Australia holiday

slinga

We were in Perth and Margaret River 2 years ago and had a great time.
So we want to do S and SE Australia, Melbourne, Great Ocean Rd, Adelaide, Sydney.
Take a month over it.

In Melbourne we will stay in the CBD for 7 nights. Look around Melbourne on foot and drive out to various places.

Great Ocean Rd, Apollo Bay 2 nights, Warnnambool 2 nights then back to Melbourne for a flight to Adelaide for another 8 nights in a place a mile south of the Adelaide Oval.

Walk around Adelaide site seeing and drive out to the Adelaide Hills, Old Willunga, down to Victor Harbour but haven't found anywhere down there to stay so will return to Adelaide. Maybe a drive up north 100miles or so for a day???

Fly to Sydney for for a week. Stay in the Surrey Hills area.
Just walk around Sydney unless there is something we should not miss a day's drive away.

We are from UK but live in Singapore part of the time so will fly from there.

Any comments on the itinerary, too long here, not enough time there, don't miss this, wouldn't bother with that, etc etc.

We will be there during November this year.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

lady1964

Hi, your plans sound amazing!

We were in Australia earlier this year, total of 12 days in Sydney split into 2 stays of 6 days apiece with stays in Port Douglas, Cairns & Brisbane over a week.

For Sydney, in my opinion, you can't miss The Blue Mountains, we got the train which took 2 hours and was cheap. Once there, we got the hop on/hop off trolley bus to visit the various sites there, absolutely stunning. It's driveable but the train is so easy. We also loved Manly and Watsons Bay, both a short ferry ride from Circular Quay or a bus ride (we didn't hire a car at all as parking is costly & a nightmare). The Bondi to Coogee walk is a stunning coastal walk.

We stayed in a serviced apartment on Kent Street which is right in the CBD so everything is walkable, you might want to check on Surrey Hills for ease of getting around. I don't think it's too far from everything but for us, we were visiting our daughter who lives in Pyrmont & we could walk to her place and Circular Quay for the Opera House and also Darling Harbour.

Please feel free to PM me if you'd like more information.

slinga

Thanks lady1964.
We haven't been able to find anything in the CBD and Surrey Hills was the closest.
Good info about The Blue Mountains and taking the train instead of driving, thanks.

HoofeHearted

Hope you have sorted suitable travel insurance.
You normally cannot take out travel insurance from a UK firm, if your holiday does not start in the UK.

slinga

Interesting.
I suppose our flight starting in UK on September 29 to Singapore and then on to Australia might count though???

michele-p

Wow, great sounding holiday. I don't know if your itinerary would fit it in, but whilst in Melbourne you may be able to visit Philip island, at the right time of year you can see penguins coming onto the beach in the evening. It's quite busy, and strict no "flash photography" rule, but pretty amazing to see.

In Sydney take the ferry to manly, for a lovely local day out.

littlereddevil

I wouldn't spend all that time in Adelaide tbh

lady1964

slinga wrote: »

Thanks lady1964.
We haven't been able to find anything in the CBD and Surrey Hills was the closest.
Good info about The Blue Mountains and taking the train instead of driving, thanks.

Have you looked at Pyrmont? it's walkable to Circular Quay, Darling Harbour &'lots of other places? Sydney isn't a cheap place to stay, we averaged approx £100 per night for our stay, have you looked at Meriton serviced apartments?

slinga

littlereddevil wrote: »

I wouldn't spend all that time in Adelaide tbh

Yeah, that's what we been told but driving outside Adelaide for 3 maybe 4 days we thought we'd need the time. Would you say it's still too long in Adelaide itself.

slinga

lady1964 wrote: »

Have you looked at Pyrmont? it's walkable to Circular Quay, Darling Harbour &'lots of other places? Sydney isn't a cheap place to stay, we averaged approx £100 per night for our stay, have you looked at Meriton serviced apartments?

The missus who does all the pre holiday work has looked at most areas on Airbnbee but I'll mention Meriton Serviced Apartments and Pyrmont to her.

bondy01

lady1964 wrote: »

Hi, your plans sound amazing!

For Sydney, in my opinion, you can't miss The Blue Mountains, we got the train which took 2 hours and was cheap. Once there, we got the hop on/hop off trolley bus to visit the various sites there, absolutely stunning. It's driveable but the train is so easy. We also loved Manly and Watsons Bay, both a short ferry ride from Circular Quay or a bus ride (we didn't hire a car at all as parking is costly & a nightmare). The Bondi to Coogee walk is a stunning coastal walk.

Can't disagree with any of that but we went by car to the Blue Mountains. Don't forget the trip up the tv tower but I think it has changed since we were there and not sure if you can just have a trip up anymore but it did have some good views.
You're probably aware of the area around Darling Harbour. The entertainment centre is in the area and I have seen 2 concerts there (eurythmics and the corrs) so could be worth checking to see what is on.