Conclusions about Australia

Things we really enjoyed in Australia:

1. Josephine falls, wallabies and Great barrier reef – thanks to Brant
2. Great Ocean road, koalas and kangaroos – thanks to Paul
3. Opera house and harbor view – thanks to Sydney city

Things we didn’t like about Australia:

• Australian cities and small villages look much like US ones. One of our hosts in NZ, an Australian by origin, has told us that probably due to the fact that UK has sent convicts to settle Australian continent they have decided to make it look less possible as UK or Europe, which could probably be true :-D

• Australian society is pretty racist one – white Australians don’t mix a lot with other races or nationalities (for us it was the most obvious in Sydney area), and even they don’t recognize it (most of them actually do), Australians just don’t like other nationalities, immigrants, any people who come live in Australia and they treat them harsh. We had few talks with people (even from Couchsurfing) who came to live in Australia from other countries – and it is not easy for them to adapt.

• Australia doesn’t have it’s own culture, own food and history – that it why seemed to be not very original to us. What local food we have tried? Fish and chips haha

• Australia is very expensive for European travelers (maybe it is now, because AUS dollar is strong, but it was by far more expensive then Japan)

• Visa process is the most stupid I have ever seen in my life : When I have applied for Australian visa online, saying all the truth (that I am unemployed but with demonstration of bank account with more then enough money for 2 weeks in Australia) – they kept me waiting for 1 month until I got visa. During the waiting time, we completed a new application with a fake name and data (just as test, to see how serious they are about online visa applications). On the fake application I said I was employed and when they asked me to submit letter from employee, we made a very fake primitive letter – just a word document and a fake JPG signature copied from internet. I have submitted this letter and within 3 days they gave me visa for that fake name we have invented! Can you believe that!!!

In conclusion, if you are not a surfer and you live in Barcelona, most probably for you Australia is not a place to be

AND WE ARE NOT SURFERS!! :-DD