- Don’t even think you will see ‘everything’ in one trip, as Australia is a huge country.

- It’s a very long way to fly, so an extra £50 or £100 is money well spent to fly with good legroom.

- Jet-lag tip is to sleep ‘til lunchtime (assuming you arrive early morning!), then get up and try and keep to local time for the rest of the day.

- Buy an ‘open-jaw’ ticket flights — this means you can arrive into one city, leave from another (saves on back tracking and unnecessary internal travel).

- Remember to get a visa; they’re easy to apply for online.

Pop over to Lucy’s frankly super blog for more advice, specifically around heading to Oz for Christmas – and another reminder about the £10 fares to Australia from STA Travel. The fares go on sale 5th August, so “don’t miss out”!

“This is a very sad occasion, as it is my last blog. I suppose if I feel nostalgic I could write about the exciting things I’m going to do after my trip, such as going to the hairdressers and trying to find a phone, but I doubt people will find that very interesting.”

However, there was one super last little ‘gem’ of a place at Santa Teresa in Brazil that appealed to her , and although not in the market for making lavish purchases, still had a super time at a little jewelery museum – where she was treated particularly kindly by the staff.

“I obviously wasn’t one of their target customers, shuffling around in my clothes which were falling apart with my rucksack, and in answer to the question, “which hotel are you staying at, Madam?” I replied, “Rio Backpackers”. But in spite of this, they were really nice to me. I had to explain “I wasn’t quite in the market for anything at the moment” but the man still let me try on (in fact he made me) some of the pieces and then wished me a good day.”

A positive note to end on – and… Goodbye Jane, we shall miss you!

“We have also learned a load about Australian music which on the whole seems to be amazing with much more variety than new English music. They also only seem to like good English bands, the other day they played Does It Offend You, Yeah? and a song of the new Matisyahu album in the middle of the day which certainly wouldn’t happen in England. Ok enough about triple J (though seriously its amazing).”

Bex too is feeling the financial pinch too, and although the sunsets are really enjoyable for her, Australia on a budget of approximately nothing isn’t quite living up to her previous high octane travel experiences.

“We’ve realised that Australia is a bit more expensive that we expected, for example all chocolate bars seem to cost over a pound! For a mars bar! That’s ridiculous. And all the day trips to go and do nice things are 60-70 pounds plus which we really can’t afford. So we’re sticking to the free stuff like sunsets.”

Overall – a fine time though in the antipodean climes, despite their lack of money. More updates on their way….

Meanwhile, on the lonelyplanet.com forum, discussion rages about the recession and whether the opportunities for jobs in Australia are as strangled as they are in the UK.

Bellarti says “Definitely a good promotion. All the news here in the UK is that students are not getting summer jobs and new graduates are not getting jobs either. Must be very depressing for them and there are lots. Who wouldn’t fancy their chances in Australia right now?” n_rb agrees, suggesting “so it’s a good value promotional device at a time when the low pound and recession are persuading many poms to stay at home”.

Oh – and if you live in Birmingham and fancy chatting to one of the STA Travel representatives about the deal today, keep an eye out on Birmingham Broad Street (morning), Centenary Square (lunchtime) and New Street & Arcadian (afternoon) for the visa van!

Talk about taking the message out to the people… Well STA’s best deal since records begun has literally taken to the streets, accompanied by a rather dubious looking, yet friendly, Koala (pictured). Taking in Birmingham all day tomorrow, Sheffield on Friday and Newcastle Monday – pop down and see them if you’re in the area!

Meanwhile, the social media has been buzzing too, with ABCDiamond in the britishexpats forum warning “There are only 150 of those £10 tickets on offer… so be quick… there may be a queue…”, whilst Helium_Junkie on Overclockers forum rightly points out “I really don’t think Oz needs to offer any further incentives!”.

Of course not everyone thinks ten pounds is a good deal, the humorous anthony712 of hotukdeals.com preferring incarceration to that precious tenner, “In the ‘ol days you just needed to steal a loaf of bread worth a farthing and you got a one way trip there for free :-)”, while dimebars points out to someone who thinks having to get down to the shop is a bit of a pain - “would you rather do that or pay nearer a grand?”

Good point sir!

…The red flags were up at Croatan beach too…

“Croatan beach is a great place to surf although it is very unpredictable, at some points the surf is completely flat although at other times there is a set of 3 waves ranging at about 2-3ft which are perfectly surf-able, however you really do have to figure out where they are going to break.”

Keep an eye on Alexander’s blog, and notably his selection of photos too – take a look at this one of some fairly epic surf.

The return of the Ten Pound Pom

“If you’re 18—30 and have been thinking about taking a year out in Australia then this could be an absolutely bargain way of doing it.”

Adding that she ‘loved the experiences of [her] Working Holiday Visa which was very character building’, she goes on to discuss the history of the original £10 pound poms.

“And if you’re wondering what the £10 Pom thing is all about, then this refers back to the £10 fares that were offered post WWII to anyone who wanted to emigrate to Australia from Britain and start a new life. The £10 fare then bought you a one way ticket by sea and over 1 million Brits took up the offer”.

For more details on the Ten Pound Pom offer, and where to get your hands on tickets… Pop over here.