I only have been to Australia thrice; once when I was still in Primary School and my parents took me and my sister to Gold Coast, the second time was in 2011, my sister planned the itinerary and we made the road trip together with my parents and our men (boyfriends at that time) and the third was just recently in 2014, the man and I made a short trip with his mother, sister, sister-in-law and their two kids. Both times were trips to Western Australia.
vector art designed by jimmygleeson
I only remember bits and pieces of my first trip but there was this memory that stuck: it was the time when my sister and I waddled to a sand bar on this beach and just sat there with the waves crashing on us. It was such an exhilarating experience for us; you never get waves like this where we live; and the sand bar allowed us to enjoy the water without the fear of drowning (we weren’t good swimmers).
The second trip was a fourteen-day self-drive around Western Australia, this was when I fell in love with this place.
- Day 1: Bunbury
- Day 2: Busselton, Dunsbourgh, Yallingup
- Day 3: Margaret River
- Day 4: Augusta, Pemberton
- Day 5: Walpole, Denmark
- Day 6-7: Albany
- Day 8-14: Perth and surrounding
The man and I decided to visit this place again in 2014 but only for eight days, so we didn’t travel as far down as before:
- Day 1: Bunbury
- Day 2-3: Pemberton
- Day 4-7: Perth and surrounding
Preparation Work
Clothing
In summer, it is essential to have a thin scarf or buff to prevent the flies from getting into your nostrils and mouth. YES. Flies. Lots of flies. No one has any idea where they come from but they are annoying as hell. Otherwise, light clothing with lots of sunblock will suffice. Do pack a jacket especially if you are going further south as it can get pretty cold, even during summer. For autumn, the usual casual attire with a jacket should do; no flies in this season!
Transport
Australia is a great place to explore through self-driving, especially since both Singapore and Australia drive on the right. For those super long drives, some cars even have a ‘cruise control’ option so that drivers can take their feet of the pedal; the real challenge is staying awake. So always aim to have at least two drivers in the group so that there can be some rotation and plan for pit stops along the way to break the monotony.
For our first trip, we had a total of six adults of which four are drivers. For the second trip, we had a total of five adults and two childs of which three are drivers. For both trips, we booked a vehicle in advance and collected it at the AVIS car rental right outside the airport. We had a Honda Carnival for our first trip and a Hyundai iMax for our second. The iMax offers about 30% more space than the Carnival. During the booking, do remember to account for luggage space!
Food
Eating out in Australia is extremely expensive, be prepared to fork out around 15 AUD per meal. Fortunately, the supermarkets are well-stocked with meat and fresh vegetables so we tried our best to eat in for dinner and packed our lunches; shopping at Woolsworth, Coles and IGA was probably one of the highlights of our trip. Most supermarkets operate till 9pm daily and close a couple of hours earlier on Saturdays and Sundays; the ones in smaller towns like Donnybrook and Pemberton may have different operating hours so do check their website to avoid disappointment. As we were travelling with children on our third trip, we ate out a lot more often since we were not able to packed lunches. Hence, we picked a few pocket-friendly restaurants with the help of Urban Spoon; always have alternatives too as they tend to have varying operating hours.
Others
A data sim card was essential for the trip as we used Google Maps for navigation. If you have a GPS navigation app that already has maps preloaded i.e. TomTom Australia, then data will not be necessary. We tried Optus and Vodafone so far and Vodafone works better than Optus. However in the suburbs, signal strength was still pretty weak. Others have mentioned that Telstra has the widest coverage but it is also more expensive.
absolute honesty 