Random Notes 📝 🌏

I know that I need to continue with the travels, Adelaide where the highlight was staying with Lucy and her parents, Melbourne where I took a helicopter flight over the 12 Apostles, Tasmania – gorgeous, and Sydney where the highlight was catching up with JoJo, but I am now into week 3 of my Sydney to Cairns road trip with long drives which has given me time to reflect!

So, staying in hostels has been interesting, they have all been different experiences! Youth Hostels, or Jugendherberge, started in Germany around 1909 by schoolteacher Richard Schirrman, who wanted to provide affordable, safe lodging for students on nature trips, offering fresh air away from polluted cities.The concept grew from makeshift school accommodations into a global youth movement, establishing national associations and the International YouthHostel Federation (IYHF) by the 1930s, providing budget stays for young travellers to foster cultural exchange and adventure. 

Around 1960, the movement expanded globally, especially after WWII, becoming a staple for budget travellers and backpackers seeking affordable world travel, when it became the thing to do through the Before Sunrise series or the book turned movie The Beach. The first upscale hostels started appearing in the early 2000’s.

The next change came around 2008 during the recession when people still wanted to travel but more cheaply than before, and companies realised that this was a new market for them – the ‘Flashpackers’! People started taking career breaks or giving up work to go travelling and so seasoned travellers started trying hostels for the first time. Solo travellers, like myself, are growing in numbers and needed safe places to stay and the ability to mingle.

The global size of the hostel market is valued at about $7.21bn, with an estimated 10,500 hostels around the world. No doubt this number has been influenced by the low cost airlines and nomad digital working.

I decided that staying hostels was the way to go, I did not really want to spend my time sat on my own in a hotel room and wanted cooking and washing facilities – obviously it would be a more economical way to undertake a 6 month journey! Doing my research, I realised that hostels are much better now than they were 35 years ago when I first came to Australia, actually they couldn’t be much worse 😉. I spent weeks planning my route, where to stop, checking places to stay, looking at reviews – took me ages and I was very proud of myself! The hard work did sort of pay off, well mostly as will become clearer as I post my city adventures, but I have some general observations that have been brewing in my head whilst driving and I thought that I would do a general post.

I know that I had a bit of a hiccup with my Penang hostel, but that was a rookie error! I was spoilt with the Langkawi and Perth hostels. In Langkawi there were loads of different nationalities staying, mainly younger but very friendly and all travellers. I was in a room with 3 other ladies and we chatted and had quite a social time.

When I got into Perth, great hostel and room mates but it became clear that the majority of residents were long term and there on the holiday/work visa programme. This has been my observation at all the hostels that have stayed in for the last couple of weeks which isn’t a criticism really, but I think that it has been harder to get to meet people as they already know most of people staying. Don’t get me wrong, everyone has been friendly, mostly, but no ‘fellow travellers’ really.

I have been in female only rooms and most room mates have been nice, but there have been some that say nothing and don’t interact, I say hello or good morning and I get back a couple of words back but that’s it! Some of the bunks have privacy curtains but that just means that everyone just draw the curtains so gives no chance of conversation. I have just stayed at Flashpackers in Noosa, Sunshine Coast (fabulous place) and I have no idea who my room mates were as they were enclosed.

In Coolangatta, which I kept calling Calengute which is in Goa, I stayed at the YHA (which was surprisingly good), I was in a 6 bed dorm and one bed had a blanket and bedspread hung around so I never saw who was there! I suppose that if you are there long term, you want your privacy, but really then why stay in a hostel?! Also if you just stay in a hostel where residents are mainly European and on the work/holiday visa, you don’t really get to know Australia – but I could be wrong. Most hostels either ‘employ’ the residents or they volunteer for free or reduced accommodation costs,

There are some people who have no consideration, coming in at 2am and turning on lights 🤦🏻‍♀️. Hostel etiquette is special!

So above are a couple of the rooms that I have stayed in, some had en-suites that I shared with my room mates, some were out of the room. Yes, I will admit that it has been hard at times, especially when I have been in a top bunk which is an exercise in itself! I have upgraded a couple of my stays to either a private room with shared facilities or even splashing out on an en-suite room! I am in Mackay for Christmas and Townsville for New Year so I have changed my accommodation and I have Air BnB’s to spoil myself!

I picked up my hire car in Sydney for the drive to Cairns, I had booked a small car as I didn’t really need anything more but I was given a Subaru Forester which is a 4X4 and much more comfortable than a compact!

I had worked out my route months ago as I was told that’s it was peak time and I needed to make sure I had booked stuff. The route from Sydney to Brisbane was pretty easy with max 2hr drives, from Brisbane, it has been brutal!! It’s more spread out in Queensland and it is 3-4 hour drives in between stops 🚘. I have been listening to local radio and it’s been very entertaining! The language they use is so much more laid back than at home. I was listening to a news report about an MP who was being investigated for expenses (so similar to home!) and the reporter said that she was going to have to ‘cough up’ the extra money that she spent!! Also on the news just this evening, the reporter said that some bloke was copping it for doing something or other!!

I am sure that there would be complaints back home if the BBC did that kind of reporting?! In general, I feel that things are much more laid back here and maybe UK should adopt some of it?

There has been a lot of reporting on the awful Bondi shootings, it has really shaken the country and a lot of debate has been going on about why/how/etc. Politicians have been extremely vocal on the failings of the current government and I have been surprised as to how open and frank the opposition have been in their criticism, which is obviously to be expected – but I have been surprised of the language that MP’s have used as it has been very personal and ‘man on the street’ type vocabulary. I don’t think that this would be accepted at home and would have loads of complaints.

The radio ads have been very entertaining, a lot of community information messages, endometriosis comes up, blood donation and cancer support too. I love the local ads where ‘Simmo can fix your plumbing’ and ‘come and see the friendly team at ‘Hose Land’ for all you drainage needs. Names are always shortened to Simmo or Dobbo and these names are used in ads as well as billboards.

I think my favourite radio advert so far has been..

Young girl: Dad, have you sorted everything for our trip?

Dad: Yes, I think so

Young girl: Do you know how to use the dingo stick? (This is the point that I started laughing out loud)

Dad: Dingo’s can be unpredictable and dangerous so I bought a dingo stick and I have learnt how to use it.

It really tickled me, no idea why!!

I have no idea what day or date it is, I just refer to my spreadsheet which tells me what is happening and where I need to go next! I saw Christmas Trees going up and I had to remind myself that it is December and Christmas is approaching… actually it is in a couple of days! I have been into the shopping centers and women are wearing Christmas dresses, men are in Santa suits and there is tinsel around. It feels less manic but then that may be because everything is so spread out, wide roads, lots of shopping malls etc. I saw this chap cycling on the path wearing Christmas shorts and shirt, beard on and tinsel on his bike and it made me smile.

Wishing all my lovely readers a happy, safe and peaceful Christmas and Best Wishes for the year ahead. 🕉️