Australia @nz | Transfercar Blog

Fancy a camel ride in Australia?

About to take a vacation in Australia? Riding camels on the bucket list? Then you’re in luck! The world famous Cable Beach in Broome, Kimberley, Western Australia, is a natural paradise offering sun, surf and yes camels!

Broome Camel Safaris offer some great tours starting from a 40 minute ride to a 1 hour sunset tour along the pristine coastline.

Led by the renowned “Camel Lady” Alison bird, who has been trecking alone in the Australian Outback with her beloved camels for over 7 years, riders get a unique, up close and personal experience with well cared for camels in an unspoiled part of Australia.

Introduced into Australia last century to be used in the Western Australian goldfields, camels (Camelus dromedarius) are gentle creatures well adapted to their desert environment.

Their coat acts as an insulating layer in winter and reflects radiant heat in summer. They have a tough skin able to withstand thorns and spinifex and a padded foot adapted for movement on sand and gibber plains as well as insulating the animals from the hot earth. They have hard pads on the brisket, knees and elbows to protect them when they kneel.

With exceptionally good eyesight and sense of smell they are great travel companions in hot, dry desert conditions and are perfect for navigating the sandy beaches of Western Australia.

Keen to go? Check out a free rental with Transfecar heading that way J

Wwoofing around the world

The concept of working for your food and accommodation while travelling is not a new one and many a budget conscious traveller has walked this well-worn path.

Wwoofing however is a little more specialised. Originally an acronym for “Working Weekends on Organic Farms”, the definition changed over the years to “Willing Workers On Organic Farms” as the need for assistance over longer periods arose. Due to the word “work” however causing some problems, the name finally settled to being “World Wide Opportunities On Organic Farms”.

Sue Coppard, in 1971 was the first to recognise the need for people like herself, who did not have the means or the opportunity, to access the countryside and support the organic movement. It was here in the suburbs of London that Wwoofing set its roots, now growing as a movement with more than 50 WWOOF groups worldwide. Continue reading Wwoofing around the world

The FolkWorld Fairbridge Festival

For 21 years, the FolkWorld Fairbridge Festival has been a uniquely family-friendly draw for folks looking for a weekend of live music, camping, and independent crafts.

This year’s festival, held from April 26-28, will feature artists working across a variety strains of world music against a quintessentially scenic Western Australian backdrop of wide open spaces and mature bushland. An increasingly popular event, Fairbridge administrators received over 500 applications for acts and musicians from a variety of artists this time around, so organizers got to draw from a particularly large pool of performers when selecting 2013’s lineup. Continue reading The FolkWorld Fairbridge Festival

What do Transfercar’s free 2 berth 4WD campervans look like?

So our last blog explained the general layout of the free 2 berth high and low-top campervan rentals on Transfercar New Zealand and Australia. Now we look at the 2 berth 4WD campers that are often found travelling to, from and along the Australian outback.

Before we take a look, here are a couple of things to note:

Pretty much 90% of 2 berth campervans (4WDs or otherwise) will not support children under 8 years old or who are unable to legally sit in a belted seat by themselves.
Fuel consumption on four wheel drives can be higher than regular cars and campervans as many have 6 – 8 cylinder motors in them.
They are also pretty much all manual vehicles.

Here are a couple of examples of the 4WD campervans on offer: Continue reading What do Transfercar’s free 2 berth 4WD campervans look like?

Moving To Melbourne? Consider a Trip First

When tourists think of Australia, they tend to focus on the urban delights of Sydney and its famous opera house or the wild spaces of the Outback or the Great Barrier Reef. However, there are plenty of other interesting and trendy Antipodean locations which are worth a visit, including the regional cities. The state of Victoria is home to Melbourne, the country’s second most populous metropolitan area and the ‘garden city’ of Australia on the southern coast, so why not investigate flights to Melbourne, Australia for your next city break. Continue reading Moving To Melbourne? Consider a Trip First

The Great Barrier Reef Australia

Sitting in the aptly named Coral Sea off the coast of Queensland (beginning at the tip of Cape York Peninsula in the north and extending down to Bundaberg in the south) the Barrier Reef is host to an unusual array of plant, bird and marine life. Nestled amongst its almost 3000 individual reefs, built from 360 species of hard corals, and 880 islands, are a variety of dolphins, dugong, 6 different types of turtles, over 175 bird species, approximately 2,200 native plant variations, approximately 2,000 fish species and is a safe breeding ground for Humpback and other whales. Continue reading The Great Barrier Reef Australia