Wow, two months in Australia has been everything but what I expected. Australia is so large spontaneity is the card backpackers seem to play here, with most of them wandering aimlessly around.  

Sydneyis a great city to start traveling in. There are backpacker hostels on every corner and WAKE UP! hostel is one of the most popular. WAKE UP! Gives good, free and invaluable travel advice and guidance at its front desk to point you in any direction of travel; from just around the vast land of Austrailia, to international destinations such as New Zealand and South Africa. I don’t think I could have managed without it.

I thought most of my first week in Sydney would be setting up my bank account, and tax file number, and going to and from recruitment agencies seeking a job. In fact, it was the opposite. I met a few great people in the dorm room I was staying in, and found that partying and doing tourist trips around central Sydney was my daily routine, this, however, took a big chunk out of my funds. Although I did have a great time while doing it! One thing I didn’t expect was the fact that Sydney is so expensive.

Moving in with my uncle for two weeks not only saved me a lot on the finances, but allowed me to see the non-tourist side of greater Sydney with the unspoilt beaches and national parks of Mona Vale and the Northern Beaches area. Looking for a job was harder than I thought though – funnily, employers aren't too struck if you just want to work for a month. So, I did what most backpackers do when they need extra cash in Australia…fruit picking! I did a 12 hour journey by train and bus to the Fruitshack in Leeton. Apparently, it’s the ‘Backpackers last resort’ and the owner happily advertises this. I have to say it was laughable, with three unisex toilets and only two showers between about 40 people. But, I had the pleasure of being given free accommodation! Yes, free accommodation! However, a dirty tent with a zipper that didn’t work meant I was constantly covered by moths, mosquitoes and whatever other insects happened to find me. Waking up to pick grapes for a rate that I care not to mention for fear of embarrassment meant I got out of there as quickly as possible.

Luckily, I met someone kind enough to give me a tip-off about a place called Mildura ‘the rural city’ which had many 'working hostels'. The deal is you live at the hostel and pay for accommodation, and they give you seasonal work, usually something to do with harvesting fruit. It was an experience to say the least: one of the jobs I was given was naling a new grape vine up in 47 degree blistering heat.

After working to get my bank balance back up to what my budget said it should be, I got on the hop-on, hop-off bus tour with Oz Experience from Sydney. Feeling like I was starting my travels all over again, I was relieved to meet some great people and have a whale of a time riding the waves at Surf Camp and a horse at Krombit Cattle Station. I would definitely recommend the Oz Experience bus tour to anyone wanting to see the East Coast of Australia, and wishing to meet lots of new people. Although, my intenary was rather rushed I got to meet people all the time, which is especially good if you are travelling.

Arriving in Cairns (my last destination on the Oz Experience) was not what I expected at all. I booked a day of scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, but in the queue to check in to the boat I had a weezing fit and collapsed right in front of one of the crew members. I went to the doctors immediately and  was surprised to hear that I had a severe chest infection and that I would not be able to scuba dive. Instead, I went snorkelling on the reef, which wasn’t half as much fun as scuba diving, but I did manage to see a turtle almost twice my size swim past. Tomorrow I get a flight from Brisbane to Christchurch, on the South Island of New Zealand, and I think the weather will be slightly less hot than the average 30 plus degree temperatures I’ve had in Oz…