Holidays - Travelling around Australia

GREAT PLACES TO SEE IN AUSTRALIA

As you near retirement the option of packing up and travelling around Australia is something you can now consider. The freedom of stopping where you want, for as long as you like sounds very appealing with no thought of when your holiday ends and its back to work. Some people will already be retired and out there having a wonderful adventure travelling around and enjoying this great country.

To all those travellers ("Grey Nomads" - not sure if you like the name) out there.....
Do you have any advice, hints/tips or would like to recommend places people should visit in their travels? Are you enjoying your great adventure around Australia?

AUSTRALIAN BIG THINGS

A fun topic on this page for you to leave a commnent.
How many BIG THINGS tourist attractions have you visited, driven past in your travels or are located near where you live?
Leave a comment with the details of the town the BIG THING is located and did you enjoyed the visit if you stopped.
Let's see how many different BIG THINGS are located around Australia and if there are similar ones in a couple of different towns.

Leave a commment about your travels, where you are headed, the great places you have visited and THE BIG THINGS you have seen.

Please leave us a comment:

Name:
Year of Birth:
Location:
Comment:

Comments:

Robyn from Born in the Fifties born 1954	Merlind has submitted the following request for some information on a trip they are planning next year. If you are able to help please leave a comment with the details. My Partner and I travelling to Darwin and the Kimberley next year. We're going in a 2 wheel drive with a onroad camper trailer. Does anyone have any hints or tips on what roads we can drive . We're thinking of going end of April and all of May. What is the weather like? Thanks - Robyn Born in the Fifties. Comment posted: 15th October 2011, 08:52:13 pm
Robyn from Browns Plains born 1954	It is amazing what you see on your travels and I was recently recalling all the BIG THINGS I had passed over the years. There has been the Big Pineapple, Big Banana (the one in Coffs Harbour, apparently there is another one as well), Big Prawn which was looking very faded and old last time I went past, Big Merino and the Big Koala just to name a few. What BIG THINGS have you passed in your travels and where are they located. From Robyn - Born in the Fifties I have added a link on the Holiday Hints and Tips page to a website that lists a number of these attractions if you are interested. It has not been updated for a while but give you some basic information. Comment posted: 18th August 2011, 09:38:34 pm
David from Carrickalinga SA born 1952	I have been thinking about stange things that can happen on trips. Some years ago a couple I know were driving from Adelaide to Melbourne. They had packed their car, an old Ford Falcon, on the previous night, gone to work and left from there for their trip. Bad move. Too soon they realised that they were tired and had several coffee stops and swapped driving duties regularly. They had been driving for some time when June, dozed off while taking her turn at the wheel. Very fortunately for them, she was driving slowly as the car went off the side of the road into the dirt and spun around a couple of times. Although badly shaken, there were no physical injuries. The car seemed okay so they decided to swap seats and continue on their way to Melbourne. An hour or so later they came to the SA/Vic border, OOPS, they had already crossed it. After the spin, in the dark, they headed off in the WRONG direction. No GPS stuff back in the early 70's. Comment posted: 14th July 2011, 12:37:10 am
Warren Cummins from Tweed Heads born 1958	Nearly back home after a trip that was just awesome left Tweed Heads on the 22nd of march headed to Alice Springs spent 5 days there then decided to travel back via South Australia , Victoria, then into New South Wales. Took in some amazing sights. Cant wait to go again. Comment posted: 8th April 2011, 08:46:30 pm
David from Carrickalinga SA born 1952	My wife told me that she thought we should sell the house and buy a caravan with a view to travel around Australia, to "do the big lap". Trying to remain calm I replied with "mmmm that would be nice dear." All the while inside I was yelling "YES YES YES". The plan was to "finish off" things in and around the house in preparation for selling. What a shock. I had no idea how much needed to be done. How on earth do you do one job at a time? No sooner do I start on one job only to get an idea to try on another. Getting organized is not one of my specialities. Still, I hold onto the dream of getting it all done, buying the illusive van and hitting the road. Comment posted: 27th March 2011, 10:25:37 pm
Michael from Berrigan born 1951	Drove over to WA last March, my wife & I had a ball, our next trip is up to Darwin thru Bourke, & Longreach, coming back thru the Alice. We have the bug now & we are making sure we can see as much of OZ as we can. so get of the couch & hit the road. Comment posted: 14th November 2010, 04:18:36 pm
Annie from Darwin for now! born 1953	As a 'homeless' single without family in Australia at all I have decided that I really do not want to be lumbered with a mortgage and having to work just to pay it off so in 2004 I bought a campervan and left Gippsland (Gods own Country!) and went travelling, visited with a mate up here and decided to have a bit of a longer look-he got a bit sick and lost a leg so I try and do what I can and have been working up here in an interesting position.... It is starting to feel like I should be back out on the road again now though, be warned it is a very addictive lifestyle!! If first starting out remember to leave all your 'suburban 9-5 worries' at home take along your sense of humour, adventure, and most of all your friendliness - everyone has a story be willing to share yours as well as others! Comment posted: 13th November 2010, 03:45:53 pm
john from mt warrigal born 1950	we have recently retired , bought a new jayco 16ft & took off on a shakedown trip, took in shoal bay , foster, port mcquarie ( had the van lifted ) , nambucca heads, port macquarie then home , first time in a van , got hammered with 90k winds & torrential rain. we came home to make a few changes & we are off down the coast & across to the west next april . great people , locations & no time table to return for work , how good does it get ??????? Comment posted: 11th November 2010, 07:25:09 am
Chris from at present Pimpama QLD born 1951	We are going back to WA in March 2011 prospecting and would like to know if anybody else is going that way if they would like to join us,we have already spent a couple of years prospecting 100klms north of Kalgoorlie.LLoyd & Chris Comment posted: 5th August 2010, 03:46:09 pm
Christine from at present Pimpama born 1951	Well hello,We sold our house and now have a 30ft 5th wheeler which we call home it is called "Big Bopper"the towing vehicle is an Iveco Daily it is called Little Bopper.We started travelling 4 1/2 years ago,3years of that has been in WA we will be going back there next March to do some more prospecting and free camping.We are caretaking a house at Pimpama untill the end of September then going to Port Macquarie to the CMCA rally then to Lighting Ridge then to Narrabri for Christmas.When you travell you meet so many great people and Australia is such a big place and there is so much to see and if you can free camp us much as possible it is a great way to save money.While in Wa we did volunteering for the Department of Environment which took us to a lot of places. Comment posted: 5th August 2010, 01:18:19 pm