A practical solo travel guide for women travelling alone in Australia

• Pack your backpack or suitcase with the essential stuff,
  casual clothes. Your suitcase weight should not exceed more than 10kg, pack private belongings you must absolutely take with you and leave at home what you can buy eventually in Australia if necessary. What you definitely need is: good walking shoes, bathing suits and comfortable sandals.


• Join YHA (the youth hostelling association), do this form your country before leaving. Do remember to state your YHA card no. everytime you book a bed in a hostel in Australia. Also check out for discounts offered for various activities. Yu can check this on their website, they have a comprehensive list there. Do not buy your hostel member card in Australia, it will far more expensive there.


• Book your accommodation for your first 2-3 nights before leaving your country, this will give you more relaxation while recovering jet lag discomfort and thus allowing you to fill up with sparkling energy. Remember your flight from Europe will take approx 18-21 hours and from the USA depending which way you fly roughly the same. If you manage, take a stop over night in Asia at the connection airport, this break will help you immensly to overcome the jet lag discomfort.

• Stay in hostels, in Australia there are hundreds of them to choose from, they are great value and a very good way to meet other fellow travellers and if you can. I fyou decide to stay in hotels, there are usually no single rooms available, therefore be prepared to pay for a single room supplement for whch varies from place to place, average is 20-30% surcharge, which is in my opionion really not worth paying.

• You can make your hostel booking easily online, most of them have a website or you simply phone them up to check for availibility. Book your bed in a female sex dorm, avoid a mixed sex dorm, unless you know them, you will definitely feel more comfortable in a female sex dorm. Or if you prefer a twin room, if you do not like to share. Be careful though sometimes a female dorm is not a guarantee, that beds are always sold to female travellers. They can, under circurmstances, turn into mixed sex dorm, so check first with the reception and make sure the female dorm is 100% female to avoid any inconvenience.
  
  Australia Hostel ranking also varies a lot from hostel to hostel and it is a real matter. There are several large chain like YHA, or Nomad you can trust upon their large reputation but als lots of private owned and family run little hostels offering good quality stay. Chek out with my guide "good value hostels" where you can find practical hostel listings for your trip around Australia.

• Most hostels in Australia also offer great kitchen facilities. Some hostels they are really large and well equipped. After long travelling, moving from one place to another, cooking yourself a good meal will give the feeling of being at home! For a change it is a good idea. I personally prefer enjoy the vibrant city enviroment and yummy food in nice dining venues, pubs, restaurants, food malls, etc. Therefore why not dining out, especially in big cities like Melbourne or Sydney, the variety of food offer you can choose from is huge and good value too.

• When travelling solo around Australia you can either use a bus pass, there is a variety to choose from. If you prefer driving then you can either hire a car or look for car pooling or lifts. In hostels there are usually notice boards with a wide choice of posts there.

• If you can, avoid too much flying, depending on time and travel destinations, I recommend to travel around by using preferably buses or a car, this will allow you enjoying gorgeous landscape and get a feeling of this vast amazing continent. I would use the plane for long journeys, when crossing the country from south to north, from east to west or viceversa. A good option is also travelling by train. There a few interesting routes like the Ghan, the Indian Pacific Route and The OVerland Route.

• Stay in touch with home and possibly let your family/friends know about your travelling route and your destinations in Australia. You can either send e-mail or phone. Get an international phone card, they are cheap: for 10AUS you can phone to Europe or USA for hours! For local calls you can either use a national phone card or get a local SIM card for your cellular phone, if you are staying longer than 4 weeks it is really worth it.

• Scan all your docs (copy of passport, ID, health insurance, Travellers cheques etc) in a Word.Doc and send it over from home to your e-mail box. Keep it there in case of necessity. In my first trip to Australia I did photocopies of all docs and packed them in my backpack....I am not longer doing this any more. I find the digital form the best solution, you can always print them out in case you need them. Why carry lots of paper with you?

• Use sun block every day, or a +30 sun protection, even if it is cloudy, it does not matter...due to the hozon hole in the southern emisphere the sun light is extremenly strong and if you do not use a cream one day you will soon notice it! Do not underestimate this aspect. It's very important.

• Do not walk alone in remote areas at night, either in cities or outside urbanized areas, and do not enter outback areas alone, do not walk off the tracking paths in national parks or in outback areas.

• Drink plenty of water, depending where you are 1,5 liters a day. In the desert or in the outback areas you will definitely need at least 4-5 liter a day. If you are walking for long hours in the sun-scorched outback areas or on the beach you body is bound to loose not only water but also more important, minerals, so to avoid dehidratation so it is importanto you replace them with some salt, a very good thing I tested is to either mix natural water with an energy drink like gatorade or similiar or you take some salty food with you, like chips, energy bars, and eat something light like fruits and vegetable rich of minerals and vitamins.

If you are interested in Solo Travel Experience in Australia you can keep reading following posts:

1. why I love travelling solo in Australia

2. why I choose the australian hostels for my accommodation in Australia

3. Hostel Life: learn about the pros and cons of staying in hostels

Do you want to share your personal travel experience or have a tip to share with us? You can contact me HERE .

Be SURE you get these SUPER FLIGHT RATES, offer ends soon!!!

Get two countries for the price of ONE! Visit Australia and New Zeland from 549USD EW with Qantas from US.

Find a Good value hostel in Australia

Return to Solo Travel Australia

Return to the Home Page