Pacific

Tasmania Travel Memories 2

I spent 10 days in Tasmania and split my time in 3 days on my own, eventually I decided to join a 5day tasmania tour and finally stayed 2 more days in Hobart on my own. Although I was overall happy with the tour, I am not really a tour person and sometimes found it pretty limiting, especially with the time available for visiting places. Tasmania is easy to get about, I would travel around by car, which is probably the best option if you have a travel companion. if you instead want to travel tasmania solo, then I would use the tasmanian public transportation, which offers a good bus network across the island or maybe look for a travel companion to share the car drive.

What I have seen in my Tasmania Trip

Tasmania has truly the most diverse landscape you can imagine of. The only thing you will not see in Tasmania is the Outback! It is the only australian state with no outback areas! Tasmania is a true paradise for hikers and nature lovers. Many people fly from all over the world to join Tasmania tours and spend some hiking escape weeks in the the tasmanian pristine wilderness areas! The diversity and the beauty of Tasmania enviroment is simply stunning.

Michela

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Tasmania Travel Memories

Tasmania is a destination of its own! If you plan a trip to Tasmania you need first of all time and also to pick the right time of the year: the summer months, to fully enjoy this beautiful and diverse island. The winter in Tasmania is freaking cold.

I had booked my flight from Europe to Melbourne for middle of January, so as to be able to fly into Hobart a few days afterwards and spend there 10 days. December-February is the best period of the year to visit Tasmania; the weather is lovely with warm, sunny days, but it is obviously also the busiest time, so make sure you make your bookings for your Tasmania holiday a good time ahead.

You can reach the only australian state island either with the ferry to Tasmania which departs from Melbourne. Or if you prefer you can take a 40minutes flight Melbourne Hobart, the capital of this remote land at the very edge of the world! A combination of both: Hobart flight on one way and the Tasmania Ferry on the other an be also a good idea.

Michela

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Blue Mountains& Sydney Northern Beaches

The Sydney Northern Beaches – this is another part of the town worth visiting. You need a whole day to see them, starting from Manly you can stop at all the spectacular beaches, up to Whale and Palm beach. Definitely worth your time!
The Blue Mountains – to fully enjoy them you need to spend at least 1 night there. But if you ar on a tight time, make sure you leave early in the morning, there are daily trains which leave from the Sydney Central Station. Once you are there you will immerse yourself in one of the most beautiful national parks in Australia. Plenty of walking trail for any level of hiking expertise.
The Royal National Park – another great national park, south of Sydney. You can reach Cronulla by train too and spend the whole day day, take the ferry and cross over to Bundeena and start walking through the national park. There some good aboriginal self guided walks. You can, stay overnight and do some camping too!
Michela

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Sydney and its surrounds

Sydney is that kind of city I can recommend to anyone who is on a tight time frame. You can manage to see much and the variety of places and things you can do ist just impressive. For sure you will not get bored in Sydney.
The variety of things you can do and see is huge. Either travelling solo or with friends or family, Sydney’s area is the ideal starting place for any type of travel in Australia.
Here below just a few of my favorite things I keep doing whenever I am in Sydney, it’s just a small part of the endless list of things you can do in Sydney.

The Spit-to Manly-Walk – this is a 10km beautiful bushwalk along the shoreline of Sydney Harbour. Along your way you come to a couple of lookouts with wonderful views over Middle Harbour and the city of Sydney. It’s ideal if you look for some excercise or just love walking like I do.

The Cogee-Bronte-Bondi-Walk – this is another great coastal walk, which you can do daytime. You can reach Bronte or Cogee by bus fromt Sydney city centre and from there walk along the path, stop at a few lookouts and relish the view and the tiny little bays. The Bronte-Bondi is a short nice walk. Bondi is the highlight of Sydney, is a nice place but preatty busy especially over weekends.
Michela
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My Trips in Australia: Sydney

Travel Memories of Sydney and its beautiful surrounds

Sydney is a truly fascinating city and is also my favorite city in Australia. Before leaving back to Europe I also had the opportunity to spend some more time there. I really enjoyed Sydney’s distinctive flair, what I like of Sydney is its gorgeous natural setting, the great walks, its beaches and its surrounds.

I remember arriving over a weekend, jetlagged, wandering off the beautiful parks and The Rocks Markets, filling my lungs with fresh air, trying to adjust quickly to the southern hemisphere and bring my system into shape after a heavy long flight journey….this is part 4 of travel memories from my trips in Australia.

What can you do and see in Sydney?

There are a lot of things to do in Sydney, really to suit all tastes and interests! Sydney is a place you can enjoy all year round, in each season and with any weather conditions. On my second trip in 2008 I had booked 10 days but the weather was not on my side, it rained for most of the time, nonetheless it was not so bad at all, I had the chance to discover great places in the city and had much fun.

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Australian Outback 3 ghost gum tree

Yes the true blue of the sky is real !! Stunning isn’t it ? The tree branches you see in the pic are of a “ghost gum tree“! What’s a
ghost gum tree ? It’s a gum tree whit a white trunk, the bark naturally peels off to make the trunk stands out in the blue sky as a real ghost!
If you can travel to Uluru off season, and avoid public holidays, then you will be rewarded with some fo the most thrilling experience ever. The Best Time to visit Uluru is March-April or Sept-October.

April is in my opinion definitely the best month to to to the Red Center. You need 2 days for Uluru-Kata Tjuta, 2 days for Alice Springs and a couple of days to visit Kings Canyon and the West or East Mc Donnel Ranges. One week is just the ideal time to visit the stunning australian outback landscape.
If you are interested in reading more about the Australian Outback you may want to read my The Red Centre Guide
Happy travels in Australia!
Michela
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Australian Outback 2 Kings Canyon

Eventually on my second trip to the Australian Red Centre I spent some more time in Alice Springs and the Western Mc Donnel Ranges. Kings Canyon and some more parts are still missing, but are very high on my list Here you can view some pictures of these beautiful natural spectacular.
This outback area shows a stunning beauty and there is indeed so much to see and do, from a variety of outdoor activities like hiking, bushwalking, camping, swimming to cultural and aboriginal guided tours to self guided tours. You need at least 5-6 days to fully enjoy the red centre and savour the beauty and peacefulness of the australian outback.

What you need is time, good weather and tranquility. These places cannot be visited among loud crowds of people getting off and on the huge buses, trying to make here and there a pic and so on. I personally would never go to the Red Centre in July-August, these two months are simply crazy, packed with thousands of people.
Michele
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Travel memories of my trips in the Australian Outback

What most attracts me of the Australian Outback is
- its bright colours, its strong light, its thin and pure air, its rough contour, its empty space its spirit, its seclusion.
- its contrasts, the bright red soil and the deep blue of the sky, the endless horizont, the long walks over sandy and rocky dunes, the immense and the greatness of solitude.
- its Australian culture and its people. Being a multicultural person, I love Australia for its cultural background, the colourful mixed origin of its population, its aboriginal culture and its profound freedom values.

During my first solo trip around Australia in 2004 I had planned a week in the Red Centre of Australia.

But as huge as this area is, I had to make a choice. Since I was travelling by bus I decided to make a stop at Cober Pedy, and from there I headed north to Alice Springs, to then turn south east to reach the Yulara Resort and visit Uluru and Kata Tjuta.

Michele

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Australia 2 Kangaroo Island

If you have time and want to reach Adelaide you can drive for approx further 600 km. On the way to Adelaide you can make a stop for a visit to the Coorong National Park, a beautiful marine and coastal national park. Beware of insects and flies! Bring with you a strong insect repellent spray, I did not have any with me on that trip and the day after I woke up and thought I had chicken pox

If you love animals and birds, then South Australia and especially the Kangaroo Island will spoil you with its awesome native australian wildlife. On the island you will spot lots of koalas on trees, sea lions at Seal Bay. Koalas and otther species have been introduced to the Kangaroo Island to ensure the survival of these species.
More animals to be found around this real “treasury island” are: echidnas, tamar wallabies, goannas, possums, platypuses. Birdlife lovers can enjoy the little penguins at the island marine centre in Kingscote, or in Penneshaw, see pelicans at the Pelican Lagoon at American River and spot black cockatoos, black swans, emus, galahs and many more birds.

Michele

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Australia: Great Ocean Road Trip

After the first 20 days travelling completely on my own, I decided to join a small group of people on a 3 1/2 day tour from Melbourne to Adelaide along the GOR. The Great Ocean Road is estimated to be one of the most beautiful coastal drives in the world. And it honestly is amazing. Not only for the stunning views over the 7 visible apostels in the sea, the golden rock formations, the breathtaking cliffs and endless horizont, the popular surf beaches and so on. The most amazing thing is the diversity of the landscape you get to see here. There are a couple of national parks that ought to be seen, these are: the Otway National Park and the Port Campbell National Park. In the Otway National Park you can immerse yourself in a little fragment of rainforest which survived millions of years !
I would recommend spending one night in a lovely place like Apollo Bay, or Lorne, or futher south in Port Campbell. If you are on a tight schedule and want to see the Great Ocean Road on one day, then make sure you leave early in the morning. The ride is about 300km one way.

Michele
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