yestravel

We're going to Australia this winter! Very excited to finally be making it there. We will be In AUS from Jan 30 until March 3. We fly in and out of Sydney (That was the only way I could get FF flights.) Haven't even begun to figure out an itin, but am wondering how far in advance do we need to make hotel reservations for 2 people? Just some approximation of months would be helpful. Thanks and I'll be back with lots of questions once the real planning begins. Also hope we can meet some of you when we're there. Thanks!

Melnq8

I hope you like hot weather. We lived in Australia for seven years and February was the month we most wanted to be out of the country.

Good on you for having over a month though.

School holidays will be over, so prices should be down (although prices in SYD are quite high even when demand is low). I'd think 30 days would be sufficient for hotel bookings as long as there aren't any events in town during your dates.

sartoric

How exciting Yestravel !

Like Mel says, you shouldn't need to book too far out. School will be back and a large number of locals will have just finished the traditional January holiday period.
Wotif.com is a site I sometimes use. You might want to avoid the Top End and the Red Centre at that time of year.

Happy planning....

yestravel

Thanks, mel & satoric. Good to know. And thanks for the site, it will come in handy. Is Airbnb a possibility? and VRBO too?

We don't love sightseeing in horribly hot & humid weather although we certainly have been to places where that is the case & manage - think SEAsia & Buenos Aires. I've just started looking at guidebooks and reading some TRs. We will likely spend our month in New South Wales, South AUS, Brisbane & Tasmania.

BigRuss

<<You might want to avoid the Top End and the Red Centre at that time of year.>>

I'd avoid the Red Centre like the plague. You won't be able to move but for all the flies accumulating on your corpus. Plus it'll be bloody hot. Seriously - check out the reports on Melbourne during the Aussie Open (think Atlanta or Charlotte in the summer) and add 10-15 degrees for the Red Centre. Remember: February is the Southern Hemisphere's August.

That said, it should be decent in Tazzie and South Oz. The latter would mean a good time to visit Kangaroo Island and the wineries.

Melnq8

Don't forget the air con!

Some sites I've used in the past for AUS bookings:

https://www.stayz.com.au/

And Holiday Houses.

I've also used FlipKey a time or two.

Have to disagree with BigRuss about SA being decent in February. It can get bloody hot.

Yeah, okay, so I don't like the heat.

sartoric

Airbnb is here and worth a look.

It can be very hot in the southern parts of Oz in February, but it's a dry heat. I don't find it as draining as the high heat and humidity in SE Asia. There can also be a cool change blow through that will see the temperature drop considerably.
Staying by the ocean would help with cool breezes.

yestravel

Definitely a/c and oceans and mountains are my favorite places. We've survived trips to SEAsia, so I think we'll be hot, but we'll survive.