Overview | Travelin-Tortuga.com

June 2017/June 2018

A Year in Australia

In March, 2017, we handed our Tiger overland vehicle to our shipping agent in California for shipment to Australia. After nearly three months in transit we picked our vehicle up at Melbourne harbor in mid-June and off we went for a planned one year stay on this, our sixth continent.

Needing something to do with ourselves while the Tiger was at sea, we rented a van for an exploration of New Zealand. That was great fun and you can read about it here.

Australia is a very big country, nearly as large as the continental US, so we knew that even with a full year to explore we’d need to keep moving. Right from the start we saw that it is an even more interesting and beautiful country than we’d expected and all through our time we’ve been continually impressed by the immense variety and diversity of the flora and fauna we’ve encountered. On top of the delightful sight of kangaroos taking a drink or hopping through the fields or across the roads, one specific item that has just delighted us is the ever present bird life in Australia. We are not birders by any stretch of the imagination, but still, right from the outset we have found the birds in Oz to be special companions. It’s not so much the exotic birds we have enjoyed, but just your everyday, see ‘em most everywhere magpies, corellas, pink galahs, and even crows that have become our friends. Oh, and the Kookaburra; ah we do love to listen to their night and morning calls. So, yeah, we’ve enjoyed the birds here in Australia.

On the expiration of our twelve month visas, we wrapped up our year long tour, having traveled about 28,000 miles (nearly 45,000 kms), met lots of other travelers and made many new friends. All the way through we continued to have a marvelous experience.

Here are the links to our stories and photo pages from Australia.