Australia - by Rail?
 

Hello,
I am in the process of planning a 19-day trip to Australia for my family (children 22, 20 and 13). We have never been out of our native country and are a bit overwhelmed by the vast beauty of Australia. One of our sons is studying in New Zealand for two semesters so we plan to meet in Oz for the break. As we study, we find we want to see everything, but realize that is impossible. So could anyone advise as to whether the following is a good or bad plan? Thanks in advance, here goes: We arrive in Syndey early on a tuesday morning - we think we could buy a country link backpack 1 month pass for each family member (there are 5 altogether). None of our family members enjoy driving much and from what I see we could buy 5 passes for about thee same amount of money as renting a car. We could stay in Sydney until Thursday and then take the rail to Melbourne. Once in Melbourne, we could visit the town a bit and then take the Great Southern Rail on Saturday to Adelaide. Maybe tour around Adelaide until Monday and then head to Kangaroo Island. Once on KI we could rent a place and stay through Thursday so that we could see animals and go to Flinder Chase Coast (great walk?) Then leave KI Thursday and catch the train on Friday to Melbourne - spend the night and continue to Sydney Saturday. That would leave a week to head north along the coast until we have to be back in Sydney the following Saturday to return home Sunday.

General Questions: Are we giving too much time to Kangaroo Island? Is the rail system a pleasant way to travel, are there aspects we have not thought of?

Any and all advice would be so appreciated, we are woefully inexperienced travelers and rather limited in budget. Thank you very much for any advice.

Have you priced out the Qantas Aussie Airpass? Assuming you are from the U.S., you could do their "Wine and Culture" itinerary for as little as $877. That would include: Los Angeles to Sydney, Sydney to Melbourne, Melbourne to Adelaide, Adelaide to Brisbane, Brisbane to Los Angeles. Basically, the Airpass lets you choose 3 internal flights in Australia in addition to your trans-Pacific flight, so you could choose any itinerary you like. We used the Aussie Airpass on our last visit to Australia and it worked quite well for us.
Taking the train is a long and sometimes slow way to travel around Australia. We only took CountryLink between Sydney and Canberra and it was OK because it only took around 3.5 hours (when there weren't delays), but I wouldn't want to ride a train much longer than that.

I agree with longhorn. The train is longer and slower and it looks like you're planning a bit of back tracking. The beginning of your trip looks great but maybe fly from Adelaide to Brisbane and make your way down the coast from there. There's so much beauty between Brisbane and Sydney :)

Lisa, why do you want to go to Kangaroo Island? South Australia seems to have done a superb job promoting the island, capitalising on its name, which gives the impression that it's THE place to see native animals, but if that's what you're after you have lots of opportunity to do that without leaving the east coast of the country.

If you're prepared to spend money on an expensive B&B with night wildlife tours (marsupials are nocturnal) I'm sure you'll emerge with a better opinion of KI than we did. If you're on a budget, as we were, you might be disappointed.

My chief memories are the extortionate ferry fares, a couple of very ordinary meals, some sea lions (disgusting creatures IMO) and a honey farm. KI has the world's only colony of pure Ligurian honey bees, which might excite some visitors, but as far as I'm concerned a bee is a bee, and their honey was distinguished only by its price.

Otherwise IMO it's a hell of a long way for not a lot, unless you want to make Adelaide and its surrounding wine regions a central part of your visit (which would be reasonable - it's a nice part of the world, but could be a little repetitive if you've spent time in California's wine regions).

You need to know that KI is either a flight or a pretty long drive down the Fleurieu Peninsula from Adelaide. I suppose SA Tourism (check their website) could tell you about inclusive bus-ferry packages.

Australia's rail network has been the victim of poor economies and government underinvestment for a long time and I don't know that I'd recommend it for a 19-day visit. Better to fly between the major centres. You haven't mentioned when you plan to come, but I'd give thought to Cairns (gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and much more) and Tasmania, depending on season.

Our distances are too great, our population too small and our governments too metrocentric for Australia to have an efficient & comprehensive rail network,LisaFA.

Far better to fly between major destinations and either rent a car or take short tours from those bases. Not only will you save considerable time, but airfares are generally quite cost effective by comparison.

The three major carriers all have heavily discounted fares from time to time: -
Qantas www.qantas.com.au
Virgin Blue wwww.virginblue.com.au
and Qantas' subsidiary, Jetstar wwww.jetstar.com.au

Sign up for their free newsletters and you will get advice of specials before they are advertised generally.

Strongly advise you not to contemplate Tiger Air, a budget carrier operating out of Melbourne, which has a justifiably poor reputation for scheduling changes, bumping passengers and hidden charges.

Agree with the other posters in that I don't think rail is the way to go. I would fly between major destinations and rent a car in each area to explore the surrounds. Perhaps drive one or two sectors, say from Melbourne to Adelaide along the Great Ocean Rd - you'll see far more and get a much better appreciation for the beauty of the country than you will by rail. If you take your time over 2-3 days, the driving won't seem so bad.

We went to Adelaide a few years ago. We didn't go to Kangaroo Island. Instead, we toured the lovely wine country and drove north to the awesome Flinders Ranges in the Outback - lots of wildlife there.

We've been to KI twice (on a budget) and obviously had a much better experience than Neil did, so I wouldn't necessarily write off KI if it's someplace you really want to go. We may have just been lucky on our visits, but we saw kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, and even an echidna in the wild. We also saw a lone fairy penguin near the sea when we did a hike in Flinders Chase NP. But, I will agree that you can see plenty of native wildlife on the east coast as well. If, like us, you are planning to spend a bit of time in Adelaide and the surrounding area anyway and want to experience some interesting scenery (sand dunes and rock formations) and good hiking in addition to a chance to spot some wildlife, then visit KI.

I liked KI a lot, but considering the plethora of zoos and wildlife parks throughout NSW, Queensland, and probably Victoria, why go to KI if you're going to Melbourne, Sydney and "the Coast." The native Aussies could say better, but I think there are ton(ne)s of wildlife parks in the Brisbane area alone.

Trains are a bit slow, and can give you a very different travelling experience. I took a train from Townsville to Mt Isa a while ago - trip report is here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/aust...-to-mt-isa.cfm

Thank you all so very much! This information is so helpful - I will continue to study and revise the first draft. Actually, I think I will just scrap the first try altogether as it seems unanimous that the rail system is not the best way to see this beautiful country. It sounds too, like there is a great deal of wildlife along the east coast and I do think I may have been a bit mesmerized by the lovely name of Kangaroo Island :D. Back to the drawing board. Thank you again kind friends!