Well, im going to australia late july to mid august. And quite frankly im clueless on what to do in my 4 week stay there. I will be flying into melbourne and staying wtih relivatives for a few days.. but then im on my own. Any suggestions on what to do and see? what is the most cost effective way to travel in Australia? I know its winter but is there any beaches or warm weather around victoria? Any suggestions would be helpful

hayv: Unfortunately, there will be no warm beaches in Victoria that time of year. You'll have to head north for warmer weather - northern New South Wales, Queensland, the Northern Territory, northern Western Australia. Lots of possibilities - depends on your interests. At that time of year, the your best beach choices will be in northern NSW (e.g. Byron Bay), SE Queensland or Western Australia (e.g. Broome). Northern Queensland should have some of the best weather but the beaches there do not have much surf.

As for getting around: bus is the cheapest, but distances are vast and travel times are long. Keep an eye on the Virgin Blue website for cheap airfares from Melbourne to Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, etc.

hayv, no, Victoria, in winter, is not the place for beaches. But if you're into skiing it has some pretty good snowfields, as does southern NSW, which isn't too far away. To reach really warm weather at this time of year you're going to have to travel several thousands of km's north, so guess it just depends on what your budget will stand.

Hi, Hayv!

You have a reasonable amount of time at your disposal, so it is not out of the question that you might get to see some of your warm beaches, but, as the other posters have indicated, the south part of Australia is not the place to do it. Certainly you would be wanting to head up above the Tropic of Capricorn!

This is, of course, not a cheap option, but take heart -- Australia's two budget domestic airlines have periodic fare wars in which ticket prices from places like Melbourne to Cairns or Rockhampton often plunge to less than $AUD100 -- on two occasions as low as $AUD48. These fares are available only on the internet, and usually disappear within hours of being announced. Since announcements are made without warning, my only advice here is, in the next four weeks, haunt these two sites: www.virginblue.com.au and www.jetstar.com.au, and hope for the best.

Otherwise, you could always simply plan for a winter holiday, and spend your two weeks among the snow areas of the Victorian Alps, or get the ferry across to Tasmania and hire a car to circle this delightful island. Of course, I don't know where you're coming from, so concepts of "hot weather" and "cold weather" are pretty elastic, but it's more than likely you wouldn't find the winter in Australia very challenging at all. In Sydney, for example, right now we are having fine, cloudless, sunny weather with daily temperatures in the low 20s degrees CELSIUS (sorry -- I've forgotten how to convert to Fahrenheit), and even at night we don't actually hit lower than 9 or 10. Sydneysiders, as used to mild weather as we are, are saying of this year that the winter seems to have stayed up in the northern hemisphere where it belongs. My guess is that it will only be the winds of August that you will find chilly -- and if you can beat those (last year they didn't arrive until early September), you will probably have a delightful autumn-type holiday in the southern states.

Qantas is matching the others with cheap airfares. A friend got a $300 return Sydney / Perth yesterday - unbelievable.

Get on the airline mailing lists, and check regularly to see if there are sales.

You'll sure need to head a good way north from Melbourne to feel your toes again! Consider Sydney and fly on to Cairns.

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