I must admit that blogging and running an online business started off as a hobby and became a lifestyle. Like any successful business, they grow, which of course means more work. I thought it was about time I got an intern.

I do need to manage your expectations. The work you will be doing isn’t glamorous, may even lean towards tedious at times but it’s fundamental to what I do.

What will you be doing for me?

• Search Engine Optimization
• Social Media
• Article writing
• Networking
• Research for my new book
• Advertising
• Reviewing tours and activities in Australia and New Zealand

What I am looking for?

• The ability to commit to approximately 15 hours a week.
• Available for a 6 week period starting August/September.
• You have plans to travel to Australia and New Zealand end of 2010 or 2011.
• A keen interest in writing, travel and social media.
• The ability to work efficiently and self-motivate.
• Professionalism. You will be representing Gap Year Escape and that means me.
• Good written English.

What do you get in return?

• My knowledge on social media and online marketing.
• Ongoing mentoring through the life of your blog.
• A reference should you apply for an online media or marketing role.
• I have also arranged for you to attend on my behalf (worth over $1200):
• 5 Day Sydney to Byron Bay Surf Tour, Australia
• Great Ocean Road, Australia
• Mornington Peninsula, Australia 
• White Water Rafting, New Zealand
• Franz Josef Glacier Hike, New Zealand 
• Additional tours and activities may be arranged nearer the time.

To summarise, in exchange for doing some less than glamorous work online from the comfort of a computer anywhere in the world you get; knowledge, experience and awesome trips. Sound reasonable to you? So if you’re planning on travelling to Australia and New Zealand in the near future and are interested send an e-mail to amar.hussain [at} rocketmail [dot] com. I’m a businessman so I appreciate a CV but this is online media. Be creative if you want to get my attention and a writing sample would help. Also, don’t try and astound me with eloquent prose. I’m not that kind of writer.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

Amar

P.S If you think this may be of interest to someone else please pass it on or Digg, Stumble or Tweet. Thank you.

Let’s be honest, who doesn’t like cute little penguins?! I’ve seen Happy Feet and Surf’s Up dozens of times and the idea of watching these little guys storm a beach really appealed to me. There are quite a few operators who run the Phillip Island Penguin Parade Tour, but Bunyip Tour’s Moonlight Express Tour has a rather nice twist. Let me give you a breakdown.

After about an hour’s drive you stop for a welcomed refreshment stop and can take a nice stroll along The Nobbies boardwalk and also enjoy views of Seal Rocks. Now believe it or not Seals are kind of hard to spot. You could be staring at a rock… or is it a Seal? Definitely a rock. Ok that rock just sneezed. What?!?

You have two options with the Penguin Parade; normal seating or pay an additional $11 for the exclusive viewing area. To be honest I would say save your $11. If you get there early enough, grab a spot on the first seating area, at the front on the right hand side. That’s the best piece of advice I can give you, although you will get a decent view wherever you are sitting. Also, the other reason I wouldn’t pay for the exclusive viewing area is that once the cute little penguins have waddled their way on to the beach they head towards their burrows. Head back to the boardwalk and you can see them up close and personal. I was so close I could have picked one up (trust me, I was tempted).

Now here’s what really impressed me with this tour; the lantern-lit night walk at the Moonlit Wildlife Conservation Park. I’ve been to a lot of national parks on my travels but to visit one at night is a different experience altogether. Armed with a lantern and food you take a steady walk round the park. The highlight would have been when we saw a pair of Tasmanian Devils. I’ve never seen them so active before! We also got to see and feed all types of animals such as Kangaroos, Koalas, Wombats, Bettongs and Quolls.

Would I recommend this tour? Yes I would. Would I recommend it with Bunyip Tours? Even more so. The Penguin Parade was great but the unique selling point for me would have to be the conservation park at night. It wasn’t rushed at all, everyone got plenty of time with the animals and it’s minor but you didn’t have to pay extra for feed like some other places.

This isn’t for a particular type of tourist. Our tour bus was a mix of travellers and families. One final piece of advice would be to ensure you wrap up warm! It gets pretty cold sitting on the beach waiting for the Penguins with the ocean breeze.

Bunyip Tours operates numerous tours in Victoria. Check out my Neighbours Tour and Wilsons Promontory reviews too.

This tour was sponsored by Bunyip Tours. Images courtesy of Bunyip Tours.

Images copyright of respective owners: Gap Year Escape, Calypso Star Charter, Bunyip Tours and MojoSurf.

I’m stood in the cage peering out into the ocean when suddenly it appears. It started off as a shadow and slowly developed into the incredible creature that has survived 16 million years of evolution. The Great White Shark is incredibly casual and majestic as it stalked towards us. It’s scary to think that the shark can sense my heartbeat and would be feeling it quicken as it got closer. They can sense one billionth of a volt. It certainly knows I am there.

It was phenomenal to watch the shark chase the bait as it widened its jaws merely a metre away from where we were. You’ll feel an incredible adrenaline rush as you watch it clamp down its jaws with thousands of pounds of pressure. Even though you are in a cage the viewing gap is big enough to give you the sensation that you’re not in one. You can’t truly appreciate a Great White Shark until you have been down there with them.

Would I recommend this tour. Yes, yes and yes! The day tour lasts approximately 12 hours and it’s an enjoyable journey out past the Neptune Islands. You won’t just see sharks but scores of dolphins and even seals. The ship is very comfortable, friendly crew and the hostess really outdoes herself. You’ll be incredibly well fed throughout the day. The seafood platter was a rather nice touch.

At the end of the trip there was a customer feedback form and I honestly couldn’t suggest any improvements.

Now you’re probably wondering what this all costs and therein may lie a problem for some. At $495, this day tour is certainly not the cheapest but you have to look at the bigger picture. Do you get value for money? Personally, I would say so. There’s only a few places in the world that you can dive with Great White Sharks; Australia, South Africa and Guadalupe Island. At $495 this type of tour is actually very cheap compared to the competition. Look around on the internet and you’ll see many other operators that start at $3000.

This tour is rather accessible. You don’t have to have a diving certification and you don’t have to wear a tank either. The group was a mix of young travellers, backpackers and even a couple who were celebrating a 40th birthday. Due to the price tag this type of tour may be out of reach for some budget travellers or backpackers but I think I would rather have done this and forego some other tour or a few nights out. Was certainly worth it and experience you won’t soon forget.

Easiest way to get to Port Lincoln is to fly, unless of course you are driving through. Flights are reasonably priced from Sydney and Melbourne, and fly via Adelaide. I’d recommend booking a flight online with Qantas. Port Lincoln lacks any hostels and cheap accommodation options are slim . I stayed at the Pier Hotel (+618 8682 1322), which was clean, quiet, overlooks Boston Bay and is a short taxi away from where the tour departs.

This tour was sponsored by Calypso Star Charter. Images courtesy of Calypso Star Charter. The Pier Hotel offered Gap Year Escape industry rates for the duration of stay.

A friend and I basically decided a good way to explore Melbourne was to pick a direction and get lost. After several long walks and turns we ended up in an alley directly opposite the National Gallery. The graffiti here is incredible and really worth checking out.

In the spirit of graffiti I’ll end this with some of my favourite Banksy quotes.

“Art is not like other culture because its success is not made by its audience. The public fill concert halls and cinemas every day, we read novels by the millions, and buy records by the billions. We the people, affect the making and quality of most of our culture, but not our art.”

“Writing graffiti is about the most honest way you can be an artist. It takes no money to do it, you don’t need an education to understand it and there’s no admission fee.”

“Bus stops are far more interesting and useful places to have art than in museums. Graffiti has more chance of meaning something or changing stuff than anything indoors. Graffiti has been used to start revolutions, stop wars, and generally is the voice of people who aren’t listened to. Graffiti is one of those few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don’t come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make somebody smile while they’re having a piss.”

“Only when the last tree has been cut down and the last river has dried up will man realize that reciting red Indian proverbs makes you sound like a fucking muppet.”

Mojosurf operates in four locations on the East Coast of Australia; Sydney, Crescent Head, Spot X (Arrawarra) and Byron Bay. I spent five days at the Crescent Head surf camp which is set amongst picturesque coastal scenery. The area is soon to be classed as a National Park.

The journey from Sydney to Crescent Head takes about six hours. You’d want to travel comfortably right? Mojosurf really have that covered with the most comfortable transport on wheels I have ever ridden in.

When we pulled up to the beach house we were greeted by the friendly Kim, the head instructor. Now Kim, for me, embodies what I always pictured an Aussie surfer to be like. He has a thick accent, extroverted, laid back, always up for a laugh and most randomly of all the guy uses a gym rope as a belt. The guy is just cool!

The Beach house accommodation is set a short walk from the beach and is dorm style accommodation ranging from six to twelve beds. The accommodation is comfortable and the hammocks are a nice touch. The only downside that I could see was that hot water is generated by solar power. All you green travellers out there might appreciate that but for the less conscientious is does mean no hot showers before 5pm and if you are the last back in the evening you might have to have a cold shower. Personally I’d say man up, you’re being environmentally friendly.

The surf at Crescent Head is great for beginners. Lessons tend to last approximately two hours each and you will surf twice a day on non travelling days. The lesson groups are 20 each and the Crescent Head Surf Camp holds 60 people. This may seem like a lot, and compared to smaller surf schools it is, but Mojosurf has more surf instructors per head then I have seen and it’s more than the legal requirement. Mojosurf also has a great clothing range that can be bought with a photo package. I’m rather in love with my Mojosurf hoody. The staff photographer takes some great shots and it’s good value for money.

When you are doing this much exercise, nutrition is very important. Mojosurf puts on a great spread and I can promise you’ll never go hungry. As a vegetarian I can find it difficult on tours. Not because a tour company doesn’t provide the right food but because non-vegetarians can sometimes not think and eat the veggie food too, leaving you with nothing to eat. At a Mojosurf Camp vegetarians and those with specific dietary requirements collect their meals first. Personally I think this is a genius idea! If you do have any dietary requirements Mojosurf are rather good at accommodating you. One backpacker, affectionately known as “allergic to everything girl” was still catered for. I thought I was a fussy eater.

Mojosurf’s defining feature happens to actually be the nightlife. After dinner and the small matter of who cleans up (settled by a giant game of Jenga), everyone heads down to the ‘Humpy’. Why it’s called the Humpy is anyone’s guess. It’s a camp fire, wooden seating and a sound system that’s been built out of a bin. Sounds crazy and it is a little bit but it’s rather a lot of fun. It’s set in between the beach and the accommodation. Best thing is that it’s away from everything so that you can make as much noise as you like without disturbing anyone who’s trying to sleep.

So is this tour for you? If you want to learn to surf, definitely. If you want to have lots of fun outside lessons too, hell yes. If you want to surf hard and party harder Mojosurf is the right choice for you. Mojosurf caters more for the youth market. The general age ranged from 18 – 25 but most was in the 18 – 21 bracket (college leavers or gap year kids). As it’s a large and busy camp it suits more of the extroverted personality rather than a wall flower. One other thing worthy of note is that the camp seems to attract beautiful Scandinavian people. Just saying.

On the whole the Surf Camp is great. The food is top notch, instructors are fantastic (almost all of them compete professionally) and the nightlife is great fun. Aside from the occasional cold shower the only other thing to consider is price. As five day tours go the Mojosurf camp is slightly more expensive than some of its competitors but I would say that the additional cost is marginal compared to the experience and I would honestly say you get what you pay for. Check Mojosurf out!

This tour was sponsored by Mojosurf. Photography courtesy of Mojosurf.

Taken in the botanical gardens in Sydney by photographer Amy Kerr.

Even though I have passed through Sydney a few times I still hadn’t visited the Blue Mountains despite being right on my doorstep. As I was leaving Sydney I thought I best pay them a visit!

My advice to any backpacker would be not to do this trip on a tour. There are several reasons for this. The first and obvious reason would be cost. You can take a train from Sydney Central to Katoomba from a little over $10. The Three Sisters is a ten minute walk from the train station. In addition you can purchase a hop on-and-off pass for $20. A day trip for $30 is a bargain! Most companies offer tours from between $50 – $90. Certainly a way to save some cash if you are on a budget.

There is another reason why I would suggest not doing a tour is the freedom. A friend and I got off at the station, grabbed a map and just explored. We walked when we wanted, stopped when we wanted and were free to do whatever we liked. A lot of the tour buses we witnessed just seemed to be herded around like sheep.

So if you fancy a cheap day out of the city from Sydney, like walking and scenery, a day trip to the Blue Mountains could be for you.

It’s been a few weeks since my accident. Whether it’s down to my positive thinking or due to the fact I am awesome (probably the latter) I have made a rather speedy recovery, much to physiotherapists surprise and dismay I am sure. (He charges $150 an hour).

I can’t say that I am 100%. Most of the time I am fine but on occasion I will have a bit of pain but that’s to be expected. Medically speaking I have been given the all clear and am now free to continue on my merry way. Getting that bit of news actually confused me. I wasn’t expected to get better for another month or so and all of a sudden I am now free to leave Sydney. I’ve been using Sydney as my base to travel around Australia and it feels like home. It will be sad to leave. Onwards and upwards though!

So what’s the plan?

I will be reviewing a Shark Cage Diving trip in South Australia (Port Lincoln) so I am heading there next week. From there I will head across to Melbourne to catch a flight to New Zealand.

I thought I would post my itinerary here in case anyone was going to be around.

June & July – New Zealand (travelling from Christchurch to Auckland)

End of July – Fiji

Beginning of August – Vancouver

August – LA, San Diego, San Francisco, Las Vegas

September – New York

If you are going to be travelling these parts at the same time or better yet if you live there and want to show me around, let me know!

Just a further note that I will be on the road and therefore my internet access will be limited at times. I am also starting to write my eBook which means my posting schedule may be less frequent. It will all be worth it in the end though.

I will be reachable though. I’m sure you can use one these of the many tools to keep in touch:

Follow me on Twitter

Facebook Page

Watch my YouTube videos

Subscribe to my RSS Feed

Send me an e-mail (even if it’s just to say hi)

Located about five and a half hours north of Sydney is the Surfaris Surf Camp situated amongst a beautiful costal national park. Not only is the area scenic and full of wildlife (pelicans, dolphins etc.) but by doing a tour with Surfaris part of your money actually helps to maintain a national park.

So how is the surfing? Great actually. Surfaris boasts “more surfing time than any other operator” which is hard to argue with considering the model under which they operate. On non-travelling days (i.e. to and from Byron or Sydney), you spend the whole day on the beach. You could leave the camp at around eight and return by six in the evening. You can surf all day if you have the energy for it and a picnic is packed on the bus. On average the lessons lasted around three hours each (two a day) but like I said this is limited only by your own stamina to surf.

Surfaris other defining feature is that you are not restricted to one beach. On one morning we drove to five different beaches to find the best surfing conditions. This may seem like an arduous task but at the end of the day you came to surf and you want the best conditions for it. What is also appealing is that you are taught not just about how to surf but water safety and how to distinguish great surf conditions for yourself after the surf camp is over. The instruction is to an excellent standard and the system they employ ensures everyone has equal time with the instructor. Kyle (who kind of reminds me of the chicken from the movie Surfs Up) was a great instructor and provides that personal touch.

So what about all the extras? There’s optional yoga lessons, free internet and a pool. One thing that is lacking is that there isn’t a staff photographer with the option of buying photographs at the end of your trip. The food is plentiful, healthy and they cater well for different dietary requirements. The accommodation type is dorms with the option to upgrade to a double room with ensuite. For some reason in my head I thought the accommodation and facilities wouldn’t be as good as city accommodation because of the lodge being so remote. It’s a great place to stay and the facilities are equal to if not better than a lot of other places I have stayed on the East Coast, urban or otherwise.

The night time entertainment is something I have never seen before. On different nights of the week local bands will come and perform at the lodge. It’s pretty interactive and chilled out. Everyone grabs a drum or tambourine and gets involved. I don’t think I have ever had so much fun with a triangle before!

Is this tour for you? As five day surf tours go this is one of the cheaper options and great value for money considering meals, transportation and all things surf are included. Group sizes tend to be between 15-20 reaching a maximum of 30 in peak season. Surfaris doesn’t really suit the youth market (18 year olds on a gap year before university for example). If you want to do a bit of surfing, get crazy drunk and do it all over again this tour probably isn’t for you. As a family run operation it does have a more relaxed, homely feel to it, especially with Brucie running around between your legs and being affectionate (Brucie is a cat and not some deranged uncle before you ask).

If you want a chilled experience, serious about surfing and want a beautiful location to do it in, the Surfaris learn to surf adventure is the one for you.

This tour was sponsored by Surfaris.