Travelling the world to oz!?

Question

me n my bf want to emmigrate to oz, we r looking at getting a temporary or perminant visa for there... think we have relevant jobs that work on the points system.... but we want to travel there by van, across the world n travel to differnt places on the way. is it possible to do this and what would we need to do to get started and when we get to oz? plus how much money would we need for basics and to actually get into oz?

Answer 1

I did that trip in reverse (from Oz, to the UK) back in the mid-80s - absolutely awesome experience!! We (that is, the girlfriend Ihad met in Oz, and who is now my wife!) did it using local transport (bus, train, horse and cart, local ferries - just whatever happened to be available at the time) although my original plan had been to do as you plan, and use a van.

I would strongly recommend you think about using local transport rather than a van/car. Reasons include:

- much cheaper

- less hassle with paperwork when you cross international borders in some far-flung place

- less hassle with possible theft/breakdown etc. What do you do when you break down in some out-of-the-way-village and you need a new widget for the van? What do you do if the van is stolen/written off in an accident?  

- wherever people live, they have to get about, so there is ALWAYS some form of transport available

- you meet the locals by using the same transport as them, and a journey like that were you don't meet people is not even worth it

- Some land borders are closed to all traffic - you HAVE toflyin and out of the country. Burma used to be like that, and as far as I understand it, still is.

I could go on and on here. If you'd like to email me for more info, please feel free, but I do seriously think it's better to put everything you need in a rucksack and just go like that. It's incredibly liberating to know that everything you own is on your back

To finish on a positive note, once you've decided to go, you've done the hardest bit! Everything that follows is relatively easy! And you will never, everr egret doing it!

Happy travelling!

Oops! You asked about costs. For what it's worth, I left Oz in July 1983, and got back tothe UK in June 1984. TOTAL cost (that is, for absoltely everything needed for twelve months on the road, incl food, accomodation, all transport incl. the occasional flight, etc) was about £2000. We lived in US£10 a day. Things will have changed dramatically by now, but it might gve you a feeling for what's involved

<edit> Oops! That was US$10 (dollars) a day, not US£10(pounds!!).