Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

 

 

If you'd like to read about hitchhiking in Australia or my favourite place on Earth you've come to the right place. 

Why and how we should be trying to preserve our Oceans.

 

Having spent quite some time ranting about the refugee crisis, I wanted to write about something else close to my heart, incredibly important, but not yet personal enough to make me shake with rage. 

Covering almost three-quarters of the Earth, holding 97% of our water, producing almost half of our oxygen and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere, I can't exactly overstate how important oceans are to our planet's survival. Despite being vital to our economies and way of life, gone are the days when it was possible to believe the deep blue sea was simultaneously an infinite wealth of resources and an invulnerable dumping ground. 

 

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Camping spots that make you wonder why we ever sleep indoors.

Sapphire Coast Australia
Sapphire Coast Australia

 

This collaboration of magical camping spots has taken an embarrassingly long time to put together, but I can't help but feel proud of the result. With some of my traveller idols, friends and even family involved, it's hard to decide if I'm more excited by the contributors or the places they have written about. If this doesn't persuade you that you don't always want to sleep with a roof over your head, then I'm happy to keep the wilderness for myself. 

 

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Backpacker highlights of Australia's East Coast...

travel, Whitsundays, East Coast Australia
The Whitsundays

 

English speaking, easy to get around and lined with long, sandy beaches, Australia's East Coast is perfect for inexperienced travellers. The distances should never be underestimated, but buses are simple and for the slightly more confident, it's perfectly possible to hitchhike. Big hostels often attract a young, party crowd though older travellers can always find smaller, independent accommodation or even better camp.

 

This post will focus on some of the East Coast's islands and backpacker highlights that I loved on my first trip to that side of the world. If you're trying to plan a gap year, this should be perfect for you. Hopefully, more experienced travellers will also appreciate the stunning coastal scenery, brilliant snorkelling opportunities and unique wildlife.

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Hitchhiking the Great Ocean Road...

River by Allenvale Mile campsite.

There are a variety of options if you want to see the Great Ocean Road. Obviously the ideal convenience choice would be to drive, but for those of us on the really frayed shoe-string budget, byeing or renting a car is pretty much out of the question. Hitchhiking on the other hand, is affordable (obviously) and unbelievably easy in this area- we barely had to wait more than ten minutes for a ride.

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How to beg, borrow and steal* your way around Australia when all you have in your pocket is a collection of receipts and an old toothpick...

*Just to clarify- I don’t condone pick-pocketing, it’s just a good phrase.
Watch out for these cheeky chappys...

  1. Hitchhike- in case you hadn’t guessed I’m quite a fan…
  2. Make use of free campsites- you could pay $30 to stay in a crowded caravan park with a load of screaming kids OR you could pitch up in a nice, quiet spot by the beach for free. Admittedly some of the places we camped weren’t exactly designated spots, but if you are organised you could locate the legitimate ones on the internet, by asking in tourist offices or download the app ‘wiki camps’.
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Sydney and its surroundings... a medley



Over the last week, I've helped prepare for and attended a wedding* in the Sutton Forest, spent a couple of days discovering the area around Jervis Bay, enjoyed a family Christmas in Sydney, explored the city a little, visited the Blue Mountains and even tried my best to surf at Manly Beach.

So yes, it's been a bit manic, but we've found some fantastic places, all of which are fairly easily accessible from Sydney...
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Hitchhiking in Australia- some Feathery tips...

These are obviously intended for novices and will probably otherwise come across as a bit patronising...   

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Melbourne, its Street Art and why it would be cool to live there…

We were lucky enough to have friends to stay with in Melbourne. Although I hadn’t seen Karl since I was fifteen, and had never even met his wife Sarah, they took our unpredictable plans in their stride and made us feel at home even when we arrived a whole day early and probably not smelling too fresh. It was amazing to have some nice food, a comfy bed and two whole nights sleep without needing to worry if we were going to be turfed out at any moment (hopefully we weren’t irritating enough to drive them to that!).

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Hitchhiking Sydney to Melbourne.

Night 1- a horse field
Excluding a train journey to Dapto, which we needed in order to escape the massive freeways out of Sydney, Dan and I managed to successfully travel from Sydney to Melbourne, over the course of five days, without paying for either any transport or accommodation...

We're pretty happy about that!

As you can imagine, this lead to a few interesting situations over the course of journey- have a look at our route on my carefully crafted map at the  bottom of this post.

Dapto itself was not an encouraging place to begin;  most people looked at us as if we were clinically insane, some gestured wildly and one even swore at us out the window. Nevertheless we were picked up within half an hour and our first friendly driver took us twenty kilometers down the road- not a monumental start, but after our faffing in Sydney, it was already quite late by the time we arrived in Kiama.

6am, Kiama

Debilitated by jetlag, heavy bags and indecisiveness, we trekked around and eventually out of the town until we were desperate enough to camp in an empty field, on a hill, right on top of a lumpy horse poo. With me being too cocky to bring a sleeping bag (it would be hot in Australia surely), Dan having lost his roll mat on the flight, a tent too short for him to lie flat in and both of us being to exhausted to get our stuff into any sort of organised state, that night was never going to go well. With the additional fear of being discovered  and a river of condensation running freely off the sides of our tent, it was a disaster.

Consequently, we were up and packed by five am and on the road again by six. Unfortunately, we beat the cars and had to wait a while for our first ten kilometer lift down the road. The truck driver who finally picked us up did little to instill us with confidence...
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Caqalai- my favourite place on Earth.

Caqalai, Fiji

 

If you’re visiting Fiji on a budget, but want to escape the well-trodden, island-hopping backpacker trail, Caqalai (pronounced thang-a-lay) is a perfect alternative. This tiny island, situated just below Ovalau, has the relaxed feel of a tropical paradise without the hype.

 

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This site is written and poorly edited solely by me (Katie). Please contact me if you find any typos or mistakes.

 

You can also find Feathery Travels on facebook, twitter and instagram.

 

Phone Credit For Refugees and Displaced People is a volunteer run organisation. I can't stress their importance enough - please click on the image below and join the facebook group to find out how you can help. If you are not on facebook, you can still donate here