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I asked a similar question about Canada and was advised to make a separate one for Australia.

I'm planning to travel to Australia on my own for about one month - two months, I'll be in Melbourne area and Brisbane/Gold Coast area, that's what I have planned for now, I have not planned accommodation.

I'm looking for options for making my own food, or travel with health conscious travellers so we can possibly cook together.

I also want to absorb the atmosphere and get to know people and hopefully make some friends on my trip.

One way is renting an apartment, the problem here is that it will be a bit lonely if I do it by myself, but I might do it anyway.

Another possibility is going to a youth hostel where sometimes there's a kitchen and you can cook.

Are there other possibilities?

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I think the ecotravelling part is a totally different question that you should move into a separate one since it's not at all about cooking. –  hippietrail Sep 23 '12 at 3:11
Unless you're going to visit somebody in the Gold Coast I wouldn't really recommend it. Especially the Surfers Paradise area is nothing more than a tourist trap. The best part of this whole area in most peoples' opinion is Byron Bay just south over the New South Wales border. –  hippietrail Sep 23 '12 at 3:14
OK, I'll remove it, I thought it might be a good place to meet other health conscious travellers that's the reason –  Alex Mor Sep 23 '12 at 17:11
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3 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

The obvious answer is to stay in backpackers (Australian for hostel). All backpackers I've been to in Australia have guest kitchens where you can cook your own food.

You can buy stuff in the grocery store and then cook in the hostel.

The hostel kitchen is also one of the best places to meet people, there are always people there and they usually don't use their phone/iPad/Laptop while their cooking, so you can actually talk to them.

It is pretty easy to find some people to cook together. It is always more fun and cheaper to eat in a group.

Out of the inner city the hostel may also have a BBQ place where you can grill.

Having said that, I was not too impressed with the inner city hostels in the big Australian cities last time I've been there. So if you are planning to stay for longer, shop around for a while until you find a good.

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If you always want to cook in hostels, then have a look at the kitchen first before you decide to stay there for a month. Some hostels close the kitchen at night so you can't even access your food in the fridge, and I have seen hostels where the toilets actually looked much cleaner than the kitchen area.

You could also try CouchSurfing, airbnb, the "flatmate wanted" section at Gumtree or even a local camp site for short term stays if you want to avoid hostels and get to know the locals.

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It's true. We lock our kitchen at midnight in our Bondi hostel because so many backpackers come home drunk and steal each others food then the victims want us to pay for it! I've seen hostels with individual kitchen lockers, but not for refrigerated food. Look for family hostels or smaller hostels, avoid party hostels, large hostels, and flop houses if a good kitchen is a high priority. Outside the big cities will be much more easy going than city centre ones. –  hippietrail Sep 24 '12 at 2:42
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Find yourself a sharehouse. You'll meet people, have access to a kitchen and it'll be a lot cheaper than staying in a hostel.

Gumtree is probably your best bet. Often, when people leave Austraila for a month or two they'll use it to sublet their room so you get a lot of furnished rooms available short-term. Failing that, you might want to check out Flatmate Finders and maybe even Domain although most ads there will be expecting longer stays.

Airbnb has already been suggested but is another great option.

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