Going Bush

What we have learned/read before and during our travels in Australia, New Zealand & Indonesia…

General

Free Internet (Australia).

In general, all Public Libraries in Australia provide internet access to the community. Theoretically (and generally) this is free, but we have experienced a few public libraries charging a fee to access.

Also, McDonalds have free WiFi access in all of their restaurants around Australia (if you have a laptop/netbook with WiFi)

Books/Magazines

• Camps Australia Wide – the best guide with over 3500 places to camp for under $22 per night (or free). Buy online at http://www.campsaustraliawide.com . Approx AUD$60 (or try to buy at second hand bookshop – we bought ours for AUD$22!)
• Go Camping Magazine – 4 magazines per year. Has great articles on different tracks/parks/places across Australia for your planning. AUD$5.95 at a Newsagent.
• Lonely Planet (of course) – a recommendation for you all out there… Try using the LPs for each state of Australia (eg. Tasmania) you want to travel in and not the large Australia guide. Or buy specific chapters online in pdf format!  We have found these more useful and detailed. Also, you can buy these books second hand & sell very easily in the large cities like Sydney & Melbourne. Link to buy Lonely Planet Chapters
• Altair (Catalunya/Spain). Magazine that can be bought on just about any country, in Spanish, and available from the ´best travel book shop in the world´in Barcelona. www.altair.es/

Internet sites

• Surfing. I really like Surf-Forecast.com for the 6 day forecast. It´s covers nearly every surf break in the world so perfect for the surf traveller. In Australia, most people use Swellnet.com also.
• Kitesurfing Australia. Seabreeze.com.au has the top places to make all wind-sport activities eg. kitesurfing around Australia. Includes 7 day wind & weather forecast predictions.
• Rockclimbing/Escalada Australia.Not so easy to find comprehensive rock climbing sites for Australia. Here are some of the links we´ve gained something from.
  • TheCrag.com. The link will take you to the TheCrag.com section for Australia & a forum where you can meet fellow Aussie climbers who can (perhaps) give you more information.
  • Chockstone.org. For Rockclimbing in Victoria
  • Red Centre Rockclimbing. For Rockclimbing in Northern Territory.
  • Climb NZ. For rock climbing in New Zealand.
• Weather/temps Australia. www.bom.gov.au. You will need this more than you know
• National Parks/Els parcs nationals Australia. www.nationalparks.com.au  Information on all the National Parks in Australia. You will need to go to the right side of the parks page and select each specific State national park service (eg. Queensland) for more details. The offices & rangers are extremely helpful, they have excellent maps/routes, and sometimes, if you respect them and the park, they might let you stay a little longer without charge!
• Rail&Bus maps/mapes tren i autobús Australia. http://www.railmaps.com.au/stationfinder.php. How to get to any place in Australia via Train/Bus & timetables (if you need it).

Filed under: Australia, Indonesia, Nova Zelanda/New Zealand