Mapping out my adventure with STRAY and a brief overview of what is to come!
August 5, 2019
When I first arrived in Australia, I did not have a definitive plan on what I was going to do. All I knew was that I was going to stay in Sydney for two weeks, maybe fly north to Cairns, possibly find work there, and maybe work my way down the east coast traveling. One thing I have learned about long term backpacking is that plans always change. And luckily I have the flexibility to change my plans on short notice.
TravelUp!
At the hostel I was staying at in Sydney, WakeUp!, they have a free travel desk called TravelUp! where you can book day trips, get advice, and even plan out your entire Australian adventure! So I decided to go down there one day just to get some advice from the lovely Stacey and Linnea, and ended up staying there for three hours and booking two months of travel! It bit a large chunk out of my wallet, but it covered travel, accommodation, some food, and lots of activities! For the number of amazing activities I will be doing and all the fantastic places I will visit, it was a great deal! And it stayed under my daily budget at around $75/day. For traveling in Australia, the average daily budget is around $100-$150.
My Basic Itinerary
So what did I plan with TravelUp!? A brief overview of my journey is spending one month traveling up the east coast with the tour company, STRAY, then spending two weeks in Cairns, before I fly to Alice Springs, then do a 10-day tour with the company The Way Outback, from Alice Springs to Darwin.
A sampling of the activities to be completed are:
- camping on Fraser Island
- sailing the Whitsundays
- snorkeling and scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef
- skydiving
- and visiting Uluru on my 30th birthday!
It is a trip of a lifetime!
Why I Love TravelUp!
The greatest things about TravelUp! are that they are incredibly knowledgeable about the best things to do in Australia, save you a bunch of money, and also take the stress and worry out of planning by organizing everything for you!
They are not commissioned based like other travel companies so it did not feel like they were trying to sell me anything. I was asked what I wanted to do and made sure that it was in my itinerary. They then showed me all the other amazing things Australia has to offer and let me pick and chose which I wanted to add. With them, the more you book at once, the larger the deal they can give you.
And I loved, loved, loved how organized everything was. Once you tell them what you want to do, they book everything for you (including accommodation, which isn’t included in the STRAY tour), print your vouchers, and also a detailed itinerary.
The following posts will highlight all the stops on each tour and the amazing sights and activities along the way. I think after seeing my itinerary, reading all the things I was up to, and how fast-paced it was, you might understand why I am 3 months behind writing these posts! Haha!
STRAY
For more information on STRAY, visit their website here.
The tour company that I chose to take me up the east coast of Australia was STRAY. It is a tour company that made its start in New Zealand and is now operating here in Australia. STRAY offers multiple types of tours and passes, from structured 10-day tours to 24+ day freestyle passes. STRAY is mainly your means of transportation between your desired destinations, with a few unique, structured stops along the way.
Working with Stacey at TravelUp!, I went for the 24+ day Freestyle Tour called ‘The Mick.’ This tour is a hop-on-hop-off style tour where you can decide how long you wish to spend in each location. This is a great option because everyone has different interests and might want to stay in different cities longer than others. I could have purchased this tour and completely winged it by booking my next destination on the go, but Stacey mapped everything out for me so it was more like a structured tour.
Transportation
The majority of the transportation on the tour was via bus until you reach Noosa. The first leg of the tour from Sydney to Spot X is a set itinerary and includes STRAY unique stops and experiences. You are not able to bypass or extend these stays. From Noosa, the transportation changes to trains since the distance between stops increases substantially. On each leg of the tour you always have a tour guide with you. The tour guides change every few stops which can be both a good thing and a bad thing.
In the following posts, I will be documenting my adventure with STRAY and then with The Way Outback. I hope you enjoy reading the journey of nonstop adventure as much as I enjoyed doing it! Stay tuned!
