- Australian dollar notes are waterproof! How we know - (Jamie went swimming with a $20 in his pocket)
- Lots of companies offer to set up a bank account & sort a tax file number for you, a TFN is required in order to work in Australia without getting taxed extortionately, but such companies often charge a fee for doing so. After doing some investigation ourselves we discovered that they are actually both free to set up, all it takes is a bit of organisation and planning. Within 2 weeks of being in Oz we have received all our bank cards / details and our TFN through the post.
- Once you are in Australia you can also apply for a Medicare card. Australia shares a reciprocal health care agreement with the UK and a number of other countries, which means that you can receive medical treatment during your stay, only having to pay for any medication you may require. More details can be found on the australian government website - australia.gov.au
- We had our concerns about travelling with a large amount of medication as Jamie is diabetic and had to bring a years worth of insulin travelling. We kept it in our hand luggage and Jamie also had a letter from his doctor stating that he required the medication- we got through customs in London, Bangkok & Sydney with no issues!Noone asked to see his letter.
- We prebooked a sharehouse for the first 2 months of our travels, in hindsight we probably would only have booked for a week or 2 max,as we have only stayed the stayed the minimum month required at the sharehouse. As we travel along the coast we are going to book for a few days and check the place out before making a large commitment. Having a good foundation to start our journey on has set us in good stead, its helped us get to used to Australia and sort out the groundwork (the afore mentioned points- which could be done anywhere) but we feel that Cairns itself could have been explored in 2 weeks.
During the torrential rain we encountered we spent a bit of time watching this.... quite possibly the oldest tv in Australia. - We've had access to our own kitchen so we've been able to do some cooking. I know it sounds silly but shop around for groceries etc, dont take the first price as the best price. For example a 190g bar of Cadburys chocolate in Coles (like Tesco, Sainsburys) is $4.99 but in Crazy Clarks (like Wilkinsons) the same bar was $2.99.
- Buy long lasting milk instead of fresh milk and try and plan meals. That way you wont spend more than you need to, and wont be wasting money throwing food away or ending up trying to take food travelling with you.
- There are many different ways of travelling around Australia, buses, trains, planes, cars, campervans... its a huge country! But choose the method that suits you and your journey best. Dont just take the advice of the 'backpacker' tour shops, as all they really look for is a sale and their commission! We have just purchased 2 East Coast Discovery passes for the train, from Cairns to Melbourne to be used over 6 months. This was the best option for us as its to be used over 6 months and we hopefully get to see some the amazing Australian countryside whilst on our travels, plus neither of us are big fans of buses, but each to their own! We will keep you updated once we use our train passes.
- Have a rough plan of your journey, places that you really want to see, but be mindful of seasons, transport, weather, events etc. For example we stayed in Cairns during the end of the wet season, massive amounts of rainfall over a short space of time, which resulted in some flooding. The main highway into/ out of Cairns was closed and the trains didn't run for 3 weeks due to the flooding, luckily we wernt planning to leave during that time, but a number of people were stranded due to the weather.
- Loads of companies offer discounts for backpackers, for trips, excursions, meals, transport to name a few, offered through the place your staying, leaflets, online promotions etc so check out whats available before spending all your $'s unnecessarily! Try and give yourself a budget for each day, for luxuries like icecream, meals out, trips.
Thats it for now, but check back for more updates, photographs and travel tales!
A sign in Cairns City centre
Laters xAll rights reserved Copyright © Laura Powell
No comments:
Post a Comment