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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.

Queenstown for non-skiers

Queenstown might be a winter paradise for skiers and boarders, but there’s plenty to do if you don’t feel like swishing down the slopes. The region is also renowned as the ”adventure capital of the world” and for its great party scene, but those who aren’t in their 20’s anymore can also enjoy soft adventures and wonderful pinot noir. Here’s our selection of some of the best things that non-skiers can do:

Funyak Safaris on the Dart River

Combine wilderness jet boating with unique Funyak inflatable canoes for a fun way to explore the Dart River as well as hidden side streams, rock pools and dramatic chasms. Enjoy the peace and tranquility of this stunning area at your own pace as you float downstream on sparkling water, then enjoy a wilderness picnic lunch before heading past ‘Paradise’ and on to Glenorchy. Then travel a back-country route passing by locations used in movies to illustrate Middle Earth.

A visit to the goldmining city of Arrowtown

A scenic 20-minute drive from Queenstown, Arrowtown is a must-do. This historic goldmining town looks like it came right out of America’s Wild West. It has charming cottages, offers a cute local museum and the opportunity to pan for gold in the nearby Arrow river. There’s also some fine food (try award-winning Saffron), and beautiful galleries.

Sample some great wines in Bannockburn

Central Otago is the place to when it comes to New Zealand’s famous pinot noir, and our favourite terroir has to be the scenic Bannockburn area, home to several top wineries, including Carrick and Mt Difficulty. It’s very easy to get from one winery to the next so you can actually swallow the wines that you’re tasting 🙂 The food is also wonderful.

Cruise aboard a Steamship

A cruise on Lake Wakatipu aboard the iconic steamship the TSS Earnslaw is undoubtedly one of the best ways to experience Queenstown’s famed scenic beauty. The leisurely 90 minute cruise across the lake showcases some of the region’s spectacular alpine scenery while offering you plenty of time to explore a piece of the city’s living history – the 100 year old TSS Earnslaw.

The list really goes on… Queenstown has SO much to offer that a week won’t be enough and you’ll want to come back. The good news is that Transfercar has a lot of car relocations going to and from Queenstown so make the most of it!

Photos by Pascal Languillon except Steamship by Real Journeys.

7 websites that could change the way you travel

True, there are tons of travel websites out there, and sometimes it seems like it’s only worth our time checking the giants in that space: TripAdvisor, Booking.com, Airbnb, Kayak… who isn’t addicted to those already? The good news is that among the thousands of travel websites and apps, there are a handful of interesting ones that are still worth our time. They can actually help you travel smarter. Here are some of our favourite new ideas.

1. Oyster

This has to be one of our favourites. Oyster (pictured above) is the only hotel site that sends special investigators to visit, photograph, review, and rate each hotel. It is especially handy to have a look at the detailed photos of each room to see which one to choose. There’s usually more information of this type there than on Tripadvisor. Oyster have gained quite a reputation with their photo fakeouts, where they reveal the reality behind the glossy pictures of the travel brochures. Hilarious and useful.

2.TripExpert

This website is like the anti-TripAdvisor: TripExpert offers hotel reviews from travel pros. Yes, travel pros like in the good old days, not just regular travellers. The company has partnered with 20+ travel guide services such as Frommer’s, Conde Nast Traveller, Lonely Planet, Fodors Travel and Travel + Leisure. In a sense, it’s like Rotten Tomatoes (the website specialised in film reviews) for travel.

The website displays a “TripExpert Score”, calculated by a number of parameters including rating and review given by each travel guide partners, and also the number of travel guides that have written about a hotel. It is a good addition to Tripadvisor when you’re in doubt or when you want to narrow down your search. Useful.

3. Roomer

roomer Here’s a useful website if you love getting great hotel deals, and who doesn’t? Their tagline is: ‘’Book your hotel room from people who can’t use theirs!’’ What does that mean? It is allowing travellers who are unable to use their hotel room to list it at a discounted price, thus giving people a chance to grab a last-minute deal. The problem is, though, when you browse the website, it’s hard to tell if you’re getting a regular discount or if you’re getting a special deal. As more people start to use the website, the deals will get better we think…

4.VoulezVousDiner.com

Voulezvousdiner

VoulezVousDiner is a peer-to-peer reservation service that allows users to connect and share meals in each other’s homes. Think Airbnb for restaurants. Instead of going to a restaurant, get an authentic experience of eating some delicious home-made food prepared by a talented local.

Mealsharing.com, Vizeat.com and Eatwith.com are similar websites, and some of them actually vet the quality of the chefs. Like any marketplace, local chefs are then reviewed by the community. We think this concept is going to become big some day, but right now all those websites are struggling to have an interesting offer outside of the most touristy cities in the world like Paris, London and New York. Hopefully the offer will get bigger soon.

5. Triptuner

Deciding where to go isn’t always easy. With so many appealing destinations in the world, how do you choose? Pictures help, obviously, but a website that helps you understand which destinations are suited to your needs is helpful too. That’s what Triptuner does: the website is designed to inspire you. Define if you’d rather have a bikini or a parka holiday, or if you’d rather have a relaxing or active holiday, and Triptuner will find the destination that’s right for you. Frankly, the website could be improved with more settings and better results, but the idea is fun.

6. Adioso

Adioso

‘’Flight search reinvented for humans’’. Indeed, Adioso is really helpful when you want to fly to a region but don’t necessarily know all the airports name there, and when you are quite flexible on the dates. You can type in a request such as, ‘Auckland to San Francisco leaving next week under $2,000’ and see what comes up, and you can choose a data range. The website is intuitive, fun to use and nicely designed, with the same prices that you would find on other meta-search websites. Interesting.

GetyourGuide

getyourguide

GetYourGuide is a booking platform for tours and activities, and to most of the world’s best attractions. It claims to have more than 27,000 things to do. Here you can book tickets for experiences as diverse as visiting the top floor of famous skyscrapers, bus city tours, and whale-watching tours. It can be convenient in some crowded destinations as it enables you to skip the line, and it comes with a best price guarantee.

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