After three years in Tasmania I’m now preparing to go travelling again. Over the last few weeks I have sold my furniture in Hobart, prepared my travel gear and organised storage for the rest of my belongings. At the moment I’m just finishing a few bits of work while waiting for my apartment lease to run out and then I’ll head off to Melbourne.
When I came to Australia in 2008 my plan was to spend one or two years backpacking around Australia. In the end, following a bit of bad luck, it was pretty much over after a couple of weeks. Ever since then, I was looking forward to resume my travels and see the rest of the country.
Since I now have fulfilled all my visa obligations in Tasmania and also went through a lot of disappointments with incompetent employers here, I’m really looking forward to spending a few weeks or months travelling and hiking around the mainland, with the ultimate goal of settling somewhere further North, where it’s warmer and where IT people hopefully are more up to scratch than they are in Tasmania. I’ll write about my reasons in more detail in another post.
So where am I going? Next week I’ll leave Hobart and drive to Devonport. From there I will take the Spirit of Tasmania (ferry) to Melbourne — I thought taking the ferry was probably more exciting than flying. Besides, when all the discount tickets are gone, flying Hobart-Melbourne can actually be quite expensive — on the other hand the Spirit of Tasmania almost doubled their fares because of the Easter weekend. Does that mean there will be twice the service and speed on the boat? Of course not. Ripping off travellers, that’s what it’s all about.
On the mainland I will spend a few days in Melbourne doing sightseeing (most of my photos from 2008 are lost, so I’ll take new ones) and meeting a couple of people who sent me job offers over the last few weeks, before taking the train to Geelong, where my hiking buddy Frank lives. There I will prepare food supplies before going to Apollo Bay to walk the Great Ocean Walk. Should be fantastic, easy hiking, no more than 5h per day, along coastal scenery with beaches, ship wrecks and lots of wildlife. The coast is the place to be. Hopefully it won’t be too cold.
When I finished the Great Ocean Walk, my plans will get more spontaneous. I hope I can find a bus to Warrnambool which would be a great place to recover from the walk and relax for a couple of days. A lot can still change, but from there I will probably try to get to Adelaide. There are plenty of options: joining other backpackers, booking a tour, or taking the bus via Mt Gambier. I don’t have a real schedule, so I’ll just see how things go.
Should I make it to Adelaide, I might check out the local hostels there. I’m hoping to find other backpackers with a car, who are either driving to Alice Springs, or to Western Australia. Ultimately I want to get to Albany on the Southwest coast. I’ve got no idea if I actually get there, but if yes, then I want to walk the Bibbulmun Track from Albany to Perth, which would be the ultimate 6-8 week super-hike. I’m sure it would be the greatest thing of my life, but at this point, I don’t want to get my hopes up too high. So much could still happen, like, changing plans, finding a great job (I’m getting job offers for Sydney, Melbourne every week), running out of money, etc. I’m also a bit afraid that winter will set in around the Southern half of the country and I might decide to escape to the North. We will see.
In case everything works out as planned, I should be in Perth in about two months from now on. A good friend of mine and former colleague lives there, he will help me on some business projects. I can imagine staying there for a while. 3000 hours of sunshine per year (in Perth, according to their website) certainly are what I’m looking for. I only wish it was more humid there, so Brisbane might be another option.
I’m pretty excited. It’s a strange feeling to sell all your belongings and start living out of a backpack again. It feels like starting a new life, once again. There will probably be heaps of updates on my blog over the next weeks. Imagine Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Adelaide, maybe Outback, 6 weeks Bibbulmun Track and then Perth. Lots and lots of photos and stories possible.
