Advice on our itinerary
 

We are visiting Australia for the first time from Scotland arriving on 28 January 05 and leaving on 18 February.
We intend to fly into Perth and return home from Sydney. Our plans at an early stage but we are thinking of spending 7 days in Perth and the surrounding area before flying onto Melbourne then Sydney. We enjoy sightseeing in cities and touring scenic areas. Is this a good time of year to visit these parts? Are we trying to do too much?

Any suggestions/comments on our trip would be gratefully received.

You will have about 3 weeks to visit 3 cities so that sounds about right to me. Bear in mind it will be the middle of summer and probably very hot. The sun in Australia can burn you in 10 mins flat so please wear a hat and sunscreen outdoors. It can be easy to get very sunburnt and not realise it until that evening and it could spoil your holiday.

We live in Melbourne and visited Perth earlier this year and loved it. Fremantle is a great town, about half an hour by train or an hour by ferry down the Swan River from Perth. It's the historic port area and is full of atmosphere, good places to eat and museums, etc. Rottnest Island is a great place for a day trip or you can stay overnight. It is the only place in the world with Quokkas, little marsupials like small wallabies. The beaches all around Perth are fabulous. Busselton is a nice town if you head south towards Margaret River - a touristy wine producing area.

Lots to do in Melbourne - Queen Victoria Market would be high on my list, the free City Circle trams, Rialto Tower for spectacular views of the city, Southgate for people watching, restaurants, the casino, a ferry on the Yarra etc. Also Great Ocean Road, Healesville Sanctuary etc which are out of the CBD area.

I think all the kids will be back at school by the end of Jan so you shouldn't have too much trouble getting accommodation. Might be worth checking on the dates though, each state varies.
Best wishes with your planning.
Kay

AMD, could I add to Kay's excellent advice. In regard to Perth, allow for 3 days in that city, visiting Rottnest Island, Freemantle, the city of Perth, but also rent a car, and allow 3 days journey to visit the south-west corner of W.A. ie. Mandurah, Bunbury, Cape Naturaliste, Margaret River, Cape Leewin, Pemberton, Karri forests, Denmark & Walpole, then to Albany, then return via the Albany Highway back to Perth. All very doable in 3 days, and very scenic. It will be hot in Perth, so get an air conditioned rental car for the above 3 day journey. Albany can sometimes be much cooler than Perth, in fact, you will probably find the 3 day car journey more pleasant heat wise, than in Perth.

AMD, I forgot to mention, that I will be in Perth this coming Thursday for 2 weeks, and whilst there, if I can think of any other places to visit, I will reply to your posting on my return.

Kay
thanks for your reply and advice about your trip to Perth. Any suggestions as to which part of Melbourne we should stay in?

Tropo
thanks also to you for your suggestions about WA. Would we need to hire a car to get about Perth?
Hope you enjoy your upcoming trip and if you have any further advice that would be great. AMD

AMD - no you don't need a car to get around Perth, There is an excellent rail and bus service, and plenty of taxis, and day tripping coach services.
If your staying in a Hotel, in the city, then I would suggest, walking to busing to Kings Park, for the best view over Perth City.
The actual city of Perth is not large in comparison to other overseas cities.
Just a few streets from Perth city, is Barrack Square, where you can catch various ferries or fastcats, including the one to Rottnest Island (a great day trip, and don't forget to hire a bicycle on the island, and cycle around to various bay & beaches to swim in the aqua blue water, and see old boat wrecks. There is also a ferry to Perth Zoo.
There are plenty of buses or trains out to Freemantle (not far from the city), and Freemantle with its beach, museums, restaurants, cafes, etc, and an EASY walking precinct. There is a Maritime Museum, where you can artefacts from the wreck of the Batavia. Also across the road from Freemantle Park, is a new boutique brewery/restaurant which is well worth visiting. I like going to Subiaco Pub on a saturday afternoon, with a few Perth mates. Nice meal there at night also.
Lovely old Restaurant at Cottlesloe Beach, and lately there has been additional Restaurants built on various beaches, eg. City Beach, Floreat Beach, etc with great seafood & ocean views.
Further north of City Beach is Scarborough, with its tall hotel building, and very popular beach.
The Swan Valley is popular for visiting wineries. I always drive there, but I believe, you can get a boat trip up the Swan River to visit some of these wineries.
I still feel that the "highlight" of your W.A trip will be the 3 day drive down to the south western corner, as I previously mentioned.
We are actually going to Perth to do some house minding for a relative there, whilst they are away overseas. If I come across anything else which I think may interest you, I will post a fresh topic.
Cheers Leigh.

AMD - consider staying in Fremantle instead of Perth, we did and much preferred it, more character and atmosphere. We stayed at the Port Mill B&B, great place and very central. www.babs.com.au Both Perth and Freo have a free CAT bus that does a circuit, you can hop on and off where you want. If you do decide on hiring a car to get out of the city area try Bayswater Car Rental. We got a good deal once we arrived, they advertise on all the tourist brochures.

For Melbourne, you could stay in the city area or maybe St Kilda which is a beach surburb about 15 mins away by tram. St Kilda is full of restaurants and backpackers and is quite lively - full of young people which may or may not be your scene. They have a craft market every Sunday along the esplanade. For the city, maybe try somewhere at Southgate, depending on your budget either Sheraton or the Travelodge at Southgate. There are loads of hotels in the city proper, try www.jasons.com.au for some ideas. If you plan on doing a lot in the city itself, it's probably best to stay in the city and visit the surrounding areas like St Kilda.
Kay

Kay and Tropo

many thanks to you both for your replies and useful advice.

We may opt for Freemantle over Perth since it sounds like it has much more character. We will certainly rent a car and drive to the places you mentioned Tropo.

St Kilda sounds interesting but may be a bit busy for us to stay in. Kay I'll follow up your suggestions for hotels in the city.

AMD

Would pretty much agree with earlier comments especially a trip down south for the cooler climes. Would especially recommend a stop-over in Denmark and there are some lovely Chalets on top of Mount Shadforth Drive overlooking the estuary - name escapes me but I'll dig it out if you are interested. If you are a wine lover, Denmark has some of the best cool climate wines in Australia especially the Pinot Noirs, check out Somerset Hill which I believe featured at the recent royal wedding in Denmark (ie the one in Europe). Also the Porongurups are very scenic and worth a side trip. The restaurant mentioned in Cottesloe on the beach is Indianas and definitely worth a trip, we usually take visitors there and they are impressed. Not sure I would agree with the quality of the public transport system in Perth on a scale of 10 I would just rate it a 6 !!! Personally I would hire a car as more convenient and traffic and parking around Perth nothing like Europe, US or even Sydney or Melbourne

robbieb

thanks for this information.

We are wine enthusiasts so any advice you can give us about where to stay/visit in Denmark or elsewhere in the south would be really useful.

AMD

AMD - well I'm back from Perth and I must apologise, I forgot to check your posting. We stayed in a suburb called Floreat, and we were close to the railway station in Daglish. We used the rail system, which got us to Freemantle or into the city. The CAT bus system in Perth is okay, there 3 different coloured routes. The only trouble with the CAT system, is that its free, and everyone, including locals use it, so it is quite hard to get a seat, and you may have to stand. I feel that 3 days in Perth is sufficient, one day for city & Kings Park sightseeing, one day trip to the Swan Valley (wineries - recommend the historical winery at Houghtons, and for great wines, try the wines at Lamonts..you will need a rental car for this day,but have a designated driver, if you intend to consume a bit of wine), and one day at either Freemantle or Rottnest Island. Then go on your 3 day trip to the south-west corner (I assure you, it will be the highlight of your WA trip), and yes Denmark is a great town. The trees/forest remind me of the ones back on the NSW north coast, around Coffs Harbour. If in Denmark, there is a natural rock pool near the ocean, called Greens Pool. You could have a swim if the temps are up, in January/FEb, you will certainly enjoy a cooling swim.
Whilst we were in Perth, an old friend took us to lunch at a Restaurant called "Oceanic" at City Beach, very nice food, a bit on the expensive side, but a most enjoyable lunch overlooking the Indian Ocean.
Freemantle would be a good spot to "base" yourself, as it has certain historical charms in its buildings, some good museums, beaches, wharf to catch the Rottnest Island cruise, loads of little Restaurants (try to keep away from the cheap fish & chip cafes, a bit greasy), a nice central park, speciality breweries, like "Little Ceatures" which is down on the waterfront. But most of all you have level walking to the railway station where you can catch a train into Perth, to do city sightseeing. Another plus, is that you can rent your car from an agent in Freemantle, then when you want to visit the south-western corner of W.A. its only a matter of taking the motorway south from Freemantle, without having to drive through the city of Perth, not that it is hard driving through, they have a lot of motorways there now, and Perth's population is probably around 1.5 million.

Tropo

you have given us some great advice for our time in Perth and WA. We really appreciate it.

AMD

Glad to be of help, enjoy your WA trip
Regards Leigh.

Apologies for taking so long to get back but the place we stayed in Denmark WA is the Karri Mia. We stayed in the attached Spa but the self contained A-Frame chalets looked really good. Here is the web site.

http://www.karrimia.com.au/...