Australia- Help??

buxtonrabbitgreen

I went to Oz in 2006. I was fortunate to be staying with my cousins. The best bits for me were the Indian Pacific railway from Syd to Adelaide all through the blue mountains and the outback. A 4 day trip to the flinders ranges South Australia. We stayed in a motel very cheap.and a week in Sydney which was fantastic. We rented a serviced apartment which was quite reasonable and had 2 double bedrooms , plenty of room for a family at the Meriton. I went on my own as my Oh won't go anywhere that needs a passport. The food in Australia is gorgeous, especially the seafood.

tiamaria

I would advise you to book about 9-11 months in advance.

We went in late 2005 & booked well in advance, we wanted to go again last month but we left it too late to book and the prices were so high we went somewhere else.

I'd also say have a stopover each way, we didn't & it really was too much to travel in one go, if I went again I'd definately do that. Shame Oz is so far away..

You won't regret going though - it's the most fantastic country.

lozkate

Noggin

Please have a look at www.heronisland.com

We went there last year with our children and the place is unforgetable. It wasn't cheap but we saved for ages and looked at it like a holiday within a holiday.

The children joined the junior rangers programme and marine biologists took them on reef walks, they learnt about star gazing and came back one day saying 'we have just seen a turtle laying some eggs' - as if they saw them everyday. You don't go on snorkelling trips you walk out from the beach to the reef at high tide, you can watch the rays and sharks from the shore if snorkelling doesnt appeal. Totally amazing.

Kate

PS Found Heron Island thanks to another MSE

sweetpeas_2

thanks for all your help guys and gals
it sounds from what youve all said that wed be best staying hamilton island maybe and then travelling to hayman island to visit???
i will have a look with the companies that you have all suggested, might get a rough idea of prices then
Ill let you know how i go!

xx nog xx

sweetpeas_2

sorry to all of you that replied on the 2nd page, i only read the replies on the first page and replied, i didnt know there were more sorry ... xxxx

fdf, im sure i can squeeze you both in my case dont worry... wont say no to the babysitting either, i do like champagne of an evening :D

id also like to visit ayers rock, looks amazing. i will check out the site on heron island, thanks lozkate, sounds really nice for young families.

Lots to look at on different places, ill let you all know what i think :j

right giddy now.... :D

xx

Incapuppy

This must be soooooo exciting to plan :j

Perhaps we really ought to bite the bullet and save up for a few years;)

I don't know if they still do it but either Austravel or Travelbag were doing a free 'plan your trip' dvd at one point - might be worth asking if they have one they can send you.

peawack

Personally, I would not consider Oz without a stop-over, each way.
Also, you have to go there to realise how immense the place is. Don't forget, Europe can physically be fiitted within its boundaries !
For this reason, and the fact that you have such a short time, I would visit two places and no more. Otherwise you will find that you don't get the most benefit from anywhere you go, spreading the jam too thinly, so to speak !

Lou85

Hey,

I went backpacking from Cairns to Sydney last year and i have to say its everything you think it would be. Fraser Island was my best experience - i did the 4x4 that was previously mentioned. It is mostly young backpackers that do this, however there are organised tours that you can go on which are more family orientated which involves coach rides through the island and you can stay in the small resort instead of camping. My team leader went there for her honeymoon a few years ago and did the organised tour and she also highly recommends it. Its just stunning!

Sydney is also amazing. Everyday for 2 weeks i would pass by the Opera House and stare in amazement at it - i never tired of it! Its great just to walk about the Botanical Gardens and Circular Quay at the Opera House in the sunshine and feel so relaxed. No one is in a big rush to get anywhere unlike Britain. The only beach i went to in Sydney was Bondi which was a bit disappointing (and the weather wasn't great) but i hear that Manly and Palm Beach (where Home and Away is filmed) are much nicer. I would also highly recommend Taronga Zoo - its awesome! I was never a big fan of zoo's before but the animals were gorgeous and i got some brilliant pictures. You can get the ferry (takes about 30 mins) from Circular Quay.

Have an amazing time!
Lou xxx

Potaroo

Hi Noggin

Something I didn't see elsewhere on this post is www.tripadvisor.com you can get a great deal of info from there.

We have travelled extensively in Oz over the last 6 years - in 2 - 3 week chunks. (in fact off to Perth again at end of Month).

Where you go is really down to what kind of holiday you like. However for the first time there is nothing like standing on the steps of the Opera House in Sydney. Even better is the photo taken on the bridgeclimb with the OH in the background. Sydney has something for everyone. For free visit the Botanic gardens next to the OH and look for the flying foxes all 8000 of them!

Where you go also depends on how long you are going for. In 2 weeks you could do a two centre holiday Sydney and Perth flying across country with www.virginblue.com.

In Perth (well Rockingham just south) you could even swim with the dolphins. What a great family holiday that could be. Visit Rottnest island and meet the Quokkas. You may see Monkey Mia mentioned for Dolphin Interaction. It is 800 miles north of Perth and you can only wade knee deep. The whale shark swim is another 400 miles further on.

Flights - I recommend Malaysian Airlines. Best booking time is November-ish for flights in March-April. Malaysian have best seat pitch at 34" in economy. Try to avoid school holiday periods for Oz. If you google you can get the term times and they are often slightly different around the country.

Anyway enjoy wherever you go.:beer:

conradmum

Keep an eye on www.oasishongkong.com. These are a long haul budget airline. They currently only fly to Hong Kong and Vancouver but are planning on opening routes to Sydney and Melbourne. When they do, they're likely to offer discounted promotional flights on a first come first served basis. If you're quick, you might be able to pick up some great bargains. When they started new flight times to Hong Kong, dh stayed up to midnight and nabbed us 6 return flights to Hong Kong for £1300 including all taxes!

Even if you don't get the promotional offer flights, Oasis are likely to cut the legs from under their competitors, as they have done so far.

Forgot to add, the islands are good, but there's more to do and see if you stay somewhere on the mainland. If you stay at Port Douglas you could go snorkelling, see the rainforest, visit the Tablelands and lots of other things too.

It really depends to a large extent on when you'll be going and what you want to do. Decide these before deciding where to go. For example, if you go in our summer, Melbourne will be pretty miserable (I wouldn't recommend it as a holiday destination anyway - and I used to live there!)

Also forgot to add - I've done Melbourne-London many times and in my experience it's actually less tiring to fly direct than to stopover. If you stopover, you've got a lot of additional time spent getting in and out of the airport and to and from the hotel, and very little time to do/see anything. You're tired from the flight and you just want to rest, then you have to get back on another flight. Better to get it over with in one fell swoop, or to have at least three nights at your stopover destination.