Help with an Australia DIY Itinerary

masonj3

Hi,

I woud lie to travel to OZ for 3 weeks and am looking to put my own itinerary together if poss.

I am confident in booking flights to and from UK but am unsure of a couple of things and wondered if anyone may be able to help or point me in the right direction - Thank you.

1) How to book internal flights from Perth to Sydney
2) Recommend a website / family resort / accom in Perth - nearish to a beach
3) Recommend a website /family resort / accom in Sydney - nearish to a beach

I would be travelling with my 64 year old mom and 7 year old daughter. I can factor in excursions at a later stage - just looking for reputable site to start to narrow down accom choices if anyone can help or even recommend a hotel. We know this type of holiday isnt going to be cheap but do not have a set budget to work to. Hope this all makes sense. Thank you x

newatc

For internal flights check out Flight Centre Australia. Having identified the flights you want, you could book direct with the airline and save a small amount but that's a personal choice.
Don't know the accommodation web sites but for beaches in Sydney, I would consider Coogee, Manley or Bondi. For younger child I would think Manley or Coogee might be better than Bondi.
For your group, I'd suggest looking at an apartment.
Don't know Perth as well but suspect you might need to be further out of city.
Your time is quite limited for too many excursions out of those cities but I would definitely recommend a trip to the Blue Mountains (when in Sydney). Not too far but beautiful.

masonj3

thank you so much for your reply and suggestions
xx

harz99

Cottesloe, Nth Cottesloe, Swanbourne and Scarborough are IMHO the best beaches in Perth, there are nearby hotels but no holiday resorts as far as I know from my visits to family over there. Maybe better staying at one of the larger hotel or apartment complexes in Fremantle, with nearby Sandtrax and Port beaches, also Fremantle would be good for the rail system into Perth City if you don't intend to hire a car.


Use Skyscanner to find flights, I presume you know you can put in a multi city itinerary? That will show you who codeshares with whom for the internal and international flights to be all on same booking. The principal internals being Qantas (who codeshare with Emirates), and Virgin Australia who I think codeshare with Etihad.


Use Booking,com to search the available hotels/apartments.


For Sydney, I'd go with newatc's beach suggestions. Again I'm not aware of any actual holiday resorts.


http://www.westernaustralia-travellersguide.com/perth-australia-beach.html

PeacefulWaters

If you have Avios these can be used for internal Qantas flight purchases down under booking via the British Airways Executive Club web site.

Alternative Skycanner the routes and book directly with the best value airline (care on luggage allowances).

For the long flights look at business class prices out of Oslo, Stockholm or Helsinki first, especially Qatar. Obviously you'll need an additional flight to and from Scandinavia and an overnight airport hotel. If those are too punchy for you then Skyscanner "UK to Australia" to identify lower class options. Again, always book direct with the airline.

Good luck.

richardw

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

... Obviously you'll need an additional flight to... Scandinavia ....

Sounds risky and a lot of hassle, economy off peak flights to Aus are dirt cheap, what happens if the flight to Scandinavia is cancelled and they miss the flight to Australia?

slinga

I thought the missus booked through AirBnB the last two times we've been.
Once to Perth/Margaret River etc and second time, Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney.
Certainly the accommodation was fine.
She also booked internal flight and used our BA miles for hotels if we had to wait a night for our airBnB accommodation to become available.

slinga

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

If you have Avios these can be used for internal Qantas flight purchases down under booking via the British Airways Executive Club web site.

Alternative Skycanner the routes and book directly with the best value airline (care on luggage allowances).

For the long flights look at business class prices out of Oslo, Stockholm or Helsinki first, especially Qatar. Obviously you'll need an additional flight to and from Scandinavia and an overnight airport hotel. If those are too punchy for you then Skyscanner "UK to Australia" to identify lower class options. Again, always book direct with the airline.

Good luck.

Funny thing is when we've looked at cheaper long haul flights originating in europe rather than UK it's always the fact that we then have to fly back through LHR.
What are we doing wrong.

masonj3

Thank you all for your help, advice & suggestions xx

lady1964

We did 3 weeks in Oz last year split between 6 days in Sydney, 3 days in Port Douglas/Cairns, 4 days with family in Brisbane then another 6 days in Sydney, all arranged by me and all DIY. We used Virgin Australia for our internal flights, used booking.com to look for accomodation but then booked it directly - we booked Meriton Suites in Sydney, one bed apartment, not cheap but perfect for us and similar style accomodation at PD & Cairns.

We're in the process of booking again for next year & using Jetstar and VA for internal flights, accomodation is in an Airbnb in Sydney.

For beaches in Sydney, would agree with Coogee & Bondi, Manley is lovely but it's either a ferry ride or quite a long bus ride from central Sydney. Absolutely agree on the Blue Mountains, 2 hours by train from Sydney then the trolley bus around the BM's, absolutely stunning. Taronga Zoo is a must with your 7 year old.

PeacefulWaters

slinga wrote: »

Funny thing is when we've looked at cheaper long haul flights originating in europe rather than UK it's always the fact that we then have to fly back through LHR.
What are we doing wrong.

Not using Qatar?