We arrived in Western Australia, over five months ago and have travelled (mostly) east though an awful lot of the country: up and across Western Australia, following the Eyre Highway across the Nullarbor; South Australia during the Tour Down Under; sweeping along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria; doffing our caps to the Parliament Building in the Australian Capital Territory; listening to Beethoven in the Sydney Opera House; and joining the masses in treading the well-worn path up coastal Queensland. By my estimates, we’ve driven over 14,000 kilometres (8,700 miles).

In those five months, I should point out that we skipped over to New Zealand for almost two months which, if you asked me, provided a useful interlude to the extreme Aussie heat. If you asked Squiffy, you’ll be left wondering why we bothered! In fact, in these last five months, we’ve been pretty unlucky with the weather. The heat was in the mid-thirties upon arrival and kept rising and rising until the scales tipped over fifty degrees Celsius in mid-north Western Australia. The extreme heat subsided to all of forty-something as we drove east towards Adelaide; still almightily unbearable given that we were trying to be outdoorsy during the day and sleep under canvas at night. We threw in the towel at Melbourne, left and returned two months later to pickup our trail. The hot weather had indeed subsided and had given way to rain, and lots of it. Things reached an all-time travel low for us as we packed away our sodden tent following Sydney’s 1-in-100 year rainfall. We spent a whole day driving up the east coast, through tropical rain the like of which we’d never seen before, vowing not to stop until we found some Queensland sun, or at least a roof over our heads — unbelievably, the latter came sooner. The next day, things brightened up in more ways than one: not only did we spend the majority of our remaining days with a roof over our head, but an enjoyably moderate sun shone upon us until we left the country.

So the question remains: overall, did we enjoy Australia?

Yes we did — and thank goodness that the weather came good in Queensland, else my response might itself have been more tempered.

On the one hand it’s quite difficult to critique Australia as a single country by our European standards — it’s about the same size as Western Europe and how might an Australian answer the question “what’s Europe like?”. Each state and territory has it’s own flavour, comparing the rugged desert wilderness of Western Australia to the garden state of Victoria or the tropical rainforests of Queensland is akin to comparing Sweden with Spain: it’s chalk and cheese, smorgasbord and tapas (oh, wait, that wasn’t a good example…)

On the other hand, given that the enormous scale of this country and the natural variations between the landscapes, I’m rather surprised at how similar the people and culture are — countywide. We’ve travelled mainly coastal Australia and as such haven’t spent a large amount of time with the indiginous Aboriginals. It appears that they have all been pushed into the brutal interior, freeing up the coastal land for the immigrant population on which to build their shiny new houses. This country does have a history–some contend that the Aboriginals were the first humans to grace this planet even–but in coastal Australia, you’d be forgiven for thinking that there was nothing here two hundred and fifty years ago.

Outside of the populous parts (or should that be part?) of Western Australia, it still feels really wild and untamed. Cowboy country, if you will. (The Northern Territory probably more so, but we didn’t go there so can’t comment.) South Australia signals the end to the sparseness of the west and, for the record, we both enjoyed Adelaide. Aside from its admittedly drab skyline, the city boasts a lot of eateries and the Tour Down Under. Victoria is one of our favourite states, not least due to our hosts there. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a really good chance to explore Melbourne, but the locals will tell you that it’s a more liveable city than full-on, touristy Sydney. We made great friends in Ballarat and their enthusiasm for their state fed ours. Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, is becoming a tourist destination in its own right, although we found it a little pricey (visiting dignitaries pushing up prices, we speculate). Surprisingly, we found New South Wales–as a state–to be the most lacking in personality. Sydney is for sure a world class city and, if the weather would have just helped us out a little more, I’d probably be raving about about the rest of the state that we didn’t get to see too. Queensland, my personal favourite: for here the weather came good, allowing us to explore what is probably Australia’s most popular roadtrip. Fraser Island, as experienced from behind the steering-wheel of a 4×4, is magnificent; so is sailing around the Whitsunday Islands and snorkelling/diving the Great Barrier Reef probably tops them both.

We both love Australia — and we’ll certainly be back (if only we could get an accurate weather promise from the Man Upstairs). The Aussies are a super friendly bunch and rightly proud of their country. “How d’you love it? It’s better than the UK, isn’t it?”, they’d ask, as if to coerce a favourable answer. The truth is, I’m really looking forward to getting back to Britain–not long now and oh boy am I wearing rose tinted spectacles when I think about home–but I do genuinely fear that Australia might indeed offer a better standard of living. It’s just a crying shame that it’s exactly half a world away from the majority of my dear family and close friends. Think Britain with sun, space and arguably more pride and optimism and you’ll get an idea of this great country: I give you Australia.