To put it mildly, Australia was a drastic change from our previous 3 months in Europe & Turkey. We breathed a sigh of relief when we landed in an English-speaking, efficiently-running, fresh air country. No diesel fumes, no ticket agents too bored/too busy to do their jobs, but also no buildings from the 1400’s or Renaissance art.
We traveled Europe by train, limited mostly to urban centers; we mostly visited historic, cultural & architectural sites. Very Old historical sites. Australia was all about fresh air, rainforests, waterfalls, the coast, and hiking, with a few stops in clean, modern coastal cities. We traveled entirely by car (we loved the little rental Yaris), and couldn’t get enough fresh fruits & veggies (best when bought at roadside stands).
So… Here’s Australia by the numbers:
- 1 country, 1 easy currency (dollar), 1 easy language
- 1 coast (East Coast) thoroughly explored
- 6,700 hundred kilometers (4,160 Miles) by car
- 0 Thefts, pickpockets, stolen organs, moped-vs-pedestrian accidents, carpets purchased, or lethal crocodile encounters.
- 20 footlong Subway sandwiches
- Half a liter of strong sunscreen
- 10,493 bugs dearly departed on the Yaris windshield (+/- 1,000)
- 1 jellyfish sting
Animals seen in their natural environment:
- Koala bears
- Emu
- Bilby (large, pretty cute rodent)
- Wallaby (like a small kangaroo)
- All kinds of birds, many colorful, exotic, or endangered (including rainbow lorikeets, a peregrine falcon & cockatoos)
- All kinds of colorful fish, coral, and underwater plants (Great Barrier Reef)
- Dolphins
- Small shark
- Lizards (all kinds, the biggest one close to 3 feet long)
- Frogs
- Little Penguins
Animals seen in captivity:
- More koala bears, including Vince’s sleepy friend Princess
- Kangaroos, wallabies, and paddymelons
- Lizards (including a frillneck)
- Snakes, some poisonous
- Freshwater Crocodiles
The Logistics:
For those curious about our route, get out your maps… For the non-curious, skip this paragraph. We flew into Sydney and spent a week there (w/o a car). Then we flew up to Cairns, and spent a few nights there, also w/o a car. Then we picked up the rental car and spent 4 weeks driving from Cairns down the east coast, skipped inland for a bit (Hunter Valley, Blue Mountains & Canberra), and then back to the South Coast – Lakes Entrance, Phillip Island, (skipped past Melbourne), the Great Ocean Road to our western-most destination of Portland, and then back to Melbourne. Returned the car and spent one more carless week, this time in Melbourne, an awesome city, with a few awesome new friends.
More logistics for the even more curious (or skip this one too) - The logistics of daily life were also very different from Europe, mostly because we had a car. This meant that we could get to cheaper places to stay outside of the main town centers. Also, there are a lot of “self-contained” units, most with at least a mini-fridge and a water boiler, some with burners and pans. The car also made transport to the grocery store easy… So we made almost all of our meals, mixed in with the more-than-occasional Subway sandwich (the cheapest and semi-healthiest fast food option – we can split a footlong) – very convenient for a road trip. We rarely went to restaurants or bars, until we got to Melbourne – we were extremely happy for the social occasion, and for a break from our makeshift meals.
Observations, Opinions, & Gross generalizations:
- Australia is an easy, pretty comfortable place for an American to travel.
- The language, while English, is quite different from American English, both in accent and in slang/common phrases. Australians like to shorten nearly any word over 2 syllables. Breakfast is “brekky”, sunglasses are “sunnies”, and every town and building has a nickname. People too.
- The road signage system took some getting used to. Many roads are not signed at all, and a lot of road signs, instead of having their name (i.e. the State 60 North/South or Kingsgate Road), just have the name of the next small town and an arrow. Needless to say, we got used to having the map out so that we could find small towns in lightning speed (or 100km/hr), since our directions that included road names/numbers were useless. A lot of times we had no idea what road we were on, but knew we were on our way to a town going in the right direction.
- Australians drink a lot of beer, but never Fosters.
- Crazy drivers – pull out right in front of you even if the road is empty behind you.
- It’s expensive – especially right now since the US dollar is weak and the Aussie dollar is strong. Just as an example, the advertised cheapest Subway footlong is $7, not $5. Not at first a huge difference at $2, but nearly all the food (and everything else) can be 40% more expensive.
- The taxes are really high, but you can see where it goes – the roads are in excellent condition, there are gorgeous parks and botanic gardens in every town, park and infrastructure maintenance is first-rate.
- It’s an enormous country, on par with America. It’s not all outback like one may picture it, but extremely varied in all aspects. Topographically, it has tropical rainforests, temperate rolling hills, more kinds of coastline than we can list, and yes, a large area of red rock and desert. It has big cities, some suburbs, and a lot of rural open area. Even different regions have different culture. There are tons of quaint old little towns.
- Australia has a lot more “wide-open” spaces than America – The population is only 20 million, while America has around 280 million… In general, it’s a lot less crowded, not as much urban & suburban sprawl.
- Australia has more lethal (to humans) wildlife than any other continent, including Africa.
- There is a deep, all-encompassing respect for the environment – from food manufacturing & packaging to key legislature discussions, and protection of plant & animal life. Everywhere you look, there is biodegradable, sustainable, all-natural, etc.
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