Solo travel to Australia?

Saintly

Just wondering how people who have travelled to Oz alone fared??

I had planned to do the working holiday thing with friends in July 07. Now I find that I am in a position to head out around Sept/Oct this year and I really feel like getting away sooner rather than later - the only drawback is that I will be travelling over there alone. I've always loved travelling, but have never gone somewhere alone and I keep changing my mind about whether I'm excited about the prospect, or nervous - which leads to the temptation of postponing things till next year!!

I'm pretty close to booking but would appreciate any thoughts or tips from other solo travellers who have done it already or are thinking about it!

Saintly

BrokenArrows

Im going to aus alone in June.

Im looking at it as an experience. You will do alot more alone than you would traveling with others you already know.

I cant wait. In the process of booking flights and getting the visa and stuff sorted now.

sobriquet

I'm going travelling around Europe quite soon on my own. Can't wait.

I have a (female) friend who travelled to Australia alone - said it was fantastic. She did eventually meet up with family out there though.

I recently bumped into a guy I knew from years back who spent a good few months backpacking in central america alone. His mate had to pull out, but he decided to go anyway. Loved the whole experience, said he met loads of people along the way.

As far as I can tell, plenty of people do it. If you're staying in hostels and such you'll meet plenty of fellow travellers. I'd imagine that if you're on your own you'll be a bit more outgoing and likely to approach people than if you're with people you know.

Go for it.

Dave!

Yeah, was talkin to a friend of my brother, and she said she went on her own to Oz, had a great time, met loads of people, and says I've "GOT" to do it , so I'd go for it if I were you! I'm not in a position to go now unfortunately, but some time in the future.

peeps78

you'l be grand.
you will meet sooo many people you wont be able to remember all their names. honestly.
i travelled on my own for the year and with a friend for a couple of months and by far travelling on my own was better. u get to decide what things u want to do without having to discuss it, u meet more people because there are so many other people travelling on their own that you all make more of an effort to get to know each other.
the first step is the scariest but after that its a breeze

ChRoMe

Weird seeing this sort of post now as I'm a week away from coming home after a year in Australia. I went on my own but to be honest since you will be living in hostels you will never be lonely. Everybody backpacking are in the same boat and everyone is friendly and interested about learning about each others home's Its one of the best experiences of my life and I think anyone who doesnt do it is crazy.

Book the ticket and get out of Ireland asap. I get a lot of trouble for it from people who have never travelled in Ireland when I give out about the country. Actually thats the only danger it might give you a negative feeling about the quality of life in Ireland (I know it did for me:(

You will prob land in Sydney my bit of advice is dont live in Bondi its 100% irish. In fact get out of Sydney and get on the road as quick as possible. If you have the money for a car go to the Kings cross car market buy a old van for about 2 grand and drive around the country the landscape is amazing (think bounty ad style beaches!)


Edited to add if you have any questions feel free to post here and I'll give you my email address

Shaque attack

ChRoMe wrote:

Weird seeing this sort of post now as I'm a week away from coming home after a year in Australia. I went on my own but to be honest since you will be living in hostels you will never be lonely. Everybody backpacking are in the same boat and everyone is friendly and interested about learning about each others home's Its one of the best experiences of my life and I think anyone who doesnt do it is crazy.

Book the ticket and get out of Ireland asap. I get a lot of trouble for it from people who have never travelled in Ireland when I give out about the country. Actually thats the only danger it might give you a negative feeling about the quality of life in Ireland (I know it did for me:(

You will prob land in Sydney my bit of advice is dont live in Bondi its 100% irish. In fact get out of Sydney and get on the road as quick as possible. If you have the money for a car go to the Kings cross car market buy a old van for about 2 grand and drive around the country the landscape is amazing (think bounty ad style beaches!)


Edited to add if you have any questions feel free to post here and I'll give you my email address

I have a few questions i would like to ask you as i'm planning on heading over to oz for a year once i've money together, prob not till september. can u pm me your e-mail please? much appreciated

ChRoMe

Hey my pm's dont work because my account is so old.

my email is eamonn.dunne[at]gmail.com

Opportunist

i know where you're coming from. i'm in a similar situation and have deliberated over this for the past few months. also it's v hard to find a friend who wants to do what you want to do at the same time as you do too. now i'm planning my trip to asia, oz & nz for the end of this year & i just know i'm doing the right thing. i mean when you have not gone solo before you are bound to feel nervous and question yourself, but the only way to get over it is to go ahead in spite of being afraid and then once you've done it sure it's not new anymore.:)

there are loads of people in the same situation as us and australia is apparently backpacker paradise!

Saintly

Hey,

Thanks for all the encouragement! Got over that last bout of nerves and decided to go ahead - career break approved this morning, it'll be Oz in October for me

Saintly

empirix

I'm just back from doing it alone, had a ball, just check into a decent hostel and soon you'll have many friends, i'd recommend leavingSydney/Melbourne to the latter part of your year, Cairns Darwin Broome are the way to go, start off in Brisbane(only stay a few days) and head on up around the east and north coast towards Broome taking in the stops along the way.

Enjoy - i know you will

DamoKen

nice one Saintly, you'll definitely enjoy it. Just back from travelling Asia on my own and best experience I ever had. As others have mentioned everyone you meet is in the same boat, same wavelength so it's incredibly easy to hook up with really sound people wherever you go. Especially if you're staying in hostels, other good ways of meeting people as you travel would be doing diving courses, snorkelling trips etc. Another really good way is if you're any good at pool, I met so many people and made so many mates just by asking could I play the winner or join in a game of doubles. I was really surprised by the amount of people I met who had started out travelling solo, but you're never alone for long . In fact anyone I met who was travelling as part of a group said next time they were going to do it on their own!

idontknowmyname

Hey,

I'm going to OZ in about 8 weeks time on my own, I'm female, will do NZ and Asia also. No one I know wants to do it for a long time but just because no one else wants to go doesn't mean it'll stop me!!

haven't booked the flights but will do in the next week or so, have my OZ working visa, just waiting on my NZ working visa, ain't planning on working there but if I visit and fall in love with the place at least I'll have the option to stay longer.

Getting excited about it, can't wait to get away from this miserable rain!! Good luck in your trip, you'll have a blast

Dave!

Shaque attack wrote:

I have a few questions i would like to ask you as i'm planning on heading over to oz for a year once i've money together, prob not till september. can u pm me your e-mail please? much appreciated

It'd be helpful for other people if you could ask the questions (and get the answers) in this thread. A bit selfish keepin ChRoMe's knowledge all to yourself!

ChRoMe

haha if anyone does have any questions post them on this thread and I'll answer them. Dont worry there is enough of me to go around

empirix

I agree about the pool thing, great way to meet people and oddly enough you getta whole lot of respect if your good(like myself), make loads of friends as well as being popular with the ladies, whats it with the pool girls? - u like a man with a long cue

Papergirl 1

I'm heading to Oz by myself in october as well. Cant really decide if I'm nervous or excited about going alone, but sure I'll give it a shot, what the hell! My only fear is whether it is safe or not for a girl to be doing alone? Are the hostels etc safe?

hussey

I'm an irish guiy living in sydney at the moment, and to be honest I would say 75% of europeans travel alone, irish/english etc travel more in packs.

You meet lots of people and once you make some kind of effort it is pretty easy.

a simple 'Hey there I'm XX, where you from?' could make a friend for a day, which could lead to making 2 friends for a week .. etc etc

and regarding the female alone question, yes it's safe, well as safe as you make it. if you keep your witts about you then you should be ok. If you can survive dublin then you can survive Oz.

As I said I live in sydney (was a backpacker and got sponsership) if you have any questions please ask away

Yeah, my friend is in Australia at the moment having left Ireland a month ago by himself. He's having a ball.

Im goin next year, meant to be goin with a friend but if he cant go Ill definitely go on my own. Ill go to Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia beforehand. I do plan on travelling on the way home too, Ill stay somewhere in Oz and work up more money I guess.



For the people who have done it do u book ur flight home before u go over or is that something u sort out when ur down there??

Also how much money do u need in ur a/c to get the visa?!

Ciara Dunne88

hey saintly im also going to Oz in october on mt own and im looking for travelling buddies if your up for it you can pm me ciara

holystungun9

Got on great, arrived in Sydney with no idea where to stay. Looked at the big board of suggested places and hotels to stay. Didn't know any of the names at all, had done no research. B-o-n-d-i. Bondi Beach, hmm I'm sure I;ve heard that name before. Went there, settled in, found a place to stay, (with some crazy jewish people which was a laugh!), got a job after two weeks, started working full time for the next seven months (moved from Bondi after three months), bought a car too.

Looking back, I have no idea where my wages went, I was on a very good wage and I don't drink. If I had a bit more cop-on, I could have brought back money.

Don't worry about going on your own. If you are independent, you will make your own way. If you like to have a network around you, you will meet people from the very first day to hang out with if you want.

Have a great time!