Leaving Manchester at 10am and arriving in Melbourne at 7pm the following day was probably about as ideal as things could have worked out, but sitting on the plane and spectating as the world saw two days and two nights in a 24 hour period still takes it out of you!

I was lucky enough to have a pre-arranged lift from the airport and a family home to stay at for as long as I needed upon arrival (thanks Sue ;)).

Anyway, enough about the journey here, what I really want to talk about are my first impressions of Melbourne. Tucked away in a bay on the south facing side of Victoria, hugging the meandering drifts of the Yarra river, Melbourne is what you would no doubt describe as a metropolis. Viewed from a distance you see the towering skyscrapers huddled together, almost impressionistic of the Manhattan skyline. In the city center you really feel the hustle and bustle of working city life. By day you’ve got your office workers wandering around in expensive suits, executives driving sporty cars, locals out shopping, commuters whipping around on the tram network and the odd backpacker making casual observations like myself By night the whole atmosphere changes to a calm and collected mood as the sky darkens and the lights come on. People sit and sip their beers in the many bars and restaurants scattered around the city. Postcard scenes present themselves along the banks of the Yarra River at Southbank.

What fascinates me about the way people operate here though is the laid back tone of life seamlessly integrated with what is clearly a hard working city. You head out to a restaurant or a cafe for your lunch break. Everyone else has the same idea and the venues begin to fill up, but nobody sticks to a schedule. You look around at the people sitting at the tables and many of them are taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi many of the cafes offer their customers so they can keep working whilst they sip on their lattes.

The city is big. I’d almost go so far as to say huge, but then London probably takes first place in that competition. It doesn’t take very long to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life though. By foot you can wander for about 20 minutes to the Royal Botanic Gardens, an immensely impressive collection of tropical plants and trees on a patch of land you can spend half a day strolling your way around the twisty little footpaths amongst the vegetation.

Hop in a car and drive for an hour or so and you hit the Yarra Valley and the Dandenongs. The Dandenongs is the hilly woodside ranges sitting to the east of Melbourne whilst the Yarra Valley is packed full of the lush vineyards of the wineries in the region. I’m sure most Europeans have seen bottles of wine from the Yarra Valley in the shops at some point I’ve yet to do a winery tour but I have visited the region.

Puffing Billy is a steam train which winds its way through the Gum Trees of the Dandenongs. You can join in with the kids who sit along the edge of the windows swinging their legs out as the train trundles it way through the tightly packed trees. All in all I’d say Puffing Billy is probably the least impressive thing I’ve done since I’ve been here though. Geared more towards providing an entertaining day out for children it just had a slightly “tacky” feel to it for me. Maybe I didn’t give it a proper chance?

Closer to the Yarra Valley is Healesville where they have a wildlife sanctuary aptly named the Healesville Sanctuary. By contrast with a Zoo where you’re merely an observer of animals in cages, Healesville is set in a natural environment with some animals almost free to wander. You can attend a whole series of talks about the behaviour, diet and habitats of the various indigenous species they keep. Definitely not geared towards children alone, these talks make very interesting listening You can even go a step further and get up and close and personal with some surprisingly tame Kangaroos. The keeper can offer you a handful of dried fruit to feed to Kangaroos and they are more than happy to be patted by visitors! This made my day out one of the best things I’ve done since arriving.

Following an initial week of sightseeing I’m now settling into a full-time job with SitePoint (software development company). I’m joining the crowds of workers, sipping my lattes and eating my lunches in the cafes of a city which works hard but yells “chill out!”

This change of plan does mean that I need to postpone my plans to travel until after my two month trial with SitePoint is complete. I can live with that though My Greyhound Coach Ticket is valid for longer than this period so I don’t lose out financially neither.

I’m over the moon really; working for SitePoint is the perfect job for me. They approach web development with the same ideas and methodologies I choose to use myself. It’s tough to find web development companies these days who put quality, maintainability and strength of code as their focus.

Watch this space!

The time this route is going to take has gradually gotten longer and longer as time has gone on, but I seriously have stopped worrying about the cost and the time because I’d rather make the most of the opportunity! So that’s a yay for me! I’ve been getting kitted out too; I bought my 70 litre Karrimor rucksack and some high-end Berghuas walking boots. Oh, and can you believe it?! I dropped my new camera already and broke the lens! Doh! It’s been sent in for repair

Did I mention Google Maps is awesome by the way? No? Well it is. I’ve been able to use Google Maps to join-the-dots so the speak. Not only have I been able to work out how long it takes to get from A to B, I’ve also been able to use it so I can do the Maths and decide how best to organise a Greyhound Coach pass.

The Map (Right click, Open in new window)

You can get the original map up on Google Maps by clicking here.
CAUTION: If you don’t have a relatively new CPU I’d probably avoid clicking the link. It takes a while to process all the JavaScript it uses. My Intel Core 2 Duo/512MB DDR2 opens the page in about 20 seconds.

The Route

Ok, the way things are looking this is going to carry me from the end of September through to early December. I still haven’t finalized dates for the individual stops because I’m not completely crazy and don’t want to tie myself down so far in advance! I’m doing the entire thing by Greyhound Australia. Apparently it’s faster to get arond by coach than it is to get around by rail in Australia. Don’t question it — I didn’t

1. Melbourne

Melbourne is where my journey begins on 29th September (read, 30th September by th time I arrive). I’m staying in Essendon with a friend of mine from the Monday until the Friday. I have 3 friends currently living in Melbourne so I’m basically going to let them show me the sights and take the opportunity to do some catching up. I haven’t officially considered this to be part of my backpacking experience since I’ll be living and working here for the remainder of my stay (post-December).

2. Thredbo/Kosciuszko & The Lakes

Thredbo is well known as a skiing resort in the winter. I’ll be arriving in the spring however so it’s very unlikely there will be any snow around. Although it’s quieter at this time of year it’s supposed to be a pretty place to pay a visit. I’m coming here purely to do a three day walk in the National Park. There’s loads of tiny little (subtle) flowers at this time of year. I imagine I’ll be using a tent for accommodation here!

This part of Kosciuszko is actually not very far from Canberra. I removed Canberra from my itinerary whilst cutting out some fluff because I was led to believe that although it’s worth a visit there are better things I could spend my money on.

3. Sydney

Well if you haven’t heard of Sydney you’ll probably never find porn on the internet! I expect I’ll spend at least 6 days here, 3 of which will be walking in the Blue Mountains. The walk I’m doing is called the Six Foot Track, starting at the Explorer’s Tree, ending at Jenolan Caves and is disputed to be one of the best walks in Australia, although it seems Tassie (Tasmania) has a better walk. Over the course of the three days walking the six foot track the landscape/scenery changes dramatically so I’m probably looking forward to this walk more than any of the other walks I’ll be doing.

In the city itself I’ll probably do all the cliche things like going to Opera House, going to the Botanic gardens and checking out Bondi.

I’m still not sure if I’ll accept the kind offer, but the friend I’m staying with in Melbourne has an auntie near Sydney who has offered to let me stay with her. It would save me some money but apparently it’s a fair distance north of Sydney.

4. Newcastle/Hunter Valley

I really wanted to include a couple of wine making regions in my itinerary. Not because I’m an alcoholic, but because Oz is known for having some great wine regions. Hunter Valley is the first one I’ll be visiting. It’s very close to Newcastle and most day tours to the wineries actually leave from Newcastle.

The friend I’m staying with in Melbourne also has relatives here. Her cousin and his wife live in Newcastle; I’ve met them before when they visited the UK. I’m not aware if they’ve been asked yet but I may able to save some money and crash with them whilst I’m here

5. Byron Bay

Really looking forward to this place to get some rest and relaxation. Byron Bay is really a nice beach area with a cool hippy vibe. Don’t expect to see me doing anything but lazing on the beach whilst I’m here!

6. Glass House Mountains

If the name doesn’t ring a bell, maybe “Australia Zoo” will? This is where the late Steve Irwin’s zoo is. I’m coming here briefly just to see the zoo.

7. Hervey Bay/Fraser Island

Complete bliss. There are two records held here. Hervey Bay (on mainland continenental australia) got a Guiness world record for being the beach with the world’s whitest sand. Fraser Island, just off the coast is the world’s largest sand island. How could I not pay this place a visit?

Fraser Island has a big lake on it which is said to be so clear you can see turtles on the bottom! Many people take 4WD tours on Fraser Island but I’ll try to avoid this since it damages the ground. I’m potentially (well, as it stands I’m doing it) going to be doing a whopping 5 day walk on the island.

8. The Whitsunday Coast

This will be an active one for me. On the mainland I head to Airlie Beach which is probably the busiest beach in this area. From there I head off the coast and over to the Whitsunday Islands for some island hopping/sailing. There are over 90 little islands off the Whitsunday Coast although I’m only visiting 3 of them — I’m just not sure which three yet!

The plan is to sail between a few islands which more than likely will include the biggest one — Whitsunday Island, and the next biggest — Hook Island. Brilliantly for someone on a budget like myself, you can get a camping pass for about $4 AUD at Airlie Beach and you can use this on all the popular islands.

Oh, I almost forgot to menion the best bit — This is the Great Barrier Reef!!

9. Cairns

Cairns is the best base point from which to explore the Great Barrier Reef. There’s loads of other things to blow my money on here too. I’ve been told by my barber (he’s travelled the East coast himself) that you can throw money into activities such as watersports, skydiving and bungy jumping. We’ll have to see how far my budget stretches. The main thing I’m doing here is the same as every other backpacker (this place gets crowded with us!), I’m taking a trip out to see the reef. These day trips vary in price between about $60 and $120. The cheaper ones are worth doing but when you pay for the more expensive ones you spend longer out there, get more informative guides, cover better areas of the reef and get a better diving experience. I expect I’ll go for an expensive one because this quite truly is a once in a lifetime experience for me! There’s also a tropical zoo here which is apparently a great place to go if you want to cuddle a koala. Sounds like my kind of thing

10. Mt Isa

I’m in the outback. This hot! It will be November by this time too so it really will be beginning to bake in these regions.

Mt Isa is on my itinerary mostly because it was going to take over a day to get from Cairns to Katherine. I had to throw in two stops between Cairns and Katherine to break things up a bit — this being the first. The locals usually just refer to the area as “Isa”. It’s a very beatutiful red rock area which probably looks just like you’d expect outback Australia to look.

11. Daly Waters

Initially I was going to stop at Tennant Creek (south, right where the highways join). However, I was told that Tennant Creek can actually be a dangerous place to go due to crime. All I’ve been told about Daly Waters is that there’s an awesome pub there. Low and behold, my travel guide talks about the pub more than anything else here. I guess I’ll be drinking here then!

12. Katherine

Just south of Darwin, katherine is a picturesque town where I’ll spend 4 days walking. The walk I’m doing essentially gives me a great opportunity to see Katherine Gorge. Go and stick that search term in Google Images and you’ll see why I’m visiting this place. It’s got some great rock art sites in addition to being a huge natural beauty. I’m not 100% but I think we’re in Crocodile Territory here

13. Darwin

Darwin is really really far north in the Northern Territory. It’ll be baking hot and I’m informed that the flies will drive me bonkers. Darwin is definitely an area with Crocs. It’ll be the wet season up here and at this time of year Darwin holds the world record for experiencing the most electrical storms over anywhere else in the world. I’m almost guaranteed to catch a storm if I stay here for more than 2 days — which I am.

14. Daly Waters

Back again for a rest.

15. Alice Springs

In the words of the Lonely Planet travel guide, Alice Springs is a one-street kind of town. People commonly use this area as a stopover whilst they do the cliche tourist activity of visiting Uluru (Ayers Rock). I need to make the most of the fact that there’s actually some cheap shops here because apparently I’ll not stock up on necessities anywhere cheaper within a 100 mile radius.

I’m doing a short walk here which should take just under 5 hours, but yes, to all intent and purposes I have fallen into the trap of using Alice Springs as a stopover on my way to Uluru.

16. Yulara

Yulara is the town you go to when you’re visitng Uluru (Ayers Rock). I can’t tell you anything you probably don’t already know but Uluru is a massive (over 3.5 kilometres long!) red rock on the landscape. It’s a really sacred site with the aborigines and they don’t like people to walk on it because of that fact. However, the majority of people ignore the requests of the aborigines which I think is sad really. If you’re going to visit a place that doesn’t belong to you then you should respect the requests of those to whom the place belongs and has a very geniune sentimental value. Ok rant over. I’m just going to look at it

Lesser known in this region is another rock site called The Olgas. These are a cluster of (three) smaller red rocks and many people say they are more worth seeing than Uluru. Rather than have someone else tell me what’s more worth seeing I’ll just see both.

17. Flinders Ranges

Most likely I’ll go to Wilpena Pound. Fliders Ranges National Park is supposedly the kind of beautiful red rock landscape, sprinkled with small amounts of vegetation which you dream up when you imagine dry areas of Australia. There is a circular route I can do here which would take 2 days to complete.

It looks as if I’ll have to head to Adelaide and then backtrack in order to get into the National Park.

18. Adelaide/Barossa Valley

Well I mentioned I wanted to visit some wine making regions and I’ll have visited the Hunter Valley early on my travels. This is the end of my route and the other wine making region I’ll be visiting while I travel. Day trips to the wineries usually leave from Adelaide.

Lucky for me, my friend’s mum who I’m staying with in Essendon (Melbourne) has a friend here who may be able to offer me a bed. In addition to visiting the Barossa Valley wine region I’ll see Adelaide and Glenelg.

19. Melbourne

And I’m done! It’s just a shame I’ll have to start working again because I’ll have no money. It will be just a few weeks from Christmas by the time I get back here too

Distance covered?

Well according to Google Maps my route takes me over 11,081 Kilometres. If you were to drive non-stop it would take nearly 6 days. Phew!

If the distance Google has calculated is accurate I can save myself nearly $200 by booking a Greyhound Kilometre pass rather than booking there default itinerary route which fits my plans. They charge $1520 for the “Aussie Highlights” pass which is there-abouts the route I’m doing. However, for 11,000 kilometres anywhere you want to go with Greyhound it costs only $1327 (or less if I can get a concessionary price).

Feedback on my route is more than welcome

(Please no comments about Western Australia, NZ or Tassie… I’m planning to travel again after working for half a year or so in Melbourne ;))