An Australian Road Trip: Perth to Sydney

New Years Eve of 2017 found us back in Perth, reunited with a few of our favorite people to ring in 2018. After a beautiful night with friends on the beach, an ocean swim as midnight struck and fireworks bursting overhead, we enjoyed the next couple of days catching up and playing with our favorite little Irish baby. #AuPairLife, am I right? It continues even after you say goodbye! But, just as we were getting used to life in a real house, in a real bed and with people to talk to other than just the two of us, it was time to load up the Jeep and hit the road for round two of our Australian road trip. Next stop?

ESPERANCE

The town itself isn’t what you’re going for even though, small and laid back, it was definitely one of the better small towns that we passed through. But oh wow, the beaches. Hugging the south coast of Western Australia, Esperance is known for the clearest of aquamarine waters and incredibly long stretches of fluffy white sand beaches – so you can probably guess how we spent our days there. It was a beach day all day, every day.

The first beach that we tried to reach was Twilight Beach but, as always seems to happen with our Google Maps, the GPS was confused and we ended up stopping early in a little parking lot off the road, accessing a beach down a very faint trail in some tall grass. Despite being the wrong beach (and we could see Twilight Beach at the far end of where we were – it looked packed with people!), it was beautiful – the sun was shining and we had nearly the entire place to ourselves.

One of the best things to do while in Esperance is drive the 40km circular loop that will take you through some of Esperance’s best stuff. Enjoy the Great Ocean Drive (not to be mistaken for the other, more famous, Great Ocean Road) for as long as you wish, stopping at as many of the beaches along the way as you’d like. We didn’t drive the entire loop thanks to being unable to peel ourselves off of the sand at 11 Mile Beach.

Finally, no trip to Esperance is complete without a stop at Lucky Bay, voted as one of Australia’s best beaches. Come for the friendly local kangaroos, stay for the powder-soft sand that squeaks beneath your feet.

NULLARBOR PLAIN TO ADELAIDE

The next part of our Australian road trip was one that people were, once again, warning us about. The Nullarbor Plain is a vast stretch of barren land that is home to kangaroos, emus and camels (though we sadly didn’t spot any of the latter). Armed with plenty of extra water and fuel, we drove from Esperance to Madura, resting nearby overnight, and then straight through to Adelaide! This entire section of the trip from Esperance to Adelaide took roughly 23 hours of driving, one night in a campsite on the side of the road and plenty of songs from the Moana soundtrack and new Taylor Swift album to get us through.

Want a few basic tips for your own Australian adventure? I’ve shared a few here in part one of our Australian road trip journey!

ADELAIDE

By the time we reached Adelaide, I had all of $200 left in my bank account and while the fun was continuing, my budget skills were being stretched to the limit. Thankfully, a hostel in the city let us sleep in the parking lot for $10/night and then we hopped on Couchsurfing for our second night. Although we didn’t do anything particularly touristy while in Adelaide, we met up with an old friend who I used to work with back in Calgary for dinner and a night out and spent our saturday wandering about, visiting a psychic fair, finding a cat adoption event to have a little cuddle and finished off at Glenelg.

Even though we only had 24 hours in Adelaide, I absolutely loved it! The atmosphere of the city was very laid back, reminding me of Perth and Calgary all mixed together and the beach community of Glenelg was the highlight – a beautiful beach with a long pier to walk out on and loads of beachside restaurants and cafes to wander through.

If you’re going to Adelaide and want a bit more of a tourist list to check off, be sure to hit up Mount Lofty to get your heart rate up, the botanic garden for some nature, the popular Adelaide central market, rundle mall for shopping, and Kangaroo Island or the Barossa Valley if you have a little more time for some day trips.

THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD

No Australian roadtrip is complete without driving the iconic Great Ocean Road. With beautiful coastal scenery the entire way and enough stops to spend a solid three days on this route, it is one of the “must do” activities if you’re ever in Australia – and for good reason. While we did the Great Ocean Road in two days, we pick and chose our “must see” stops, I absolutely loved it and if we had had the time to do it more slowly, I definitely would have.

I’ve dedicated a separate post for the Great Ocean Road, which you can find here, so for now I’ll just leave you with a little taste of what’s to come.

MELBOURNE

Melbourne, the city deemed one of the most livable in the world and a place that has risen into a trendy, hipster-esque scene with adorable boutique cafes everywhere you look. When I was deciding where I wanted to base myself for this year in Australia, everyone raved about how much I would love Melbourne. As it turns out, I haven’t based myself in any one place and sadly only got to spend one day in Melbourne – but will definitely go back when I get the chance.

In the 24 hours that I had to explore, Melbourne seemed like the type of place that you need to stay in for a little while to really understand and get a feel for. First thing we did was take advantage of the popular coffee scene and head to a cafe to meet up with a friend that I had worked with for a couple of weeks on the coast of Ecuador. After a nostalgic reunion and quick chat with her (she was working, after all), we took off to explore the Queen Victoria Market.

Since we were short on time, we opted to do a free walking tour to see as much as we could and get a little history lesson in. We went with the “I’m Free Tour” and thought it was a great way to see the city – from the CBD to the arts district to the alleyways known for their incredible street art/graffiti (my personal favorite part) at Hosier Lane.

SYDNEY

At last, I finally made it to Sydney on a 12 hour overnight train – the end of our month long Australian roadtrip. Lisa and I parted ways in Melbourne (to be happily reunited again later on when she made it to Sydney) and I arrived at the early hour of 7am in Sydney, where another friend that I had met in Ecuador and traveled with in Peru came to meet me at the station and adopt me into her home for a couple of days.

Until April, I’ll be making my home base in Coogee, one of Sydney’s eastern suburbs. I’m just a quick ten minute walk to the beach so I’m settling in pretty well, you could say.