8 Week Australia Trip

gavinrace

Thanks Cymrugirl.

My girlfriend loves animals so we may well do that if we have time.

Of the people who have 'backpacked' around Australia, what would you recommend taking or indeed leaving behind?

Cheers all.

bap98189

What sort of thing do you want to see? Melbourne and Sydney are nice places, but are cities like any other, as is Adelaide. If it's sun and beaches you are looking for, then the road from Melbourne to Sydney and even on up to Brisbane is for you.

On the other hand, if you are looking to see the parts of Australia that are completely unique, you should be looking to go to the centre, usually this means Alice Springs, and Queensland. If you are up for an adventure, hire a car and drive from Adelaide up through the desert to Alice Springs. That way you will see the real outback. It's an incredible experience, and there are loads of small towns on route where you can stay. Stay in Alice Springs for a while (there are plenty of hostels) and explore for a while. If not, there are plenty of flights between each of the major Australian cities, and if you book well in advance, you should be able to get some reasonable fares.

You have to visit the barrier reef. It's the most incredible place in the world, and there are loads of boats in Cairns that will take you out to see it up close. You don't have to dive to see it either, there are plenty of places to visit it and just swimming along is like being in a David Attenborough film. Seeing it up close was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. Cairns itself isn't spectacular, but it is where all the trips to the reef leave from.

gavinrace

Does anyone have any recommendations on where to go and how to get about in New Zealand say for 5-7 days?

Reggie_Rebel

Some of the rail journeys are truly spectacular.

They are not always cheap but will definatley be worth it if it appeals

http://www.railaustralia.com.au/index.php

jeffy22

gavinrace wrote: »

Does anyone have any recommendations on where to go and how to get about in New Zealand say for 5-7 days?

I spent a year working in NZ, I flew from melbourne to christchurch for about $150OZ which i booked a few weeks before hand with virgin blue.

I only did the south island, but reccommend:

Queenstown - lots of travellers, big extreme sports place, bungee jumping, snowboarding, skydiving, luge etc etc

Milford Sound - Amazing fjjord, most beautiful thing i've ever seen, take a boat trip out through them

Christchurch is a nice city, very old england

jeffy22

gavinrace wrote: »

Of the people who have 'backpacked' around Australia, what would you recommend taking or indeed leaving behind?

Cheers all.

you will never wear all your clothes or shoes, so take minimum!
I lived in a pair of board shorts and flipflops (called thongs out there)
No one really bothered dressing up to go out at night either
dont bother taking toiletries, you can buy them out there much cheaper.
most hostels provide hairdryers so dont bother with them.
take a padlock to lock your bag as your going to be leaving it unattended in hostels, buses etc etc

i'd take very little out there as your gonna be buying stuff, as its so cheap and bringing alot back!

invest in those little travel travels to save space and instead of taking a sleeping bag, just take a sleeping bag liner (thin cotten sheet sleeping bag)

bbr92

Travelled from Cairns to Adelaide in 2007 down the East coast, had the most amazing time. Would highly recommend Grey Hound hop on hop off buses and Wicked Campers as used both.
Met so many different people on the buses who gave me info on places to visit on my trip both tourists and locals. People are so firendly and more than happy to give advice on the best places to see.

Only stayed in one bad hostle in the whole 6 months and that was in Melbourne.

Have a great time.

gavinrace

Reggie Rebel: Some of those train journeys look great. I'm actually interested in some more information on those. I'm not sure I'd want to go on some of the full cross-country journeys - I think perhaps they'd be too long but some of the shorter trips would appeal. Are there any in particular that people have travelled on that have particularly spectactular views?

Jeffy22: Did you not visit Auckland? How did you travel around the south of the island? Thanks for the travel information.

bbr92: Just of interest, what was that bad hostel so I know to avoid it.

Thanks all.

jeffy22

i was working in a little ski town called wanaka for the whole year in the south island, so only went on short trips in the south island on my days off.

you'll find that you can go into one of the backpackers places when you are in Oz (they have info, internet, you can book trips, planes, buses etc etc) and they'll have all the info about all the different trips available. often the people that work in them are backpackers themselves so they aren't biased. most hostels will offer advice and even bookings at reception

Horace

It is still quite warm in Melbourne during March - I was there in 2003 and the temp was a wonderful 32 degrees. I stayed in the Melbourne Travel Lodge which was reasonable and there was a honesty box to use at breakfast time. It was in a great central location.

From Melbourne I went to Ballarat which is the gold mining town and panned for gold there. Then it was onto Canberra close to Canberra there is a nice ranch called Avalanche that you can stay at, Faye Biddle is one of the owners and it is absolutely fab. From there it was on to Sydney and then a flight to Uluru (this really is an extraordinary place), Cairns to be honest with you was a bit cruddy but it did have one shop that I spent a lot of money in - so when you are out and about look for works by Peter Lik (a self-taught but award winning photographer). My wall is testament to visiting his gallery:o (I did spend a lot on two limited edition photographs that were shipped home).

Hope you have a brilliant time - I wish I was going:D