby/kangaroo area is great, there are no barriers between you and them and you are free to play. We took a picnic with us for lunch to save money but there are lots of cafes inside if you want them. After a long but really fun day we jumped back in the caravan to get to Brisbane for the night.

[alpacayourbackpack]

Noosa

With no more tours booked, we could travel at our own pace, so we made a rough plan that would get us to Melbourne in time for Oli’s flight and headed to Noosa. By the time we arrived, it was late afternoon, so we had just enough time for a quick walk around Noose National Park before the sun set, and we hunted for a campsite to park for the night. We just squeezed in a site near the river and made ourselves a dinner in our campervan kitchen before playing a few games of cards, making use of the campsite showers, and getting an early night ready for the morning’s drive.

[alpacayourbackpack]

Fraser Island - Day 3

Another early start for our last day, we had breakfast and headed for our first stop, the famous Lake Mackenzie. We were lucky with the weather and even got a bit of sunbathing in, but the crystal water of the lake was FREEZING! We headed around more of the island, stopped at one of the islands very few shops for an expensive ice cream and got ready to catch the ferry back to mainland. We were so lucky with our group and have made some great friends we will definitely meet again, but we loved the tour and the bonus of being able to drive the 4x4s ourselves (over 21s only) and Rango definitely made our experience a memorable one. We were booked back into the hostel for another night so we had a dominoes delivered and got an early night.

[alpacayourbackpack]

Fraser Island - Day 2

Rango woke us up nice and early for breakfast so we could get straight out into our 4x4s. Sleeping on just a roll mat and waking up at 7am, in a tent, after a bag of goon does not leave you feeling fresh but you could definatley be in worse places. Taking it in turns within our group to drive, we stopped at several of the islands highlights. A preserved shipwreck, the champagne pools and to a lookout to find whales, dolphins and even sharks - although I couldn’t see any. There was the option for a flight over the island (at added cost) which a few of our group took whilst we waited on the beach. Our guides were very knowledgeable about the island and answered all our questions, and we stopped to look for some sea creatures in the sand that he then tried to persuade us all to eat! It was a relaxed schedule, we had our packed lunches when we got hungry and pulled up along the beach to watch some whales at sunset, before heading back to camp for dinner and more goon.

[alpacayourbackpack]

Fraser Island

Day 1

Having bought and prepped our meals and alcohol for the 3 days the night before, we were all ready to go for our early start to catch the ferry. The night before we'd grouped together to buy food, and now our groups climbed into a 4x4 each the most confident person driving up first. We caught the early ferry which took about 45 minutes, and got out first off-road experience, making our way to camp to drop off our food and bags. Camp was surrounded by a small fence to keep the dingos away, and consisted of a large tent where everybody cooked and ate dinner, and several smaller tents for sleeping. We were provided with a roll mat to sleep on but it was an extra $5 to borrow a sleeping bag. After we unloaded supplies, we headed straight out for some more driving and to explore the island.

[alpacayourbackpack]

Hervey Bay

Arriving the day before leaving for Fraser Island, we headed to palace hostel to meet and prepare food with our groups for the trip. We looked for a campsite to stay nearby, but the 5 that we tried were all fully booked!! So we ended up staying at Palace hostel the night before and booking a night in ready for the night we got back. The hostel was pretty nice and we could park the campervan a few streets down for free, so it didn't work out much more expensive and we got a bed! Hervey Bay itself has a few restaurants and a small beach which is great for sunset, but there's nothing worth sticking around for.

[alpacayourbackpack]

Tanum sands

Another overnight stop, picked entirely at random (with a little help from Campermate app) was Tanum Sands. We didn't explore too much as we arrived in the afternoon, cooked dinner and went to bed but the campsite suited us perfectly and even had a small pool to relax by.

[alpacayourbackpack]

Rockhampton

Our next destination was Hervey Bay, which we had pre-booked, so had several days to make the 9 hour drive. Having read about the steak in Rockhampton, we made that our overnight stop and had dinner at the Hogs Breath Cafe (turns out they have these all over oz and the steak is probably the same anywhere), and we even had the evening free to go to a cinema and see a film (which is way cheaper than at home). We normally spent the evenings at the campsites, especially if it was free so you didn't lose your spot, but the campsite in Rockhampton was ideally situated over the road from the restaurant and cinema!

[alpacayourbackpack]

Whitsundays

Because of time (and money), we chose to do just a day trip on the Whitsundays with thunder. The trip itself was fairly good, with stops at the lookout, a snorkel stop and the famous Whitehaven beach. Unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side. A nice morning turned into a cloudy day, and we had a downpour of rain while we were snorkelling which didn't help visibility and wasn't particularly enjoyable but from what we did see, it was disappointing compared to some of the diving in Asia. After being shown a video from the day before's trip, where a whale had come up to the boat, we were also hoping for some whale watching too, but we didn't stop anywhere to see any whales! The sun returned for our stop on Whitehaven beach which was beautiful, and we had a picnic under the trees (the lunch was the best part of the trip!). Obviously the weather had a big impact on our day, but I would definitely say (time and money permitting) do the 2 or 3 day trips where you have more snorkelling spots and more time to see different things.

[alpacayourbackpack]

Skydive - Airlie Beach

We booked it through Peterpan’s back in Cairns, as we were given a voucher as a leaving gift. The company, Skydive Australia, confirmed where we were staying and picked us up at 6.30am for our jump. The options for photos and videos varied in price, and we chose just video (the cheapest) as we could grab photos ourselves. Unfortunately, due to weather, we couldnt land in the normal spot so didnt get the proper view of the whitsundays but honestly you’re not really focused on the view!