Happiness Is Just Around The Bend

Australia is a huge country and a couple of weeks just isn’t enough to see all the amazing places that this country has to offer. If you travel to Australia as a normal tourist you will only be allowed to stay for usually up to three months. But considering that Australia is located quite far away from most places, it might be worth to stay for a longer period of time if you are already spending so much money on plane tickets. So why not travel to Australia on a Working Holiday Visa instead? What is the Working Holiday Visa (WHV)? The WHV (subclass 417 or 462) will allow you to stay in Australia for up to 12 months, while being allowed to work. It also allows you to study for up to four months. It is also known under the name “Work and Travel” as people will work for a while to save up for travels and then travel for a bit before finding a new job somewhere else. In those 12 months you can leave and reenter Australia as many times as you like. ...

Every so often I come across a place in my travels that is so magical and unspoiled that I would rather keep it a secret for myself. But alas, it would be an injustice not to share Norfolk island with you and encourage you to book a holiday here, as it is honestly one of the most incredible destinations I have discovered in a long time. As a small town girl (originally from a town on the North West coast of Tasmania with a population of not many), the kind of holiday I appreciate is one where I feel welcomed by the locals, can quickly locate my morning coffee stop and find fresh produce to graze on throughout my visit. Norfolk Island is just that, along with the tranquillity, untouched nature and incredible scenery. Arriving in Norfolk Island We landed in Norfolk Island after a short two hour flight from Sydney, Australia. My boyfriend and I were on the way home after a month of travels in Europe, so the decision to take an island escape before landing at home in Tasmania worked ou...

Over the Australia Day long weekend, we took a family trip to Sydney to visit friends we made when we lived up there. It’s been over 2 years since we returned home to Melbourne and we thought it would be nice for the kids to go back to Sydney and see the old house and school and especially friends. Craig and I also went on a hot air balloon ride with Balloons Aloft. Choosing where to stay in Sydney is always a big task!

The Adelaide to Cairns drive is not your obvious Australian road trip. When I told people that I’d decided to drive 3,000 kilometres through the Australian outback on my own, 98% of them thought, to put it politely, that I’d lost the plot. I thought I’d lost it a long time ago, but admittedly driving from Adelaide to Cairns alone was certainly one of my more hairbrained schemes. The main reason for my Adelaide to Cairns drive was to do the staple ‘backpacker in Australia’ thing – chase the sun. Arriving in temperamental Adelaide after so long in the tropics was a shock, and rather than travel to Melbourne and up the east coast, ending my Australia trip in Cairns, I wanted to fast track straight to the heat and drive straight up to Tropical North Queensland. The world’s most pointless traffic light – there were no crossroads or roadworks, and at this point I hadn’t seen a car for about 2 hours. The things you find in the outback… Then I started researching t...