8 Week Australia Trip

isplumm

Hi,

I've read most of this topic, but missed the last few postings (3 pages is just a bit to much to catch up on!!)

Gave you seen the Walkabout Pass from Qantas .. look at http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn/eu/gb/specials/walkaboutSpecial

Allows you to add upto 6 Oz / NZ places for limited amount.

Qantas have also got sale on at mo ....

Anyway we went to Cairns via Hong Kong ... drove up to Port Douglas ... where we did GBR, etc,

Then flew to Ayers Rock ... Silence of Night .... very good .... then caught bus in morning to see sunrise ... not one of the tour buses .... look at http://www.totaltravel.com.au/link.asp?fid=542372 far cheaper than the tours ... they drop you off, you take your photos .... by 9AM back in hotel pool!! There isn't much to do at Ayers Rock & everything is expensive don't stay more than 2 nights ... we never went to Alice Springs .... it is 6 hours by coach .... or 1 hour flying ... I didn't get good reports, so never bothered ... we only had 3 weeks, so cut that.

We then visited Melbourne ... loved it ... did the Great Ocean road in summer .... wet wet ... also did the penguins at penguin island south east of Melbourne .... very good.

Then Sydney for New Year & fireworks ... you must do the bridge climb!! Excellent ... do at sunset, so see Sydney at night.

Have a great time - me jealous .... oh yes I am!!

Mark

isplumm

Hi,

I noticed that you might visit Perth .... remember it is quite a way from everything else .... 8 weeks sounds long, but if you are trying to fit NZ in, then actually it will go pretty quick. Maybe give it a miss?? Or fly in there 1st.

I seem to remember that you were only going to give NZ 5/7 days ... got to be honest ... you'll only going to get a brief glimpse in that timeframe ... so I would concentrate on one island .... I've not been there, but maybe look at the North Island?? Fly from Sydney to Auckland & back?

By the way - you should be able to fly into 1 airport - say Perth & out of another say Sydney - we did that ... into Cairns out of Sydney ... can save a lot of backtracking.

Mark

isplumm

Hi,

Promise this will be my last post tonight!!!

Have you looked at a Round The World ticket ... Fly London - Sydney - Auckland - LA - London .... not much more than London - Sydney ... do a search on RTW ... you could go somewhere like Fiji for a week on the way back.

Mark

alison74

OP, Have replied to your PM.

I am currently in Oz just now, a total last minute trip because I got the flights for under 600 pounds from Glasgow to Melbourne. There are some good deals on at the moment.

Weather still crazy over here, everything seems more expensive than last year - although petrol is about 56p a litre which is great.

gavinrace

We've now booked our flights using the Walkabout sale with Qantas.

We fly to LA for 2nights, then onto Melbourne, then we'll travel the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide.

We then have a flight from Adelaide to Sydney. From this point, we will fly to Christchurch but this (return) flight wasn't included and we'll need to arrange this seperately. When we get back from NZ (after about 10 days), we're going to travel up the east coast all the way to Cairns.

From Cairns, we're going to fly to Darwin for a couple of nights, before flying back to Brisbane before we head home via Hong Kong.

We travel from the 18th February to the 11th April.

Thanks all for your advice so far.

Can someone tell me if we would need a VIPBackpacker pass each or would one between us be just as good?

Pretty excited now.

olias

If you are going to bother with a flight all the way to Darwin, then I wouldn't bother with the town for the few days you will be there. Instead get a hire car or campervan and visit Kakadu national park (brilliant wildlife and scenery and aboriginal culture) and also Katherine Gorge (again brilliant wildlife and scenery and you can hire canoes to paddle through the gorge. Last time I was there I also got a bargain helicopter ride over the gorges and surrounding desert for about $80!

On your East Coast trip make sure you take in:
Fraser Island (get a self drive 4x4 trip - they provide a suzuki jimny and all the camping gear and it's a blast)
Whitsundays (go on a 3 day cruise - suprisingly cheap - If you want to party, go on a bigger 'backpackers' boat - If you want a romantic cruise go on a smaller 8 berth yacht and get a cabin)
Magnetic Island (off Townsville - brilliant beaches/watersports/scenery etc)
On the approach to Cairns try and visit Paronella Park (google it!)

In Sydney, try Wanderers on Kent St - they have some great staff who can advise and pre book a lot of the East Coast stuff if you want to avoid the hassle

In NZ on South Island I'd choose Wanaka over Queenstown - much more laid back and scenic (Purple Cow backpackers has a great location, great views and is really laid back)

Olias

Generali

gavinrace wrote: »

We've now booked our flights using the Walkabout sale with Qantas.

We fly to LA for 2nights, then onto Melbourne, then we'll travel the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide.

We then have a flight from Adelaide to Sydney. From this point, we will fly to Christchurch but this (return) flight wasn't included and we'll need to arrange this seperately. When we get back from NZ (after about 10 days), we're going to travel up the east coast all the way to Cairns.

From Cairns, we're going to fly to Darwin for a couple of nights, before flying back to Brisbane before we head home via Hong Kong.

We travel from the 18th February to the 11th April.

Thanks all for your advice so far.

Can someone tell me if we would need a VIPBackpacker pass each or would one between us be just as good?

Pretty excited now.

You're going to be doing a lot of driving. My advice would be to avoid driving at dusk as that is when the 'roos move about and if you hit one you'll know about it if you haven't got bars on your car! And take care on the stretch of road from Rockhampton - Mackay. It's the most dangerour stretch of road in Aus as it's very easy to fall asleep.

I recommend a stop at Tin Can Bay on the way up - it's a couple of hundred kilometers north of Brisbane. It's a really lovely little town and you can go and watch the dolphins in the bay. There are tons of motels there which can be cheap and very comfortable.