Explain to me why a bunch of like-minded people, with the same general background and ideology, head off without fail year after year, to the same place, to do exactly the same thing that thousands of people before them have done - for no apparent reason.

An individual experience. Just like everyone else's

People have been doing it for years. They go on pilgrimages to all sorts of weird and exotic places. Muslims travel to Mecca, the English simply must visit Wembley, and Americans love Disneyland. Everyone has their special place so it seems.

Australians migrate to London.

Years ago, when I first made “that” pilgrimage, Aussies were still a novelty and were warmly welcomed in London. You could walk into any London pub and the local punters would be pleasantly amused by your quaint accent and strange mannerisms. I assume that to the native Londoners we must have appeared to come from an entirely different, yet strangely familiar planet - we all spoke the same language, and could clearly communicate, but we were distinctly unlike them.

It was like this wherever we travelled in the UK or wider Europe - and the further we were from any large cities or towns the more of a novelty we became. It was great! Just being Australian was the perfect way to meet young German girls with large breasts!

Ahhh, those were the days…

All of this has changed of course - regretfully. The Internet, cheap airfares, the Euro, the opening of the European Union, and a strong Australian economy have all contributed to making London and Europe a far more accessible, and affordable, place to visit.

Nowadays if you go to London you’ll find it’s crawling with ex-pat Aussies (as well as Kiwis and South Africans). Parts of London are virtual extensions of Australian cities, the numbers there are so large – and if you do get to visit a traditional London pub it’s highly likely that the “local” working behind the bar will come from Woolloomooloo.

Oh well - I guess everything changes eventually.

Or does it? I was reminiscing with some old university mates the other day about our travels in Europe and very quickly became aware that one central theme kept reoccurring – how we had managed to travel for as long as we did, see as much as we saw and drink as much as we drank (and let me assure you, that was a lot!) on such limited budgets?

While the lucky few may have had their trips funded by overly indulgent parents, the majority of us were forced to get by on what little money we had managed to save doing part time jobs at University. This of course forced us to become extremely resourceful and we very quickly developed a keen eye for a bargain.

When it came to the consumption of alcohol this would usually involve drinking cheap beer at home before going out to the pub/nightclub for the night, attending happy hours and two-for-one drink promotions, drinking exclusively at bars where mates worked, or pooling our collective funds together to buy bulk alcohol at a discount.

Most of the time this methodology did the trick (in that it got us all pissed), but I’d have to admit that the means were generally pretty rough (particularly when it came to wine!).

There were the odd occasions however, when it all came together and we managed (by pure luck) to find something that satisfied both our limited budget and our tastebuds. [WC-German milkmaids with big breasts?]

I remember that one of these occasions was in Positano, on the Almalfi Coast in Southern Italy. We had stopped at a local corner shop that sold everything from fruit and vegetables to hardware, and purchased six 1.5 litre bottles of the local red for around 3 euro each!

Maybe it was the company, maybe it was the beautiful scenery, maybe it was the fact that we hadn’t slept in 3 days, but the wine was excellent and I recall thoroughly enjoying every last drop.

This last point reminded me that you don’t always need to spend big money to drink really good wine, and that with just a little bit of judicious searching you can locate quality wines to fit even a backpacker’s budget.

Of course, not everyone has either the time or resources to scour the markets looking for bargains, so we here at The Guzzle have taken it upon ourselves to help you out.

So, if you are currently backpacking through Australia, have a backpacker's budget, or are simply looking for more bang for your buck, here’s a list of cracking wines, at cracking prices, that we think will more than suit your needs.

PS: Don’t be fooled by the low prices – these are all quality wines that we recommend regardless of price, and are currently drinking ourselves

Cheers

MW

Guzzler Backpacker Wines

Mount Pleasant “Elizabeth”, 2002, Hunter Valley, Semillon - $11

Mildara, Coonawarra, 2005, Cabernet Sauvignon - $15

Pascal Delaunay, 2005, Rose D' Anjou, Loire Valley France - $9

Castello Del Poggio, 2005, Moscato D’Asti, Italy - $14

O’Leary Walker, Adelaide Hills, 2005, Sauvignon Blanc - $16