We want to tell you a little about travelling in Australia as a solo backpacker. We will tell you about the hostel scene, and about the transport options. In the following sections we focus on some of the lesser-known areas of this country-continent. And you can look at our library of photographs geared especially to the natural scenery
To follow.
Tasmania usually gets left out of an Australia backpacking trip. Not all that surprising; Australia is so big that most people can only visit parts. And Tasmania needs a flight or overnight boat trip to get there. So, if you really can't fit it in to your plans, look at our photos and see what you are missing. But if your stay in Australia is longer than 3 months, you have no excuse, you really should go to Tassie. There's so much great scenery there. In this section we tell you about the East Coast, which is not the first choice but certainly the second. Wineglass Bay's exquisite beauty is World class. The rest of the east coast, though less spectacular, has its own quiet beauty with spacious views and coast-scapes, and is remarkably uncrowded. In the northeast, accessible only by (good) dirt roads, I saw nobody else for hours! The first 2 photo albums give a picture of these areas.
Alice Springs is a pleasant, open-feeling town. It feels comfortable, and when you are there it is hard to realise that there are no towns of comparable size, indeed hardly any towns of any size, for over 1500km in all directions. The centre is very compact and most hostels and hotels are within walking distance, and the Desert Park attraction (8km) has a shuttle bus at a reasonable cost. Renting a bike is a good way to explore the town with less effort. It is the gateway for trips to Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and Kings Canyon, three of Australia's most fantastic natural features. But don't get the idea that they are a day trip. Although the first 2 are only 40km apart, Kings Canyon is 300 km from Uluru, and all of them are 400 km from Alice. When in Alice you can easily find a bus tour that will take you to all the sites and give you time there, with one or two nights in various forms of accommodation; in this dry area, camping is the best. All hostels and hotels will book you on a tour.
A nice feature of Alice Springs is that it is located on a mountain range, unusual for central Australia. This Macdonnell 'range' is not a mass of mountains like most other ranges; it's a set of 3 or 4 parallel rocky ridges with undulating plains between them. If you wish to do some serious hiking it's ideal, but you will need to do some careful preparation. There is a local bushwalking club which has a hike on most Sundays, and we know of two companies (but only two) who organise group hikes along parts of the Larapinta Track, taking care of camping and food arrangements so that you need carry just a daypack. The two photo albums below show the magnificent scenery you will discover on such a trip.
