Telford's Lucy captures stunning images from Asia and Australia

Now young photographer Lucy Poole has spoken of her first few months in Asia and Australia.

The 24-year-old, from Telford, gave up her jobs and sold her car back in the summer to fund a trip of a lifetime.

The former Thomas Telford School pupil said she had been wanting to travel the world for years and finally decided to do something about it. Now she has shared some of the incredible pictures she has taken on her way with Star readers.

She said: “After travelling around South East Asia for almost five months, eating street food, dodging crazy taxi drivers and stopping in hostels for no more than three nights at a time, my boyfriend and I had a slight culture shock when we arrived in Australia.

“As we walked out of the airport we automatically felt a change in the air, it was so fresh and it felt as if we could finally breathe again. The sky was so blue, not a single cloud in the sky and a lovely cool breeze, just what was needed after an overnight flight with no sleep.

“Australia is the complete opposite of South East Asia. Since being in Australia, everyone I’ve spoken to so far since has been incredibly polite, the lifestyle is much better and of course the prices are much higher but that was to be expected.

“We are currently based in West Gosford in New South Wales however after Christmas I will be back on the road with friends and family.

“During February I will be road tripping from Cairns back to Sydney with my parents who are flying from Telford to see me. I must be the favourite daughter for them to travel 24 hours on a plane to see me.

“We will be carrying out farm work towards the end of February for three months in order to get our second year visas.

“Farm work is a great way to save money as many farms give you free food and accommodation.

“I will continue to work as a freelance photographer throughout this time however I will be making it my main priority once farm work is out the way.

“I have been passionate about photography for almost a decade now and I knew it was the career path I wanted to follow whilst I was in sixth form at Thomas Telford School.

“I carried out a night class every week for three months whilst I was studying for my GCSE’s as I was determined to have a qualification in photography before I had to apply for university.

“I got a place at Leeds Metropolitan University which was my first choice, this is where I lived for three years whilst studying photographic journalism which I thoroughly enjoyed. Not only did my photography skills improve but so did my writing skills.

“Throughout travelling I have kept a photography blog to show all the different places I’ve seen, food I’ve tried and people I’ve met.

“I will be starting my Australia blog on Christmas Day which will be called ‘Christmas Down Under’.

“It’s going to be very different this year as I am so used to being surrounded by the Poole family over Christmas but it will be an experience none the less. Instead of the tradition Christmas dinner it will be a Christmas barbecue.

“I created a photography Instagram page to show off all my work whilst on the road at www.instagram.com/viewfromthepoole.”