5 Apps That Are Essential While Travelling Australia

One of the benefits of travelling in the digital age is that there are plenty of apps out there to help make the travelling process easier. Gone are the days of having to pack guidebooks, phrase books and maps in your suitcase. Here are some of the niftiest travel apps to download when you’re travelling Australia.

SunSmart

Taking your sun safety seriously is important in the land down under. While everyone wants to come back from their holiday with a tan, too much sun can do serious damage to your skin.

Overexposure to UV radiation without protection can lead to skin cancer, premature ageing, cataracts and immune system problems. SunSmart is a really useful tool for understanding how to safely deal with UV radiation. It uses your current location to determine what the maximum UV radiation is for that day and uses that information to tell you when you should avoid being in the sun. It also gives you a sunscreen calculator and gives you tips on how to protect yourself from the sun.

The Happiest Hour

Australia is home to many cool bars and restaurants and one great way of going out without blowing your budget is to use an app that helps you find cheap drinks and food specials. You can use it to search the best happy hour specials in your area and you can tailor your search to suit the kind of bars or restaurants that you’re looking for.

WeFi Pro

If you don’t have a local phone, or if you have an expensive phone plan, then a stable WiFi connection can make a big difference to your day when you’re travelling. Connecting to WiFi might be your only means of contacting people. But finding good WiFi can also be tricky, and you don’t want to waste time when you could be enjoying the sights of Australia hunting down WiFi.

WeFi Pro finds WiFi spots for you and shows you the most stable options near you. It’s crowdfunded which means that you can help out future users by identifying new hotspots and tagging them or by blacklisting networks that no longer function well. If you keep the app open on your phone, it will turn off the WiFi feature when you don’t need it as well as telling you when there is a better WiFi connection close by.

Parkhound

If you’re driving while travelling in Australia, you will quickly discover that in the city or urban centres, parking your car can be a bit of a nightmare. There are strict parking laws in certain areas and you risk getting a fine if you leave your car somewhere for too long. Parkhound is a free app that lets motorists compare different community-sourced parking spaces.

Whether you’re staying somewhere for a month and need a more long-term space or you’re just visiting for a few days, you can use the app to easily book a parking spot and avoid the stress of finding a park. Given how expensive all-day parking can be in the CBDs, Parkhound will also save you money.

WikiCamps

If you’re camping, backpacking or road tripping somewhere in Australia, this is the travel app for you. It is the ultimate camping companion as it is essentially a huge database of campgrounds, caravan parks, hostels, interesting sites, information centres, public dump points and day use areas.

It is a great resource, particularly in areas you don’t know and allows you to plan ahead. It also works to help you with navigation, is updated regularly by users and works offline. This is a great feature if you don’t have access to WiFi while on the road.

Zomato

For all the foodies out there, Zomato is essential. Zomato allows you to find bars, restaurants and cafes near you and read reviews of them. It’s a good way of finding the best places to eat in areas you don’t know. It’s also great for those who have dietary requirements or are picky eaters because you’re able to look at the menus of venues before you get there.

No one wants to spend their time travelling on their phone, but the beauty of technology means there are now an abundance of apps out there that really can make a difference to your travels.

By downloading a few of the right apps you can save yourself stress, time and money and have more freedom to enjoy yourself!