The land of Sun, sand, surf and bronzed skin and not shrimps but prawns on the barbee. Travelling through Australia and seeing all its beauty in the different types of conditions is hard. But for today’s traveller making sure you leave home with these essentials will definitely set you up for an awesome vacation. Here are our Top things not to forget when visiting Australia.
Thongs
You might know them as jandals or flip flops and in some parts of the world thongs are a completely different type of clothing, but in Australia the footwear normally worn on those super casual days are referred to as thongs. Given the Australian climate and especially during the Summer you’ll need these and even happily swap them over your super comfy pair of Jordans for that extra air flow[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”20216″ img_size=”full” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]
Phone, Camera and Chargers
This is probably a given and let’s face it, we’d probably notice not having our phone in our pocket or bag before we noticed that we forgot to feed the dog, closed the garage door, wear the wedding ring, even forgetting to grab the kids, but you’ll still be surprised how often travellers forget to pack their phone, camera or charger and in some instances all three. Travelling through Australia and seeing all the amazing architecture, buildings and monuments setback on the most amazing natural backdrops it would be a shame not to be able to capture those experiences as a photo or video. Let’s face it, forgetting ones phone might be up there with one of the biggest travel sins if not the biggest travel sin you can commit. Image all the instagram, snapchat, facebook and twitter opportunities you’ll be missing out on to make those friends and family envious of your adventures. Oh, and let’s not forget telling the rest of the world how awesome your life is.
Laptop
Forgetting your laptop isn’t going to break or make your trip to Australia, but certainly will make things easier. Take advantage of the free wifi at the hostel or hotel and the other various hotspots in the major cities, catch up on the local news back home, catch up on social media, contact friends and family on Skype, email, research the next bit of travelling you want to do and most importantly have a place to store all the wicked photos and videos you took throughout the day to clear up memory space on your memory card.
Appropriate clothing
It’s Australia, but don’t let the images of sun, surf and sand fool you. In most parts it’s TRUE. We have some if not THE best beaches and surf breaks in the world. But don’t forget to pack some winter apparel, especially for the colder months and especially if you plan on heading down south to Melbourne, Hobart or Adelaide for some period. Even Sydney can be on the colder side during the winter. As a general note we experience the following weather during these months (more related to the East Coast and Southern Autralia)
December to February – Summer
March to May – Autumn
June to August – Winter
September to November – Spring
Western Australia, Northern Territory, Northern Queensland and Central Australia (Alice Springs) are much more warmer and are much warmer throughout the year.
So packing some warmer gear from May to September would be generally a good idea but nothing like the winters our friends in Eastern Europe, UK and North America experience.
Don’t forget to pack your swimmers either, that would be travel sin #2 visiting Australia
Extra memory card for the camera
We mentioned transferring your photos onto your laptop to clear up space, but if you don’t want to lug around a laptop, then getting an extra memory card is the other option. With the evolution of technology and the “cloud” it would be also smart to create a cloud storage account to save your photos and videos over to (most are FREE for limited space BOOM!). This is super helpful as a back up storage facility also.
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”20218″ img_size=”full” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Cash
Now this sounds sooooo obvious but you’ll be surprised how many people forget. It’s not all that necessary for cash as soon as you arrive in Australia, but it is good to have a small sum to get you started as soon as you land. Not a big necessity but a good to have. It also helps to understand how far your budget can stretch when you’re actually spending physical cash rather than money on card to get a feel for the costs associated with travelling through Australia.
Notifying the Bank and Credit Card Company
Again pretty obvious but again you don’t want to know how many people get their credit cards frozen because people forget to notify their bank and credit card company (I won’t lie, I’ve been guilty of this myself, and trust me it’s not the biggest highlight of my life. I was at at a bar, buying a round of drinks when my card go declined and didn’t go through, not because I didn’t have the funds, but because the bank froze the card thinking it was stolen and being used in another country as I didn’t notify them – super embarrassing). Save yourself the embarrassment from mine and countless others mistake and notify the bank you are travelling. It will save you a world of pain, and a long time on hold with the bank to have your card unfrozen.
Most of all enjoy everything amazing Australia has to offer!
Learn more about how you can work and travel in Australia https://www.worktravelcompany.com/programs/work-and-travel-australia/ [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]