Sydney is well known as a large, busy and modern city, but many don’t realise just how many amazing beaches and coastal walks there are around the city. We managed to explore just a small handful of those within range of the cities public transport and discovered some absolutely pristine coastline. It’s that Aussie lifestyle
UK to NZ
Sydney, The big, bustling heart of Australia. A guide to visiting on a backpacker budget!
Sydney, the huge metropolis of Australia, one of the Southern Hemisphere’s largest cities and known to be pretty expensive. Yet thousands of backpackers head here every year to take in the sights and sounds of this landmark filled state capital and they do so on a budget! As one of the many working tourist visa
Snapshots of the wild Australian outback from a 7000km trip through the Red Centre
The Australian Outback is a strange and mysterious place. It stretches out for miles and miles of nothingness. Heading down the famous Stuart Highway that runs pretty much down the centre of Australia was at times like playing one of those old car games on the mega drive, where it’s just the same scenery repeated
Why you should add the often overlooked Perth to your Australia adventure!
Being all the way over the other side of the country in the huge expanse that is Western Australia you could be forgiven for skipping the state capital of Perth and heading straight for the East coast! But hold up for a moment there. Before diving into the busy streets of Sydney, the packed bars
The unbelievable paradise Gili islands between Lombok and Bali where you can swim with turtles! Indonesia!
The Gili islands Indonesia are three small Islands (Gili actually means small island in the local language of Lombok) off the coast of Lombok in the sea between it and Bali. These three islands are complete paradise, no cars, continuous immaculate beaches, crystal clear turquoise waters filled with corals and amazing sea life, little cottages
Why you shouldn’t judge Bali: The beautiful, culture filled and diverse island beyond the tourists!
Bali is a destination that seems to split opinion. Many flock their due to its popularity, especially backpackers and Australian tourists. Others avoid it like the plague exactly because of that, considering it to be too touristy and lacking in real culture. The truth is we were very interested to visit to see the reality
How to get to the paradise islands of Java, Bali, Lombok and the Gilis in Indonesia
Travelling between the islands of Indonesia is pretty easy with most of the most visited being close enough to comfortably take the ferry. However there are many options and booking them can be confusing and often the most irritating part of the journey is organising transport once on the island as public transport in Indonesia
Climbing the smouldering live volcano Kawah Ijen in protective masks for sunrise over the sulphuric acid lake and blue flame crater, Indonesia!
After being on a packed bus for 15 hours, sleeping for 2 and heading up to the impressive Mt. Bromo on Java we could have been forgiven for taking a break! But no, not us! It was onwards and literally upwards to climb our second active volcano in as many days and with probably as
The mesmerizing trek up volcano Mt Bromo including a 16hr bus and a 2.30am wake up call, Indonesia
We had never heard of Mt. Bromo before heading off to Asia and unlike many big experiences it wasn’t etched onto our Asia bucket list for years! We had been staying in a homestay in the hills of SaPa in rural Northern Vietnam, huddled around a fire and drinking rice wine to stay warm when
A guide to Yogyakarta, the historic heart of Java we fell in love with, Indonesia!
When we heading over to Yogyakarta (pronounced Jogjakarta and often spelt like this too) from Jakarta we had really no idea what there was to do here. In fact we always just saw it as a kind of pit stop for heading off over to Mt Bromo rather than a destination in its own right. But
The incredible ancient Borobudur temple: The largest Buddhist temple in the world, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
The largest Buddhist temple in the world, a huge monument to this religion standing mysteriously atop a hill on the outskirts of Yogyakarta. Ever since I saw images of the characteristic and unique perforated stupas around the top of this enormous temple I knew it was somewhere I just had to visit. One of the
Visiting the awe inspiring Grampians National Park, a wild adventure just 3 hours from Melbourne, Australia!
When most people think of Australia there are two very distinctive images that come to mind, the beach and the outback!! One is our typical image of those that live along the coast, the laid back surfer lifestyle and easy going ways. The other is of a barren orange landscape where not many people live
A guide to Jakarta, the surprisingly beautiful and interesting capital of Indonesia!
After being in Manila directly before coming to Jakarta, a city we had mixed feelings about, somewhere overcrowded with traffic, poverty, inequality, grime and crime, we expected much the same in Jakarta. Though there were shades of similarities, being huge sprawling cities with unregulated development, traffic jams and chaos, we found Jakarta to be surprisingly
A guide to the isolated island of Coron and its many beautiful islands, Lagoons, wrecks and beaches, Philippines.
Most people have gathered by now that the Philippines is paradise, though there does seem to be some out there that still need a little convincing of this. Sure it’s not Thailand or The Seychelles, but that’s a good thing! Here on the small and unassuming island of Coron off the northern end of the
How to get from El Nido to Coron: A Guide for the Coron to El Nido ferry, Philippines
The tiny island of Coron off the north end of Palawan might seem quite remote and hard to get to. However for such a small and unassuming place the sheer beauty that can be found here means many flock to its turquoise waters and powder white sand beaches for a slice of paradise! However, depending