Sydney is such a magnificent place and holds a special place in our hearts as we lived there for 5 months whilst on our ‘Australian Working Holiday Visa’. We have compiled what we think is the best Sydney has to offer, and at the end we reveal our “must do’s”. Around the harbour Sydney’s Harbour must be one of the most famous harbour’s in the world, take time to appreciate Circular Quay's beauty by having a refreshing drink at the Opera Bar outside the Opera House. And if you

Uluru is one of Australia's most recognisable natural landmarks. Uluru also known as Ayers Rock is a large isolated sandstone rock formation that stands 348 meters high and more than 8 km (5 miles) around and located in the southern part of the Northern Territory in central Australia. The nearest town is Alice Springs which is 450km (280 miles) away. Uluru contains a variety of interesting canyons, caves, crevices and natural formations with springs, waterholes and ancient ca

24th Jun 2012 - 26th Jun 2012 So the journey home began by wakening up at 4am on Sunday and getting a shuttle bus to the airport, we had arrived early but needed to check our luggage weight on scales, we were a little shocked to see we were over weight but we emptied out our 'maybe' pile and were good, when we got to check in though we were told it wasn't 23kg as we thought but a massive 30kg each so I retrieved the 'maybes' and still had room which was great. We boarded o

Arriving in a new country for the first time can be pretty daunting, even for the savviest traveller. Some people may be lucky and land on their feet but for others there is quite a bit to sort out before being able to feel at home. By now you will have sorted out your visa and know if you can work and live, (if not then check http://www.immi.gov.au/Pages/Welcome.aspx) but just how to do you go about settling into your new life? The things you need to set up when moving to a

7th Jun 2012 - 23rd Jun 2012 Arriving back in Sydney we put adverts up on Gumtree and posters on hostel notice boards to try sell the van. Within the day we had phone calls asking to view the van. The first couple who viewed it put in an offer and we sold it to them after bargaining them for another few days (as the hostels can end up being expensive). We were sad to see our home of 4 months go but the fat wad of cash and the prospect of going to the toilet whenever, helpe

6th Jun 2012 - After spending a third of our Australian adventure in our campervan it was time to sell up our home. We had a great time and experience travelling around- surprising really as it was just an ex tradies van but the bed was comfortable (for the majority), had enough storage to keep all our crap hidden and apart from the odd tyre trouble the engine went a treat (and apart from using the choke to start it).We enjoyed endless hours chilling in the back watching DVD

31st May 2012 - 5th Jun 2012 Left South Australia and started our journey on the Great Ocean Road. The road was built by soldiers who returned from the WW1, as it gave them jobs and put them back into normality, it was built in remembrance for those who had died in the war. The reason it was built was to do exactly as it is named, be a great ocean drive, and to rival Los Angeles great drive. Our first stop was 'Bay of Islands' which was rock formations in the sea just sitti

25th May 2012 - 30th May 2012 - Crossing the border from the Northern Territory into South Australia, we continued to see more of the same vast landscape, even turning a little more red than in the outback. Also the clear blue skies gave way to a little well deserved drizzle of rain. Our first stop in S.A was the Opal mining town of Coober Pedy. It can get very hot and humid there so 80% of the houses are built underground to escape the heat. I visited an underground church

22nd May 2012 - 24th May 2012 An easier days drive to Ayers Rock today, but if it had been long it'd still have been worth it. We arrived late afternoon and got ready for the magical sunset which changed the colour of the sky and the rock changed from its usual red to a dark red/brown then into it's nightly black. We ate our dinner facing Ayers Rock- or now commonly known by it's aboriginal name Uluru. After the fun was over we had the choice of paying $40 to camp in Yulara t

18th May 2012 - 21st May 2012 Left Darwin and headed 670km back down to Katherine. We visited the famous Nitmiluk National Park, and climbed to see the awesome Nitmiluk Gorge previously known as Katherine Gorge. The gorge is huge and was tiresome to climb (for me, not Shan). You can explore for days but we were happy with seeing a little. On the trek back down we came across hundreds of kangaroos just eating their dinner. One had a little joey in her pouch, it was so cute.

14th May 2012 - 17th May 2012 Alarm set very early, had a long hot shower then headed all the way to Darwin, it was 969km and took us exactly 12 hours. It was a long drive with more of the same but we passed by hundreds of bush fires which were close to the road, the flames licking up and branches crackling with the heat and the smoke rose high into the clear blue sky. It was 33 degrees in Darwin when we arrived and it didn't cool down much come bed time. As it took us 12 hou

11th May 2012 - 13th May 2012 Left Cairns with our hitchhikers in tow, our friends Conor and Jade who we took down to Townsville, they are looking for farm work and Cairns wasn't kind to them, just like it wasn't for us last year. We dropped them off and then we carried on driving, leaving the east coast behind us and travelled to Charter Towers. Within our first 15 minutes we had seen umpteen road trains which are huge and we also ran over an alive snake, it crunched as

6th May 2012 - 10th May 2012 - And so we headed back to where it all started- Cairns. We used our free meal voucher from TravelBugs and then had some drinks at the infamous Woolshed. The next day we were up bright and early to go on our scuba diving trip with 'Pro Dive' on a 3 day/2 night trip to the Outer Barrier Reef. Now we splashed out on this trip as we knew it looked very professional, the cost was around £400 each! We met up with our friends Rob and Rochelle who we

3rd May 2012 - 5th May 2012 Boarded the Tongarra catameran- our home for the next few days. It was a gorgeous day as we left Airlie and headed for the Whitsunday islands. We lay sunbathing on the deck and got to know our ship mates- which included two guys from our Fraser trip, one being the scary driver. We had a few beers, and dinner and sailed long to the largest island- Whitsunday. We moored for the night and slept out on the deck under the stars, rocking around. In th

29th Apr 2012 - 2nd May 2012 - Next stop after Noosa was Bundaberg which was a 3 hour journey up the East Coast. Bundaberg is home to the famous Bundaberg Rum Distillery, and to us more commonly known for the Bundaberg Ginger Beer, which we love and think is the best ginger beer around. We visited the distillery but as we are not that into rum, and on a backpackers allowance we decided not to opt for the guided tour but just looked around the shop and ended up buying a bottle

24th Apr 2012 - 28th Apr 2012 Arriving in Rainbow Beach, Shannon decided to go surfing again, so he hired a board and took to the shark infested waters (something he only found out later). he had fun riding the waves even though the sea was alot rougher than Noosa. As part of our Fraser Island package we had three nights accommodation (2 before, 1 after) at Dingos Hostel. the hostel was big and the dorms came with en-suits. On the second day we took a walk along Rainbow Be

19th Apr 2012 - 23rd Apr 2012 - Headed up to the Sunshine Coast, stopping off to marvel at the Glasshouse Mountains named so because Captain Cook thought they looked as sharp as glass (basically). We then drove to Noosa where we'd be spending the next few days. The first day we chilled at Noosa Woods, used free Internet at Peterpans and called home as it was my Dads Birthday. I found out I had received even more money back from Guernsey tax so we treated ourselves to an (av

9th Apr 2012 - 18th Apr 2012 - Drove back to Brisbane and parked up on Cricket Street across from number 81- our old house. We went for dinner on Caxton Street before re-tracing our old steps- where we'd either be laden down with shopping bags and crates of beer or I'd be running home from work in my sweaty, swollen, fish splattered feet. We slept on Cricket Street that night and it felt a little odd being back. We had been half heartedly thought we could look for a few weeks

2nd Apr 2012 - 8th Apr 2012 - And so it was back to Byron to do our diving with SSI (scuba school international) (which is similar to a PADI) and to do a 4 day course on 'Open Water Scuba Diving' which would then make us qualified divers after we completed 4 dives. We had already completed and passed our online theory exams for day 1. On day 2 we had classroom training then in-pool training where we got all our gear ready- oxygen bottles, BC's (like a life jacket), regulators

19th Mar 2012 - 1st Apr 2012 Left Darren and Lorraine's after a lazy morning (and catching up with laundry- who knows when will be next). It was great to see Darren and Lorraine, it's been a long time, and they have a fantastic house and were very kind letting us stay and eat all their hula hoops, monster munch and beer. So it was on the road for us, our plan is to go back up the east coast, up to the top on Darwin, and down the middle to Alice Springs and round the bottom

15th Mar 2012 - 18th Mar 2012 Finally after 56 days it was time for Shannon to become as old as me! For Shans birthday I bought tickets to see the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne. We had GP advantage passes and went to Albert Park for the four days. Throughout the weekend we watched on the track- V8 supercar challenge with a Mercedes SLS, V8 car and last years McLaren F1 car, we watched V8 race, Formula Ford, Carrera Cup, Renault Red Bull Race Off. In the air we seen RAAF

16th Feb 2012 - 19th Feb 2012 After a few days in Griffith we decided to drive 452km to Melbourne. It was a nice drive and we could see the transition from mile upon mile of flat fields in NSW to a more hilly and tree(y) Victoria. We didn't know our plans for our time in Melbourne but we went sightseeing, went to Federation Square (Fed Sq) and seen Flinders Street Station. We took a super fast elevator to the top of the Eurika Tower which is supposedly the highest building in

12th Feb 2012 - 15th Feb 2012 So we packed up the apartment (we have far too much stuff) and filled up our van and set off for Griffith. Which is 567km and an 8 hours drive inland of Sydney. The journey was fine and had no hassles, one of the ambassadors Tony Bennet, very kindly gave us his SatNav and that helped a lot. We arrived late at night and parked up for the night. The next morning we set out to look for harvesting jobs but suddenly realised it was going to be harder

27th Jan 2012 - 11th Feb 2012 So we had been thinking for a bit what our next plans should be, so we handed in our notice at the hotel. We looked on Gumtree for a campervan, we viewed a few before settling on a 1997, ford econovan maxi. Which has only 196,000 km on the clock and cost $5,300. Which is good, some vans we seen were older than us and had done double the mileage. It's spacious and has a little kitchen area and a lovely spotted sofa which turns into a bed. ( fridg