Preparation

Modern Gonzo Tips

Tips from Fellow Travelers

Five Reasons Why I Love Travelling in Low Season

1. It's half the price, sometimes less.
2. Fewer people means more space, and a sense of discovery.
3. Don't need to reserve ahead.
4. Easier to chat to other travellers as everyone needs the company.
5. Better service, as locals appreciate your business.

Five Reasons Why I Hate Travelling in Low Season

1. Low Season usually translates as Bad Weather.
2. A lot of great restaurants, pubs, clubs and facilities are closed for the season.
3. When you find a wicked restaurant, pub or club, there's nobody in it.
4. It can get a little lonely if you're travelling solo.
5. Everyone tells you how great things are in high season.

10 Reasons Why Traveling in 2006 is Better Than It Was In 1996

1. Digital Cameras - you can take a million shots and know what you're getting, plus back them up, plus email them to friends, plus plus plus
2. The Internet and Webmail - everywhere you go, the smallest town in the desert, has an internet shop where you can check your mail, MSN friends, do some business, research your next stop, look at porn etc.
3. iPods - the days of listening to the same 20 CD's are over...it's time to choose your desert island library
4. Bank cards, credit cards and ATM's - cash is always at hand (usually), you don't feel like you're getting raped on travelers cheque commissions, even if you are on bank charges, and most places worth their weight take Visa
5. No smoking on buses - at least so far, those hell-bound 26 hour trips behind chain-smoking men with B.O are history
6. Goretex and microfibre - light and waterproof and oh so comfy
7. LCD lights - light and oh so bright
8. Cellphones - when you need to get hold of somebody, chances are you now can
9. Jumpdrives - backing up words and pics on the fly, around your neck
10. Pirated DVD's - they're everywhere, a cheap way to spend the night with a guilty conscience

10 Things Rock & Lindsay Learnt in Australia

My friends Rock and Lindsay travelled around the world for a year...inspiring me to do the same. Here are some the lessons they picked up along the way.

1. If you want to speak "Aussie", just shorten the words and add an "ie" sound to the end. For example: I just got out of Uni last week in Brizzy. Had a nice Barbie with the folks and left my Sunnies in the park. Must have been too much grog me thinks!
2 Don't touch it, it will kill you. It's poisonous, dangerous, or hungry. Underwater there are poisonous fish and coral, crocodiles, killer jelly fish, sharks. Then you've got the worlds most dangerous snakes and spiders lurking in every corner...well, ok, maybe not that bad, but I did see some pretty impressive HUGE spiders and a few deadly snakes here and there.
3.Small, dirty, cramped, over crowded dorm rooms are expensive here...and are the norm for backpacker travel. We bought a tent instead and camped as much as we could...mornings were often filled with layers of beautiful tropical bird songs. (instead of young, drunk, backpackers)
4. Koala "Bears" are not Koala Bears...they're just Koalas. It's a marsupial, not a bear. If you call it a bear (like we do at home) they'll laugh at you and correct you. Save yourself the embarrassment.
5. Most of Australia is hot, dry, inhospitable desert that will kill you if you don't know what you're doing. Australia’s 20 million residents are mostly on the East Coast close to the long strips of nice beaches.
6. The West Coast is baron. We drove 3,500 kms and saw alot of desert, shrubs, and dead kangaroos. Instead of towns, like on the East Coast, there are roadhouses where you can buy a cold drink, refuel, and camp with some of the local fruit picking types (super hick) before you get up and drive another 350 kms to the next roadhouse.
7. Four wheel drive cars with big metal bars on the front are popular here. They're perfect for killing Kangaroos. The highways are lined with dead rotting carcasses. I've discovered Australia's national animal, the Roo, is viewed as nothing more than a big pest. They smash up your car when you run into them and eat your expensive green grass on the front yard. I've heard they taste allot like chicken though.
8. Surfing isn’t as easy as it looks. However, I found a good way to learn. Look for the surf schools in the morning. They always take their students to the beaches with the smallest, easiest waves for learning. Start with a longer board (a 7 or 8 footer) and move into the shorter boards when you're feeling confident.
9. Working a shitty minimum wage job that you don't like wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be ...even in a beautiful warm tropical country. Avoid it as much as possible.
10. Snorkeling and Scuba diving is amazing here. I swam with a 100 year old turtle as wide as my arms length, a manta ray bigger than a car, sharks, a pod of dolphins, numerous types of fish, sea snakes...all in the wild! Then there are all the wild animals on the land and in the sky.. it's a spectacular country for interesting wildlife.

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