angel1

Me and my son are travelling to perth on 16th October 2013 and returning back from Perth on 30th October. Please help us to draw 13 days itinerary. We want to spend 2-3 days in Perth, then fly to mailborne, stay in mailborne for 3 days and then travel by road/train (for saving on airfare) to Sydney and then fly to Perth from Sydney on 30th Oct.
We want to cover all 'Must-see' attractions of these places. We will be staying in budget hotels and will use public transport wherever possible. Please suggest itinerary and give your valuable tips so that we can make most of this tour. Also suggest organised tours / tour packages available, if they are not very costly.

peterSale

Flights from Melbourne to Sydney can be very cheap, certainly cheaper than driving.

MELBOURNE (my old home town)
FREE
Old Treasury Building
National Gallery(World Art)
Ian Potter Gallery (Australian Art)
State Library - permanent displays
City Circle Tram (hop on and hop off)
Shuttle Bus (hop on and hop off)
Shrine of Remembrance (memorial to servicemen/women)
Botanical/Fitzroy/Exhibition/Kings Domain Gardens
Walk along the Yarra River

CHEAP(ish)
Boat trip to Williamstown.
Tram to St Kilda and Ackland street. Great cakes/coffee and beach. Market on Sundays. Luna Park (one of only two remaining and home to the oldest working wooden roller coaster in the world. My mother rode it on her 80th birthday as a reminder of her courting days with my dad- so pretty tame.
Tram to Lygon Street Italian/Greek restaurants.
Old Melbourne Gaol.
Melbourne Museum
Fire fighters museum.
Train to the Dandenongs - ride Puffing Billy - steam train.
Eureka Skydeck - you can get a day ticket that allows two visits in the one day so you can see Melbourne both in day light and at night.
Immigration Museum.
Chinese Museum
Holocaust Museum (St Kilda/Caufield has a high Jewish population.


Expensive (sort of - not bad in the scheme of international travel)
Day trip to Phillip Island to see penguins come ashore and other wildlife.
Day trip along the great ocean road.
Day trip to Ballarat to see Sovereign Hill a recreation of a gold mining town.

SYDNEY
Nothing really, it is just a poor cousin of Melbourne!
Free - walk the Harbour Bridge.
Cheap - catch the ferry from Circular Quay to Darling Harbour look at the maritime museum particularly the replica of Captain Cook's Endeavour and the Onslow Submarine. Back on the ferry to the other side of the harbour to Luna Park and then back to Circular Quay. This will give you great vies of the Bridge as you go under it and of the Opera House.

Ferry to Manly.

Sort of expensive - day trip to the Blue Mountains.

PERTH
Fremantle Prison. The underground tour of the water ways is great.
Ship wrecks museum. The Batavia, the Hartog plate and Vlamingh plate are breath taking.

Day trips south to Busselton or Margaret River would be great.

aussielassie

Check out http://www.alwaysonvacation.com.au/ for accommodation. It's not all budget, but if you search for specials/deals on the left hand side after you've done a location search you might be able to find some cheap accomm for your trip. Safe travels!!!

MissGreen

I love Peter's suggestions. Public transport in Melbourne is very easy to get anywhere. I find it easier and more accessible than Sydney where I live now.

KayF

You might want to rethink the road/train from Melbourne to Sydney. Check costs and timings first. The bus or train will take ages, you might be surprised at how long the trip is. Also can be expensive. If you book ahead, like now, you could get fairly reasonable fares, look at Jetstar or Tiger for the cheapest fares, Qantas and Virgin also fly this route and have specials sometimes. Don't wait too long though as the cheapest airfares get snapped up.

You won't see 'all must-see attractions' of these places in just 13 days but you'll make a start

Kay

peterSale

You are looking at 11+ hours by train and about $110 each one way.
Bus is 14 hours and about $100 each.

So a cheap flight will save you time, comfort and possible money. Some flights are as cheap as $60-100.

By car it is the same time as a bus as it is about 1000km, except you will not be able to drive non stop unless you like sleeping in your car and swapping drivers.

Melnq8

I respectfully disagree with Peter about Busselton and Margaret River as days trips - entirely too far, especially for someone unfamiliar with driving in WA. We just drove back from MR today - took 3.5 hours. We spent three nights there and only did a fraction of what we'd have liked - and this was our fifth or sixth visit - like most of WA, it's on the massive side, you'll see very little in a day.

There's so much to see and do between Busselton and Augusta that you really need much more time, unless you get some sort of joy out of sitting behind the wheel of a car

With only 2-3 days in WA - stick to Perth. Plenty to do - don't miss Kings Park. And book your accommodation NOW. Perth is hellishly expensive and there's a major accommodation shortage due to the mining boom and fly-in-fly out workers.

mareeS55

Take the advice of Melnq8 about Perth, with this addition: Hire a car and do a half-day drive up the Avon Valley, have lunch at one of the cosy country pubs or wineries; drive up the coast road to Hillary's Marina for a somewhat touristy day of shopping and lunch on the water; take the train to Fremantle and have a nice day out in a nice historic waterfront quarter.

Take Mel's advice and book early. Perth/Fremantle accommodation is very expensive. Our son is a fly-in-fly-out mine worker from Perth and we visit him over there, so we fully know the accommodation costs (decent hotel room in Fremantle $280 per night).

As for Melbourne, whatever your interests might be, the trams will take you there. Visit the tourist office at Federation Square for advice. Melbourne is too diverse for anyone here to be offering opinions.

Fly to Sydney. You can do it with one of the budget airlines like Jetstar, Virgin, for under $100. Much cheaper than a train or bus and it's an hour of flying time.

Sydney you will like (maybe) or hate (possibly). The one best thing to do in Sydney if you only have a few short days is the Bridge Climb. It encapsulates the place. (I live a few hours north of Sydney and would never have done the bridge climb if my husband hadn't forced me into it, but I have to say it's the best way to see Sydney if you only have a short time to be there.)

Any other spare time in Sydney with limited funds would be well spent on a public ferry ride to Manly, or the Taronga Park Zoo, or a train ride to Katoomba.

victorbritts

You might get good tips our her about the places to visit http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attrac...Australia.html

angel1

Thank you for advice on Jetstar, it has good prices.
16th Oct : Arrive in Perth
19th Oct : Depart from Perth and Arrive in Melborne
23rd Oct : Depart from Melborne and arrive in Sydney
30th Oct : Depart from Sydney and arrive in Perth for return journey to India via Kuala Lumpur.
Is this okay?

angel1

Dear PeterSale,
Thank you for your great tips. Do you think we should stay more days in Melborne than Sydney?