im looking for 3 weeks in Australia

thegolfingdog

long story short, its the girlfriends 30th next year and i want to surprise her with 3 weeks in Australia to visit her friend.

Basically looking for flights from Glasgow to Aus, best deals possible and with the least ammount of stops, preferably just the 1!

I have absolutely no idea of the best cities to visit etc during our stay, but the main thing ill need is roughly 4 or 5 days at Cape Tribulation (where her mate stays)

The rest of the stay we would probably fancy the major cities, with sights, good shopping, bars resteraunts and nightlife. I guess a top quality beach would be a bonus!!

any hints or tips on where to go, and who to book through would be greatly appreciated:T

Incapuppy

I'm sure you will get plenty of replies but in the meantime you could do a forum search for 'Australia' and you will find a lot of useful info that people have already posted on this board.

george2

haven't been to oz myself ( would love to though), but you could start looking at places like tripadvisor

conradmum

Yes, do a search or look at Tripadvisor and you'll get loads of information. One thing I would say, though, is not to try to do everything in those three weeks. Australia is huge and you don't want to spend a significant proportion of your time on planes or at airports. I would pick three centres and have a week in each, with a brief trip to Uluru if you feel you must.

The best place to stay near Cape Trib is Port Douglas, imo. It's more villagey and less built up and commercial than Cairns.

Your girlfriend is very lucky!

richardw

Consider emirates from GLA via Dubai DXB to AUS to avoid LHR.

shockingmoment

Absolutely avoid T5. All the security makes you feel very much like a suspected terrorist. passport scanned 3 times within 25meters? Why? Two of these scanners were in sight of each other. Rude oafs on the security x ray machine.

Horrible place.

Emirates, on the other hand, are great to fly with. Pleasant, accomodating, always smiling, ready to get you another drink (hic).

tiamaria

We did Oz in 3 weeks, with 3 main stops. We flew to Sydney, then internal flight to Brisbane and then an internal flight to Cairns spent approx a week in each so it can be done.

Plenty of sight seeing in the first 2 places and lots of beaches in North QUeensland if you do fancy Cape Trib, don't go swimming though as the jelly fish can kill you!!

We didn't have any overnight stops but I would recommend you do this if you have time as it's a very long time on a plane.

Happy to tell you more about these places if you're interested.

We arranged it all with a travel agent using Gold Medal travel, we gave her our itinerary along with the trips/tours we wanted to go on and they did it all. Everything cost us round about 3k (this was 3 years ago) which was pretty good, we spent 6 nights with relatives so that cut down the accommodation and food costs a bit.

Happy to tell you more about our trip if you're interested in these places.

Bennifred

I'd love to read about your trip, tiamaria! The more detail the better! Who did you fly with, where did you stay, what did you do, what was the best/worst thing, etc, etc, lol! I'm hoping to do this trip in 2010 (there would be five of us - youngest 17yrs old) so all info eagerly devoured!

Generali

Don't panic about the jelly fish, you can wear a jellyfish suit (like a wetsuit but it doesn't keep you warm) or you can go to beaches that have jellyfish nets. You are extremely unlikely to die if you get stung although it will be deeply unpleasant.

I can recommend the Great Barrier Reef. I am a pretty hard bitten old cynic but I have never seen anything so beautiful and amazing in my life, not even Mrs Generali (although she comes a close second). If you like contemporary architecture and design, the Parliament Building in Canberra is amazing too.

Try to remember when you're booking that Australia is massive. It's about the same size as Europe with the seas filled in so flying from Perth to Sydney (for example) is like flying from Lisbon to Moscow! Also, as odd as it might sound, try to remember that Australia is a foreign country, not just Yorkshire with funny accents and more sun. It was something I struggled with at first.

Mrs Generali and I once did a nice road trip once from Townsville to Brisbane, taking about 5 days over it. That was fun and I got a great insight into the size of the country and also how ordinary Aussies live their lives.

I try to spend a day somewhere on the way there and back to break up the flight as it's a very long way. If you decide to fly straight through, I'd recommend going via Singapore. The airport has a swimming pool you can use for about 4 quid and it's a great way to stretch out the muscles and joints. The other thing if you are going straight through is to stay awake (if you can) on the first leg and sleep on the second assuming you're going to arrive in Aus first thing in the morning. I do that and am usually on Aussie time by the end of the 2nd day there, just waking a little early.

ms_london

I've recently got back to the UK after 2 years away (1 in Aussie and 1 in NZ), working & travelling in both.

It depends on what your budget is, and if you have any particular things you want to see (aside from Cape Trib as you mentioned). My highlights were Uluru (Ayers Rock), the outback and a 9 day trip I did around there, then on up to Darwin, National Parks etc, but this isnt for everyone. Since you want to go to Cape Trib and only have 3 weeks, its probably best to stay on the East Coast - there is heaps to see and do. If you had longer you could tackle other parts (unfortunately I missed out the West Coast which I regret as it is more unspoilt than the East Coast). Also I love the town '1770', Noosa, Byron Bay, Magnetic Island (by Townsville) - other favourite highlights. Another way to get around is the 'Greyhound' buses, very reliable, pretty cheap, and will hit all the major spots if you cant fly to/from them. And definately Sydney, have a drink at the Opera Bar (amazing views) and take a ferry to Manly. The Manly Beach Hotel is another great bar with great views and a good atmosphere, and Manly Beach is lovely. (far better than Bondi).

I am not sure when you are going, but during the summer there will always be lots of events on, Australia Day etc. And as for a stop en route, I did Bangkok and Hong Kong, although Hong Kong may be a better option (Cathay Pacific are a fab airline!).

Sorry, I loved Aussie, so I could go on all day about it.

Let us know how you get on xx

tiamaria

Hi Bennifred

Like previously mentioned, Australia is the most amazing country. We found the Gold Medal brochure very useful as they had packaged stops in each city which included accommodation and day trips so much of your holiday is organised before you arrive.

I have relatives in Sydney so they took us around that area and in the Southern Highlands (towards Canberra). Highlights were the famous Blue Mountains, Sydney Harbour Bridge (you can climb it) & The Queen Victoria Building (a shopping centre but an attraction in it’s own right),the interior is absolutely stunning with an olde world feel to it.

Brisbane has a lot of attractions, you are close enough to travel to the Themeparks like Seaworld, Dreamworld, waterworld, Warner Bros movie world. Also around that area is Surfers Paradise, full of huge skyscrapers and you can travel down the river viewing the homes of the very rich.

You can take a day trip north to visit Australia Zoo which is incredible as I was standing an arms length from a feeding croc! You can pet the kangaroos and watch the cheetah’s being taken for a walk.

Also in Brisbane are the Southbank Parklands which we stayed near, there is a man made beach and pools in the middle of the city, a market at weekends, shows and cafes and gardens, you can take a Missisippi style river boat down the Brisbane river or a citycat boat ride if you like it a little faster.

In North Queensland we of course took a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef, also a day at the Tjapukai aboriginal cultural centre which combines with a trip on the Kuranda Train and the skyrail cable cars which take you above the rainforest for about 4 ½ miles.

We also went to the flames of the forest show which is a 3 course meal & aboriginal show in the forest miles away from anywhere.

You asked for the best and the worse, it was all brilliant, and the worse thing was coming home!

There are many more things to do and see as I’ve only just touched on it, You can google these places to find out more about them, also look up the Daintree Rainforest and the Atherton Tablelands.