The East Coast is the trip.
We just make it easy.
Every backpacker who lands in Sydney wants the same run north, K'gari, the Whitsundays, the reef. The problem was never the destination. It was the twelve browser tabs, the beds that don't line up, and the choice between being herded on a full-guided tour or going it completely alone. Travel Mates is the fix.
Travel Mates is a semi-guided way down Australia's East Coast, built for 18–35s. We book the whole trip as one honest package, a hop-on-hop-off bus pass, every night's bed, and the headline adventures, then put you on guided adventures with other backpackers for the days that are better with company, and leave you to travel solo for everything else.
Guides run the big-ticket days: the three-day K'gari 4WD safari, the Whitsundays sail, a day on the Great Barrier Reef. Those are the days that are genuinely hard to organise solo and a lot more fun in a group. Every other day is unguided time to explore each stop: the lagoon at Airlie, the surf in Byron, the markets in Cairns. The route and the nights at each stop are set in advance, so nothing clashes and nothing sells out mid-trip.
You travel solo, and you make friends along the way: every stop has other solo travellers doing the same run, and you meet them on the guided days and in the hostel kitchens up the coast, the part everyone remembers long after the tan fades.
Four things we won't compromise on
Semi-guided, on purpose
Fully guided tours treat you like luggage, herded dawn to dusk. Solo travel means planning six legs and hoping the beds line up. We took the best of both: guides for the days that are hard to do alone, unguided time at every stop in between, all on one pre-booked itinerary.
One honest all-in price
We bundle everything you'd otherwise book across six tabs, the bus pass, the beds, the headline adventures, into one all-in AUD price. No 'from' figures that balloon at checkout, no booking fees drip-fed at the end.
You only pay for what we can confirm
You don't pay for any part we can't confirm. After that, cancellations follow each operator's terms, and we chase any refund for you.
Travel solo, make friends along the way
You book solo and travel solo. At every stop you'll meet other solo backpackers on the same route, doing the same activities and up for new mates, and the guided days throw you together with them.
Established operators. Real reviews.
We don't pretend the guided days are ours. They're run by the long-standing East Coast operators we book with, licensed crews averaging 4.8★ across 6,322 public reviews. Travel Mates' job is to bundle it, price it honestly and make it bookable in a minute.
Travel Mates is a brand of Wanderlust Travel & Adventure, an Australian travel company, so your booking, your payment and your support all sit behind an established business, not a pop-up.
4.8★
average operator rating
6,322
public operator reviews
4
licensed operators on the big days
12
months to pick your start date
Ready when you are.
Open-dated for 12 months, book now, pick your travel dates whenever suits.