My Love/Hate Relationship with Australia

When you mention to other backpackers in Australia that you’ve been to New Zealand, the same question comes up, which country do you prefer? It’s not necessarily a question that needs to be answered because they are more unique than I thought they would be. 

We are at our final destination in Australia, Darwin, so it’s time for some reminiscing. There’s not a huge amount to do in Darwin so there’s not anything to particularly report on. Although before I left Alice Springs, I spent my final night in the hostel caravan, complete with movie theming and Harry Potter bedsheets. Definitely the quirkiest hostel I’ve stayed in. 

People generally split Australia into three zones, the east, the centre and the west. On this trip I went to the east and the centre, and they are very different from each other. 

The east is the most popular place for backpackers. There’s lots of places to stop and it’s incredibly social. That’s what made it different to New Zealand, you meet people everywhere and then you keep bumping into those people. I’ve definitely preferred Australia in terms of the social side of the backpacking experience. 

The problem with the east coast is that ultimately, most things you see are underwhelming. There’s nice places, but they don’t particularly wow you. A girl I met from the UK who now does tours here said to me she thought it was just all overrated, and I have to agree with her. 

Melbourne and Sydney are good cities, but there’s much better cities in the world. The beaches are nice yes, but it gets repetitive very quickly. The sights and experiences that make Australia, like the Great Barrier Reef, are good, but you aren’t blown away by them. It’s a case of everything looks better on TV and in pictures. 

However, in saying that, I have had the best couple of months of my life backpacking up the east coast. I’ve met some incredible people, particularly on the Fraser Island and Whitsundays tours, and have just had so much fun. You can’t help but think that you could have that fun anywhere though. I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but I’d rather be honest about it and it’s important to tell others how you felt about a certain country. 

Then we went the the centre of Australia, and I finally got the wow moment I was waiting for. I thought it was just stunning, red rock and absolute nothingness everywhere you looked. The four days I spent on the outback tour were the most amazing four days I’ve had the whole trip. This was now all about the travelling experience, and not the party centric experience of the east coast. 

Now this is what makes New Zealand and Australia different. The backpacking experience in New Zealand is all about actually seeing the country, whereas in Australia it’s mostly about socialising with dozens of other Brits without the sights to back it up. 

Before I went to the centre of Australia, I couldn’t wait to leave and my answer to the question was always 100% I prefer New Zealand. But the outback has awakened me to what Australia is actually meant to be. 

It feels like that realisation has come too late because in one more day, we are out of here into Asia. I’ve met a lot of people who were going on to do the west coast of Australia, and hearing about their adventures, it feels like the west coast, like the centre, is the version of Australia I was hoping for. 

So there I had a big dilemma, and yesterday I came to a decision on what to do. In 5 weeks time, we are coming back to Australia to do the west coast. 

I’ll be setting off from Perth in a 12 seater minibus that myself and 11 others will drive. I haven’t met the other 11 people yet, we all book onto this self guided tour as solo travellers. From there we will spend 3 weeks driving up the west coast to Broome, camping along the way. It’s going to be similar to my outback experience but it’s longer and we will drive the bus ourselves. I can’t bloody wait. 

Until then however, we do have 5 weeks in Asia. We kick off with Indonesia, then Singapore and Malaysia.