Travels of Shepp

What's the best part about travelling? Seeing famous landmarks? Trying new foods? Spending lots of money on fun activities? All that stuff's great, but definitely not the best. The best part is the people you meet along the way, and the connections and friendships you make with them. I knew I would meet people, but I had no idea that I would make such close and incredible friends. I've made some friendships that I would honestly say are so close, and I would rely on these people and go to them with my deepest worries. Even though I've only known people for a couple of months at most, I want to share my happiest moments with them and I can't wait to hear all about their journeys and adventures. And the worst part about travelling? Saying goodbye to them. To tell the truth, there are actually worse elements of travelling, because saying goodbye is quite bittersweet. Yes it sucks that we won't see each other for the foreseeable future, (or maybe even ever again) bu...

Where I've struggled with getting a job and settling in Melbourne, it's hard to see what I've gained from staying here. I can easily feel like I've wasted my time here, as it didn't work out the way I thought it could and I've spent a good 2 months here now- which is a large chunk of my year-long visa. But I don't want to think of it like that. I want to see the positives in what I've got out of staying in Melbourne, which although may be difficult to see now, will certainly come with hindsight. Firstly, I've learnt so much about getting jobs in Australia. I've discovered that it can be much more difficult than I had originally thought it would be, meaning when I next look for a job I can better set my expectations. I've learnt the usefulness of Facebook groups for finding all sorts of work for backpackers. Speaking to other travellers about their experiences has taught me a lot about the different jobs out there and people's ...

When I originally arrived in Melbourne, I had a rough plan to travel up the east coast, but I didn't really know what I was going to do. I met some amazing people on the tour and a lot of them were staying in Melbourne to get jobs, so I decided to do the same. I'd heard there were lots of jobs here so it wouldn't be too difficult. I moved into an apartment with my 3 friends, and we were planning on staying for around 3 months to work. But don't let instagram fool you; it's not been sunsets and beach days all the time. Finding a job proved much more difficult than I thought it would. And now, along with a mixture of lots of other factors, I've been struggling with being here. Whilst I have enjoyed the fun stuff that we've done, and I do really like St Kilda- something isn't quite right. I'm not feeling the excitement about the place anymore, not feeling the inspiration that I felt at the start of the trip. I don't feel totally sett...

We woke up in the oldest hostel in Australia, in Port Fairy. Our first stop was a wildlife reserve. We drove down a narrow, one-way road slowly to try and spot some wildlife. We even put on the Jurassic Park theme tune because we thought it would be funny. As if on cue, two emus stepped out of the bushes and in front of the car! It was so surreal, especially considering how dinosaur-like emus look. As they stepped across the road, we watched in awe and amusement at these incredible creatures in their natural habitat. Not long after, we saw koalas high up in the trees above! We had to stop the car and get out for a better view. We couldn't believe everything we'd seen before we had even parked the car! Once we did actually park, we wandered slowly around the nature reserve, spotting more koalas on the way. We also saw more emus and some kangaroos. I was surprised at how calm they were and how close to them we could get without them minding. I felt so lucky that a few days ago I ...

Like many cities, there are many suburbs of Melbourne. They all have their own characteristics and aesthetics I haven't been to every single suburb (there are 14), I have been to a few and I definitely have a favourite. St Kilda is the suburb with the best beach and it's got a very chilled vibe. It's just got a slower pace than a lot of the city, especially the CBD. I saw its charm when we first came here for the beach and then fell in love a week or so later when we stayed in St Kilda for 5 days. I knew I wanted to find a way to live and hopefully even work here. The street art against beautiful clear skies with the beach just minutes away is really the Australian dream. Along with a collection of independent shops, tattoo shops, restaurants and bars, this makes St Kilda a lovely place to live. There are more palm trees here than the rest of the city which just adds to the chilled, beachy, almost San Diego vibe of the place. You really c...

I've been travelling for 30 days now, and I've learnt a lot. I wanted to reflect on some of the things I've learnt along the way. 1- There are good, friendly people everywhere in the world. 2- Likewise, there are dickheads everywhere in the world. 3- People do actually chat on planes. It's not just a movie thing. 4- Not every day is a travel day. In fact, most days aren't. Especially where I've decided to stay in Melbourne for the first couple of months, most days are sorting stuff out, resting, shopping, and lots of other fairly boring stuff that you don't see on Instagram. 5-  Solo travelling isnt spending 24/7 alone. In fact, most of the time Ive spent with other people. My first 10 days of solo travelling, and the only time I had spent solo was about 20 minutes. But meeting new people was half the adventure of going by myself! 6- Sometimes it's really hard to not be at home. When things happen and you need to be there, but you can...

On our third day on the road, we woke up in sunny Apollo Bay. Our first stop right after breakfast was actually ice cream! We were recommended to go here since they do Vegemite ice cream... safe to say this wasn't for me but was interesting nonetheless! With all those interesting flavours on offer I went for mango chilli flavour ice cream. It was delicious but weird to eat cold ice cream and then have a hot throat! After very much confusing my mouth, we headed on to continue adventuring. We found ourselves in this rainforest walk with even more stunning scenes. Our next stop was Gibson Steps and Twelve Apostles. Again, I could help but wander at the fact that the rainforest landscape was so close (even in the same state!) as the beach landscape. It was such a hot day with a clear blue sky, it was difficult to tell the difference between the sky and the turquoise blue sea. The Twelve Apostles were incredible to see too, even though there are only 7 of them le...

On our second day, since we were so tired from getting in late, we woke up as late as possible and then checked out of the hostel in Torquay. Our first stop was Split Point Lighthouse which was situated right on a beach lookout. It was a beautiful sunny day so great for taking in the view. I could watch the clear blue waves forever. Split Point is also home to the Aireys Inlet Volcano, which has something to do with the geographical formation of the place. I dont totally understand the science of it, but I know it was gorgeous! The drive between here and the next stop was real ocean road fantasy come true. The next stop was Erskine Falls. It was like a jungle and I found it really incredible that a landscape like that was so close to a beach area. We of course took this opportunity to do another photoshoot! Shortly after we took another scenic drive to a nice surf town called Lorne. The beach was so pea...

Last week me and 11 of my friends from the Welcome to Travel tour went on a big road trip along the Great Ocean Road. We hired two 8-seater vans to squeeze us and all of our bags into for the 5-day trip. We did and saw so much on this trip that I wanted to share it with you day-by-day! On the first day, we had to go and pick up the vans from the other side of the city. Four of us made our way over there and got the vans to go back and pick everyone else up. My first time driving an automatic car was really fun! It was weird not having the gear stick there but really easy. I named my van Sylvia after my Nan and because it was silver- the other was called Barry because it was white We all piled in the van absolutely buzzing for our adventure. Me, Alice, Hannah, Lianna, Jess and Willow Willow enjoyed the driving too- the big Australian roads also helped. The first drive was really long- about 3 hours- but it didn't feel like it. Our firs...