And here's why.........
We are at the end of our australia tour and quite frankly our thoughts on australia are as follows......WE'VE HAD ENOUGH!! I wanted to start writing this blog post half way through our oz tour but thought that would be unfair to oz so waited and we are now in sydney at the end so i think its a fair comparison now ! I have been putting this post together for a couple of weeks now and adding things as we go!....I will be catorgorising our comparison list....
First thoughts....
Arriving in auckland was a relief after being in asia ! We were staying in a little town just outside of the city and we felt safe, relax and excited & couldnt wait to explore. Our hostel was lovely & everyone was really friendly, & we got free wifi.
When we arrived at sydney we got the train to central station it was rather busy as we were in the city we expected that! we arrived to our hostel the man in reception was rude to us and we found out we dont get free Wifi as yha members :( (which we did in new zealand!) & also at this point found out that there isnt really any free wifi in oz altogether :( however we went out & explored & we liked it, we felt safe & relaxed.
Mode of transport & travelling....
The kiwi experience bus....what a lump of s**t! It barely moved, it could barely get up the hills and it wasnt very comfy....the bus also broke down several times! Making many people miss out on the tours they had booked! As everything was on such a tight schedule!....however....the views when travelling from place to place were absolutely breathtaking the kind of views where you just dont want to look away incase you miss something! They were just like a backdrop from a film.....it is something we will remember for years to come & loved it.
The greyhound buses....these were new, comfy, plenty of room, had usb ports to charge your phone etc, some even had wifi! They never broke down and they were quick! ....however....there was absolutely nothing to look at, at all at any point of any of our journeys! It was just miles and miles of land with the odd house here and there....we did an east coast tour so we presumed the journey would be beside the coast and we would have a lovely view to look at....we were wrong! It made the long journeys so so boring.
What we thought it would be like.....the reality!....
We didnt really have a lot of thoughts on new zealand before we went there we just thought it would be beautiful and we had read it was the adrenaline capital of the world, you dont really read or see a lot on new zealand its not the sort of place you go into thomas cook and ask for a holiday there! Its the sort of place you know nothing about until you go there!.....the reality....we were shocked from the moment we got to new zealand of the pure beauty of it....every corner we turned there was something beautiful to look at....we were just constantly amazed....we saw things that we may not ever see again....franz josef glacier....the beautiful reflections on lake mathieson....everyday brought something new and beautiful...and we loved it.....it was definately a bit of us, the reality was fare better then what we thought.
I think that most people have the same assumptions of australia.....white sand & clear blue seas = beautiful beaches! And thats exactly the thought we had before we came here....you see pics in england of oz and it looks like paradise and we are all led to believe that is what its like!....Well i am here to tell you that is not reality! Murky water is reality! Not being able to swim in the sea due to jellyfish thats reality! The weather being so unpredictable that going to the beach is most of the time not an option....we were just shocked we were expecting 3 months in paradise and what we got was 3 months in a glorified spain! The bits that apparently beautiful are whitsundays, fraser island and all the places you pay stupid money to visit your paying to see beauty! When we thought it would be beautiful everywhere.
The natives....
Both new zealand and australia have natives...new zealand has maori's and australia has aborigines....
The younger maoris inpeticular seem to walk around with a chip on there shoulder and fight/argue in the street and are disrespectful ....however a Lot of these are teenagers so some of this behaviour could be the teenage tendencies nowadays! The older maori's seemed to be ok, less intimidating and kept themselves to themselves. There was never huge groups of maori's drinking, arguing with each other and being disrespectful, although we found them to be a bit intimidating at times i think this was due to us never really encounted natives like this and not being use to it! But there was maori shows etc where maori's where willing to show and teach members of the public and tourists about there culture and history. So all in all the maori's where more interesting then intimidating.
The aborigines in australia were very different....there were always huge groups of them everywhere especially in the touristy areas....drinking and a lot of the time they were arguing and fighting with each other, a lot of aborigines were drunks and falling about all over the street. There were many crimes on The News while we were there and i am sadden to say that the majority of these crimes were committed by the aborignes. They were extremely intimidating and you really felt you couldnt walk past them with out thinking something bad was going to happen. We saw a few protests whilst we were There where the aborigines were protesting because they wanted there land back.....it seemed that they didnt want to share it with the others and they were not living peacefully whereas in new zealand the maoris lived quite happily with everyone else! At times we really did feel unsafe and it wasnt very nice.
Saying all of this....we can only speak for the things we saw in the towns we visited, things may be different in other parts and others may have a different opinion or experience this is just ours.
The hostel staff....
As our trip is so long we are staying in many hostels and we never knew what to expect i think to be fair we expected the worst from all of them but we have been pleasantly surprised by most of them :) however what i want to talk about here is the staff!
In new zealand we stayed in hostels the whole time and they were mostly very nice and the staff were amazing & really kind, helpful and always gave you lots of info on the area you were in and most importantly they were approachable and treated you with respect. Australia however was a whole different kettle of fish....we stayed in only a handful of good hostels and found the staff in most of the hostels to be rude, arrogant and grumpy! They didnt want to give you any info unless you were thinking about booking something with them, which was a rip off on its own! Most of the nomads hostels were run by young adults some teenagers and all of these hostels had members of staff that were really rude to us and to many others, they dont have any experience in customer service and they dont care! Most hostels have the reputation that people go there to meet other "like minded" people" but not everyone is like the average traveller (talk more on this later!) there are Couples, older people and people that dont want to party all night because they want to get up and sight see the next day, but it seems if you are not like the "average traveller" most hostels in australia dont want to no!
The accomodation....
We stayed in all hostels in new zealand and we decided that the general standards were good, considering they were hostels! And we dont like to slum it! These were our first taste of hostels & we expected bad & we got good! There were many more perks in hostels in new zealand then oz.....for example .....free wifi, ovens, really helpful and polite staff, they were cheaper and they were all closer to everything....tourists attractions etc! And they all had clean & good standard kitchens! Which is a must for us! The thing that made them better then the ones in oz were the staff mainly they were so helpful and kind, and even the staff that lived in the hostels and worked for accomodation were friendly and always chatted to you and many of them even made cakes aswell for the hostel! Just the small things can really make a difference.
Australian hostels were a shock for us, I suppose this is what hostels are really like And this is what we expected in new zealand but going to new zealand first set the bar pretty high for oz! And unfortunately Oz hostels were generally unclean, the kitchens were tiny with not enough room, storage or cooking space for everyone! The staff were rude! And unhelpful, you always had to pay for wifi apart from about 4 hostels! And they were expensive!
We can count on one hand the good hostels and ones we enjoyed in australia where as nearly all were good in new zealand, and we have come to the conclusion that the best ones in australia were the family run ones not the chain ones, however sydney harbour yha & brisbane yha were the exception they were amazing! More like hotels. I think that australia's east coast is so backpacker orientated that the quality is forgotten in everything, its like they cant be bothered as there is so many backpackers giving them business, its very sad its like that.
We have found with both countrys that its the smaller hostels that offer more for your money and more for free to backpackers and these ones seem to be the excellent ones.
The cost's....
Although people had told us oz was expensive nothing could have prepared us for the expense it would cost us, and the fact that we werent really enjoying our time there made the expense feel like the end of the world! However obviously the cost of things isnt really a reflection on the country as every country's expenses are different this is just a comparison from us adding to our conclusion!
New zealand was relatively cheap, accomodation was a fair price, food and takeaways were cheap and clothing etc was cheap and we budgetted quite well we probably could of done with a extra £300 towards the end but other then that it wasnt to bad.
Australia was a big shock! Accomodation was slightly more expensive then new zealand with double rooms being stupid money! We only stayed in these if they were only a few dollers more! The food was expensive especially goodies! Getting a chocolate bar was around $3 ! And poor luke couldnt get any muffins ! He missed them greatly but they were so expensive! Food shopping wasnt to bad still more expensive then england, eating out was completely out of the question! However dominos did two cheap nights $5 pizzas so that was our weekly treat! And the tours and excursions were stupid money ! And really taking the piss out of backpackers.
The tours/excursions....
I will start by saying that tours/excursions in both countrys were expensive. However as we did the kiwi experience in new zealand we got lots of tours included and stopped at lots of places on route on our journey to other places...looking back now it was a good tour it just needed new office staff & buses! So the things they were offering werent excursions as such they were activities like white water rafting, cultural shows, bungy jumps, sky dives etc etc where as in oz it was all about the tour....there was a tour to go everywhere and they were all expensive ! You couldnt go to any town with out people offering you tours! And it seemed everyone did the same tours everyday, all year & it never changed! It hadnt changed for years! So not only were they expensive there were also so many people on them everyday that it would be hard to get a great experience out of it ! and we wanted to do things that were not so touristy! Looking back now the east coast was clearly the wrong option for us as we didnt do any of the touristy things backpackers come here to do! We got to see a lot of things in new zealand a lot of the country for one price.....the price of our bus ticket it was great ....whereas the oz experience was basically just greyhound transport up the east coast and nothing else! We found that new zealand had loads of free activities that were alternatives to the expensive ones if you couldnt afford it, but oz had no such thing, you had to do these tours for the high price or you missed out! It seemed everything was about tourists and how much money they could get off us, it was odd as new zealands main income as a country is money from tourists so you would think they would be the ones charging for every little thing they could and not doing free activites and definately not offering a great bus pass with added extras like walking tours, scenic stops, national park stops etc etc. australia has lots of different income not just from tourists and they are the ones taking the piss! The weather was unpredictable in both countries so cancelled tours or activities was unfortunately a reality, however in new zealand the company would rebook you and do everything they can so you can still do what you have booked to do, in australia if you booked a whitsundays tour for example ....and they are not cheap!...and the weather was bad it would be cancelled and you do not get a refund at all and because they are so fully booked with all these backpackers you cannot rebook! It really was disgraceful we spoke to many people who had quite litrally lost hundreds of dollers with cancelled tours and there was nothing they could do, one girl was claiming on her insurance but after the excess and converting it you would never get anywhere near the full amount back if any back at all! It just seemed odd that everyone was doing the same things and most of them were then complaining about these things! It was like they followed the crowd and got sucked in and were then spat out and hated it! Like they had no mind of there own! When really they have just paid alot of money to do a short tour that has been miss sold to them! Because they are a backpacker. There are so many people in the street in oz trying to convince you to do there tours etc it was like being on a small holiday island where Restaurants try to suck you into there restaurant to eat there food rather then the one up the road ! We didnt once encounter that in new zealand! Not even in queesntown which is a town that has been built especially for tourism! It just seemed that australia was really taking the piss out of tourists and backpackers and all over things that are NATURAL beauties, things that arnt man made things that were already there, they are making there money over taking people to the islands (where all the NATURAL beauty is!) and touring them! That is all! And unfortunately in our eyes and our experiences that is all the east coast of australia has to offer! And if you are not willing to pay for these tours then travel another part of australia!
Standards and values....
A few things have crossed our Minds whilst thinking about the standards for each country and the differences....when we say standards we are talking about the level of customer service, the standard of hostels and what may or may not be acceptable and the standard and value for money tours available for the averge travelling backpacker.
Both countrys are very aware of global warming and the damage "we" are creating so are very "save the planet" orientated which we love, so there are constant reminders everywhere about using less water, recycling, saving the animals and how we can help etc etc it really is very good i think that the uk needs to adopt some of there standards in relation to this.
Whilst in new zealand the level of customer service was always good, the only bad piece of customer service we recieved was from kiwi experience office staff, everywhere else everyone was really helpful, kind and respectful. Whilst we were there we never felt like they were putting all the backpackers in the same category they understood that all travellers were different and we werent all 18year olds fresh out of school and just wanting to drink and be led by others! The standard of the hostels was on another world compared to australia! All the hostels were clean for a start! and they all had the facilities that you needed as a traveller, it just seemed there standards were higher and they really wanted there hostel to have high standards, even the little things like how much room there was in the hostel for you to move around and put your bag! Its like they understood what its like to be a backpacker and what was important! The tours and activities available in New zealand were expensive and half the time we couldnt understand how half of these backpackers afforded it! However i will say for new zealand that they always offer a free or much cheaper option so you always have something to do :)
Australia unfortunately lacked customer service everywhere :( especially the hostels :( it seemed the people working at the hostel had very little or no training or experience and were not really interested in learning, they were just working for there accomodation and they just wanted to get there working hours out of the way! The standards were much different in regards to kitchen hygiene and cleanliness, although the hostels themselves cannot be solely blamed for kitchen hygiene as the backpackers themselves are dirty disgusting people! (Well....the majority!) and i am sure they must all have servents at home as not many no how to wash and dry up there own plates, cups and cutlery! So that is not the hostels fault! However the "kitchen cleaners" which were also backpackers working for accomodation were so shockingly bad at cleaning the kitchen, with this combined with dirty backpackers it made for a dirty kitchen! The common areas were pretty much the same, and as for "housekeeping" what that title should mean is "bin emptiers!" And the awful thing was this seemed to be acceptable standards of living! All the tours in australia were exactly the same tours to ......whitsundays, fraser island, barrier reef, sky diving, tours to see the wild animals, scuba diving, fishing charters etc etc they were all the same everywhere, all expensive for a backpackers budget, everyone did the same tours month after month year after year and we heard a lot of people complaining about the tours, that they were short, they were cancelled with no refund, they were shit,it was different to what they expected, it wasnt what was advertised the list goes on! We felt that all the backpackers did the same tours to follow the trend and because its "what you come to the east coast for" but most of them did not enjoy it as they were more often then not taken the piss out of by tour companys! Luckily we were not sucked into it! It seemed australia put all backpackers in the same category regardless of age.
Our fellow backpackers....
Since begining our travels we have come to realise that dogs have better hygiene then most of these travellers! And thats no lie! I will sum up as i could write an essay about this topic! It appears that alot of backpackers leave there home country and suddendly become accustom to a way of living that they have never known before.....wearing no shoes... at all anywhere! Not using washing machines to wash there clothes, not washing, eating the wierdest of foods the list goes on! The first thing....wearing no shoes really had us confused as especially people from the uk.....would leave the uk with 3-4 pairs of shoes and then all of sudden walking bare foot is what they choose to do! Its odd as we as a country arnt generally brought up to walk around bare footed! And going food shopping and to the bank just would not be allowed unless you had shoes on! But it seems they have left there home country so all of a sudden they like being bare footed 24 hours a day! And you should of seen the state of their feet! A lot of travellers thought jumping in the pool in there clothes was washing them adequately! I dont need to say any more on that you can imagine what they smelt like! I guess they also thought that jumping in the pool washed them aswell as the smell some of these people created was like nothing i had ever encounted before! And then there was there food habits!....most of these travellers drunk everynight and let me tell you its not cheap to do that! And then for there breakfast lunch and dinner would eat dry bread! Or bread that they have spoon chocolate spread on! It was so odd as we ate for $10 a day and we ate fresh good foods! A lot of them also ate super noodles every day! They surelY couldnt have been eating like this at home?? There was many backpackers that would come into a dorm and think that they own it and its there own room! They would quite litrally empty there backpacks all over the floor and hang stuff everywhere at times you couldnt see the floor! A lot of these people found it ok to chat about football scores until way past 2am! They just didnt have any respect for other people in the room and didnt care. People also have very bad kitchen hygiene habits! Leaving there dirty plates and cutlery all over dorm floors, not cleaning there pots and pans after cooking! Leaving things like yogurts and coke open in the fridge to leak over others things. It really shocked us that people behave like this!
Concluding our comparisons....
A lot of our conclusion is unfortunately negative about australia, this is our experience and views, there has been places and times we have enjoyed in australia and these can be found in earlier posts! it wasnt all terrible! (Luke said "just mostly!") a lot of people may not agree with this comparison that is probly because they followed the leader!! Everyone has a different experience and everyone has different ideas of what they want to do on there travels! I guess we were just not prepared for australia! And take it from us it IS a country you MUST prepare for!! I think its pretty clear we loved new zealand & its the sort of country that suited us very well :) it wasnt perfect as this post explains but it was pretty damn good! And we had a great time there :) all in all a lot of good (and some bad) memories have been made in both countries and we take it all on board as experience.
Parting thoughts....
In hindsight.....we booked a tour for the wrong part of australia, we booked it having had no experience & feel we were given the wrong guidance by our tour operater we know now they put us in the same categorie as the majority of backpackers! Which we are not! I wish we were offered other options, & we should have researched more i think we would of enjoyed another part of australia more, as obviously we picked the east coast and then complained it was touristy! But that is where all the tourists/backpackers go! It would have been nice if our trip was more personalised to us instead of being thrown in with everyone else, we wanted our own induvidual experience of australia & have a story of our own instead of everyone telling the same story of where they have been and what they have seen. The east coast wasnt us at all and even if we had a never ending budget we still wouldnt of done all the touristy thing. New zealand & the kiwi experience was good however there were other more suited options that we didnt know about until we arrived & we wished we had! No one we know has ever done a trip like ours so we went in having done a bit of research & having ideas of what we wanted & put our trust into our tour operater when we could of Infact booked everything ourselves for cheaper & did it all our way. We wouldnt say we regret anything as we are so lucky to be doing this trip its a once in a lifetime experience and we have some great memories its just a case of what we would have done differently......but this is all part of the experience of travelling! No one can guarentee your trip will be amazing you have to make the good memories we had more fun on this trip (so far!) finding our own path on our travels rather then following the crowd. And we are pleased we always stick to our own decision....its our amazing adventure and its definately proving one to remember!
(These are our own thoughts, opinions and experiences, some people will like them others wont! Everybody has different experiences and expectations and everyone is looking for a different adventure, this is for all the people that have asked us "which do you prefer .....new zealand or australia?" And this was our answer! Happy reading!)
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