Uncover the top 5 things to do in Australia with Gone Atlas. Dive into unforgettable adventures and create lasting memories!

If you’re either travelling around the Land Down Under on in a Working/Holiday Visa, there’s definitely some things you just shouldn’t miss.  Remember Australia is big, huge, and sometimes you don’t realize that until you get there and find out that from Sydney to Melbourne you’ve gotta drive for 8 hours or more. So, you’ll need time, but that’s good, Australia deserves your time.

These are our top 5 recommendations for things to do in Australia

Visit the West Coast

Most of the people that go to OZ will be talking about their East Coast trip, all the fun they had and the people they met. The East Coast is amazing, it’s fun, wild and beautiful, but the truth is that the West Coast is more beautiful. I’m Costa Rican and I’ve seen some amazing beaches in my lifetime and throughout my travels, but I have to say that some of the most incredible ones are on the West Coast.

From Margaret River, to Denmark, Esperance, Broome, and many others. The West Coast is just breathtaking. It’s different, less crowded, sometimes you’ll drive for hours before seeing a town or other cars, but that makes your experience even more exciting. You get to have incredible beaches for yourself and travel mates; you get to camp in really cool campsites and check out places that seem undiscovered. Plus, you’ll get to see different national parks, have different travel stories and enjoy a more outdoors experience than anyone doing the East Coast.

Enjoy BOTH Sydney and Melbourne

Any backpacker, traveller or person living in Australia tends to say they prefer either one or the other.  We’ve all heard a person saying: “Melbourne has better nightlife”, or “Sydney has nicer beaches” or one has better weather or nicer cafes. Whatever man. Why can’t you just enjoy them both? If you decided to do a working holiday visa, you might have time to live in both, or at least to get the essence of both of them properly.

So don’t just stay in Sydney or in Melbourne, or just go for a weekend to one or the other to then criticize it. They’re both amazing, really different but beautiful, therefore enjoy them BOTH, party on both, eat on both, visit the beaches and the national parks surrounding them, and finish your Australian experience being able to say that they were both insane.

Visit the Outback

You probably moved to Australia or came to visit for a new experience, to get to see that country far away from yours, the “Land Down Under”. Australia with its kangaroos and koalas, it’s sharks and beaches, has also got the beautiful outback. It’s not just taking a flight to the Ayers Rock and seeing it during sunset or sunrise, it’s about driving through the red dirt roads for hours and hours without seeing anyone. It’s about camping in the middle of nowhere seeing a ridiculous amount of beautiful stars at night, sometimes even the milky way. It’s about campfires at night drinking some beers, or goon, with travel mates. Experience the Outback, its’ worth it.

Do some Farmwork

If you’re on a working/holiday visa you’ll probably want to extend it, and therefore you’ll have to go through the painful 3 months (or more) of farm work. Yes it’s hard, rough, tough, painful tiring and it’s more like modern slavery than anything else. However, it can be amazing. Just look at the bright side: when will you be picking capsicums or humping bananas ever again in your life? You’ll have a shitload of stories to tell to your friends and family, and the will all look at you with their eyes wide open impressed, wondering how on earth you, a nice city person, managed to put up with extreme conditions and shit employers.

Plus, if you stay at a working hostel you’ll love it. Everybody else will come back home tired, busted from work, maybe even angry, but remember you’re all on the same boat, struggling to finalize. That helps you morally, and completing day after day will make you mentally stronger, and help you get through it. And don’t forget how fun it can be getting shitfaced on the weekends with your new family.

Go to Byron Bay

One of the best towns in all Australia. This surfer town is just amazing, beautiful, chilled out and insane at the same time. No matter if its winter or summer, you’ll love it. It’s full of chilled out backpackers and locals, open-minded, relaxed and ready to have a nice chat with you, or some beers at the local pubs.

Normally is one of the first stops on your East Coast trip, and trust me, that can be a shame, as it’ll make the next places look bad. So, stay as long as you can, party at Cheeky-Monkeys, have some beers at Woodie’s or the Railway, go to Nimbin, try surfing, dive at the Julian Rocks (great dive site), do the Lighthouse walk and just take a few days off to chill at the beach or do yoga there in the mornings.