travel Australia

Paid and confirmed everything today! Leaving Thursday!

i live in Astralia in the state of Queensland.I have travelled across Queensland, the Northen Territory, New south wales, Victoria and as far as Broome in Western Australia.I travelled in my own car with a tent and my elderly mother by myside.We were to continue down the Western Australian coast line but we didn’t get there, i didn’t know what was wrong at the time, but fatigue and whole body pain troubled me.I had so much pain i could not continue my trip,so i came home. I crashed and slept for months.After seeing a doctor and a specialised doctor i was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.But i haven’t given up on my dream to travel Western Australia.

I’m leaving in a week. I have my $3,000 spending money saved up. I’m set to receive a paycheck or two while I am away. My itinerary is set. I’m going from Cairns to Sydney over 20 days. Then I am flying to Melbourne for another 20 days. While In Melbourne, I will probably do a trip to Ayers Rock or Perth. We will see : ) I am so excited!

SO I have a little over a month before I leave. I have my tour and flights paid off. I have about 700$ saved, but that amount should be up to $3000 by the time I leave according to my calculations. Yay! I just hope it is enough money to last me.

wish to see all the country at least once

I bought my plane ticket! 965$ round trip from Washington DC to Sydney.

I also booked a 20 day contiki tour.

And I’m staying 2.5 weeks after my tour.

I’m in heaven.

So I’ve rethought things and scaled back slightly to make this a reality. I still have my $1000. I am getting a little over $1000 back in taxes. And the other $3000 I think I need is slowly piling up in my bank account.

I officially have enough money to feel comfortable booking. I have been carefully researching my trip. I found a 20 day contiki.com tour I think I would like to try. Reefs and Rain Forest. I won’t get to see the big rock but there is always next time. I will however be able to travel up the east coast of Australia (and spend 20 days doing it), fly down to Melbourne for about a week, and the fly to Sydney for a few days stay. The tour comes to about $2,200. The internal flights come to under $300. The flight to Australia costs $990 round trip (SOOO CHEAP!) I figure $1000 spending money for the tour and $1000 for the week in Melbourne. So I am planning to have at least $5000 saved up to do my trip. I have a feeling I am going to regret not staying longer but with my whole teaching career, I can’t stay longer this year.

I will get to see who I want to see and explore a decent bit of the country. The longer trip (28 days one) would have added another $2000 to my whole cost. I didn’t think it was worth it, even if I did get to see more of the country.

I am getting very excited and will probably be booking within the next two weeks, once I am sure I have my mind made up : )

I loved the 3-D panorama of ancient Indian ruins. I liked all the personal stories about migrants, the museum included stories on how immigration imparted on the local aboriginal community which I found interesting. Another interesting bit: in Launceston, it’s documented that Melbourne was established as an extending colony of Launceston. Yet here in Melbourne, it merely notes that the first settlers were expereinced van dieman’s workers invited by the NSW settlers of the time. Interesting!

Landed in Melbourne and I have had a very busy three days! I love the hostel I’m sleeping in!

I am dreaming of traveling to Australia. I’ve wanted to since I was 16. I think that now that I am done with college, it is time I actually have my dream. I have saved about $1,000 for my trip so far. I plan on working my bum off the next few months to go from June 8 to August 8th. Two months of paradise. I think $7,000 should do it.

My plans are to do a 28 day contiki.com tour and then to head to Melbourne, where my good friend Chris lives, for 3 weeks.

I even bought a journal to write in once I get there.