People: The Australians themselves are as expected very relaxed, friendly people. After spending so much time in Asia I really liked the fact that I was able to properly communicate with locals again. And, that you’re getting help without expecting any payment in return! The backpackers you meet in Australia are mostly very, very young. Where in South America I was often the youngest, in Australia I was mostly the oldest. For many it is their first time outside Europe/away from their parents, so excessive parties, naivety and dumbness are a given… Fortunately I always met some people my age as well though!

Food: Well. It’s a Western country with food from all different countries. Quite funny though, if the same Asian dished suddenly cost 10 times as much. It’s difficult to find a meal under 10 dollars, so I often cooked for myself.

Weather: I had great weather in Sydney at the beginning, then in the Outback mainly good weather as well (except for during the Uluru-Tour). Unfortunately when I travelled the East Coast, weather turned bad on me – until I arrived in Port Macquarie where I had sunshine straight for almost a month 🙂

Costs: Of course Australia is expensive, everyone knows that. Especially tours and activities are hard on the budget and often you have no choice but book them, what with public transport being bad/non-existent outside the cities. In total I spent 42€/day (without diving 39€), whereas I didn’t pay anything for accommodation during my last month and didn’t go on any expensive tours during that time.

Accommodation: In Australien I had some of the best hostels of my trip – but with the Prince Consort Backpackers in Brisbane also the absolutely worst, dirtiest, rotten hostel ever. Brrrr!

Infrastructure: There are good long-distance busses, and in the cities also other public transportation. These are crazy expensive though, e.g. a 2 min ride in Brisbane costing about 5 AUD!! Overall the worst infrastructure of my trip, without a car you don’t get far.

Illnesses: Here and there a little cold and once I had a painful gastritis. Mostly everything was fine though!

Safety: Well, it’s a Western country, so… top!

Highlight: The tour to see Uluru/Kata Tjuta/King’s Canyon.

Lowlight: The whole East Coast was not too exciting, and I was especially disappointed by Fraser Island which is receiving so much praise by other travellers.

Click here for my pictures of Australia: