gwennie

Hi
I am visiting Australia for a few months in September 2004 and am hoping to see as much of the country as possible. I will probably start from Melbourne and will be travelling alone so would be grateful if anyone has any tips e.g. any danger areas, accomodation (I shall be on a tight budget), transport, weather etc.

alice13

gwennie - no danger areas that I know of (but perhaps I need to know that your defifition and mine are the same).

You need to be more specific about what sort of accomm and how much you want to pay - and where you intend on going.

Transport - bus, train, plane - but you can pretty much forget train unless you want to do it for the experience and the infrequent times fit your schedule. Otherwise - distances can be huge - depends where you are going - but there are bus passes you can get (do a google for greyhound). imho they are not as good value as they were, say 6 years ago. Personally don't like to fly much - prefer to see the land from ground level!! - but Oz is very big so you might like to check out the sites for Virgin Blue and Jetstar (a Qantas offshoot).

Fares are heaps cheaper than they once were - but the earlier you book the better the deal.

OzMike

G'day Gwennie,
Australia is very save for Solo Travelers.
I frequently have woman of all ages on my tours and they often either before or after the tour travel on their own for another few weeks. Some even hardly speak english.
If you are concerned about dangers in nature, just use common sense and take notice of any warnings that are posted where needed.
If you are a little more specific regards your plans and travel routes we can give you more info.
If you wish you can also write to me direct for more info.
Cheers, Mike

margo_oz

Within the bounds of usual common sense, no places in Oz are unsafe.

Don't go into the bush or the desert by yourself. Some areas are best not visited after dark.

Let us know more of your plans and we'll be able to comment further.

Judy_in_Calgary

Hello Gwennie,

Australia is a friendly and safe country. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Generally speaking, your trip would be more comfortable from a weather point of view if you started in the northern part of Australia and worked your way southwards.

If you started in Melbourne in September, as you currently plan to do, there is a good chance it still would be cool there. Then, by the time you made your way to the Top End in subsequent months, it would be very hot and humid there.

Hope this helps.

uandme

Hi gwennie,

I agree, Australia is very safe and you will at all times feel very secure and comfortable.

The bigger cities are not that much different than other bigger cities any where in the world with the exception of Sydney. The harbour there is very unique.

Just avoid areas which seem to be a little rough and you will love Australia and will not have any problems.

Try to get out into the country as much as you can.

We had a ball out in the bush.
It does not matter where you go you will find people interested in you and yours. We enjoyed the smaller towns and the people much more than the Cities.

us

simpsonc510

Hello gwennie,
I traveled alone to OZ for five weeks on my first (of 5) trips down under. I am also a "mature woman." I covered a lot of territory on that trip, starting with Cairns, then on to Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Alice, Darwin, and then ended up in Sydney. I saw a lot of places, met a lot of great people, and enjoyed myself soooo much that I've been back 4 more times, and have now been to Canberra, Perth and Tasmania (all of the capital cities).

I might suggest that you look at some tours. My city travel was pretty much on my own, but from Adelaide to Darwin, I was with a group of 42 Ozzies and it was FANTASTIC. I took the Ghan train from Adelaide to Alice, and then a plane to Ayres Rock, where I finally met up with my big group. We then traveled by bus for about 13 days in the outback. I can't say enough about how much fun that was! I traveled with Australian Pacific tours.

As a teacher, my budget wasn't what I would call, anything goes, but I did manage to do a lot of neat things that I might not ordinarily do. I did a hot air balloon ride out of Alice! I did some scenic fly-overs at Ayres Rock and Kakadu.

I'm sure you will have a great time on your trip. Have no fear about traveling solo!

gwennie

Hi Simpsonc510 - thank you for your tips - am very grateful. I shall certainly contact Australian Pacific Tours - sounds great fun!!

I was planning on starting from Melbourne but may now start from Cairns.
Once have worked out my itiniery I will - no doubt be asking for more advice.

gwennie

To OzMike- your tours also sound interesting will contact you by email in near future regarding my travels.

Thankyou to everyone else for your advice. This is the first time that I have travelled on my own and am both excited and nervous!

Kimbis

If you're going to Cairns I can't recommend Lilybank B&B highly enough. It's more like staying with old friends than merely renting a room for a few days. Breakfast is particularly wonderful, good restaurants a short walk down the road (even in the rain) and most of the tours pick up and drop off right at the gate. You are not downtown, but downtown Cairns isn't such a much. You ARE close to the airport, but I can't remember actually hearing a plane the whole time I was there. Very friendly folks run it. I would certainly make it my base for my next trip to Cairns (when the money fairy makes it possible again ;-).
Very reasonable price too.

wlzmatilida

Gwennie,

Good On Ya! Bravo for striking out on your own! I'm seeing a trend in the past two years of women who've put off travelling because they didn't have a Significant Other, or a girlfriend didn't want to go where they did, or who cancelled out after they'd planned it --these women decided not to "wait" and went for it and in every instance, they've been glad they did!

Last year I had a lovely client who was striking out on her own and I was surprised at how her co-workers seemed determined to undermine her independence. I was getting emails almost daily from her voicing concerns because they had made comments like "you're going WHERE?" "By yourself?" "You're going to drive?"

She went, had fabulous experiences and followed that up with a trip to London on her own.

You'll have a wonderful time - no worries! And, as another poster suggested, APT is a very good touring company if you want to use them.

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Aussie Specialist

Kathygo

Gwennie...I'm also a mature woman who travelled to Australia solo. Wonderful! Lovely people! No problems. I rented a car, great experience. When going solo you will meet many, many Aussies. I booked in with APTours, for a Perth to Broome tour, super. Aussies, Brits, US, Europeans, Canadians represented. I signed up for "roommate ok"..better price, but had a private room at all tour stops except for 1 or 2 nights at the end in Broome.

Tho I'm in the US, I contacted and worked with:[email protected]
She is a wonderful person, took great care to see that the tour worked out beautifully. Frankly, when I phoned APtours here in the US, the woman I spoke with was a bit "snippy", so I went right to the headquarters in Australia and found Tina.

You'll have a wonderful time, I'm sure.

pat_woolford

Hi Gwennie - you'll be fine. I've been running a B&B in North Queensland for 10 years, most of our guests are from US and Canada and a lot are single women. In fact, there's one on this very thread (Hi Kim) Not many single men, though. Most Australians are friendly folk who enjoy meeting those from other countries.

gwennie

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to post messages to me. I am grateful for the tips and advice and am now working my way through the 'Lonely Planet Guide to Australia'!!!!