Topdeck Travel Blog

People often say that Australia is lucky to have two of the world’s best cities separated by a one hour flight. Many, however, may not appreciate the quality of the experiences offered by the journey between Sydney and Melbourne. Sure, you would be forgiven for hopping on a plane to reach your destination, but let’s not forget that travelling is just as much about the journey as it is the destination, and if you fancy the fun and frolics of a road trip then jumping on a Topdeck trip definitely won’t disappoint! The major cities of Sydney and Melbourne may hold the cultural delights, but this is ‘Straya!’, and there are some fantastic coastlines and some seriously scenic roads with geological wonders if you just look out the window!

The great thing about taking a Topdeck trip is that you will meet a great variety of people with similar interests but very different backgrounds. To give you an idea, a recent group on a ‘Top to Bottom’ trip comprised of 8 different nationalities. It’s fair to say that the bus ride alone, despite everything you’re seeing and doing on the way, is bound to be an interesting experience!

Day 1: Sydney to Snowy Mountains

If you’ve ever taken a road trip before you will know that there’s always a chance that you will see something completely unconventional, completely amazing, or something that will add to the overall trip experience. To everybody’s surprise, the group on a recent Top to Bottom trip were stopped for petrol where Peter Garrett, one of Australia’s most renowned musicians (lead singer from Midnight Oil), and now a Politician, was also filling his tank. The group were able to have a chat, take a photo, and be welcomed to the country by a Politician on behalf of the Australian Government! Something unconventional to put in the travel diary!

When arriving in Canberra, Australia’s capital city, the group ventures 842 metres above sea level to Mt. Ainslie, experiencing complete 360 degree views over Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales. After taking in the history, visiting the iconic Parliament House, the Australian War Memorial and a number of Foreign Embassies, you’ll be keen to explore Australia’s capital! After having enough time to explore Canberra, you will be back on the road seeing more beautiful landscape and scenery, starting to realise how big Australia really is.

Arriving in the Snowy Mountains you should prepare yourself for a few things. Amazing scenery, great accommodation, delicious food, a whole lot of bonding time and maybe even a 6 pack of abs from laughing the night away! Invariably, it doesn’t take long before you start to feel as though you have known your new Topdeck buddies for years..

Day 2: Snowy Mountains to Gippsland Lakes

A word to the wise for day 2 – EAT, EAT, EAT at breakfast time. You will need the energy!

Australia’s highest mountain peaks at 2,228 metres above sea level, but don’t let that scare you, it’s a fairly non stressful hike and will be well worth the sweat once you have reached your point on the mountain. This experience will truly take your breath away (nothing to do with the air being thinner at 2,000 metres above sea level!) as the scenery is magnificent. Depending on what time of year you visit, you could also be surrounded by snow!

Once you head back down the mountain, have a little think about how you just climbed the highest peak in Australia! Something else worth putting in your travel diary, perhaps?

Hitting the road Topdeck style means more than just taking the direct highway route. On the way to Gippsland Lakes your trip will take a detour on some remote Australian roads. Here, the bus driver’s skills are truly challenged, driving through remote and unspoilt wilderness with outstanding views of Snowy River country and surrounding mountain landscape. If you’re lucky, you might even take a refreshing dip in one of the surrounding rivers!

It might be a little difficult to get your head around the fact that earlier on in the day you were climbing Australia’s highest mountain and now about to have dinner by the sea in the town of Lakes Entrance, but this is what travelling with Topdeck is all about! The Lakes Entrance town is situated on the edge of Ninety Mile Beach where the Gippsland Lakes meets the Southern Ocean. Another truly beautiful place to see...

Day 3: Gippsland Lakes to Melbourne

A word to the wise for day 3 – wake up early and see the sunrise!

From here you will again hit the road, making a stop in Forster, before heading to the relatively untouched and rugged wilderness of Wilsons Promontory National Park. The Park boasts beautiful coastal trees, banksias, and white sandy beaches known for making a squeaky sound when walked on barefoot. At this point it is quite common for Topdeck passengers to make some more new friends as it’s possible to get up close and personal with the Australian wildlife.

Arriving in Melbourne for the final part of the trip you will again be presented with some more Australian Wildlife – Melbournians. Here you can explore the culturally diverse city, commonly referred to as Australia’s little Europe, tackle the shops and travel around on the famous Melbourne trams.

Topdeck isn’t just about arriving to a destination; it’s about enjoying the journey between. Although only a 3 day trip, many people feel that they walk away from Topdeck’s Top to Bottom with greater knowledge and appreciation of just what an amazing country Australia really is.

“Although I have travelled a great deal of Australia, this was my first time travelling in this style, and the first time I had set off on a journey “alone”. It didn’t take long before I realised that alone I was not, and the next three days I was able to not only share these amazing experiences with like minded travellers but also come away with what felt like a little family. This was only a 3 day trip and I only left these guys a few hours ago but I am already missing them!” – Claire Harwood, Topdeck.

Like what you’ve read about our Top to Bottom trip? We have plenty more trips throughout Australia that are just as fun!

Yesterday, the New Zealand capital Wellington did not exist as you might expect. Instead, it was known as ‘The Middle of Middle Earth’, transformed into a place where hobbits, dwarves, elves, dragons, trolls, goblins and wizards ruled the streets! Of course, this was all deliberately planned and based entirely on the promotion of the new Hollywood blockbuster ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’, which premiered in front of around 100,000 fans, many who dressed in costume for the occasion. Even the airport ground staff got in on the act wearing bright yellow ‘Elf and Safety’ vests while ushering in The Hobbit crew on an Air New Zealand plane, the ‘Airline for Middle-earth’.

Having been filmed throughout many locations in New Zealand, in both the North and South Islands, it will do a great job, much like Lord of the Rings trilogy, at showcasing the beautiful scenery New Zealand has to offer, highlighting just why this country needs to be high up on anybody’s travel bucket list! The film will showcase much of New Zealand’s landscape including volcanic mountain ranges, valleys, lakes and national parks.

If you have been dreaming of visiting New Zealand or if you find yourself wanting to see some of the country’s amazing landscape after watching The Hobbit film, luckily, Topdeck offers a great range of trips to the North and South Islands! The exciting new Australian and New Zealand 2013/2014 trips are now available for viewing online. Why not take a look and see what the fuss is all about! You never know, maybe you’ll come across one or two Hobbits on a Grand Kiwi Southbound trip!

Topdeck's Liana Szwajlyk shares her final revelations on the Land Down Under

I’ll try to wrap up my ramblings by finishing with my personal rationale for loving Australia – our food!

Our rich cultural diversity is reflected in our ‘tucker’, and while you generally won’t find Wichetty Grubs on the menu (unless you’re in the Outback) Australia does offer a vast variety of food and wine to suit every palate. A solid study of the bars and restaurants will particularly reveal our hopeless addiction to coffee, seafood and global cuisine.

Our most notable food tradition is the great Aussie barbeque, the centre of any social event – and the place where the Aussie male dominates. A lot of our entertaining is done outside, and what could be better than an ice cold beer, a succulent steak, a prawn thrown on the barbie.

Vegemite also deserves an honourable mention here, as another Aussie-food icon. It's an acquired taste. It has to be force-fed to you from a very early age for you to acquire it. It's a thick black sandwich spread, consisting of salt, yeast, wheat, salt, cereals, oh and more salt! Try it, by all means, but use it sparingly. Let us know if you like it!

Oh and who could forget Tim Tams?...Enough said!

If you’re not so much a food aficionado, then there’s always the great Australian fallback – the pub. Everywhere you go, you’ll find a pub or three. This Australian institution is where many Aussie blokes go when they want to spend some quality time together, away from the shielas. Not only can you get a cold beer here, spirited conversation and light-hearted banter are also guaranteed.

In all of this we mustn't forget the Aussie people: always happy to help you out, Aussies, for the most part, are a very genuine and accepting mob, with a sense of humour which is almost certainly quite different to any you’ll have experienced anywhere else. We’d probably also have to be the most laid back people on the face of the planet and with all that sunshine and merriment, who can blame us?

Add to this the original native Australians, the Aboriginals, with their ancient culture and simple way of life and I’d say we have the most diverse population, in terms of cultural mix, of any country in the world.

So yes, it's a big place and there’s a load to explore. You will discover that this sunburnt country is filled with excitement and immense beauty and although the length of time it takes to travel there is long, a trip to Oz is well worth the effort. It has to be one of the best places in the world to visit and I should know, I've been living there for the past 22 years and miss it so.

Find your Aussie adventure now! Visit www.topdeck.travel

Topdeck’s Liana Szwajlyk continues on with more endearing aspects of life in Aussie: the Weather, Wilderness and Wildlife.

If you love those golden rays, then you should definitely check out Australia – truth be told, the sun is always smiling somewhere in the country. As the seasons in the Southern hemisphere are reversed, the chance to swap a dreary British winter for high summer on a beach Down Under is hard to resist. Any weekend and often during the week as well you'll find most beaches packed with bronzed bodies in bikinis and Speedos (that's men's brief swimwear) all eager to improve on their already impressive tan.

Speaking of stunning beaches, Australian beaches are the best in the world, soft and clean, so clean in fact that they "squeak" when you walk on them. Queensland has some of the most beautiful beaches (the sand on Whitehaven can be as white as a fair Englishman’s skin) but all around the 12,000 or so kilometres of Australia's coastline you'll find plenty of beaches to frolic, and all without any sign of a crocodile or a shark.

So, why are we so obsessed with getting some sand between our toes? With more than 80 percent of Australians living within 50 kilometres of the coast, the beach has become an integral part of our famous laid-back lifestyle.

In fact, it’s not just the sandy shores we enjoy: we really just love all unspoiled beauty. Australia is certainly a place to be discovered in its natural state. And, as much as I am a fan of Australia's far North and the tropical regions, there is no denying that Alice Springs is the heart and the centre of the Australia, both in a geographical and a metaphorical sense. Close by lies the awe-inspiring formation Uluru which for many travellers is the most anticipated moment of their Australian adventure.

And then there’s “The Bush”, which entail the wilderness areas outside the cities. This backdrop provides home to a wealth of wildlife, some of which is found nowhere else in the world. I shouldn’t really be telling you this, but we Aussies like to scare tourists with wild stories about the dangerous animals in the Bush. The truth is: a lot of what you hear about the terribly dangerous animals is either grossly exaggerated or plain nonsense. However, the infamous kangaroo and koala, our most recognised mammals, do freely roam the land.

If you want to get up close to one of these little creatures, share the experience with like-minded 18-30 somethings and journey across one of the world’s most diverse countries.

Keep an eye out for my final instalment...

Topdeck's Beach & Bush is currently on sale from £1717pp Visit www.topdeck.travel

Book now and get huge savings on European trips this year! EuroHotel, EuroClub, EuroCamping & selected Explorer trips all have big savings waiting to be snatched up! (some exclusions may apply). See full details of the offer here. If you're looking for something warmer to escape the drudgery of winter, you'll be glad to hear that Topdeck Down Under is now fully operational and we've got plenty of new trips in Australia & New Zealand up for grabs! Check 'em out!