johanna

From reading this wonderful column, I have gotten the courage to fly solo from US to Aus/NZ. Using miles, I arrive April 1st in Sydney;May 1st fly from Melbourne to Christchurch and May15th from Aukland back to US. I did try to reroute to NZ first but couldnt. Will it be cold in NZ? Will it be warm enough to snorkle at Great Barrier Reef? Should I take the train from Sydney to Cairns & then to Melbourne. From this column, I have read that it is better to stay in Port Douglas; I have read that the Park Hyatt is a good hotel, how about the Wentworth? If I have a reservation in Sydney,at that time of yr can I make my hotel and transportation to other areas once I get there or should I have specific dates? I assume from Sydney, I should go to Cairns & then Melbourne, then where???Can I take day tours once I get there? This is the first time I am traveling so far alone without a tour...any and all help will be greatly appreciated and acknowledged...how do I book hotels online ie the park hyatt???names of local tour groups???how many days in each place...will I need a coat in NZ and any suggestions for travel in NZ...dont want to drive alone....some suggested I fly to figi or bali since I am so close; others said 10 days too short for NZ, should I leave less time for Au???may be my only trip down unde..Johannar. Thank you , Thank you.

liz

Australia is about the same size as the USA and Sydney to GBR is about 3 hours flying time so I would not suggest a train for that sector. Look at either getting a Boomerang Pass ( only available outside Australia) or sector flights on Qantas or Virgin Blue. <BR>You will need every bit of the time you have set aside for Australia and you can snorkle and dive on the GBR as it will be even more beautiful at that time of year. <BR>Make you Sydney visit for about 5 days, at least one week on the GBR so that you can do some of the many side trips i.e. into the rain forests with guides, reef trips, Atherton Tablelands, Daintree and Cape Tribulation, perhaps some white water stuff on the Tully river. You may like to fly from Brisbane to Hamilton island in the Whitsundays ( not necessarily staying on that particular island) and spend a few days there before going on to Cairns for the very north. You could fly back to Brisbane and then take a train from there to Sydney which would give you a look at the countryside.<BR>Give yourself a couple of days in Melbourne and take side trips there. If you have a Boomerang pass you could expand this visit a bit and either take in the Centre ( Ayers Rock or Darwin) or perhaps go to Tasmania which is a lovely place and very different from the mainland. <BR>Do some searches on this site and others for the areas you want to see and those I have suggested. If you can't find enough information then let me know and I will check websites for you. <BR>Yes it will be cold in NZ at that time of year. <BR>There is not really much point in going to Fiji when the islands off Australia are much nicer and the GBR is one of the wonders of the world. Bali, as far as I am concerned, is an absolute no no due to the fact that there is far too many political/Moslem problems in Indonesia at present and I would assume that if there is a war in Iraq it could only be worse for Westerners.

johanna

Thanks Liz for your advice. I had read about the Boomerang pass at this site so I will look into it. I probably will not be whitewater rafting.How do I look up sites here? Thanks for your help and do you have any suggestions for hotels and/or travel companies in the area. Thanks

Liz

http://www.whitsundaysonline.com/<BR>and <BR>http://www.queenslandtravel.com/qtchtml/adrenalin/index.htm<BR>Here are 2 lots for you to start with. One is for the very north around Cairns and the other is for the Whitsundays. There are many, many more available and perhaps others may help here but in the meantime look up www.webwombat.com.au and do a search on that.<BR>As for Sydney Hotels: try www.wotif.com.au and see what is available with the last minute deals - this also gives you the ability to check the hotels at the same time and see where you may wish to be. <BR>If you have the money for it the Park Hyatt is wonderful but make sure you get a harbour view room. Alternatively do a search of this site ( above) for Sydney hotels and see what others have said about them. <BR>For my money I would book The Russell in May because there will be no need for aircon. and it is about the best located hotel for the money you can get, that is as long as you don't mind walking up a flight of stairs. Just do a search of The Russell hotel Sydney. <BR>The Tasmanian World Heritage listed areas are lovely at that time of year because you can hike to your hearts content and there is always a lovely fire waiting for you. That is Cradle Mountain Lodge - if you are interested in going there from Melbourne. Other than Tasmania I don't have up-to-date information about the Southern States but there are many on this forum who live there and can tell you what is the best things to do there and the best places to do that in. <BR>So you have something to go on with now and narrow things down a bit. Liz

johanna

Liz: Thanks for your expertise and the sites. I am in the process of researching the sites. From this chat site, several people have recommended the Circular Quay, The Grace Hotel, the Wentworth,Holiday Inn Old Sydney and your Russell, also one near the Rocks. Of course, I dont want to be at the most exclusive as I would prefer to use my money for all of the tours and wil be traveling for 6 weeks. Which one, in your opinion, would be the closest to walking, or in the center of everything, and the safest for a woman traveling alone? Thank you for your time and efforts. Do you think I need to have reservations in the other towns or can get them from Sydney? With the boomerang pass, can I be flexible? I havent gotten Quantas to answer that question. I so appreciate all of your help and am getting really excited.<BR>

Lucy_of_Oz

I think the biggest bargain hotel room to be had ion a great location in Sydney would be teh Grand Hotel at 30 Hunter St. I have never stayed there myself so take this witha grain of salt!) but walk past it fairly often &amp; the pictures of the rooms look quite nice - a single is $A90 I think &amp; rooms are airconditioned. The only caveat is I think it may be shared bathroom facilities. <BR><BR>Oooh, I just found its web site: www.grandhotel.com.au - yep bathrooms are shared but the price for a single is only $80!

johanna

Thanks Lucy: Price sounds great but I would need my own bath...at my age, I deserve it...may be my only trip downunder. I cant find the Westin, or the Russell, is the radisson plaza centrally located?Onwww.wotif.com.au which was just recommended to me, many hotels seem sold out the 1st of April...is anything major going on in the city that day, I should know about??How much is the taxi from airport??Many thanks for all of your help...Johanna

marg

A good site for travel information in Australia is www.travelmate.com.au. You could also try www.visitnsw.com.au and www.visitvictoria.com.au<BR>Take the train from Sydney to Melbourne, but then fly from there to Cairns - much too long on the train. If you are travelling without booking your accommodation ahead, be aware that any tourist areas will be packed out over the Easter break.

johanna

Thank YOU for reminding me of the Easter break there. I thought that only happened here in S Florida. Perhaps I could fly to Cairn first, about the 5th of April, spend about 5 days around Port Douglas, visit the GBR, rain forests etc &amp; then take the train to Melbourne?? My flight from is from Melbourne around May 5th to go to Christchurch, NZ. Do u think I can add a visit to Ayers Rock or what other towns? I am probably going to spend 5-6 days in Sydney &amp; take day trips from there. I would miss the Easter crowd. I will definitely have reservations wherever I will be around those dates. Thanks to everyone..I have been spending hrs on the internet trying to learn more about the trip. Johanna

liz

Hi Joanna again,<BR>The Rocks area is a quaint, old area of Sydney which was the first place settled and it is this area that we are all trying to tell you to go to. The following website is about that area and The Russell Hotel is one that is on that site among a few others that may be suitable. <BR>http://www.therocks.com.au/member.htm<BR>Circular Quay is a bay from which all the ferries leave to go around the harbour - think of it as a semi-circle with the Opera House at one end and the Park Hyatt at the other, the Ferries in the middle and The Russel looking over a park to the ferries and over to the Opera House. <BR>Wherever you are you will be fine on your own. However I just think that the smaller the hotel the better the local information is.<BR>To give you some idea of train times - <BR>Sydney to Brisbane takes about 14 hours. <BR>Brisbane to Cairns takes 2 days and one night. <BR>Sydney to Melbourne takes about 12 hours ( long time since I did that one though so maybe a bit off with the timing. <BR>The best sections to do would be Sydney to Brisbane and/or Sydney to Melbourne. Brisbane to Cairns is nice in parts but you tend to go through them in the middle of the night. In some areas it is down right boring. <BR>You could get in a trip to Ayers Rock but I would think about going to Darwin and Kakadu in preference to the centre because of the country up there, it is quite unique. <BR>WE cannot get a Boomerang Pass but I am pretty sure that it is flexible. If you had a pass you would have to go ( I think) Cairns - Darwin - Alice Springs/Ayers Rock - Melbourne ( or Adelaide or Sydney)<BR>I will leave you here so that you can do some more research.<BR>All the best<BR>Liz<BR><BR>

bill simpson

Johanna, I am confused. How long are you going to be in Australia? Are you arriving in Sydney 1 April &amp; departing Australia the May 15th? If so, you need to expand your itinerary to include more places in Australia. Liz is correct - at least 5 or 6 days in Sydney &amp; maybe even more in Port Douglas. I would suggest flying between places as Australia is a hugh country. A train is O.K. but you can't stop to see more of a place - you only see it from the train window as it speeds past &amp; probably a rental vehicle is not a good idea for a female traveling alone. So fly into the main hubs &amp; take tours from there. I wouldn't book tours prior to arriving in Australia. There are plenty of tour companies &amp; you shouldn't have any problem booking yourself on a tour on a day you want to go. That way you can book according to your immediate schedule &amp; can also take into consideration the weather. You don't need to book through these folks, however I did &amp; saved some money in the process but the website will give you a description of hotels in the different locations that may assist you in choosing. It's www.oztravel.com.au.

Jill

Before you lock yourself into things, do a bit more research and decide what type of things you'd like to do. On the net do searches just as &quot;Great Barrier Reef Day trip&quot; or &quot;cairns day trip&quot; or &quot;melbourne day trips&quot; and this will give you an idea of what's available, price, etc. There's alot of day trips available.<BR>Everyone has different likes, but to me, if this was my first (and possibly only) trip to Australia I would want to see as much as possible. I think 5-6 days in Sydney is too much. I would get the Sydney Explorer pass (can find out about on the web). This covers two buses (the Sydney Explorer and the Bondi Explorer) as well as many ferries and 3 harbor cruises. You can also use the pass to get to/from the airport. When I was in Sydney (Aug 2001) we took a day trip to the Blue Mountains - but there's been tons of postings on this web site about doing it via train or rental car.<BR>We stayed in Cairns at the Colonial Club Resort which we really liked. We were on a package deal of air/hotel so didn't have a choice of hotel. Took a day trip out to GBR. Another day we took the Daintree/Cape Tribulation tour with suncoast safarais(www.suncoast-safaris.com.au). We also did a half day tour for which I can't find the brochure but it covered Cairns, the Flecker Botanic Gardens, and Palm Cove. It made a couple of very scenic photo stops as well. The tour guide was really great. <BR>Probably my favorite thing it Australia was the Great Ocean Road which we did as a day trip from Melbourne with Melbourne's Best Tours (their actual name, website: www.melbournetours.com.au). I picked this company because the tour bus was smaller and limited to 21 people. We stopped at a golf course that had wild kangaroos all over the place (which enthralled me until a later trip when we must have seen a thousand kangaroos) and another place to see some kaolas in the wild (actually saw 2 of them). Also took half day trip to the Blue Dandenongs and a day trip (which was a very long day) to the Grampians National Park. If you want some ideas on Christchurch or Auckland, I was there in Aug-September of last year.

Jill

In looking thru some of my brochures, some web sites:<BR><BR>Melbourne: www.visitvictoria.com<BR>Sydney: www.ninemsn.com.au/sydneyguide<BR><BR>The big 3 tour companies with day tours are AAT Kings, Australian Pacific Tours, and Gray Line. I don't have their actual websites but do a search on them (atleast the first 2) and you can find info on day tours. I'm only recommending you look at their web sites to get an idea of what's available. In Melbourne, they combine tours so you think you're going on AAT and the bus says Australian Pacific. I took one tour with them, but while the guide and tour itself was good, the bus was a double decker with too many people for me. We spent alot of time getting on/off the bus. That's why I opt for the smaller companies.

johanna

Dear Liz, Bill &amp; Jill: I must say, I am truly humbled by all the time that everyone on this forum takes to help others. By giving me the websites, it saves so much time. Since in Fl we are having a &quot;cold&quot; spell, it has been great spending the time looking up and learning about such a wonderful part of the world. Liz: i am enjoying the &quot;rocks &quot; site and I am sure I will stay in the area...is it better to contact hotels directly or is wotif.com reliable? Bill, I fly from Melbourne on May5th to Christchurch and fly from Auckland to US on May 16th.Jill, I would appreciate some info on NZ as most of my research is Au so far. I will try to get the boomerang pass &amp; fly between towns &amp; take plenty of day tours. I also like antiques and architecture so the Windsor in Melbourne sounds good. I am worries about taking too much luggage but it seems I will have 2 climates and need both summer &amp; winter clothes...cant be helped as I am using miles for a business class ticket...thank you , thank you and if I can help with stateside, pls let me know. Johanna

liz

Johanna, wotif is very reliable - I have used them to book rooms and I used them when I had a B&amp;B to advertise and sell rooms. Both ways they were fine and so you need have no worries. <BR>The Windsor in Melbourne is nice and oldie worldie. <BR>In terms of climate think Florida for say the southern part of Queensland. Pack so you can layer as sometimes the days in winter in Australia are not very cold - you will be here April and May and so its not really into winter anyway. <BR>Have fun.

johanna

Liz: I cked with the Russell, it doesn't have an elevator (which I would prefer). Liz do you have an email for wotif; it appears there is a fee and one has to pay beforehand???so if one decides to stay fewer days is there a refund? I will now begin to research the guide books to see which is the most comprehensive as an adjunct to everyone's wonderful help.

liz

The email address for wotif is in the site itself. When you book you do have to pay so that you are securing that special price, so the only alternative is to pay for a couple of days and then get on a computer and book more if you want to.

johanna

If I book directly thru Holiday Inn Old Town Sydney, I wouldn't have to pay in advance....Old Town QUAY Suites appears to be 5 star (about the same price) but I would have a suite rather than a room. Is it convenient to all? (Dont know how large the rocks area is)Still waiting to hear from the Park Hyatt which you recommended. Thanks

Jill

Johanna,<BR><BR>Like my trip to Australia, I went with the airline/hotel package to New Zealand so I didn't have choices as to the hotels or amount of time in each city. Except that I stayed an extra 4 days and took a 3 day Bay of Islands tour. This is a beautiful area of NZ and you go to the top - Cape Reinga. <BR>Auckland: Must go to Mt. Eden (I think that's the name - I can't find by brochures) for views of the city and both coasts. Took a tour (bushandbeach.co.nz) to the west coast - black sand beaches, rain forests. Rangitoto - volcanic island seen from the city. You can climb to the top or take an open air thing and then you only have to climb the last 900 (or so) feet.<BR>www.fullers.co.nz - seem to run most of the ferries in Auckland. ALso have tours for various islands. Only used them for Rangitoto<BR>Christchurch: Take the trolley - although the area can easily be coverd by foot you'll learn what you're looking at. Can hop on/off all day. Definitely take a bus to the Christchurch gondola - unbelievable views of the ocean, alps, and volcanic harbors. Instead of returning to Christchurch can take the bus to Lyttleton and a harbor cruise (www.blackcat.co.nz). Took a day tour to Arthur's Pass (www.leisuretours.co.nz)<BR>Rotorua - area of geisers and thermal pools. Surprised how much I enjoyed it since within the year I'd been to Yellowstone (my favorite national park) and Iceland so thought I'd had my fill of that stuff. Took a full day trip with Careys (www.careys.co.nz)

Jill

Continued:<BR>Queenstown: Day trip to Milford Sound with eco fiorland (doesn't have a web site) not to be confused with fiorland travel (a huge company). This is where picking a smaller company could make a big difference. Eco only takes up to 18 people. They use Mitre Peak Cruises which had a small boat - no buffet lunch. Some people on this line talk that it's too long of a day tour from Queenstown. But I found we made alot of stops - although the tour picked us up around 7 and we didn't get back to the hotel till 8 pm - I didn't find myself drained.<BR>Some other web sites that can help with research as to what to see:<BR>www.nzsight.co.nz<BR>www.newzealandsites.c om<BR>www.scenicpacific.com<BR>At the time I went (Aug/Sept) there were few tourists so several tours we were the only ones on it. There's just so much to see and do in NZ that you can't go wrong in whatever you pick. The scenery is so varied. In addition to day tours, some of these companies have 3-5 day tours which might be of interest to you. The one I took to Bay of Islands from Auckland drove us up there (again we were the only ones), stopping along the way for viewing, took us to the hotel and then came back for us two days later. Included in the price was an all day Cape Tribulation tour on the second day and then on the morning of the third day we took a morning cruise. So it wasn't the type of tour where someone is leading you around constantly or meals are set, etc.