Start me off- very very broad question

Old Apr 27th, 2009, 09:37 PM
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Start me off- very very broad question

Having a bit of wanderlust and just discovered the new Virgin Australia is having an intro sale from Los Angeles--$649 a person, which is cheaper than I've ever seen it. I've had a vague idea that I'd like to travel to Aussie/NZ at some point in my life, but am now thinking that might be reality in a month or two...so start me off!

We have very flexible jobs but not a lot of money. We're thinking two weeks? Three? We would need to fly in to Sydney or Brisbane, and I'm picking up a guidebook tomorrow, but personal advice is always so much more helpful.

So for someone who's never been and has no idea what to see or do or even how long to stay, in a nutshell, what would be your advice? I would really love to see Ayer's Rock, but I do know that's on the West and may be a very long run for a very short slide...
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Old Apr 27th, 2009, 09:39 PM
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Oh, forgot details--we're in our 30s (early me, late him), enjoy the scenery of the outdoors but not necessarily the effort (that is, we don't scuba, but I like to swim with fish near shore, as an idea), like just the experience of travel and seeing new things, like wineries, don't mind hostels, can't afford and don't need luxury...
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Old Apr 27th, 2009, 09:54 PM
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Ayers Rock is actually in the centre, you would need to fly there if you don't want to spend most of your trip driving (and you don't, trust me). Others can give you more advice on that, but I've just read a post a few minutes ago saying you can do the trip in a few days. (see post "3 weeks Australia 2 weeks NZ" - Uluru is the more PC name for Ayers Rock)
Stay as long as you can afford - the time and cost for the trip make a short stay a bit of a waste, so try for 3 weeks more cheaply rather than 2 weeks.
Highly recommend snorkelling if you want to see fish without doing the scuba thing - you can buy the equipment pretty cheaply (
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Old Apr 27th, 2009, 10:55 PM
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If you have a look at www.webjet.com.au you will see what airfares between different cities are and though there are specials at times, Virgin having what they call lunch time specials, there'll only be selected routes each day and limited seats at specials prices.

For snorkelling you really want to head to NQ, Cairns or Airlie Beach for Whitsunday Islands but if it's about July/August you're looking at, further north for warmer water the better.

There are flights from Cairns to Alice Springs and Ayers Rock [still what the airport is called and still gets used so you'll not be put in the slammer] but you'll be looking at about $300 for the cheapest tickets, a bit cheaper from Sydney and then check what www.tigerairways.com have from Melbourne to Alice Springs [they might now be shown on webjet] and Melbourne not being too bad a location for wineries but being winter, it'll be cooler and obviously not growing season but still plenty of tasting available.

A great way to see Uluru and some of surrounding outback is to do a 2-3 day camping tour between Alice Springs and Uluru, cost about $400 though a couple of cheaper ones, www.mulgas.com.au being about cheapest and www.waywardbus.com.au being about mid range.

To keep costs down you might even want to talk yourselves[if needed] into trying out hostels, twin/double rooms from about $70 can save you a heap and they are not all full of screaming 18-20 year olds.
www.yha.com.au and www.bugaustralia.com will get you started there.

Check out http://www.hotdockets.com.au/ as one 241 way to eat on the cheap, tap water is OK to drink and some 4L caska of wine at about $12 ain't half bad either to wash down some snags cooked on a free electric BBQ and plenty of them about, www.whypayfullprice.com.au being a hotdocket style coupon thingo I haven't checked out yet.

You can swim with Dolphins at a place called Forster-Tuncurry, about 300 km. north of Sydney.

So just as a sample you might want to cost something like
Brisbane > fly to Cairns > fly to Alice Springs/Uluru/Alice Springs > fly to Melbourne > Sydney and fly out of Sydney if possible and with three weeks I'd allocate about half the time between Brisbane to Alice Springs and about half for the remainder.

That'd give you time to drive Melbourne to Sydney and if you need to fly out of Brisbane, you could still drive up to Forster Tuncurry for swimming with Dolphins and back to Sydney and get a flight to Brisbane.

There's all sorts of other options and you may even have Tasmania, Darwin or Broome recommended but with only three weeks and limited funds, you ought to work on your priorities and get domestic flights booked earlier rather than later for cheaper fares do disappear of the screen.

www. travelmate.com.au will help you with driving planning and www.drivenow.com.au will show you hire costs.

If you want to save money on a guide, check your library or just google place names or interests and you get heaps of info to get a travel skeleton and then you can flesh it out with reference to other posts/trip reports here.
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Old Apr 27th, 2009, 11:12 PM
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Ah, missed you don't mind hostels - yep, they can be good fun, meeting other travellers too for up to date story/hints/reccos swaps.

Another option you might want to consider as well are cabins or on site vans at caravan holiday parks, not quite the US Trailer style park.

And re Melbourne not too bad for the wineries, it is actually along with Adelaide the best re proximity of wineries in a few different areas, all well within 100 km., and Melbourne is a great city besides.

And one last tip for now and that's though you may have limited time and need to do some detailed booking ahead re flights, when it comes to driving Melbourne to Sydney I'd leave your car booking until later for always no shortage that time of year and see as an alternative if you can score a campervan relocation - some sometimes at $1/d and with a fuel allowance - makes for a great cheap comfortable road trip and always plenty of places you can just pull up at night for free - http://www.standbyrelocations.com/

And Melbourne to Sydney, you can come across a little winery sort of tucked away all by itself in a region you might expect to find heaps of them - http://www.tilba.com.au/tilbavalleywines.htm , nice drop of red there too and Tilba Tilba is a bit like an Australian equivalent of an old western town, beautiful drive it is the coast.
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Old Apr 28th, 2009, 07:37 AM
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1. Before you buy a guidebook, check your local library first. Our library has a wide variety of guidebooks (e.g. Fodors, Lonely Planet, Frommers, Moon, Rough Guide, etc.) for virtually every country. I always read some of those first to get an idea of which guidebook suits my travel style for a particular country. Also, by reading more than one "brand" of guidebook, I get ideas for different things to see and do. Then, if you want to have one with you as you travel, either buy one or photocopy the pages you need.
2. Get your hands on a good map of Australia (atlas, guidebook, etc.). You'll want to familiarize yourself with the location of the various places you want to visit, mainly to see how far apart they are. Seeing a map will convince you that you probably don't want to do both Sydney and Perth if you only have 2 weeks to visit.
3. Consider the weather and remember that the seasons in Australia are opposite to those of North America. (You'd probably be surprised that some people don't think of that when they plan their trip.) If you don't like cold weather and are travelling in June, July or August, then you'll probably want to keep yourself north of Sydney.
4. Don't try to cram too much into your vacation. You'll be tempted to do so because you are traveling such a long way to get there, but avoid the temptation. Otherwise, you will find yourself spending more time in transit than enjoying Australia. I think a good rule of thumb is no more than 3 destinations for a 2-week vacation and no more than 5 destinations for a 3-week vacation.
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Old Apr 28th, 2009, 08:11 AM
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Hi Thursday!

As you say that you're flexible with jobs, but "not alot of money" I'd suggest skipping Ayers Rock, which will add a good chunk of change onto your costs; further, to fit in either Sydney/Brisbane, Ayers and Cairns/GBR areas, you'd be adding extra time onto that two weeks as well.

Longhorn's absolutely correct in his Point #4 - I see this all the time - clients figure they're only going to do this once and try to cram everything in. For two weeks, concentrating on 2 places, say, Sydney & the Queensland area, you could see things in depth and have some downtime to relax as well.

Hope this is helpful!

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Aussie Specialist
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Old Apr 28th, 2009, 05:54 PM
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Yes, the secret in enjoying your trip is to have in mind anything specific you have in mind and using that as a base to suit that wanderlust and then wander to the max., so Uluru and 'swimming with fish' is a good simple approach that can be included in a noncramming plan.

Couple that with stay as long as you can afford as Thorn has indicated and in making use of cheaper accommodation and transport, enjoying the simpler/cheaper activities, getting most for your $$$ you'll feed the lust and certainly no need to cram but just allocate time to suit your key interests.

With Uluru at top of "really want to" list [and who knows given global economics and whatever else, you may only get here once], make the most of it and my advice is get out there if your budget allows.
Sure, airfare from eastcoast costs but there are other alternatives re once in the centre that could help with costs, eg.
. a long day day tour from Alice Springs
. fly direct to Uluru and there is a hostel as part of the Voyagers resort but it is YHA associated and you may want to join the YHA and take advantage of their booking system and members discounts - pay to book somewhere like there early as winter time here is peak season for inland.
. it may be possible to get road transport back to Alice Springs [check www.greyhound.com.au for starters] to take advantage of cheap Alice Springs to Melbourne flights with Tiger Airways.

And if you enjoy Uluru for its colour, prominence and indigenous 'dream-time' meaning you'll also not want to forego the nearby Olgas and there's a bit by way of gorges and a desert park about Alice that you'll likely enjoy too - it's the whole deal[ http://www.centralaustraliantourism.com/ is a good site for general info on the Alice Springs area] and one of the best things ever you'll see and it's for free - the starry light unpolluted southern night sky - one reason alone that justifies a camping tour.
When you add up transport/meals/accommodation alternative costs, they ain't too bad value actually.

The extensive Greyhound services also provide another cheaper travelling option though it is obviously time consuming - many backpackers make use of overnight services which also saves a bed cost but using it like that, you miss seeing the country and it's a bloody awful way to travel and not something I'd recommend to enjoy a holiday.

But work out your priorities and what budget allows and you'll be right.
Just a quick check on July and Cairns to Uluru is showing cheapest at $380 [be rare to get a special] and prices well above with Qantas sole provider whereas Alice Springs to Melbourne is about $290 with Qantas and $218 with Tiger.

Doing flights from/back to Melbourne will give some advantage but you would want to then be looking at flying into Sydney, perhaps foregoing warmer weather of NQ and sticking with a cooler southern parts but there's plenty of interest about Victoria and NSW, more history for what we have of it and of course plenty of wineries.
It'd certainly free you up time wise a bit.
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Old May 29th, 2011, 06:33 PM
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$649!!!! I wish that I could get that fare going back the other way. I would be back to California in a flash!

There is sooo much more to the RED CENTRE than just THE ROCK, though it is absolutely breathtaking.

As Bushranger says, Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) are also a must do, as is Kings Canyon, Simpsons Gap and other parts of the West Macdonell Ranges. There is also plenty to see and do around Alice Springs, it is so uniquely Australian that it is certainly worth the effort to get there and I would suggest at least 5 days spent in that part of the Continent.

Fly into Alice, Hire a car, drive to Uluru (about 4-5hrs), spend 2 nights and then return to Alice via Kings Canyon.

It is also a great time of year to go to Darwin, Kakadu and surrounds, which could be another week.

Avoid the last week of June and the first 2 weeks of July as school holidays in the eastern states will see an escalation of airfare and accomadation costs. For example, you can fly from Melbourne to Darwin mid June for as little as $179 on Jetstar and the same flight late June will see little change from $350. It is not so bad coming the other way until mid July when all of the tanned 'southerners' return to the cooler climes.

Victoria has been my home for the last 43 years, but I would avoid spending to much time there at this time of year unless you dont mind cold weather. It looks as if we are heading into a particularly cool and wet winter. I would be spending 4-5 days in Sydney, then up along the coast to Northeren Queensland, across to Darwin and the down to Alice. This will give you a good balance of Inland and Coastal Australia and could be accomplished in 3 to 4 weeks.
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Old May 29th, 2011, 07:09 PM
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shanek -

As this post is over two years old, I'm sure the OP has come and gone by now.
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Old May 29th, 2011, 08:27 PM
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Do You think, MeInq8?

Sorry to drag it up. I was just searching through Virgin Australia posts and it came up.

I obviously misread the date.

Nice of you to point that out.
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