It’s been 3 months and 25 days since the “Welcome to Australia, Mr. Chaves” sign was shown for the first time. Although my idea of being at the airport waiting for Chaves to arrive while holding the sign didn’t happen as I envisioned it, (basically he landed at Melbourne’s airport way earlier than expected, so I could just show him the sign once he was already inside the car) the important thing is that he arrived to Australia safe and sound. And, just like that, we were able to start what up till today has been the longest and most amazing road trip I’ve ever embarked myself on. We did and experienced so many things that I’m not even sure where to begin but, I guess I won’t be improvising too much and I’ll start where most of the stories do, from the beginning 🙂
On Sunday the 29th of April, after driving to Melbourne and joining society again (remember I was “isolated” for the last 2 months and a half picking apples and pears), saying good bye to Marcus (we left Mooroopna together) and meeting up with Silvia again after some months, I was ready to welcome Chaves in Aussieland. Before that though, I had time to walk around Melbourne and have some drinks with Silvia and her friends as well as to meet up with Eloïse, who I didn’t see since I left Sydney.
When I got the first message from Chaves letting me know he had just arrived, I was still at Elizabeth street finishing dinner lol. Anyway, I went back to Silvia’s house, got into my car and drove to the airport to meet Chaves, who I hadn’t seen for 6 months, since I left Kuala Lumpur’s airport and headed to Australia.
After getting into our car and drinking the courtesy beer I had ready for him, we headed to Silvia’s house and we went straight to bed, since we both were kind of tired. A new week was starting in a few hours as April was about to end and, among all that, two guys from Andalusia were getting ready to start conquering Australia 😉
Before starting with our proper story though, I would like to provide some tips for those who might be interested in doing something similar to what we did:
Renting or buying a car/van?
We did a lot of research on the topic and, after considering our options for some time, we decided to buy a car. But, before that, we checked and re-checked all the rental companies in Australia, mainly focused on vans. The following are some of the main van rental websites in Australia:
- https://www.drivenow.com.au
- https://www.hippiecamper.com
- https://www.apollocamper.com
- http://www.aussiecampervans.com
- https://www.campervanfinder.com.au/
- http://www.wickedcampers.com.au/
The last one, at least at the time we checked it, was applying the “one way fee”, which means that, if you want to rent your car, say in Melbourne, and you want to leave it in Cairns, you will be charged a lot of money. That is done because they need to spend money on someone driving the van back to Melbourne, where it was originally rented. On that situation, the concept of “relocation” was created. Basically, you can get very nice deals on vans or cars that need to be moved from point A to point B within a certain time frame. Not sure if we have that as well already in Europe, but I think the idea behind it is brilliant. If you want to know more about the topic:
https://www.transfercar.com.au/
And so, after checking and rechecking, we realized that, if we wanted to rent one of the cheapest vans with insurance (to avoid having 3000-5000 AUD held in our account), we would end up paying almost 2000 AUD for the whole month. That price is not that high, if you think you are gonna be sleeping most of the time in the van, which means, you are gonna save money in accommodation. That being said, the cheaper vans were kind of old and their fuel consumption wasn’t the best. And, taking into account that we were gonna do something around 8000 Km, at the end of our Australian road trip, it would be some important money.
Also, I normally don’t like or rely too much on car rental companies because, most of the times, they end up lying and taking advantage of you. Like you agree on a price but them they come out with some hidden extra charges. Or like, then, they tell you that unfortunately the car you were looking for did have a millage limit or… You get the point, don’t you? These feelings were increased after checking some of these websites that rate the quality of the rental companies:
- http://welcome-ho.me/why-you-should-not-rent-from-apollo-campers-hippie-camper/
- https://hittheroad.rentals/au/campervan/review/hippie-campers
On the other hand, when I first started checking on second-hand cars, I must admit that it was a little bit intimidating at the beginning. With so many concepts like “roadworthy”, “rego”, “insurance”… What should be something way easier than buying a car in Europe, started to turn into a hassle. But, like pretty much everything in life, if you spend enough time on it, you’ll end up grasping it.
Thus, once we had a clear image on how the buying and selling car market worked, we decided to go for a car. Why? Because at the end of our Australian road trip, if everything was fine, I would still be able to use it. Also, if the car didn’t show any big problems, we would be able to sell it and we would get some money back. And, while we would end up spending some more money in accommodation than if we had rented a van, at the end of the road trip, after doing all the math, it would be way worthier.
So, on April the 19th, the same day it was 6 months since I arrived in Australia, I bought our “Time Machine”, with rego until my last day in Australia and with its roadworthy. I also bought a camping gear in K-Mart, which cost me something like 200 AUD. The camping gear included: a 3-person tent, two single mattresses, a pump for them, a 30-L cooler, two 5 AUD chairs, some pillows and sleeping bags, a camping gas, some cutlery, pans, pots and plates. So, as you can see, getting your own car and your own camping gear is not that expensive and, if everything goes alright, you’ll be able to get back pretty much all the money you spent on them ;).
As I bought the car in the state of Victoria, my best understanding of the rules applies to that state. The rest of the states share some common points but also show some differences. For those interested in buying a car in Victoria, I would provide you with the following link, which you can also use to grasp the first ideas on how to buy a car in Australia (even if you end up buying it in a different state):
https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/registration/buy-sell-or-transfer-a-vehicle
In a nutshell:
- Rego: The fees you need to pay per month or year so you are able to drive your vehicle in Australia. It comes with a mandatory 3rd party insurance but then, if you want to have a “proper” insurance, you can get it by getting in touch with the insurance companies. Most of the backpackers don’t get an extra insurance and I didn’t get it either.
- RWC or Roadworthy: You take the car to the mechanic to have a basic exam done which shall tell whether your car is safe to be driven or not. Depending on the state of the car, you might just have to pay the price of the RWC (between 80 and 100 AUD) or you might end up paying more than a 1000 AUD because the car needs many stuff to get fixed.
- Registered or unregistered car: If the car is already registered, you just need the seller to change the car to your name. If it is unregistered, you need the previous one plus a new plate, which should cost something around 40 AUD.
My advice: buy a car/van taking these points into account
Try to buy the car in the same state where you are going to use it (at least at first). Like that, you will save money on registration. Try to get the rego for as many months as you are going to be using the car. And, finally, the most important for me, no matter how cheap someone is selling the car, try to get them selling it with the roadworthy already done.
Why? Because, someone might be selling a car for 500 AUD without RWC, but, for you to be able to register and drive that car, you will need the RWC done. And, since the car is being sold that cheap, when you go to the mechanic to get your RWC done, you might get an unpleasant surprise where you find yourself paying 3 or 5 times the price of the car to try to pass the RWC (because the car is kind of fucked up in the inside).
Useful apps for the Australian road trip
- Camper mate: Free app that shows you tons of camping and hostels around Australia. It has a legend where you can see the campings that are free and the ones you have to pay for. It also shows what utilities the campings have, like showers, barbeques, etc.
- FuelMapAustralia: Since you are gonna be driving for quite some time, you will need to know where the fuel stations are. This app doesn’t just show you where they are, but it also shows you their prices. That allows you to go straight to the cheapest fuel station, skipping some more expensive ones.
- Toilet Map: To find out where the public (and free) toilets are as well as whether they have showers or not. Long live hippie life!
I hope with the above I was able to help you making up your mind. Now, let’s get started with our story 🙂
Melbourne
We woke up early next morning to get ready to do some sightseeing in the capital of Victoria. We drove down to Brighton Beach to see the typical boxes and check the skyline views, which are amazing from down there. After relaxing and enjoying the sun for a bit, we came back to the city to take some photos with the Rod Laver Arena court (where hopefully Nadal will win next year) and check the rest of the Olympic Park.
We then walked down the Yarra River promenade to get to one of the main streets in Melbourne: Swanson Street. We had agreed to meet up with Raúl and Elisa to go grab some food. It was nice to meet them both: Raúl, a Chave’s childhood friend and Elisa, a girl I met in Barcelona once we knew we were coming to Australia. After lunch, we kept on walking around the city for a while until the time to say good bye came.
After farewell, we went to buy some beers and met Carlos and Cristina in their new apartment. I met them back in Sydney, while we worked at Fonda’s Mexican, and now, they had just moved to Melbourne. It was very nice getting to see them and chat with them after so long. To finish our night, we went to Fitzroy (which would be something like Newton in Sydney). We were hoping to enjoy the good ambience there but, unfortunately, there was not much going on and so, after a little while, we left and headed to Silvia’s house to get some sleep and get ready for the next morning.
We spent the next day checking out Queen Victoria Market, where we bought some souvenirs, the Royal Botanic Garden, where we relaxed and enjoyed the views and the peace of the ambience, the Shrine of Remembrance, where we admired some amazing views of the skyline of the city along with some history about the ANZAC day and, finally, we arrived to the Eureka Tower. At the tower we met up with Lydia and Eugenia, who I didn’t see since I left Sydney :). We enjoyed the views of the city at our feet while the sun was setting and we got ready for the next few stops before our last night in Melbourne.
A milestone happened that day, which led to all the above being not just lived, experienced and written, but also, recorded. We decided to start our Youtube channel to record our whole Australian road trip. The first idea was to become rich with it and not have to work anymore but, eventually, we agreed that having the videos there to watch them in the future would not be a bad deal at all. Thus, I will be adding some links throughout the following posts so you can experience our road trip as if you were right there with us. Long live “ChaBalES 18”! 😉
We went to Federation Square to meet up with Silvia and her friend and then we drove to St. Kilda Beach. We were not going to the beach itself, but to the pier, where, hopefully, we would get to see one of the coolest and cutest animals in Australia: “the little blues”. It was amazing seeing them jumping and running and screaming around. The volunteers working there do a great job answering questions about the penguins and flashing them with infra red rays so we can see them and take pictures of them without bothering and hurting them too much 🙂
After saying good bye to our little friends, we went to Jang Gun, a very nice and affordable Korean restaurant situated in “Healeys Lane”. We shared some food, drinks and laughs and we said good bye to Lydia and Eugenia. After that, we went to Silvia’s house to have our last night of sleep in Melbourne before getting ready to start hitting the road with the Time Machine.
ChaBalES in Melbourne
The Great Ocean Road
I really wanted to cross that off my bucket list ever since I arrived in Australia and, finally, on May the 2nd, Wednesday, we got into our beloved car and we started driving to see what the Great Ocean Road was all about. Our itinerary for that day was divided in 3 major stops: Kennett River, 12 Apostles and Adelaide. In total, almost 1000 km ahead of us to get our Time Machine tested in some inhospitable Aussie roads.
We got the idea of stopping at Kennett River from Carlos, who told us it was the perfect spot to see some koalas. In the end, we saw just one sleeping on a tree lol, but we also got to see and feed some parrots and cockatoos, which were also very nice. After wandering around for some time we decided it was time for us to use some of our camping gear for the first time and, after 10 minutes, we got our first pasta with pesto ready, right there on the spot 🙂
By the time we left Kennet River, we had a delay in our schedule of almost 2 hours. We tried to make the most out of our beloved car and we arrived at the 12 Apostles like one hour before the sunset. The place was really cool and impressive and I really encourage you to check it out if you want to enjoy some breathtaking views, specially at sunset. After taking some pictures, as the night was falling, we got back to the car to keep hitting the road. That time though, it was time for Chaves to show his driving skills.
The first hours were hard for me, since I had the impression that he was driving too close to the ditch and we were going to crash sooner than later. But, eventually, I surrendered to fatigue and I got to catch some sleep. At that time we were literally in the middle of nowhere. It was both magical and scary driving there.
Magical because we had one of the best starry skies you can have while driving and scary because of the kangaroos crossing the road “exactly” at the time we were approaching them… Scary also because we were very confident and thought that we would find some gas stations no matter where we were but, of course, we were wrong. We were close to running out of gas in the middle of nowhere but, finally, we found a 24/7 gas station where we were able to get some gas paying by card.
We then changed pilot again so it was time for me to drive. As I write down these lines, I still remember it as if it was yesterday… We were driving through what it could be just defined as a “forest” when 2 big kangaroos crossed the road in front of me. I don’t really know how we did it but we were able to dodge them. After getting my heartbeat back to normal, I became some sort of a extremely cautious driver, which turned out into a yet greater delay in our schedule.
After driving for some more hours we even got a deer crossing the road. WTF?! As the Australian road trip evolved and we had to face these kind of events day after day (or better said, night after night), we gave the situation a name: “La hora bruja” (“The witch hour”), meaning that, from sunset onward, the animals started their raves until sunrise.
By the time we were getting to Adelaide (the capital of South Australia) we were really tired and sleepy. Even as of now, I still don’t know if we saw a koala’s head in the middle of the road or if it was just a nightmare. After what it looked like a extremely rainy route down to hell (I swear to God I never drove before through such a downward steep road for so long), we finally arrived to our hostel: “Backpack OZ”. After finding the keys hidden in a mailbox (luckily enough some hostels have a policy for late check-in where you are sent some instructions you must follow to get your keys), we finally laid down in our beds to get some well-deserved rest.
ChaBalES driving through the Great Ocean Road
Adelaide
We didn’t have a lot of time to go sightseeing in Adelaide since we needed to be in Cape Jervis at around 16:00 to take the ferry to Kangaroo Island. Nevertheless, we managed to go for a walk around the city and check out some places. Among the highlights:
- Victoria Square, also known as Tarntanyangga: nice square in the centre of the city.
- Adelaide Central Market: similar to Victoria Queen Market in Melbourne.
- Belgian Beer Cafe Oostende: nice bar to have some food and cheer with world-known beers: https://www.oostende.com.au/
After drinking our Belgian beers, we got into our car and started driving to Cape Jervis. The drive there was not easy, it was pouring. We stopped to get some food and buy some other stuff, and, for some time, we thought we were not gonna make it in time. But, eventually, we arrived to the loading station safe and sound… and the ferry was still there :).
2 days in Kangaroo Island
We arrived in Kangaroo Island after a rainy drive, on Thursday the 3rd of May. From the moment we stepped into the island, and until we left it, it reminded me quite a lot to Tasmania. In fact, it is the third biggest island in Australia, after Tasmania and Melville. The landscapes, as we were driving, were marvellous, and the same can be said about the fauna.
As soon as we started hitting the road we were able to spot several kangaroos standing by the ditch. Because the sun was setting when we arrived, we didn’t have time to do many things, other than quickly checking the “biggest” town on the island –Kingscote– and having some beers. Then, we headed to Emu Bay to spend the night. Once at our pit stop, as we were cooking dinner, it started pouring, but literally.
I thought we were gonna drown right there. But, eventually, we managed to have a proper dinner (thanks to our culinary skills and to our magnificent camping gear) and to sleep in the car for the first night in our Australian road trip. That night there (as we were considering whether we would wake up drown) was the beginning of something beautiful, the beginning of several nights sleeping in our comfy car lol.
ChaBalES driving from Adelaide to Kangaroo Island
After a great night sleeping in the car, we woke up to the sound of the ocean’s waves. It had stopped pouring and, after having breakfast and getting ready, we hit the road yet once again. Our next stop was “Flinders Chase National Park”. According to google maps, it should take us around one hour or so to get there but, unfortunately, we didn’t take into account that our Time Machine, even if it can “travel in time”, suffers a lot when it has to face God’s forsaken roads. So, in order to make it safe and sound, we had to drive for like 30 min at 10 km/h… After leaving behind the frustration of having to drive at such speed, we finally made it back to a sealed road and there, our Time Machine was unbeatable.
We arrived at the information point of the national park at around 12:30 and, after talking to some of the people in charge, we decided to keep on driving to reach the Remarkable Rocks, Lighthouse and the Admiral Arch. It was a sunny and super windy morning and we were able to enjoy a walk as we awed to the effect the water had had on the sole.
The “Remarkable” rocks were truly remarkable. It amazes me when I think about how everything is constantly changing, even if we don’t realize; how something that seems “inoffensive” and “weak” can change surfaces and landscapes.
We enjoyed the views and wondered around for some time and then we started walking down to get to the Admiral Arch, which, saving the distances, reminded me a little bit of the Blue Window in Malta. Both of them were, yet again, creation of the water hitting the rocks.
This time though, we were not just amazed by the power of mother nature, but also by its creatures. It was really cool and funny to see all the Kiwis fur seals sleeping, yawning, swimming, jumping, screaming and playing around. As far as I can remember, it was my first time seeing these animals 🙂
After enjoying mother nature and its creatures, we came back to the info point because the remaining tracks we wanted to do were starting there. We started with a small one where we were supposed to be able to spot some kangaroos/wallabies. Finally, after having them as enemies every evening/night, we were able to walk around and see them eating, jumping, running and playing. The landscape was amazing. It looked like if we were in the middle of Jurassic Park but, instead of dinosaurs, we were surrounded by marsupials :).
As the sun was setting, we went for our last track to try to spot some platypus. These animals are very hard to spot and only the “lucky” and patience ones succeed. I guess we lacked of luck that day and unfortunately, after like one hour walking around, we had to leave without seeing them because it was getting dark already. We didn’t know it just yet but, that wouldn’t be the only chance we would have to try to spot one of the coolest animals in the world 😉
We got in the car and started to drive. The place we were after was called “Vivonne Bay” and, to get there, we needed to face our nightmares once again: several kangaroos crossing the road as we were driving. We made it there safe and sound and, after cooking dinner, we used our 5-dollar chairs to sit down under a truly beautiful starry sky. The beauty of the sky, accompanied by a good friend and a cold beer, was almost everything you could ask for. But, that wasn’t all.
As we were talking and drinking, we started to hear some strong sounds. It seemed like if something was hitting the top of the eucalyptus we had nearby. We stood up and walked to the tree and, to our surprise, we found two koalas. One was sleeping and the other one eating and shaking the tree. I still remember how after enjoying the view for some minutes, we naively said to ourselves: “let’s go back to the chairs and we will come back in the morning; since there are not many trees around, they will still be there when we wake up”.
Error. Even if we did woke up early (like at 06:30 or 07:00), by the time we went to check the tree once again, they were gone. What surprised us the most was that, as I just wrote earlier, there were a couple of trees and then a lake, a beach and some roads. Not many trees for them to use. But, still, they managed to disappear like ninjas.
ChaBalES at Flinders Chase National Park
After the disappointment of not finding the koalas back where we left them at night, we got breakfast and got into our car. We had some hours left in Kangaroo Island before taking the ferry back to mainland and we wanted to make the most out of them. On the way to the dock, we saw a sign stating “Murray Lagoon”, so, since we had time, we said, why not? Again, mistake. The road was kind of harsh for our little car and so we had to drive extremely slow. After driving and driving, we stopped where it looked like the track down to the lagoon would start but we never got to see the lagoon, just some bones spread in the middle of the field whose owners we haven’t still found…
Ah! We also saw another koala on a tree as we were driving (extremely slow), so, we can say that we were very lucky in a way, because we spot “many” of them. It was lunch time when we arrived at the loading area and so, we quickly cooked some food to take with us on the boat and then we “set sail” back to mainland. Before keep on going with our story, I just wanted to add the link we used to find the different camping options in Kangaroo Island. I hope it can be useful to you 😉
http://www.kangarooisland.sa.gov.au/camping
So, as I was saying, we arrived back on Mainland on May the 5th (Saturday) at around 15:15. Ahead of us us we had 750 km (between 8 and 9 hours of drive), nothing new so far. That distance was what we needed to cover if we wanted to be in Port Lincoln on Sunday at 06:30 ready to go on a 4-hour boat trip. This is what my words would look like on an image:
ChaBalES driving from Kangaroo Island to Port Lincoln
Great White Shark cage diving in Port Lincoln
The driving till Port Lincoln was not easy. Mainly because most of the roads were literally in the middle of nowhere, the favourite place on Earth for kangaroos and their raves at night. The constant crossing of kangaroos on the road plus the tiredness after hours and hours of driving, didn’t make that evening the best of our Australian road trip but, what awaited us on Sunday, made all our efforts worthwhile.
Not sure what time we arrived in Port Lincoln, but it was kind of late lol. We were staying at YHA for two nights. It’s been my second time in one of the YHA hotels and I must say, the one in Port Lincoln, was just incredible. If you happen to be spending a couple of days there, I would really encourage you to check it out. It was huge, clean and fully equipped and, it even had this cool poster 🙂
We woke up on Sunday morning really early not to miss the boat that should take us to the Netpune Islands, where, if we were “lucky”, we should be able to spot one of the most powerful creatures in the world: the great white shark! I did quite a lot of research before deciding to go for “Calypso Star”.
There are like four or five companies with similar packages and prices but I chose this one mainly because of its return policy, where, if we were unlucky and we didn’t spot any sharks, we would be given 100 AUD back. That didn’t happen with all the other companies. The final price was something like 500 AUD per person, which, is far from cheap. However, taking into account that there are just a few places in the world (mostly South Australia and South Africa) where you can go great white shark cage diving and we had the chance to drive to one of them, I think it was worth it.
The morning was beautiful, with no clouds on the sky and with the sun shinning throughout the whole way. We got some breakfast and chat with the other passengers while we waited for the boat to arrive to our final destination. The four hours passed kind of slow but, finally, we made it there safe and sound.
They started to throw some baits to attract the sharks. I’m not a big fan of doing that and I also read that some other companies were using a more environmentally friendly type of baits, like playing with an acoustic guitar (which I haven’t had the chance to verify whether it attracts the sharks or not). That being said, I felt like, at least, for once, we had to give it a try.
Little by little, tons of fishes were appearing; among them, some really big tunas. But, for some time, no track of the white shark, until, finally, boom! It was crazy to see them showing its fins for the first time. It was like in the movies. Everyone started to scream and got very excited and I can tell you that that reaction would have also matched yours.
We were something like 40 people or so and, since the maximum number of people to go great white shark cage diving was 8, the cage needed to go down 5 times. Each group would spend around 40 minutes inside the cage. If I remember correctly, I think we went down with group number 3. By then, the first shark had already disappeared, but two more came.
The cage was big enough for 8 people and it wasn’t very deep into the water, maybe 3 meters or something like that. So, we were not using a proper scuba tank, like the one you use when you go diving, but something similar connected to the boat, which made our movements easier, since we didn’t have to bear the weight of the tank.
That said, we needed to be able to move with confidence inside the cage because it was swaying quite a lot. The water was really cold, I remember that pretty well. Not sure how long it passed until we saw the first shark once we were inside the cage but it was astonishing. I remember that what impacted me the most was its eyes and its size.
Its eyes were pure black and looked really scary, like those of a murderer. You then would see its face, mouth, teeth and everything else and, of course, it was also pretty impressive. But then, when you would think it was already “gone”, like it was out of your sight, you would still keep seeing its fin! Like a never ending animal lol.
Not sure if we saw the same shark different times or different ones at different times but, every time it passed in front or below our cage, it was magical. Once, I remember it pretty clearly, one of the sharks bit the cage right next to me, where a girl was, and it was pretty impressive! The sight was not the clearest one due to all the “other” fishes attracted by the bait. I would say that was the “worst” part. But, still, every single time we were able to see them, was just amazing. The 40 minutes didn’t pass too fast, mostly because of the temperature of the water (at least in my case), which was freezing!
Finally, the time was up and we went back to the boat’s surface to take a hot shower and some beers to celebrate another milestone accomplished. Go great white shark cage diving: DONE!
Once every group was finished, we started going back to Port Lincoln. On the way back, we had some food and share experiences with the rest of the passengers. If by any chance you get to read this, Michael Bianchi and company, it was great meeting you and I hope everything is going alright for you!
Once at the hostel we took a proper shower and got ready to celebrate our milestone! But, naïve of us, other than the two beers we drunk at the hostel, we couldn’t celebrate our day anymore. Every single bar (maybe there were three in total in town) was already closed and we had to resign ourselves to a wrap (they had even run out of burgers) at KFC 😭
In a nutshell: yes, Great White Shark Cage Diving is very expensive. Yes, I don’t like the technique they use to attract the sharks. But, these things are worthwhile if they allow you to see one of them at least once in your life, because, they are truly impressive animals 🙂
ChaBalES doing Great White Shark Cage Diving
Thanks for reading and till the next post 😉
