Bridging the Gap Year

Australia and New Zealand are seeing an increase in Brits arriving on gap years. School-leavers and graduates are travelling or taking working holidays while they wait for job prospects to improve back home, and they’re being joined by credit crunch casualties with redundancy payouts large enough to backpack in style. Other gapers have been encouraged, and even incentivised, by cash-strapped employers to delay starting new jobs or take sabbaticals.

Most travellers will be dreading the long flight Down Under so it’s always worth suggesting a stopover to break the journey in Asia, the Middle East, the US, South Africa or South America. The average stopover is just a few days but if someone is going away for a year they might want to do a South East Asia tour, which can be very reasonable. For brief stopovers remember the time saved by pre-booking city tours and experiences. You can even book different stopovers for outbound and return journeys.

Gappers are often reluctant to pre book accommodation but hostel hunting is the last thing you’ll feel like when you arrive, jet-lagged in an unfamiliar city. At least book the first two nights for example en-suite rooms in Sydney and Auckland start from £28 per person. Hotel or apartment vouchers like go Koala, Go Kiwi, Choice and Golden Chain are great for travellers wanting flexibility they cover a range of gradings. Remember, at peak times like New Year in Sydney and in some remote locations, pre-booked accommodation is a must.

Experienced travellers choose to pre-book organised tours for a number of very good reasons, whether it be safety, companionship, convenience, or they realise that there is no way they would ever be able to see and do so much on their own. Remember that the price includes accommodation, food, entry fees and activities. While tours of classic highlights are popular, group travel can most benefit those heading off the beaten track. Western Australia, for instance, particularly the route from Broome to Darwin is almost impossible to do effectively and affordably by yourself.

Experiences and excursions can help make your trip special. Advance booking avoids disappointment; highlights like Sydney Bridge Climb fill up early, while excursions may only depart on certain days. Pre-booking can also save cash, the best prices are often found at home pre-departure. Flexible options include Sightsee “n” Save gives you tokens you can redeem against any of their day tours. Each excursion has a value in tokens so you can use them however you choose. Experiences, excursions and even learn-to-dive packages make good presents.

Itinerary planning for Australasia can be daunting. For instance, operators’ self-drive tours have been planned to give the best travel/sightseeing balance. Availability is also an issue and it is recommend pre-booking motorhomes and campervans for New Zealand’s high season. Internal flight passes offer both value and flexibility and, if plans change, the end date can often be altered cheaply. Coach passes such as Greyhound Australia’s (priced in kilometres or days) and New Zealand’s Inter-City Coachlines’ (priced by hours) are good value. All passes allow a lot of flexibility, with as little as 12 hours notice required for onward reservations. Iconic train routes such as Australia’s Ghan or New Zealand’s TranzAlpine are best pre-booked.

Voluntourism can give a great focus to a gap year. Hands Up Holidays’ Australasia options include helping Aboriginal rangers to conserve turtles in Queensland and protecting penguins in New Zealand’s Catlins. It is important to pre-book volunteering because, to maximise its effectiveness, considerable planning and preparation has to be done, especially in matching skills and interests, so that volunteers can truly make a positive impact.

Australia’s Got It All

With some of the biggest airfare bargains for years and Australia just released on DVD, there’s never been a better time for travellers to experience the exciting possibilities waiting for them in Oz.

Made by acclaimed director Baz Luhrmann, the epic romance Australia has become the second-highest grossing Australian film of all time – after Crocodile Dundee - and is now available for the small screen. So it’s only natural that it will tempt some travellers into going on a journey of their own, discovering some of Australia’s natural, romantic, adventure and Aboriginal heritage on an outback adventure.

Where To Go:

Travellers can experience Australia’s outback and its most famous landmark with a stay at Longitude 131°, the tented camp in the shadow of Uluru.

Also in the Northern Territory, travellers can escape the world at Peppers Seven Spirit Bay Wilderness Lodge in Garig Gunak Barlu national park on the Cobourg Peninsula in Arnhem Land.

For an experience of a lifetime, they can take the legendary Ghan train from Darwin to Adelaide, or just drift across the outback in a hot-air balloon to appreciate its beauty.

For a romantic twist on Melbourne, couples can stay overnight on a luxury yacht with Nautical B&B’s. Or Melbourne Wine Tours can whisk couples away in a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce to the cellar doors of boutique wineries.

For something more rustic, check out the new purpose-built walking lodge(complete with soothing foot spas) from tour operator Bothfeet a specialist in the Great Ocean Road.

In New South Wales, check out Boutique Wildlife Tours to create exciting personalised tours to the Hunter Valley, Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands and beyond, or try a walking tour with The Coast Track, offering journeys through Royal National Park, staying in comfy tents with gourmet cuisine along the way. Book ahead now for one of the country’s most anticipated new openings, Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa set in 4,000 acres of the Blue Mountains, later this year.

Beach-lovers will find all they need in Queensland, but to see it from on high, you can’t beat a trip with GBR Helicopters over the magnificent Great Barrier Reef and on to a tropical breakfast in a rainforest setting near Cairns. For travellers who want to forget about the outside world then stay at Double Island in Tropical North Queensland, a desert island near palm Cove, or the authentic island paradise at Wilson Island, where there are just six tents, all looking out at pristine reef.

Award winning Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island in South Australia is an amazing experience, rooted in nature and modern luxury. The island is Australia’s answer to the Galapagos so the 21 architecturally outstanding rooms at Southern Ocean Lodge are highly sought after. Unique South Australia experiences are also on offer at The Louise, a little vineyard retreat in the Barossa Valley; guests can even head to the Penfolds winery to blend their own wine. To see the state from above air safaris are available from Chinta Tours. Another must is the Flinders Ranges, where Bookabee Tours offers indigenous cultural experiences.

A big focus of the Australia movie was life in Western Australia, a state that’s packed with diverse ways to escape, from rugged outback to gentle beach life and spa retreats. The hot topic this month is the opening of Pinctada at Cable Beach, which is set to be an idyllically-located five-star resort. For something more low-key, it’s worth a visit to lovely little Injidup Spa Retreat, which offers just 10 rooms on Injidup Bay. To see more of that coastline, a cruise with Orion Expedition Cruises of the Kimberley is a must and to really rejuvenate and have the surfing experience of a lifetime, what about Samudra Yoga and Surf Retreats.

Tasmania is Australia’s wild and wonderful island state, packed with adventure and scenery to knock the socks off. One way to experience it is to hire out Eagle’s Nest II (near Cradle Mountain) with its eight, individually decorated rooms. Tasmania has plenty of ideas for combining luxury accommodation with activities, from fly fishing to private air charters. But in Tassie, it all comes back to scenery, such as the spectacular Tarkine, the largest temperate rainforest in the southern hemisphere, and the three passionate guys behind Tarkine Trails know how to put together an unforgettable experience.

Post your comments below: