Australia @nz | Transfercar Blog

Things to Do in Adelaide

Adelaide is known as Australia’s most liveable city, and because of that, it is also an easy one for travelers to visit and get to know better. It doesn’t take much for a visitor to get around, especially since it is also known as the 20 minute city. In other words: It’s not an overwhelming place to travel like Sydney might be with its traffic and far-reaching suburbs and attractions.

adelaide2

When you arrive after catching a budget flight, here are some of the things to do in Adelaide: Continue reading Things to Do in Adelaide

Campers, motorhomes, high-tops… the rental jargon explained!

Australia and New Zealand have pretty much the same kinds of campers and motorhomes as anywhere else overseas. However, depending on where you intend to travel and what you need from your relocation , it’s a good idea to know what each type of vehicle looks like and what extras they come with.

Before we start, here’s a little glossary of terms or rental jargon that will help you out:

Berth: for example 2 berth. The berth quantity indicates the legal number of passengers the vehicle can sleep and also generally indicates how many seat belts are available.

High-top: A vehicle with a fixed, extended roof.

Pop-top: A vehicle with an extended roof that must be manually folded out or up.

Campervan or camper: Has sleeping and cooking facilities.

Campervan compact: Smaller campers that look like a Toyota Previa or similar.

Motorhome or RV: Has sleeping and cooking facilities as well as a shower, toilet and hot water.

Continue reading Campers, motorhomes, high-tops… the rental jargon explained!

Tasmania, Wild by Nature

Tasmania, Wild by Nature

Transfercar regularly has free campervan relocations from Sydney and Brisbane to Hobart in Tasmania, and this comes with free ferry and insurance… What are you waiting for?

Tasmania is a nature lover’s paradise. With some of the cleanest air in the world according to climate experts, it’s the perfect place to take a breather from our urban lives and get lost in raw beauty. Did you know that 45% of the island is protected by law as national and regional parks?

Tasmania is seemingly made for a driving holiday where you can visit multiple parks, stop at vineyards and farms and taste great local food. Being a compact island, it’s easy to access its many diverse environments – from alpine ranges and grasslands to beaches and rainforests. From short forest trails leading to waterfalls to multi-day walks with no one else in sight, the island also offers plenty of opportunities to stretch your legs. These are some of Tasmania’s must-dos:

Cradle Mountain

Cradle Mountain is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area and one of the most beautiful and popular places in Tasmania. It is surrounded by serene glacial lakes, old-growth rainforest, and unusual alpine vegetation.

The National Park is home to many great walks, including Dove Lake and the Overland Track, a magnificent six-day walk through the heart of some of the world’s finest mountain terrain.

It’s easy hiking here, with a boardwalk for much of the route, but it’s still spectacular.

Freycinet National Park

Aim to spend at least two days here, exploring and hiking the area. Situated on Tasmania’s beautiful east coast, Freycinet National Park is a long strip of land that looks out to the Tasman Sea from the eastern side and back towards the Tasmanian coastline from the west.

The park is full of natural assets, including the granite peaks of the Hazards that dominate the Peninsula, abundant birdlife and the iconic and much-photographed Wineglass Bay.

The East Coast

A road trip along the East coast is definitely worth it. The East coast is home to a lot of ridiculously beautiful beaches, and you won’t find a single person on them. Plan to spend three times as much time driving as your GPS predicts, and stop off at all of the beaches, as each one offers something special.

St Helens/ Bay of Fires

The St Helens area has some incredible beaches. Binalong Bay is the star of the show here, but if you really want to be alone, drive a few minutes along the coast and you’ll be rewarded with some gorgeous beaches.

Convinced now? See you there!

Uluru, Northern Territory Australia

Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock) is the world’s largest monolith or rock formation. Situated in Australia’s Northern Territory, and set amongst the awe inspiring Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park, this enormous Sandstone wonder stands 348 metres tall and 9.4 km in circumference with two thirds existing below the ground.

The rock undergoes dramatic color changes with its normally terracotta hue gradually changing to blue or violet at sunset to flaming red in the mornings as the sunrises behind it.

This spectacular creation is an Australian icon and major tourist attraction, enticing thousands of travellers with its magical hues that change from fiery red to delicate mauve, blue, pink and brown, and when there’s rainfall the entire rock turns an amazing silver.

Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park which is listed as a World Heritage Site. The surrounding area is an ancient sacred place for the Anangu (local Aboriginal) people and is home to a plethora of springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings made over many thousands of years by the Anangu.

In 1985 the entire area was handed back to its indigenous owners and its sights reassumed their traditional names. The climb to the top is a treacherous 1.6 kilometre, 1 mile climb and climbers follow a track that is both ancient and sacred to the Anangu people. Visitors to the site are therefore asked to respect the area by preferably choosing the trails around and near Uluru and not by climbing it.

If you are planning a road trip in one of Transfercar’s free relocation vehicles and want to stop off at Uluru then you will be looking at relocating between Adelaide and Alice Springs or further. As relocation are more often picked up and dropped off in major towns these are the two most likely destinations for this venture.

Discover the magic of Western Australia

Western Australia (WA) is so huge and so lightly populated that most of it is just pure wilderness. It is Australia’s final frontier!

Perth is the country’s sunniest capital city, offering a vast array of amazing sunsets over the ocean. It blends urban cool with spectacular nature and provides a good start to your Western Australia adventure. There are plenty of bars and restaurants and a very decent choice of beautiful wineries nearby.

Follow the coast up North and discover some of the world’s most pristine beaches. The World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef is the largest fringing reef on Earth and one of the few places in the world where you can swim with the whale shark. Go South and you will find Margaret River, a bustling market town famed for its wine, incredible surfing nearby, and mysterious karri (eucalyptus) forests.

ningaloo reef

Western Australia is a superb destination for nature lovers. Wildlife-watching opportunities are extraordinary, from interactions with dolphins at Monkey Mia to the spotting of migrating whale pods off the coast of Albany. There’s also stunning gorges and waterfalls at Karijini National Park.

Broome offers a fantastic natural phenomenon called the Staircase to the Moon. It is best seen from Roebuck Bay in Broome, when the full moon rises over the exposed mudflats at extremely low tide and creates a beautiful optical illusion of stairs reaching to the moon. The Staircase to the Moon happens 2 – 3 days a month between March and October.

Transfercar regularly offers free rental cars and campervans that need to be relocated from one of the major cities of the East Coast to Western Australia. Relocation deals with 12 to 15 free rental days are not uncommon, giving you enough time to explore en route and see vast expanses of the country. Start planning your escape now!

Australia’s winter: skiing, snowboarding and snowy mountains

Australia isn’t the first place that comes to mind when planning a winter holiday, especially when skiing, snowboarding or snowmen are on the cards.

What comes to mind are sun drenched beaches, wild kangaroos and babes in bikinis along with vast expanses of outback terrain and reptiles!

The fact is, skiing is definitely a happening thing in OZ, with around 15 ski resorts that offer anything from the basic cross country trails to full commercial villages!

The ski season generally runs from June until October, with the largest commercial resorts being found in Victoria and New South Wales. Most resorts are equip with serious snow machines so the seasons are pretty guaranteed to be a blast no matter what.

Let’s take a quick peek at some of the popular spots in New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria (VIC) keeping in mind that there are other fantastic spots in Tasmania (TAS) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT): Continue reading Australia’s winter: skiing, snowboarding and snowy mountains