One issue Footprints identified was the fact most hostel reviews only scratch the surface of the hostel being reviewed and often did not take into consideration the likes and dislikes of the individual. We have addressed this by making the review process slightly longer and added questions we think will ultimately lead to a more useful review system.

Have you stayed in any youth hostel lately and have not yet left your youth hostel review? If this is the case we would love to see you drop over to Footprints and review a hostel you have stayed at. Pretty much every hostel of the world is available on Footprints and your review will go out to all the Footprints sites. So please do a solid for the next backpacker and review the hostels you have stayed at.

To review a hostel please visit FootprintsDownunder.com.au/hostels and perform a search for the hostel you stayed at and then hit review hostel.

Cause it does and we can have discount travel in Australia sorted for you easy. We have teamed up with Aussie Travel Saver to bring you awesome discounts on campervan rentals, adventure tours, bus passes, hostel beds, theme parks, hotels just to name a few.

Aussie Travel Saver is a brilliant useful travel discount card that is accepted at thousands of locations in Australia saving you real money every day.

With Footprints & Aussie Travel Saver you can save up to 50% on travel activities you are going to use!

It is not a case of just a few participating places, you will save tons of cash on activities you are going to book anyway.

Here are just a few of the activities you can save a pocket of cash on

• Wicked campervans
• Calypso campervan rentals
• Adventure tours Australia
• OZ snow adventures
• Waves surf school
• Tasmanian expeditions
• Greyhound Australia (bus passes)
• Pinnacle tours

Still want more? How about real savings with hostels you want to stay at

• Central city backpackers
• Great aussie backpackers
• Travellers rest backpackers
• Boardrider backpackers (the best backpackers in Manly Sydney)
• Melaleuca Surfside backpackers

Ok so how much is your cost to save a heap of cash?

• For 1 month of awesome savings the card is only $29
• For 3 months of cash saving discounts it is only $49
• For 6 months of never ending discounts is it only $69
• For a whole year of adventure savings it is only $98

But wait we still want to save you even more money!

We have nutted out a discount on the card to save you even more money, just use the code RFOOTPRINTS and receive a 25% discount on the card when taking advantage of cheap travel in Australia.

Now the card will cost you only

• For 1 month of awesome savings the card is only $23.20
• For 3 months of cash saving discounts it is only $39.20
• For 6 months of never ending discounts is it only $55.20
• For a whole year of adventure savings it is only $78.40

Start saving a tone of money on your backpacking Australia adventure, sign up for the Aussie Travel Saver card today (don’t forget to use the discount code RFOOTPRINTS

Sex in hostels is a big topic more of where and how it is possible, we have addressed some good options of a bit of boot knocking around the hostel although our main idea is to highlight just how much better sex is in a campervan rather than a hostel.

Although getting it on in a hostel can be an excitement in its self, the freedom of a campervan makes for far more creativity and a better booty session, we go through 6 options for some nookie in a hostel and 6 reasons why a campervan is better, it is a fun post but also has some real world use behind it.

Head on over and read our 6 reasons campervan sex beats hostel sex

We have recently started promoting guest blogging on Footprints, allowing people with their own travel related blog the opportunity to reach a whole new audience and showcase their backpacking writing talent.

Jake Aufderheide has contributed a great post highlighting some of the more adventitious activities to be had while backpacking Australia. Of course skydiving has rated a mention and he highlights that it is actually safer than many people think, you can read the entire post here, 5 extreme things to try while you’re backpacking Australia.

If you would like to guest post on footprints reaching out to a huge travelling and backpacking audience then please just hit the add guest post button, we will attribute the post to you and include a link back to your website or blog. Guest blogging is a brilliant way to extend your reach into your topic and  find new readers that you might not of found any other way.

Gold Coast hinterland is spectacular, before you head on down to Brisbane, take the time to explore the Gold Coast hinterland, rich in wildlife and scenery around every corner a must for your photo or video record of your backpacking adventure.

No trip to the Gold Coast would be complete without a trip to the beach, and you are in luck there as the Gold Coast is beach goers Mecca. Seventy kilometres of beach awaits you, crisp white sand and rolling surf that has made the Gold Coast into a surfing legend.

There is so much more to the Gold coast than fun parks and nightclubs and let’s be honest if that is why you came to Australia then you are really missing out on the adventure of backpacking.

It is hard to know where to start in such a big state and Queensland is the second biggest state after Western Australia, with this in mind we have put together the rough guide to backpacking Queensland, it covers many destinations from the Gold Coast all the way through to Cairns including parts of the outback.

It highlights many of the Islands from the Whitsunday group, make sure you spend a few days in Airlie Beach and take the low cost ferries out to some of the islands and just relax, trek and take in all the islands have to offer. It does not need to cost you much more than the ferry ticket and will allow you to really explore some of the magnificent islands in the Whitsundays.

Queensland is a diverse state from rich red sands of the outback to the beautiful Daintree Rainforest, the coastline from Brisbane to Cairns is dotted with islands and great places to relax and park up the campervan. With a little planning you will be able to see so much more of what this awesome country has to offer, it does not need to cost you much to explore the many national parks, beaches and sites that really make up a backpacking adventure to Australia.

There is a bit of a misconception that Australia is all hot and dry, although in many cases this cannot be further from the truth, Melbourne for example has the same rainfall as London and the same similar always overcast grey days. Although Melbourne does tend to hit some pretty high temperatures in summer.

Western Australia is a beach lovers paradise, and many ‘sandgropers’ (the name given to west aussies) have a little laugh to themselves when the rest of the Australian states say they have good beaches. It is a pretty true fact that WA has some of the best beaches in the entire world, and they are nearly all crisp white sandy beaches. Unlike Queensland that must have some of the most horrible beaches in the country until you get to the Whitsunday Islands.

Western Australia is truly blessed when it comes to sand sun and surf, and the entire cost-line is simply stunning, many backpackers miss WA due to it being so far away from the rest of the Eastern States, this is a crying shame and WA can be the highlight of an Australian backpacking adventure.

We have put together a list of the top 10 surfing spots in Western Australia, they have been chosen not just for the awesome waves but also for the adventure to be had in each location. Even if surfing is not for you each destination is a highlight of what Western Australia has to offer the backpacker.

We will be putting allot of effort into promoting places in WA, as it is missed so many times by backpackers and I have hardly ever heard someone that did make it across say it was not worth the journey. When you arrive in Sydney as that is the most common landing destination get out again fast as you can.

Sydney is very much geared to extract as much of your backpacking budget as possible and it is a very expensive city, like really expensive! Get into a campervan as fast as you can and start exploring all Australia has to offer, and of course don’t forget to check out the awesome top 10 WA surfing destinations.

Many backpackers will want the freedom of their own campervan and this we believe is one of the best ways to take in all that Australia has to offer. So you have made your way to Brisbane, what now?

A regular journey is to make your way up to Cairns in far north Queensland, it is a huge momentous driving journey taking in some 1700 kilometres, that’s a long drive! So what are you going to see along the way, we have prepared  a top 10 list of places to see when driving from Brisbane to Cairns. It is by no means the only highlights of the drive but it does represent a good rough guide to where to stop and why.

Of course we know you will not be able to see every place and island we have suggested but it should go along way in helping you plan your backpacking Australia adventure.

There is grate controversy surrounding the climbing of the big rock, although it is perfectly legal to climb and many tour operators run climbing tours it is still creating much debate as to should be climb Uluru or not.

The traditional Aboriginal owners would like us not to climb it, although part of the conditions of the Australian government handing back the rock was that it could still be climbed by everyone. For many after the long long dusty drive they think of it as their right of passage to climb Ayers Rock, and really who can blame them.

We have put together all you ever wanted to know about Ayers Rock in two informative rough travel guides, the first is Ayers Rock just the facts the other is adventure Ayers Rock that covers travel information, where to stay, highlights a couple of tours and gives some basic information about planning your trip to see the big rock.