I had the most incredible time on Australia’s East Coast. I had some amazing experiences and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to do everything I have done so far. Australia is an enormous country and travelling just the East Coast is going to take you a couple of months if you do it properly. I know people that have done it in 3 weeks and have missed out on a lot, so I recommend you take your time and fit in as much as you can. It is going to be tiring but you’ll have so many stories to tell when you are done.
So, here are my recommendations for an EPIC trip on Australia’s East Coast.
Start Sydney (4 nights or more)
Highly recommend Welcome to Travel to kick off your Australian journey if this is your first time in Australia. This is an 8-day organised tour. They will help you set up your bank account and SIM card as well as help you book further travel and find work. They book your accommodation for the whole week, take you on incredible activities and help you make amazing friends. Read about the Welcome to Travel tour here.
If you don’t want to do the Welcome to Travel tour, I recommend staying at Wake Up Sydney Hostel. This is probably one of the nicest hostels I have stayed in and they’re in a central location. They have a travel desk too if you need help booking activities.
Activities
Whale watching (May-November) – I recommend the 3-hour experience with Fantasea Cruises. The guides are full of knowledge and are constantly on the lookout. It was a wild day but we were joined by 5 humpback whales on their migration south to Antarctica. This was a huge bucket list item for me and I am so happy we got to see whales close up.
Kayaking Sydney Harbour – I didn’t have time to do this, but it comes highly recommended. I’ve met lots of people who have done this and said it’s incredible.
Vivid Sydney – This is an incredible light festival spanning 3 weeks over May and June. Light projections, displays and even a drone show. It was great to see and the atmosphere was electric.
Sealife, Wildlife, Madame Tussaud’s – slightly biased because I did work at Sealife but the 3 sites are definitely worth a visit. Sealife and Wildlife are home to Australia’s native fauna. Madame Tussaud’s is just a fun place to visit, it’s quite interactive and there’s a whole variety of wax work figures. You can get a 2 or 3 attraction pass. Visiting all 3 attractions will take you around 4 hours.
Sky Tower – I haven’t done this but it is highly recommended by friends. You can do a skywalk outside the tower and the views from the Sky Tower itself are incredible. You’ll see the opera house, the botanical gardens, the harbour bridge and so much more. Apparently, on a good day you can see as far as the Blue Mountains.
Sydney Opera House
Harbour Bridge Climb
Royal Botanical Gardens
Culture tour – I highly recommend heading down to Barangaroo for a culture tour. You will learn about the fascinating history and culture of the First Nations.
Maritime Museum
Manly – catch the ferry over to Manly and see its beautiful beach and their weekend markets. You can also head round to Shelly Beach for a spot of snorkelling (or diving).
Taronga Zoo – you can catch the ferry (recommended) or the bus to the Zoo. It’s a large zoo and built on a hill. Probably one of the best zoos I have been to.
Bondi to Bronte or Coogee coastal walk – a lovely coastal walk which will take around 2 to 3 hours depending on how quickly you walk or how many times you stop to take photos. I recommend you take swimming stuff because you’ll like want to stop for a swim at some point.
Palm Beach – a little bit out of Sydney but beautiful beach and views make it worthwhile.
Wyee Point – around 2 hours out of Sydney CBD, you can find wild kangaroos here. They’re pretty friendly and will come close to you, they are curious animals. Move away if you don’t feel comfortable or if they start grunting, they are still wild and they will pack a punch if they want.
Read more about Sydney in this blog.
Blue Mountains (2 or 3 nights)
If you do the Welcome to Travel tour in Sydney for your first week, you can book the Blue Mountains as an add on. This is a self-guided tour. WTT will help you by booking your accommodation, hire car and advised itinerary. Read more about the WTT add on here.
If you don’t do the WTT tour, I recommend staying at Blue Mountains YHA hostel in Katoomba. It basic but comfortable. They have a TV room, pool tables, giant chess board and a fireplace (essential in the winter, even in Australia).
Activities
Three Sisters at Echo Point – famous rock formation, you can walk down into the rocks too which is really cool.
Katoomba Falls – a beautiful waterfall, you can recreate The Beatles Abbey Road photo over the stepping stones.
Scenic Cable Car – this was closed when I went due to weather and maintenance. You fly over the top of the mountains, overlooking so many trees and waterfalls.
Wentworth Falls – I’m not much of a hiker, but this was incredible. You hike down to the falls, you can walk across the falls on stepping stones before it plummets over the edge. You can hike all the way to the bottom of the falls if you want. The hike takes around 3-4 hours, there are a lot of steps and please, hike in the morning so you don’t get lost as the sun is setting (oops).
Canyon trail – this was closed when I went but it was highly recommended for the views.
Port Stephens (2 or 3 nights)
If you do the Welcome to Travel tour in Sydney for your first week, visiting Port Stephens is part of the Blue Mountains and More add on trip.
If you don’t go through WTT, I recommend you stay at Melaleuca Surfside Backpackers. The owner and her dogs were very friendly and gave us lots of recommendations for visiting the area.
Activities
Port Stephens Koala Sanctuary – a visit to this sanctuary will introduce you to cute koalas, all of which have been rescued for various reasons.
Hike Mount Tomaree – hike lasts around 1.5 hours, it is steep and there’s some incredible viewpoints. Take your time, drink lots of water and stop for photos whenever you can.
Go stargazing and watch the sunrise at One Mile Beach – so many stars. You must see it to believe it. Beautiful sunrise too.
Byron Bay (4 nights)
I recommend you stay at Wake Up Byron Bay hostel or Cape Byron YHA. Read more about my time in Byron Bay here.
Activities
Kayak with dolphins – I recommend booking this for the first full day in Byron Bay. We booked it for our last full day and it got cancelled so we didn’t get to do it (bad planning on our part, we did get a full refund though).
Diving at Julian Rocks - this is an expensive activity (around $200) and not for everyone. There are only 2 dive centres in Byron Bay (these are Sundive and Byron Bay Dive Centre). Dives include all your kit, dive brief and a guide.
Hike to Byron Bay Lighthouse – we took a lot longer than normal to do this hike. The hike should take a couple of hours, we took I think 5 or 6 hours. It’s a great hike with lots of amazing viewpoints. If you time it right and hike during whale season, like we did, you’ll see humpbacks swimming passed on their migration.
Look for celebrities – heads up, Chris Hemsworth and Zac Efron live around here so…
Chill on the beach
Weekend markets – great markets with lots of lovely stalls of jewellery, food, clothing, and so much more.
Noosa (4 nights)
I would recommend staying at Bounce Noosa hostel or Nomads. I loved how chilled out Noosa was.
Activities
Australia Zoo – you can get the bus to Australia Zoo from Noosa, it is a long journey but so worth it. Home of the Crocodile Hunter, Australia Zoo is an incredible place and I can’t recommend it enough.
Kayak Noosa Everglades – I truly felt like I had entered Jurassic Park. It was very therapeutic as it was very quiet and beautiful.
Chill on the beach
Eumundi Markets
Read more about my time in Noosa here.
Rainbow Beach (1 or 2 nights)
I recommend staying at Pippies Beachhouse. It’s basic but Rainbow Beach is a small town and it’ll do for a few nights.
Activities
Dive wolf rock – this is for any advanced divers (or equivalent qualification) able to dive to 30 metres. Wolf Rock Dive is the only dive centre licensed to dive at Wolf Rock. This is a double dive (so a full day) and costs around $300 (this is including all your kit, a guide and lunch). Read my dive blog here.
Fraser Island (2 nights)
I recommend booking Pippies Tagalong Tour. This will include your accommodation, meals, and activities. This was super tiring because it is so full on, but it was incredibly fun! Read my Fraser Island blog here.
Rainbow Beach (1 night)
If you do a Fraser Island tour, I recommend you use this day just to chill out. You’ll have had a pretty full on few days so you’ll need your rest.
Airlie Beach (2 nights)
I recommend you stay at Airlie Beach YHA or Magnums (was recommended by friends staying there). There are lots of hostels along the main strip so you could book into any of them and be right in the centre of everything.
Activities
Soak up the sun at the lagoon – you’ll want to rest after a busy time so far. You can’t swim in the sea at certain times of the year so Airlie Beach has a lovely outdoor pool lagoon which has plenty of room for sunbathing and swimming.
Day trip to Whitsunday Island – this is an alternative to the below activity.
Sail Whitsundays (2 nights)
I recommend booking with OzSail and going on their boat Avatar. This is a chill boat that holds a maximum group size of 25. The accommodation aboard the boat is basic and heads up, you probably won’t be showering for a couple of days so get used to being salty. All meals, tea, coffee, and water are included but you can bring snacks and alcohol on board for your own use. You will do a lot of snorkelling (if you want to) and will get to go ashore at Whitsunday Island. Here, you will walk up to the viewpoint and overlook the famous Whitehaven Beach, then you can go chill on the beach for the rest of the morning. Look out for stingrays and pirates (Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed here).
Read more about this incredible sailing trip in this blog.
Airlie Beach (1 night)
If you do a multiday sailing Whitsundays tour, I recommend you use this day to recover. Chill by the lagoon and rest.
Magnetic Island (3 nights)
You’ll catch the ferry over to Magnetic Island from Townsville. It cost around $35 for a return ferry ticket. I recommend you stay at Bungalow Bay YHA.
Activities
Hike The Forts – incredible lookouts, ruins and history. Keep an eye out for wild koalas while you are walking
Feed wild rock wallabies – there’s a spot where you can see wild rock wallabies and you can buy food to feed them. They are most active in the evening. Most hostels will tell you where or you can grab a map from the information desk at the ferry terminal and the very friendly staff there will tell you everything you need to know.
Hire a topless barbie car – the best way to get around the island is by hiring a car. The topless barbie cars are a must do!
Visit Bungalow Bay Koala Village – this is right next to the YHA. It is a guided tour round the wildlife haven. You’ll get to interact with native fauna and the guides are very informative. This cost us around $45 and the tour lasts around 1.5 hours.
Read about Magnetic Island and what I got up to here.
Cairns (10+ nights inc. Uncle Brian’s Tour and Diving Liveaboard)
There are plenty of hostels to stay at in Cairns. I recommend Cairns YHA if you like a quieter hostel or Gilligans if you like a party hostel (although the rooms are quiet if you get lucky and aren’t right above the nightclub).
Activities
Uncle Brians Tours – literally any of them. We did the Best of Both Worlds tour. Insanely fun. 2 days full of activities and a good way to see a lot of the wider Cairns and Far North Queensland area. You’ll be dirty, you’ll be tired but wow, so much fun! Read more about this tour here.
Daintree Rainforest – the world’s oldest rainforest. Jurassic Park on steroids comes to mind. Look out for Cassowaries and Saltwater Crocodiles (recommend doing a croc cruise tour too).
Waterfalls – I recommend going to Babinda Boulders (devils pool is incredible and theres a swimming hole), Josephine Falls (you can slide down the rocks that have smoothed down into a natural slide, I promise you will have so much fun here), and Millaa Millaa (get your hair flicks ready, this is where you recreate the herbal essences adverts).
Great Barrier Reef – the highlight! Whether you are snorkelling or scuba diving, this is not to be missed! I highly recommend doing a liveaboard (where you stay on the boat overnight or for multiple nights). My diving liveaboard cost around $800, this included all meals, accommodation and dive kit. Read more about my liveaboard adventure here.
Scuba diving – I cannot recommend diving enough. Scuba opens up a whole new world, and where better to dive than the Great Barrier Reef. There are a number of dive centres you can book through.
Port Douglas – didn’t get the change to do this but if you stay in Port Douglas, you can do a hot air balloon at sunrise.
Cape Tribulation
Note:
I have started my itinerary in Sydney but you could of course start in Cairns and work your way down to Sydney. You could also start in Melbourne (Welcome to Travel do a Melbourne tour too) and then head the Sydney and up the coast. You could add in Brisbane and go to Moreton Island (Tangalooma Island – activities included wrecks, snorkelling, kayaking). You could skip Magnetic Island if you are pushed for time and budget, while it was fun, you wouldn’t be missing out on a lot if you skipped it. It’s your trip and you can do whatever you want.
Other activities you can do in Australia
Skydiving – you can do this literally anywhere
Bungee Jump – not for me but friends have said it is an amazing adrenaline rush
Surf Camp – surfing, as you can imagine, is a very popular sport here in Australia. Surf Camp is an intensive week of surf lessons and will really help you get your skills up.
Travel
I recommend using Greyhound or another bus company. I found Greyhound reliable, and it was easy to book trips or change itineraries.
If you are feeling brave and can afford to, you could hire or buy a campervan – this would save you accommodation fees and travel fares. Buying or hiring a van would give you more flexibility if that was what you are after. I think this is what I would like to do if I was able to travel the East Coast thanks.
So how much is this going to cost?
My trip up the East Coast took 8 weeks total and cost $4600 (~£3000) including activities and accommodation. You’ll need to factor in paying for food, drinks, laundry and any other expenses (like souvenirs). I did 4 dives and a 3 day diving liveaboard which are expensive activities so if you don’t want to do diving, you could probably take off around $1500 (~£750 off your trip cost.
Top tips
Book ASAP – don’t leave booking activities or accommodation until last minute. Things book up quickly with the increase of backpackers travelling around. Book quickly to avoid disappointment.
Looking for work – if you are looking for work, I recommend you use Indeed, Seek, or Facebook groups. I am about to start work as an Au Pair and found my family on a facebook group. I also recommend familiarising yourself with workers’ rights and fair work agreements.
Revolut card – I highly recommend getting a Revolut bank card for travelling. You can load 2 currencies onto the card (for example, I have British Pounds and Australia Dollars). It is easy to transfer money between my home bank, my Revolut and my Aussie account. They also give you the best exchange rate possible.
Apps to download
Dorsal – shark tracker for the whole of Australia. It will tell you where sharks have been sighted, whether beaches are closed and whether beaches are protected.
SharkSmart – another shark tracker app but this is only for New South Wales. I think this is more detailed than Dorsal. Worthwhile having the two apps.
NSW National Parks – this is a great app which will help you plan trips to the many national parks in the state. It will also tell you which hiking routes are open and closed (and tell you why they are closed).
XE – this is an currency exchange app. Really good for checking how much something would cost back home or if you are transferring between bank accounts.
Have an amazing trip!
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