My solo trip to Australia - Journey to the other side

I’ll never forget stepping out of the airport in Perth, looking up to the sky, realising I was now pretty much exactly on the opposite side of the globe. All of a sudden I had swapped sides and 'the other side' had become 'my side'.

I guess no matter where you live, "the other side of the world" always has something mystical and intriguing about it. For me, since I can remember, it always had an incredibly strong pull, something I had to see for myself one day. 

I still remember my dad, looking at the moon and the stars with me every single night before I went to bed when I was a child. He always told me that the sun was now setting on "our side" so that it could rise again on the "other side". He taught me all about the different time zones and how people in the Southern hemisphere would get up when we go to sleep and basically live their lives in completely opposite times to us. I found this so mind boggling that I told him I would have to see it for myself one day. 

Both of us knew the day would come where I would turn this dream into reality. I had been saving as much money as I possibly could while I was studying and had always planned to travel to Australia once I'd finished my Masters. Traveling to the other side of the world before deciding where I wanted to live and what I wanted to do with my life seemed like the perfect thing to do. ​

​​I was originally supposed to go with one of my friends but her dissertation deadline was delayed so she wasn't able to join me in the end so I took off on my own. There I went, 24 years old, Masters in hand, no job, no flat, nothing to hold me back, making my way to the other side of the world, like I'd always dreamt of. 

It was my first real "solo adventure" and also the furthest away from home I’d ever been. Despite my family's concerns, I was not at all apprehensive to embark on this new adventure. I still remember counting down the days for months in advance and can still recall the excitement I felt when I finally set foot on the plane and later on the Australian continent. I’ll never forget stepping out of the airport in Perth, looking up to the sky, realising I was now pretty much exactly on the opposite side of the globe. All of a sudden I had swapped sides and “the other side” had become “my side”.

​​First stop - Australia’s West Coast

The reason I had chosen Perth as my first destination was not only because I wanted to see the Australian West Coast but I also chose this particular place as my starting point to visit one of my oldest friends who I'd known since primary school. He was studying in Perth at the time and I spent a couple of weeks with him. He showed me everything in and around Perth, including beautiful Fremantle which is a place I will forever remember as it was there where yet another one of my childhood dreams had come true - for the first time in my life I saw whales in the wild. Everyone who’s had the pleasure of seeing these fascinatingly beautiful creatures close up in their natural habitat will know what I mean when talking about it as a truly unforgettable experience. 

From Perth, we went on a road trip down the West Coast, via Bunbury and Margaret River all the way down to Cape Leeuwin, the furthest southwest corner of the Australian continent. It was during this road trip when I had another “first time experience” - a face to face encounter with kangaroos in the wild. They just appeared all of a sudden at the side of the road. Hopping about completely carefree and not at all phased by our presence. I asked my friend to pull over and jumped out of the car, excitedly running towards the kangaroos when I heard him yelling after me to stop and turn around immediately. He had discovered that they were carrying young ones in their pouches and he was terrified that they would feel threatened and attack us. My excitement definitely outweighed my fear by tons so it took me a while to take his worries into consideration and follow him back to the car. ​

I am a naturally curious person but when it comes to nature and animal encounters there is literally nothing holding me back. As one of David Attenborough's biggest fans, I literally felt like I was part of one of his documentaries myself. Even more so in the next few days, once I started exploring the wild, beautiful and completely empty West Coast beaches. Throw stingrays and more whales into the mix and you have me speechless. I couldn't catch up processing everything I was experiencing. I still remember lying awake at night feeling like all my memories of the past day must be part of my dreams. What I saw and experienced felt so surreal it almost couldn't be true.

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​Making my way to the East Coast

After a couple of weeks on the West Coast, I flew, now on my own, from Perth all the way to Cairns, right at the top of Australia's East Coast. It was strange leaving my friend behind and taking off on my own but I was excited about this new experience, doing something all on my own, somewhere I had never been before. The flight to Cairns really made me realise how insanely huge the Australian continent is. Flying over it for hours on end, seeing almost nothing but desert, was definitely an eye-opening experience.

Once I arrived in Cairns, I was truly on my own. For the first time ever, I was alone in a foreign place, thousands of miles away from home and without knowing a thing about my whereabouts or a soul around me. This is what it felt like to push yourself out of your comfort zone. ​

Being an "extroverted traveler" definitely came in handy more than ever. I managed to find myself a bed in a hostel dorm within the first couple of hours after my arrival and instantly started doing what I do best - being social! I started talking to people in my dorm, in the hostel kitchen and anywhere around me really and had quickly found another German girl (oh what a surprise - not) a guy from the UK (oh yet another surprise - not), a Swedish girl and another guy from Denmark. Together with these other three random Europeans, I embarked on my first Australian East Coast adventure which was exploring Cairns' bars and nightclubs. We quickly bonded over cheap drinks and were basically inseparable for the next few weeks. We went snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, went on several Rainforest Explorer tours, saw endless amounts of beautiful foreign plants and creatures - from turtles and tropical fish to sharks and crocodiles, there was hardly any “typical Australian wildlife” we didn't see (luckily we encountered the last two species with plenty of distance between them and us), met, even more, like-minded backpackers, and had all around the time of our lives.

Back in Europe, I had purchased a Greyhound bus ticket that was valid from Cairns all the way to Adelaide. The plan was to travel down the entire East Coast, hopping on and off the bus whenever I pleased and staying in every location for however long I felt like - and that is exactly what I did.

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​Making friends from all around the world all around Australia

From Cairns, I traveled to Fraser Island, Townsville and Airlie Beach. From Airlie Beach I went on a "Whitsunday Sailing Adventure". I then continued on to Rockhampton, Rainbow Beach, Noosa, Brisbane, Surfers Paradise, Byron Bay, Coffs Habour, Port Macquarie, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, and then I finally made it to Adelaide. To recount what I’ve experienced on my journey to all these different places feels almost impossible but believe me when I say that I had the time of my life and will forever cherish every single one of the travel memories. 

Everywhere I went I met a new bunch of people. Some of them traveled with me for a few days or weeks, some of them had chosen different routes to me but we naturally ended up bumping back into each other further down the coast. It was wonderful being in yet another completely new place, wandering the streets on my own and all of a sudden hearing someone call out my name - on the other side of the world, someone actually knew me because we had randomly met a few places further up the coast a few weeks ago. 

I'm still friends with a handful of people I've met during my travels around Australia. Traveling does create an incredibly strong bond between strangers. The passion for travel is one that’s so strong, it really doesn't easily break once it's formed. ​

The people I'm still friends with are almost all "living nomads". They've caught the travel bug just like me and will probably never be cured. We still catch up in random places around the globe, whenever we coincidentally end up in the same place (or at least in the same country). Keeping in touch doesn't seem like an effort for us because we are connected by the same passion which makes catching up exciting and inspiring.

It's always great to hear what adventures everyone else has been on since you last caught up with them. This goes to show how my solo adventure connected me to more people than a “group adventure” could have ever done. It’s worth getting out of your comfort zone every now and then and trying something new, relying completely on your own. I encourage you to give it a go and embark on a solo adventure if you haven’t already done it. You won’t believe the things you learn about yourself and who knows who you might meet along the way - it might be more rewarding than you could ever imagine :)

​Author - Natalie Gruner

Nat is one of the co-creators of Travelher and loves travel, family and all things beach. She is currently working in NZ and getting away for an adventure as often as she can.