Since September, I’ve felt like I’ve been constantly moving. Whether it was driving down the west coast, or across the Nullarbor or the Great Ocean Road, or flying to Sydney and then flying to Hobart and roadtripping around Tassie. I have just over two months left on my visa and I’m staying in Victoria. I…
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When I last wrote, I was about to embark across the Nullarbor, the iconic journey spanning the lower part of Australia. I’d been warned that the Nullarbor was, well, a bit tedious after you get over the fact that there is nothing above knee height in view for possibly three days. The novelty wears thin….
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I’m writing this while sitting in a soggy Kombi watching out the window as the predicted thunderstorm rolls in. When I first arrived in Sydney all those months ago, I was talking with a woman in a hostel who said that the south-west was her favourite place in Australia. She described the white beaches, the…
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Saying goodbye is never easy and after travelling with the same people for nine weeks, it was especially hard. But after our goodbyes, Leya (the only one from our original road trip) and I packed up Sunnie and met up with two girls that Leya knew from her previous travels in Port Douglas. So armed…
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It feels like forever since I last wrote a column and I guess, in some ways, it has been forever since we left Broome. From there we took the Great Northern Highway down the coast and made our way slowly but surely towards Perth. At our greatest, the West Coast road train weighed in at…
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I lie awake, eyes wide beneath the lacing of moonlight filtering through unfamiliar curtains, listening to the distant wail of trams. The pub up the street is pumping out a bassy whump-whump and bursts of raucous laughter. A coil in the mattress feels like a knuckle in my spine. The thoughts in my mind feel…
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One of the best pieces of advice I could give to someone who is thinking of travelling is not to make concrete plans. The beauty of travel is the spontaneity of it and if you have a strict itinerary that you have to stick to, you’re going to miss out on a lot. In my…
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When my friends warned me about the overt sexist comments many young women experience while walking on the streets in some European countries, I wasn’t sure what to think of it. Naively, I laughed, dismissing the issue by claiming I would have some devious feminist comeback if any man was to pester me. This attitude,…
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I am of firm believer that everyone should go on a road trip at least once in their lives. I don’t mean a long car journey somewhere – that doesn’t count. I mean a proper road trip. One that lasts days of driving to places, and stopping when you feel like it. One where you…
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Ask a number of holidaymakers in any given airport departure lounge what they are after and you are bound to hear preferences for the following: sun, surf, sex. If media and academia are anything to go by, sex is a particular favourite. But why? There is constant research into the sexual behaviours of people going…
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At the moment, I’m in a rather enviable position compared to most foreign backpackers in Australia. I have just had the last of my 88 days signed off for my second year Visa and I have only been here for just over four months. Now I have almost eight months up my sleeves to…
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When you’re a traveller, home is a dirty word. A secret that you keep to yourself because if you admit that you might be missing it and the people there, even just a little bit, you’re a Bad Traveller. You’re supposed to be having adventures and being free and having Constant Fun. Right? Hmmm. The…
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People seek out the warmth of the sun. They bemoan their bad luck when it’s too hot, and hate it when an overcast sky blocks the light it emits. We don’t hide from the sun, but we have a respectful fear of it. The sun’s a lot like life. When it’s perfect, we revel in…
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I’ve found one of the best things about travelling is that even in the oddest of scenarios, like spending time on a mango farm about a half hour drive from the nearest town, you find people you have lots in common with. Ashley, Jess and Rosy are fellow solo travellers and they kindly agreed to…
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