Road trippin': Tips for the East Coast of Australia

Recently, I did a month long trip on the Australian East Coast. It was wholeheartedly the best experience of my life. I saw some incredible sites and had the opportunity to experience things that I never would have previously. As with everything, there were highs and there were lows. Below are some tips and tricks that are designed to ease some stress from your road trip because lets be honest, if they're done wrong, road trips can be HARD!!!

• Look out for the 'i'

This is the best tip I can gibe anyone who is about to embark on a long haul road trip in Australia. In most, if not all, towns and tourist spots, you will see a yellow 'i' with a blue background. These indicate there is an  information booth or centre nearby. Don't ignore those pesky little 'i' symbols because they will be your lifesaver when you travel Australia. They offer information on services, accomodation and tourist attractions nearby. They're like travel bibles! I found that as amazing as Mr. google can be, google often misses some of the best experiences that areas of Australia have to offer. 

• Check the weather

This sounds like a no brainer, right? Well, not so much. When I did my trip, we were SO bad at checking the future weather conditions, which was incredibly stupid considering we were camping the whole time. My trip was May-June, which was a really good time of the year to go to northern NSW or Queensland, but we spent half of our trip in Victoria. Had I known how nice it was going to be in NSW, I would have spent less time in Victoria. I recommend checking future weather conditions BEFORE you plan your trip as well as checking it weekly and daily. That way you can plan where you want to be at what time of the year as well as book emergency accomodation if some surprise rain is on its way (which tends to happen). 

• Don't stress about the next stop

This was probably the biggest stress of our trip. We weren't sure what to expect as we headed up the coast, so for the first week or two, we were highly strung stress heads. All we wanted to do at night was think about and plan 'where to next' and it was wasted energy. Despite what you might think, if you pick the seasons correctly, you do not need to book anything in advance. There is accomodation EVERYWHERE particularly in shoulder and low seasons (If you're going to go in peak seasons, ignore this because you will probably have to book in advanced). There are also many more towns and areas to visit than you might assume by just looking at a map. I highly recommend letting go of this particular stress and just go with the flow a little bit. 

• Don't be afraid to go off main roads

If you see a road sign that peaks your interest, throw caution to the wind and  follow that road. You'll discover some potentially amazing sights and experiences that you might have otherwise missed out on. (for me, Nimbin was that place. I was never going to go there, but I'm so glad I did. What a sight!) 

• Use a GPS

If you're going to go off main roads and adventure through lesser known areas, using your iPhone probably won't cut it if you're going to go on a long road trip. Trust me, we tried using the iPhone every now and again, but it was not as easy as having a Navman on board. Our GPS system worked all the time, but the trust old iPhone failed A LOT. The biggest issue with using a phone for directions is the fact that signal through some parts of Australia REALLY suck!