8 Week Australia Trip

jeffy22

gavinrace wrote: »

Will the YHA membership help to get cheaper flights out to Australia or just internal flights, or neither?

neither, but a VIP card is accepted by loads of hostels/ trips/ shops and helps with the greyhound.

I saved a fortune with mine
www.vipbackpackers.com

jeffy22

if you stay in agnns water/1770 stay at cool bananas hostel.
its clean, cheap and the outside courtyard bit is amazing, with hammocks, a fire pit and incense sticks.

gavinrace

Are we best to get a VIP Backpackers membership or get a card through YHA?

Thanks.

gavinrace

How much do you think we should be looking to pay for the flights to and from Australia each. I had assumed they'd be around £700 per person return flights but I've just done a check on a couple of airline websites and booking flights in January 2010 has produced results/prices of around £1200 each.

There are currently deals on for this year for around £650 return and I was under the impression that buying early, i.e. next month for next February would mean cheaper prices.

conradmum

Where are you looking? Try https://www.skyscanner.net.

It's a little early to be booking your flights and you may be getting the default price they put up before they decide on the price for that month.

SpecialK84

Hey!

Just had a quick read and it appears that no one has really mentioned the West Coast!

Having spent 2 months in Oz on an around the world trip and then returning for a year of work and more travel out there, I have seen quite a lot.

I would totally recommend getting over to the West Coast. Have a week in Perth (do a few wine tours etc) and then do a Western Exposure trip up the coast either to Broome (10 days) or Darwin (16 days). It's an all inclusive tour and I had the best time ever. There's a good mix of ages and it involves lots of National Parks. You really get to appreciate the true spirit of Oz. It costs just under £1000 per person for everything (food, travel, accomodation - although some of it is done sleeping in swags under the stars!).

If you did the trip all the way up to Darwin you can then get a train/plane down to Alice Springs to do Uluru.

JUST MAKE SURE YOU DONT FORGET THE WEST COAST!

Kim

welshpolarbear

gavinrace wrote: »

Are we best to get a VIP Backpackers membership or get a card through YHA?

Thanks.

I had both when I backpacked round Oz a few years ago and VIP was definitely the better buy, got much more use, only used the YHA one a couple of times.

welshpolarbear

SpecialK84 wrote: »

Hey!

JUST MAKE SURE YOU DONT FORGET THE WEST COAST!

Kim

I'd have to completely agree with Kim, the west coast is beautiful, a sunset on Cable Bay, in Broome is not to be missed!

East Coast is more party, backpacker scene (which don't get me wrong was fantastic!) but West Coast is more relaxed, chilled out Oz with the most amazing scenery and places to visit.

gavinrace

Thank you to all of you for contributing to this thread so far.

It's starting to get to the time when I can look to at least entertain the possibility of booking my flights there and back. We're hoping to fly out on mid-February 2010 and come back mid-April. The mid-April flights are not available to book yet.

As a test, I've looked on the main airline websites to book tickets for flying mid-Feb to the latest in March they offer and return tickets are around £1050 each. Is this likely to come down over the next few months or is this the cheapest I'm likely to find without waiting 'til the last minute?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

conradmum

gavinrace wrote: »

Thank you to all of you for contributing to this thread so far.

It's starting to get to the time when I can look to at least entertain the possibility of booking my flights there and back. We're hoping to fly out on mid-February 2010 and come back mid-April. The mid-April flights are not available to book yet.

As a test, I've looked on the main airline websites to book tickets for flying mid-Feb to the latest in March they offer and return tickets are around £1050 each. Is this likely to come down over the next few months or is this the cheapest I'm likely to find without waiting 'til the last minute?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

If you try a travel agent such as Trailfinders, flightcentre or travelocity you might get it cheaper than booking directly with the airline. This was my experience when booking multi-stop flights to Australia.

Generally speaking, flights tend to increase in price as you get closer to the departure date.