After buying my car (Mazda Tribute), I decided to go see the Raymond Island Koalas and apply in the area. Eventually I came across a job starting two weeks later north of the Grampians. So I went on a two-week road trip in Victoria.

For each part find the link to my post with more info and more photos of my Victoria ‘s road trip!

• 5 days east of Melbourne

Day 1 : Journey to Bairnsdale
Day 2/3 : The koalas of Raymond Island
Day 4 : Journey to Wilson, shopping and library (electricity)
Day 5 : Wilson promontory national Park

These first days were under the sign of the Wildlife of Victoria and my dream: the koalas <3.

• The GOR (Great Ocean Road)

Day 7 : From torquay to Aireys Inlet
Day 8 : To Apollo bay
Day 9 : To Port campbell
Day 10 : To Port fairy

After an administrative day in Melbourne, I drove on one of the most beautiful one of Victoria and Australia: The Great Ocean Road!

• The Grampians

Day 11 : Hamilton (wheel) then aboriginal art west of the park
Day 12 : Mount abrupt
Day 13 : Lookout, Grand Canyon and art at the north
Day 14 : drive to my place of work!

North of the Great Ocean Road is a National Park offering mountaineering, hiking, aboriginal art and great views! It’s the Grampians!

• The road trip in Australia!

• The choice of vehicle!

While in New Zealand, the van remains the indispensable asset for a Road Trip, in Australia it’s quite different. Finally everything depends on where you go! The east coast is quite accessible with a van but for the rest a 4WD is better. Then you will have two sleeping options: rooftent or bed inside. My budget was quite limited I opted for an SUV (Mazda Tribute) that allows to consume less (10L / 100 instead of 14 for a “real” 4WD). Always budget question I did not buy any furnishings with. I had an independent tent and on this model you can easily sleep in the passenger seat which lies completely. A little mattress and it became my main bed! Indeed being alone I felt more comfortable locked in my car, the tent being reserved only when it was really too hot.

• Useful applications

Just like in New Zealand I took Campermate and Wikicamps (more complete but paying in Australia). Only small problem: download info from all over Australia to use offline: cry:. For fuel you can use Gaspy and Fuelmap, this allows to compare for updates (not always recent in the bush). As usual I note on Google map the spots that interest me: visits, showers, camp, etc..

• Cooking in Road trip

I bought a small gas cooker at Kmart ($ 20) refillable with mini refills. Easier to handle when you do not have a real kitchen installed. If in New Zealand I could buy fresh produce by eating it within 2-3 days, in Australia, impossible! In any case in the summer in the Victoria :). What is essential is a big water bottle!

• Hygiene in Road Trip

The top in Australia is that it’s easy to find free hot showers! (And if you are brave you will also find a lot of cold showers by the beach). In the Victoria I had no trouble finding camps with toilets (it was not the case everywhere in Australia). I paid only once to sleep it was on the Great Ocean Road but it was partly a choice not to go too far that night.

• Electricity/Internet

For this trip, for lack of budget, I did not have an inverter yet. So I just had the cigarette lighter (a little weak to load well with the GPS). So I made a lot of stops in libraries to charge phone, computer, etc..

I always had the free service (brand for french people only) that works very well in this part of Victoria. Otherwise the best network is Telstra (my Australian chip).

• Budget

For two weeks of trip and 2300km traveled I spent a total of $ 594.87. That’s about $ 42 / day. But be careful, few kilometers traveled compared to what can be done in Australia. And with some meals bought “ready to eat”. Here is the detail :

Fuel : $308,49
Food : $239,88
Accomodation : $10 (camp)
Other : $36,5 (shower, wheel repare, laundry)