Discovering Australia
Our love of Australia began 13 years ago. On our first visit we did an organised trip to the Great Barrier reef down to Sydney on to Melbourne and then over to Perth. We had such a good time that we said we would return the next year.
We did some research before we booked the trip and we were very fortunate to have found the Wayward Bus Company. We have since found out this fantastic company has been swallowed up by a larger one now and is not the same lovely company that we travelled with.
We did a stopover in Singapore and then flew onto the best-kept secret in Australia, Adelaide.
From the outset we both fell in love with this small city. The people are friendly, the pace of life is slower than that of the other larger cities and people talk to the tourists. We are known by our friends here as the POMS, hence the name of the website POMS EYE.Com
We spent three nights in the city before we boarded the Wayward Bus and headed to the Outback for a ten-day camping experience called FACE THE OUTBACK. This was to open up the real AUSTRALIA to us.
The tour leader was a real outback boy named Thomo one of the nicest guys you could meet. What made this trip so fantastic was Thomo's real love of the place and his enthusiasm for the Outback, passing on his knowledge and the culture that the Red Centre has to offer. We also learnt a lot from his able co-driver, Dave.
On this trip we headed out via the Clare Valley to visit places like Laura, Quorn, Hawker and onto Wilpena Pound before heading to the more remote areas of Angorichina, Marree, Lake Eyre, William Creek, Coober Pedy and then a further 500km to Uluru, finishing at Alice Springs.
This might seem like an advert for the Wayward Bus company but this trip enabled us to gain the confidence to undertake trips to the outback ourselves, taking safety into account such as the type of vehicle to use, the equipment to take and rules to follow if you get into trouble. People have died in the Outback, mostly by not following simple instructions given to them. (YOUR FIRST ADVENTURE INTO THE OUTBACK SHOULD BE WITH A GUIDED TOUR) it is not like taking a four-wheel drive to the local supermarket!
Since then at least two other companies have started to undertake this route; The Groovy Grape Company and Australia Adventure Tours. I have spoken to people from these tours and all have enjoyed their experience. I would say this is a must do for the student on the gap year.
We have travelled overland from Sydney to Perth. Travelling from Sydney to Melbourne, then Melbourne to Adelaide with the Wayward Bus Company but driving from Adelaide across the Nullarbor to Perth in a car we hired.