Trips & Travelling
Exploring Germany
If you want to travel around Germany, the best way to do it is via the Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) or with low cost flights (see links below).
- You can start with Bavaria by purchasing a Bayern ticket - at € 28 for a group of 5 persons or € 20 for a single person. The ticket can be bought at any train station and you can use it all around Bavaria (in all public transport) for 24h. You can even get to the Czech Republic border with this ticket. Use it to visit Regensburg - the large medieval center of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- For Deutsche Bahn online bookings, tips and special offers click here.
- For low cost flight offers by Air Berlin click here.
page revision: 3, last edited: 03 May 2009 19:21
G'day!
OK guys, some of you might already know about this, if you don't please do give it some thought. I'm going back to Australia for a few months next year, and thought I might as well invite my SRM friends along. The trip will presumably last for a month or so, starting near the beginning of the holidays. This is just to give people an idea of what we'd be doing. It won't be easy and it won't be cheap, but if you're still interested take a look.
Where we would go
I mean, it's really up to those who come along, but I'd like to go some of the way around the whole country. If you want to learn more about any of these locations just look them up in wiki, they're all pretty famous.
The East Coast
I grew up in a small place called childers, it's roughly where Fraser Island is (about 40km inland). The East Coast is basically where everyone lives, it's worth seeing, and I'd like to catch up with my friends so we can definitely go there and mooch of my friends. Some noteworthy sights on the way down the east coast are the following (north to south):
The South
The South of Australia is a bit calmer than the East coast, with a lot less people. If we just came from the East, we would drive to the west and see some of the following:
The West and the North
This is what I'd really like to see, I've never been here before, and it's home to some of the most isolated places on the planet. I don't know anyone there, except for my mum. She has a house in a place called Port Hedland. It's a small town a few thousand km north of Perth (perth is at the bottom of the west coast). So here are some of the things we could visit on the way:
Summary…
So basically I would like to go most of the way around. Travelling in Australia is nothing like anything you're likely to experience anywhere else, so it's difficult to describe how the trip would be. The country is very sparcely populated, and the distances are very long. I can't measure it on google but I suppose this trip would be a little more than the distance from Munich to Moscow and back (but less traffic…). All the way around by car is 20,000km but we won't be doing that obviously.
What's the weather like?
Bloody hot. Australia basically has 2 climatic regions; The northern tropical climate (comparable to south east asia and northern south america) and southern continental climate (winter, summer, autumn, spring). In between, there are the subtropical regions, which have a combination of wet and dry seasons and winter/summer. When we go in March/April it will be early autumn, or the beginning of the dry season (winter season is dry). The weather in the south is comparable to the climate in southern europe and usually very pleasant. In the north it will be humid and hotter, and if we ever go inland it will get quite unpleasent in terms of heat. It really depends on where we go. Australia has been in drought since I was 12, so we can safely assume it will be sunny almost all of the time.
Basically it's like this: If you don't like weather above 35 degrees you'll have a terrible time. It will get above 40 in the north/inland, but rarely/never above 50. It probably won't rain, and if it does it won't be for long.
What about the animals, will I get eaten?
No!! I know that statistically Australia is a dangerous place, but if we just take some precautions (like a mobile phone..) we'll be fine. There are places where we won't be able to swim, but there are also many safe areas. I lived there for 13 years and didn't ever get bitten by anything. Every dangerous bite can be easily cured with an antivenom, if it's even needed. Here are some things you might see, but probably won't in one month:
And here are the animals you will probably see:
That brings me to another drawback of Australia, you will be annoyed by one of (i)Flies (ii)Mosquitos (iii) Midgies every day we spend away from cities. There is no risk of infection (we don't have malaria), and you get used to the flies pretty quickly.
Costs
To get there
Booking a flight to Australia (return) can be around 500€ if booked early through a cheap company like Airasia.com. This would give us a stop-over in kuala lumpur, which we could extend if anyone is interested in visiting malaysia. Another option worth exploring if people are interested in seeing the US and New zealand as well, is going through a kiwi airline like Air New Zealand. Their flights go through LAX (Los Angeles) as well as Auckland (new zealand) I think, so you could see those places as well. The flight will be approximately 900€ if we do that. I don't have that sort of money so I'm going el cheapo through malaysia, but it's something you guys can think about.
To get around
For the cost of the trip I don't really have any idea, I've never done something like this before. The most reliable options would be to either buy a car (like I mentioned before), rent one, or take a bus. What the most economical financially is really depends on the amount of people willing to come.
Personally, as far as I'm concerned driving through Australia in a combi van and not giving a shit about anything is one of those things in life you just have to do at least once, so that would be my first choice. Petrol in Australia fluctuates around $1-$1.30, or the equivalent of around 0.60€-0.70€. At 10L per 100km, a 15000km trip will cost around 1000€. If we get a van we can take 6 people. Assuming we rent a van for say $AU1000 for the month, it'll end up being around 250€ per person in transport. Taking a bus will be far more expensive than this… Now that I'm writing this actually, I realise that taking a bus is a crap idea.
In terms of sleeping, the only really affordable option is to sleep in tents. Australia has laws about tenting similar to those in germany, although not as harshly enforced. This means that in populated areas where I don't have family or friends, we'll need to pay for a camping spot. From my experience this is around $5 (3€) per night per person. So another prerequisite for this trip is that you don't mind sleeping in a tent with a veritable horde of mosquitoes (in some areas it might get pretty bad). Weather at night is quite unpredictable in Australia, but you can expect it to be between 10-35 degrees.
Economically, Australia is cheaper than Germany at the moment. This depends on what you buy:
A lot of stuff is the same cost in dollars as here in euros (so close to half price). A euro buys about a bit less than 2 dollars usually.
Interested?
Australia is an amazing place, and I can guarantee this will be an experience you won't forget. It won't be easy, basically because we're poor students and will be doing it as cheaply as possible, but I think we can do it. The ideal number will be 5-6 people. If you need any more info just post it here. You can call me on 017682150761. I think that covers it for now.
Arman