best holiday company to book for australia

mirrorimage0

hi there we are looking at booking a holiday next year to australia , ideally canberra, we want to have a look around as we are considering moving there, has anyone booked and who with, there is 2 adults and 2 children so we are thinking it is going to cost around £5000 for 3 weeks does this seem about right

gedebage

I am an Aussie here in UK. I always use www.flightcentre.co.uk. It is an Australian owned company with many branches here and of course Australia.

If you need any more info on Oz please PM me. I'll be glad to help. I am very familiar with most places there.

Smiley82

Hi,

I'm also an Aussie here in the UK, and while Flight Centre is a good start, I would personally recommend booking flights seperately and then accommodation, either yourself or through a travel agency like flight centre or Trailfinders etc.

It depends on when you are looking to go as to how much flights will be. Generally speaking 15th April - 30th June is the cheapest time of the year, and flights to Sydney were around £500/each this year with many reputable airlines (BA/Qantas/Emirates etc). You could then easily get a connection Sydney to Canberra quite cheaply, $49 AUD each way on sale at the moment.

Are you planning on visiting friends/family during your 3 weeks? As 3 weeks is generally a very long time to visit Canberra alone.

For Accommodation, I would look at renting an apartment, particularly as you are travelling with your children, but also because you are wanting to experience 'lifestyle and living' rather than just holidaying. There is a good apartment company throughout Australia called Medina, link is below.

http://www.medina.com.au/canberra-accommodation

I did a quick search for random dates and it came up with a 2 bedroom apartment is approximately $280/night. You would definately get better prices booking for a longer period of time, so it would be worth looking into this as an alternative to hotels.

Happy for you to ask any further questions, hope the information has helped

mirrorimage0

thankyou so much for your replies i will lok into those links, we have never been to australia before but have talked about moving there for the past couple of yrs, we mentioned canberra as it looked like it had on average the best education system, the lowest crime rate and the lowest unemployment section. where would you suggest to fly to and stay and have a look round different cities or is it so big its just not practical.

Bananabelly

Hi there,
The reason Canberra has a low crime rate and low unemployment is it has a very high proportion of government employees and public servants and there is little in the way of manufacturing, etc. I don't know how different the education system is to the rest of Oz, I think it is very similar to NSW (if not identical?).
I am from Melbourne originally, Canberra would be about the last place I would think of living as it is a little...ahem....boring, I prefer a city with a bit of stuff happening and while the laws are made there, no bands go there to give concerts, or anything like that. I would recommend Melbourne, Perth, Sydney or Brisbane as places that are a bit more dynamic and interesting, and probably a little easier to settle into, with expat networks and stuff. Canberra is also one of the coldest capital cities!
As for flights, I know there is Austravel which might be a good place to start as you are not sure what you want to do exactly, but I am not sure how cheap they are. I have found good flights on Expedia before, it's a matter of keep checking and get an idea of prices and firm dates, then book when you see a good deal. 500 is great low season (winter in oz) but it can rise to 1500 over Christmas and summer per person.
Cheap airlines within oz are www.jetstar.com.au and www.virginblue.com.au. Virgin is a little nicer, and tends to fly from major airports. It would be reasonable to spend a week or so in 2 or 3 cities I think, flying in between, but remember any holiday is not going to be exactly like living there. Like another poster said, most overseas flights will fly into somewhere on the east coast (Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, though you can fly to Perth a bit cheaper), and from there you could get some internal flights. Many deals with Qantas include an internal flight as well.
HTH

gedebage

I agree 100% with Bananabelly about Canberra. It is a nice place to visit, but living there would be boring unless you are a public service type. The only good thing is that you are not far from the snow if you are into that.