How to spend a four-month summer in Australia

By Ezmee Wyatt, University of Melbourne, Australia

One of the best things about studying at the University of Melbourne (and elsewhere in Australia) is the super long summer (Christmas!) holidays. We had from early November to the end of February without uni – and my friends and I tried to make the most of it! I was really lucky to have saved up some money before coming out to Australia, so I used this free time to travel.

My friend and I started the summer by road-tripping around New Zealand (South Island) which was incredible. We hired a Jucy campervan (which I really recommend – the company was helpful and the car was great!) and set off on a week-long trip. We flew into Christchurch and then drove to Kaikoura, which is a beautiful little town in the North East of South Island. We went on a whale-watching tour here and managed to see a sperm whale! Throughout the rest of the trip we visited Lake Tekapo, Wanaka (and the Omarama Cliffs), Queenstown and Mount Cook. We finished off the journey by going to Milford Sound where we kayaked through the fjords. This was breathtaking; a must-do on a visit to New Zealand. Overall, the trip was amazing – New Zealand is a truly beautiful country (one of my favourite places I’ve been). Even with all the driving I was never bored; the scenery along all the roads is amazing, combining beautiful landscapes with mountainous backdrops. My only note about the whole trip would be to plan your campsites before! My friend and I were somewhat naïve and assumed there would be an abundance of sites – however the free ones are harder to find and fill up on a first come first serve basis, so be sure not to leave it too late! On this, the app CamperMate is great for finding (free) sites and many of them also have toilets (or at least holes in the ground!).

My friends and I also decided we wanted to do an East Coast trip over the summer, which was so much fun, and definitely something I recommend doing if possible! You can buy a 30-day Greyhound bus ticket for $415 (just over £200) which is what we did, and found this an excellent way to get around (and one of the cheapest!). We started our trip in Cairns, which is the best place to experience the Great Barrier Reef. This was one of the highlights of my time in Australia! I also really recommend the Uncle Brian’s tour (which goes to Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest) and a visit to Green Island, which was also a great place to snorkel. Cairns was one of my favourite places, but it is an expensive stop – there is not too much going on in the city (apart from Gilligan’s haha) so you have to spend a lot of money on trips to make the most of it. Our next stop was Magnetic Island which was a lovely place to relax, and then we were off to the Whitsundays! These islands are so beautiful and will be a highlight of any trip. We went on the Apollo boat tour which I would really recommend – there were lots of opportunities to stop and snorkel and we also visited Whitehaven Beach (one of the most photogenic spots ever). Next, we visited K’gari on the Pippies tour (again, highly recommend), before travelling down to Noosa. After a few questionable hostels, we treated ourselves to a stay in Bounce whilst we were in Noosa, which was super nice and definitely worth the slightly extra cost! We also did a skydive whilst we were here – this was absolutely insane and one of the best things I have ever done. Noosa is a really great spot to do it too, as you can see the coastline for miles, and you get to land on the beach. Following this we stopped briefly in Brisbane and Surfers Paradise before staying in Byron Bay where we celebrated Christmas. This was a very different Christmas (spending it in the sun, on the beach, with my friends), but a very fun one! Piano Bar is a must in Byron. Finally, we stopped in Sydney for New Year’s Eve to experience the famous fireworks – very surreal!

Overall, this four-month summer was so worth missing the summer at home (Melbourne uni starts pretty early compared to some others) and I had a truly once in a lifetime experience!