8 Week Australia Trip

gavinrace

Thanks Horace.

How much were your flights out to Ayres Rock?

Can you remember where exactly the Avalanche Ranch is?

Cheers again for taking the time to respond.

loveabargain13

Horace wrote: »

It is still quite warm in Melbourne during March - I was there in 2003 and the temp was a wonderful 32 degrees.

I was out there March 2008 and can say it was a nippy 18/19/20! It rained a lot, which I'm told the Aussies need the rain hehe well you don't if you've travelled all that way, but was no way as cold as here as you had snow!!

jeffy22

I was there march 2007 and it was boiling, we did the great ocean rd in that month too and we sleeping outside with no covers

RedCanadaHat

just came on to say i'd highly recommend virgin blue for your internal flights. they're fantastic and the service is spot on. even though it's budget airline they treat you like 1st class passengers. i'm australian and have flown with them several times.

oh..and brisbane/qld is wonderful any time of the year...get the southern cities out of the way early in the trip before it gets cold.

Hollyberry

I've been in Adelaide in March/April before, and it was warm enough to be in the pool every day, so I guess it's the luck of the draw.

I never made it to Kangaroo Island, but did see a kangaroo happily bounding along by the roadside on the first day - and that was outside the industrial park!

Flying into Adelaide, the thing that most amazed me (even at the airport) was the smell - spicy, eucalyptus, totally unlike anywhere I'd been before. If you are flying north from there, be ready for three and a half hours of drooling out of the window; the colours are absolutely amazing: fire red, terracotta, silver - just magical. The whole place is sensory overload.

Have a great time - I'm soooo green with envy.

jyonda

Cairns is an absolute hole but a good hub from which to go to much nicer places. Cape Tribulation is stunning and Mission Beach is a very nice area. I stayed and worked at a hostel called The Treehouse which was fantastic and I saw Ant & Dec in the local minimarket getting their bits. They were filming I'm a celebrity at the time on Dunk Island (I think they've moved on by now though). Another nice place was the Mon Repos Turtle sanctuary outside Bundaberg where we camped by the Ocean.

The best way to see the country is by car and it's very easy to camp as you go along the East coast. Places I wouldn't bother with are Airlie (another hole/hub) and Byron bay (fake hippies) but that's just my opinion.

loumoo_3

Kangaroo island is definitley worth a visit if you are an animal person, you can see all those aussie animals you want to see in one natural environment. I was travelling on my own so joined a 2 day group trip with a night in a hostel on the island.

New Zealand is the most amazing place again if you like scenery, I only fitted in a week on south island duing my trip to oz and i really had to rush around to see everything i wanted to see, i would reccomend 10 days. I flew into Christchuch and took the 'transalpine' train across the mountains to the west coast. This is the most amazing journey and id definitley reccomennd it as they have open carriges that you can stand out in to really see the scenery. then I did franz joseph glacier (definitley worth a glacier walk visit) and down to queenstown. Then a trip to milford sound on a coach trip and back up to Christchuch via Mt Cook (posibly one of the most beautiful sights ive seen).

As you might be able to tell, New Zealand was a real highlight of my trip. Theres loads of great things to see in australia but new zealand has a real different atmosphere to it and I feel it is less geared towards accommodatng the 18 year old backpackers like australia which made it a bit more special for me

alison74

Lots of good answers already, but here's what I think........

My boyfriend lives in Melbourne suburbs and I spent 3 months out there this year and did all the touristy things you could possibly imagine in and around Melbourne.

First of all, I got there on 6th March and it was 35 degrees, hitting 43 degrees the day of Grand Prix - impossible to do any 'sightseeing' in that temp.

We hit the Great Ocean Road at beginning of April and the weather was AWFUL, as someone else said, 4 seasons in one day, but it was unusually cold apparently. I had fleeces on and everything as I stood at the 12 Apostles - coul dhave done with gloves !

We stayed at the eco lodge in Apollo Bay on GOR

http://www.yha.com.au/hostels/details.cfm?hostelid=224 Beautiful room, best hostel I have EVER stayed at, more like a 4 star hotel - the kitchen is out of this world and the lounge had a real fire which everyone dozed off in front of. $72 AUD with a membership

Get yourself a YHA card from this country - £8 and use it as a 'general' discount card throughout your stay in Oz, 10-20% off entries to parks and eating places etc.


The Ocean Road is good and iconic, but slightly over rated in my opinion and also very busy with other tourists - but if you start early from Melbourne, you can get to Apollo Bay in one day (seeing everything on the way) and then to Port Fairy the next (and then long drive to Adelaide).

Your budget seems fine, but the pound is very weak against the Aussie dollar at the moment Keep an eye on it.

I found Australia VERY expensive for basic day to day stuff. The bakeries over there are so expensive for a roll and a bun (£1.50 !) if you are thinking of grabbing lunch as you go (Greggs could make a killing over there) and sweets (lollies) are also 2-3 price of UK.

Alcohol in pubs are much the same price.

You can get cheap aussie flights at last moment here

http://travel.webjet.com.au/webjettsa/home.aspx?EntryPoint=Flight



I have also on another trip been up the East Coast and been to Noosa, Byron Bay which are nice, but Fraser Island is a MUST ! Unusual island, totally of sand that you need a 4 x 4 to get around on, lots of hidden beauties there.

Also, it may sound stupid, but be careful of the sun. It's not like sun over here. I was in Byron Bay, having spent 2 weeks in Thailand before hand, slapped on factor 30 and burnt in 30 minutes ! It's sooooooooooooo strong.

Always wear a hat and good sunnies and get a t shirt for swimming in (factor 50 in the material)

I burnt my head hanging out the washing in March ! In 3-4 minutes !

PM me and I will send you links to my aussie photos.

I personally would split my time between Oz and NZ - completely different countries, NZ being my favourite.

Get a flight to NZ with 'free' stopovers in Australia and travel overland in between.

For example London - Perth, overland (or internal flight to Melbourne), overland to Sydney, up the East coast, fly to New Zealand, back home.

Can often work out cheaper - bizarre as it seems.

Oh, and if you're girlfriend wants to cuddle a koala, I recommend the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane. Cheap tp get in and if you get a photo taken, money goes to sanctuary. You also get to feed kangaroos within an enclosure. Total touristy and I got slagged off as I stood amongst toddlers waiting to cuddle one (who cares, I'd never seen one before !) Got my own back when my boyfriend was here this summer and got excited over a grey squirrel !

Oh and the Victoria tourist boards, everywhere you would need one are great - lots of free maps and suggestions

VickyA_2

When I went, back in 2000, I travelled around by long distance bus. That was before low cost air travel had really taken off in Oz (well, it was too much for my little wallet anyway! ).

I know that they're still on the go, but I did an 8 day tour from Adelaide up to Alice Springs via Ayres Rock etc. Absolutely fab. http://www.waywardbus.com.au/ I then flew from Ayres Rock to Brisbane as I was only in Oz for 5 weeks. I also cuddled a koala having sniffed heavily at "silly people" who did it, I was practically running towards it when I got to Lone Pine! :rotfl:

Having been to New Zealand last year for 3 weeks, I highly recommend going there too - especially the Abel Tasman National Park for one of the best walks ever!

Generali

Definitely take the sun seriously. Factor 30+ sunscreen, a hat and a pair of sunnies even on a cloudy day between 9am and 5pm. I got sunburned behind my ears on NYE!

I liked Airlie Beach, it is a tourist resort though. Townsville is nice and Magnetic Island off Townsville is a pleasant place to spend a day. The aquarium at Townsville is amazing! The Gold Coast is the place to go to see Aussies at play.

Dee Why beach in Sydney is the best I've been to in Sydney so far. Harry's Cafe de Wheels is a good place for a dodgy Aussie pie. Doyles does great seafood with a fantastic view of the sun setting over the City.

Ayres Rock is known as Uluhru(sp?) these days. The Aboriginals (for whom it is a sacred site apparently) ask that people don't climb it. Lots of people still do and the choice is yours.