Kangaroo Island, the little wild Island of Australia. Tips for budget travelers.

A hidden gem.

Almost 2 years ago, my partner and I were starting our farm adventure in Australia to get the precious 2nd Working Holiday Visa.

After a special month in the Barossa Valley, in South Australia (a must-go for wine lovers!), we landed in Kangaroo Island for 2 extra months of Woofing in a Marron farm.

This is a +400gr female marron with eggs.

I can't condense 2 months in only one article, that's why I am just going to present you the Island with a few tips, so I can share the rest later.

Kangaroo Island, is a place with originally a lot of Kangaroos, seriously, that's why the first settlers called it that way. There wasn't any day you couldn't see a wild Kangaroo or Wallaby passing next to you in the bush.

And also a lot of Goannas !

The Island isn't too big, less than 2 hours drive separate one side to other part of the Island, with a few big "cities". We stayed in Parndana, in the center, very small with some small groceries stores, but if you need any grocery or shopping, the best places are Kingscote, or Penneshaw, the famous landing point by ferry.

A baby sea lion, Seal Bay

How to get there




Simple, you have 2 options: the ferry, the most common one with Sealink. More details here. It takes around 45 minutes to get there, it remains the cheapest option.
If you can't drive from Adelaide, a few bus options exist to drive you to the ferry boarding.

By plane: there is a little airport on the Island, in Kingscote, from where you can go to Adelaide. Infos here.

Driving around and transports

Let's talk about the big issue and the reason why a lot of backpackers avoid this destination. The transports ! Well, it's true there isn't any special transport company in Kangaroo Island and renting a car if you travel alone could be expensive. And I am not talking about tours companies that can charge you over 300 Australian Dollars for just a few days.

But I have a few tips for you !

First, the obvious one, share the fees with a group of people. If you have a car, you can take it with you by ferry, and the cost is around 180$ with return. If you divide this amount by 4, it's only 45 each and you avoid a ruining rental! Let's note here than the fuel is more expensive on the Island like pretty much everything else, and having a car will allow you to take some extra groceries with you.

Also, renting a car from Adelaide can be a cheaper option than renting one on the Island, so don't hesitate to do a few prices comparisons before!

If you don't have a car

Kangaroo Island is a place with a lot of farmers and farming properties. Odds are a lot of them have a car or a van they may be able to rent for a few days for a cheaper price. It isn't a common option and it's more like a nice agreement but it can be a great opportunity to meet locals and know more about the place.

Woofing

You don't need a work visa to do Woofing. It's only based on volunteering. Although many people like me do it to get a second year visa, Woofing allow you to stay and eat for free, in exchange of some hours of work in a farm or for an organisation. Farmers are everywhere in Kangaroo Island and if you don't know how to find them, try a pub on a Friday night ;-)
This alternative, more adventurous, is also a solution to save on your stay, hotel, hostel or camping. Besides, it solves the car issue as many farmers have extra utes and cars that may help you visit the Island on your spare time.




What about the visits ?

On the first hand, Kangaroo Island is pricey compared to Adelaide for instance. Fuels tops up, food, extra activities and ferry all together can be a budget.
If you are planning to visit the best places of the Island, parks, cave, and lighthouses, a pass is available that allow unlimited visits for a year! I know, a year is a lot but as I stayed there for 2 months it was a great option to go back to some places such as Seal Bay with the beautiful Sea Lions.
Just a guided visit on the beach to see the Sea Lions is 33$! The pass itself is now 70$...
Of course, if you just have a few days and don't have the intention to visit the lighthouses, just paying as you go could be enough.

Some places are free, such as Little Sahara, but if you are planning a sandboard session, it's another expense as well...

Seal Bay

Emu Bay without Emus but Pelicans!

Weather

I stayed in November December, and left at the beginning of January. In comparison to Adelaide, the Island is a bit cooler and rains are more frequent. Although you can have beautiful and hot days, like in the rest of South Australia, note that Kangaroo Island is more humid.

Top 5 Free things to do in London !

Hello you! Today, I bring you to London, UK, not the one in Canada ;-) Ready?

Travelling shouldn't be synonymous with crazy expenses and ending up broke, there are so many ways to enjoy places on a budget. Let me share with you a few tips.

Let's start with a fact: London is expensive. True. BUT, there are so many ways to visit this crazy city just with an Oyster card in your pocket. I spent over a year in London and I developed a few tricks to enjoy this city for no penny!

Here is my Top 5, but don't hesitate to share more in the comments.

1 - The changing of the guards in Buckingham Palace. You will have to wake up early for that one as the best spots (the fountain, I tell you) are often taken by the early birds or the party birds :-). It is free, it is in every touristic guide and it's full of photos opportunities. Do you need an other reason? 

2 - Parks and gardens. Walking is not boring. From Buckingham Palace, you can wander in the parks spread around the city. The closest one is Green park with its cute squirrels, but also St James Park and so much more! From Primrose Hill, you can relax with a view of the city! Just open a map and you will find so many parks around you.

My favorite gem is Hampstead, less conveniently located but still easily accessible from the transports.

3 - Museums. London is a great city when it's about equal access to culture and museums. The British Museum, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, the Tate Modern, Victoria & Albert Museum and the Natural History and Science Museum are some of the best and can occupy a few of your days all together. If you just have to pick one, I would recommend the Natural History and Science Museum, for the architecture and the giant Dinosaur at the entrance. If you feel generous, you can donate a few pounds to support the great work they are doing!

Here is the V&A museum court, a hidden relaxing gem.

4 - A Thames walk. A great way to digest your too big Fish and Chips. You can easily walk along the Thames and discover some of the city's highlights. From the Tate Modern museum, you can walk along the river and you can see St Paul Cathedral, actually located on the other side, in front of the museum. And all along the walk, you can stumble upon a few traditional pubs, hidden commercial areas, the Town Hall, interesting for the architecture and the view. You will land next to the Tower Bridge with some nice hidden streets around the area. On sunny days, you can relax among tourists and locals on the nice grass around.

5 - Visit markets. I know this one is tough and full of temptations. But those places are also full of browsing and meeting opportunities. From the crazy Cyberdog shop in Camden Town, the Horse Tunnel in Camden Market to the vintage and not so vintage shops in Portobello Road, the possibilities are endless! In the Eastern suburbs, you will enjoy Brick Lane market on Sundays and discover London's new wave with its cool street art scene.

Street art scene can be found everywhere in London. It's free, but a donation is always appreciated ;-)

Bonus: Window shopping. So you are too broke to spend your money in Primark, but you can still walk. There are so many window shopping opportunities in London. Selfridges' windows in Oxford Street are always sophisticated. I remember the beautiful decorations at Christmas time but also for the Queen Diamond Jubilee as it was such an event! Some pics here.

Harrods is also a great spot for too expensive food corners and its Egyptian stairs.

Eye catching shops fronts in Camden Town.

Cyberdog shop in Camden Market, one of the most entertaining shops!

To know more about London's endless activities and shows, visit Time Out London, always updated and so interesting. 

For great deals, look at Groupon as well, you may find some discounted prices for city tours for example.

2 Days in Kuala Lumpur - My impressions and tips.

Happy Monday! I hope you had a good weekend, I start to be more and more excited about writing this blog and having the opportunity to share my pictures and stories to perfect strangers. I hope you like it and I have so many projects and content ideas.I am finishing a video about KL as well, the tone is different but I would be happy to have your opinion about it. Do you like travel videos? And if you do, what kind of content do you prefer: vlog, documentary styles or just videos with music background? Please don't be shy and leave me a comment at the end of this post or on my social media pages, your opinion is still important :-)

For my last post, here is some extra information and impressions about my 2 days in Kuala Lumpur.
For this short trip, I prepared mixing different contents online and in city guides. I am a bit of a control freak, so I always have a list of things to do and/or see.

Where to stay

Hostelworld is the website I always use to compare rates and fares for hostels and B&B. I always mix information between this site and also Airbnb, Tripadvisor or even Trivago...That time, I found a private double bedroom, with shared bathroom in a Chinatown hostel. It was enough for privacy and we were able to leave our luggage after checkout so we could spend our last day visiting the city. The place was clean and safe so we could feel comfortable.

Note that Hostelworld provides some free and interesting city guides for short trips.

I know everyone has a different idea about vacations and travels, depending on your budget, mentality or the number of guests, choosing the right place to stay isn't always easy. I don't always trust negative reviews as we don't know the circumstances but if you only find negatives comments for the same place you better try another place.
In my situation, I didn't want to spend too much money in Kuala Lumpur as I was going to stay in France for the next 4 months, a luxury hotel in the Golden Triangle wasn't an option.

I am now planning a few weeks holidays in Japan and options are of course different and I am actually saving for at least one stay in a traditional Ryokan.

The budget travellers may prefer couchsurfing and I heard some nice experience about couchsurfing in KL, as long as the cultural barrier doesn't affect your stay and your host.

View on the temple from the Rooftop of the hostel

View from the rooftop of the hostel

Mentality and cultural barrier

Speaking about cultural barrier, KL is a multicultural city, with Little India and Chinatown, different cultures are represented. For instance, shoulders may be covered for temples visits, mostly for muslim and hindu religions. I should admit there that by the high humidity and temperatures, I had difficulties complying with this rules outside visits, while walking around the city and noticed a lot of occidental girls like me in the same situation. Although the presence of tourists in some areas is high, I noticed some shocked looks on me, wearing a sleeveless top and even in the airport. Some people don't really pay attention to this cultural barriers but as I am a tourist, I always prefer being mixed in the mass instead of dragging unconsciously the attention on me. 

Transports and not getting lost

Well, I am sorry in advance, but I don't have the miracle solution not to get lost,unless you have a lot of internet data to use a GPS on your phone, I always trust the old map. 

You have many more options depending on your travel, I am just sharing my experience here.

From and to the airport

We tried 2 differents methods. When we arrived, it was late, around 11 pm,so we decided to take a taxi. Prices are always a bit higher during the night, although I tried to use my negotiation skills... To be improved ;-) On the way back, we took the KLIA express to the airport from the center. It's direct, easy, not too pricey... What else? 

The cost was 35 MYR per person, one way.More info here.

In around the city

Although the presence of taxis is striking in the city, we found the metro and train system easy. For only 2 days, most of the main attractions are well served. Once that said, the train is the budget friendly option.We also had a mini map and a guide which was helpful with some detailed areas.

A train station in KL

Weather, hygiene and ambiance

Humid would be word to qualify the weather in KL. With temperatures over 30 degrees, we were never cold although the sun was hidden by the pollution clouds above the city. You can notice on the pictures that the sky seems to be white or grey, but barely blue. 

The water in the river was also very polluted and you can be disgusted only by the sight of it! But drinkable water is easy to find, you are in a city after all, and some refill spots can also be found in the street.

I wish I would have had more time to visit some other parts of Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur was an experience with its busy ambiance but I think I would enjoy even more some secluded parts of the country to be able to improve my knowledge about the culture and to try local food as well! 

So, is Kuala Lumpur rich or poor?

Answering that question would be answering about Malaysian situation. I am not an economist, but what striked me the most are the contrasts between the different parts of the city. You could see people sleeping in the streets or selling "sewing machines" made up of staples and a piece of fabric. Malay are full of resources and so is their country! 

On the other side, you can go on the top of the Petronas towers, named after a big petrol company, and spend as much money in shopping as you could do in Paris...

After reading that, you can relate to a lot of developing countries where distribution of wealth issues need to be worked out.

As long as you are aware of it, it shouldn't prevent you from enjoying this complex city.

2 Days in Kuala Lumpur - Day 2, a modern and powerful city. Tips inside!

Are you ready for this second day in KL?

For our first day, we wanted to explore the wealthy part of the city, around the golden triangle area, with the Petronas twins towers and a lot of commercial centers.

The Petronas towers are, for the moment, the highest twin towers in the world with 88 floors. For the early birds,it's possible to get free ticket to the top of the towers, before 9am. Unfortunately for us, we arrived much later and the only tickets to be sold were only available for the next day. As it was our last day, we decided to enjoy the surroundings and I have to admit that it was a relaxing day although we got lost a few times in some commercial centers and streets.

Well...There, we were lost, just a bit...

We ended in a big commercial center, and sorry again, I don't remember the name at all, but it was in front of a big and modern Sephora shop with a different architecture. I trust you to find it :-) 
As the Chinese New Year was coming, the mall was decorated in the colors of the event with a few carousels and stands.
We found a really nice DC comics store, with more than human sized heroes. You can actually see this store from the street, it's located on the 1st or 2nd floor.

We had our flight the same night, but before organizing our departure, we wanted to see the Bird Park, located in the Lake Gardens area, it is really easy to access from the center if you don't mind a bit of walk. The area is much quiet than the rest of the city, you just hear birds around, I must confess it had this relaxing ambiance, away from the crowded streets, which I really enjoyed.
In the same area, you can also visit some other parks, we chose the KL Bird Park.

So here is a tip for budget travelers: if you don't want to spend the entrance fees or if you don't have the time to visit it, I suggest you can purchase a meal or a drink in the restaurant area so you can see some of the most beautiful species with excellent photo opportunities! Indeed, the greedy ones often come around to pick some leftovers. They are so close to you, be careful, respect the birds and enjoy the funny scenes.

.

 

KL Bird Park

KL Bird Park, the greedy birds

My other Kuala Lumpur articles

2 days in Kuala Lumpur - Day 1, Batu Caves
2 days in Kuala Lumpur - Day1, Part 2, Culture and traditions

For some more details and impressions, I am preparing you a special article for the next days.

2 days in Kuala Lumpur - Day1, Part 2, Culture and traditions

Hello my dear fellow travellers, I hope you enjoyed my first post about Batu Caves as much as I enjoyed visiting it. Since we came back from this short trip, if there is any spot we like to recommend, it's always Batu Caves. It's a kind of Wow factor place I reckon.

So, let's come back to Chinatown, it is still our first day and you are a bit hungry... So let's visit the Central Market. 
This market is very touristic, with a lot of souvenir shops, food stalls with local fruits. I tried Mangosteen for the first time over there and it's such a delight! Sorry I don't have any photos, but my tastebuds still remember this soft and delicate fruit. 
More info about the Mangosteen here.

Along the fake luxury stalls, we found a kind of food court and chose a Bibimbap in the Corean corner. I know what you are thinking right now, and what about local food? Well, I have to admit we didn't get to try so many Malay dishes, I guess it's gonna be for the next time. But, we sampled a lot of sweet and local snacks.

2 Bibimbap, plus sides and freshly made drinks. The price was very honourable, a few cents for the drinks. Sorry I don't remember exactly.

That was good !

For instance, this green thing above is a kind of sponge roll made with pandan, palm sugar and coconut. It's prepared in a bamboo roll in front of you. I don't remember the name, so if any of you has a better knowledge of this delicacy than mine, let me know! It was delicious and my not too fond of sweets boyfriend finished it easily.

Once our lunch and market tour done, we went around Chinatown, got lost as well and discovered a few elegant temples and monuments...

Dawabumi complex, next to central market.

We stumbled upon some temples as well. Here is the taoist Sze-Ya temple, built in the 19th century, is one of the oldest of its kind in KL.

We noticed that in Kuala Lumpur, a lot of temples are hidden in small streets and between little shops as well. Although I prepared my trip and made a list of temples to visit, I have to admit that we found most of them while we were wandering around the neighbourhood.

Another lucky discovery,the Sri Mahamariamman temple. This is the oldest hindu temple of the city, founded in 1873, it catches your attention with its apparently 228 colourful divinities mounted on a 22 metres high sculpture.

I had difficulties taking a photo of the whole front as the street was narrow and didn't give me enough angle. A larger lens would have been useful in that situation! 

Let's finish with the temples with the Chan See Shu Yuen temple bellow.The is one of the oldest chinese buddhist temple in Malaysia, from 1906. 

Also located in Chinatown, it was closed when we arrived and had some sort of renovations around.

Some old buildings in Chinatown

A lot of wild cats around the city.

It was nearly 4pm when we decided to have a look on some local museums.We started with the Textile Museum located next to Central Market as well, in this beautiful building. You can see the Dawabumi complex in the background,everything was so close!

All I can say is that our visit was quick as the museum was going to close but with a free entry, we didn't hesitate for too long.

Hello!

It was a beautiful museum, showcasing the evolution of Malay textiles and techniques with a nicely elaborated scenography.Just out of the textile museum, here is the Sultan Abdul Samad building, just in the other corner of the road. This authentic building is located in front of the Merdeka Square. This building inspired by the Indian Mughal architecture is now occupied by the Information and Culture Ministry.

As we were still in the area around Merdeka Square, our curiosity led us to the KL City Gallery, showing past and future transformations of the city. You can see a giant model of the city representing future buildings and skyscrapers which are going to change the look of the city in the next 10 years.



To finish,we headed to Little India, easily accessible by walk and stopped for sunset pictures at the Masjid Jamed Mosquee with its beautiful palm trees and night lights.

In little India

I didn't really enjoy Little India besides a few nicely colored old buildings, but I guess it can be a question of tastes and ambiance. I like going out of my comfort zone when it's about travelling and discovering new places but Little India didn't seem to be a place for me and I am sorry I don't have objective explanations about that. Or maybe a few looks on my bare arms didn't improve the situation... 

But anyway, I just share my feeling here and my partner shares the same about it. 

Did you have this same uncomfortable feeling while visiting a foreign place? There is no shame about it and sometimes the vibrance of a place doesn't operate. I have a friend who really enjoyed it so it shouldn't prevent anyone from enjoying it as well.

My other Kuala Lumpur article

2 days in Kuala Lumpur - Day 1, Batu Caves