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What's your preference - East Coast with all the boozing, sun and fun, or the west coast - a lot quieter and arguably one of the world's best diving spots, the Ningaloo reef?

Neither East or West - hit the bushy towns inland for that 'real' Aussie experience. Used to teach at a boarding school full of bush kids and they were some of the best people you could wish to meet. Tough, fun and totally set in the real world rather than worried all the time about image and materialism - mind you, that was 20 years ago!!

It really depends on what you're after I guess. It's loads of fun travelling as a backpacker up the East Coast, but may be a little bit over-run with tourists to fully appreciate the true beauty of the country. The West Coast is definitely a bit more wild and authentic, but doesn't cater for tourists in quite the same way as the East... which is half the fun really.