barbie

Hello. I'm a single traveler who needs help in planning a three week trip for Feb, 2004 in Australia. My ""wish list" is to travel to Sydney, Adelaide, The Great Barrier Reef and Melbourne. Does anyone have an itinerary that worked well for them, or happen to know a singles group or travel agent in the USA or Australia that can help me out? I deeply appreciate your time and help! Thanks again for reading!

OneWanderingJew

Hi Barbie--<BR>Contiki is a fun (I know from personal experience!!) inexpensive tour for 18-35 yr olds but Australia is very easy if you want to do it on your own. I'm in my 30s and spent a month there with no problems. It's a great place with great people!<BR><BR>I flew into Sydney and stayed 6 days. You can do it in less (say about 4) if you don't want to visit the Blue Mtns overnight. From there, I flew to Adelaide but you might consider going to Melbourne and then Adelaide. Incidently, I liked Adelaide better than Melbourne but I'm sure others might disagree with me. Adelaide is smaller than Melb but for whatever reason, I just got a better vibe there. I went out to the wine country one day and spent 2 days/1nt on Kangaroo Is. which was one of the highlights of my trip. If you go there, you definately want to do a personalized small group tour. I went to Darwin which I enjoyed but you're best bet is to head to the GBR. I visited Pt Douglas but I was there in July so you might want to look into other towns. You can probably fly home from Brisbane for about a hundred dollars more than Sydney otherwise, you can just go back to Sydney and head home from there...<BR><BR>Debbie<BR><BR>

barbie

Thanks Debbie for your wonderful tips. I'm 40 and have traveled to Africa and China, solo, so I'm hoping this will be easy too. I want to go to Kangaroo Island and take some ferry rides from Sydney. I hear Manly beach (?) is good and so is Tasmaia Island as well. I'm glad you mentioned Adelaide, because I've heard that town is quaint. Do you think I can fly to Sydney without hooking up with a tour and not having a place to stay in the beginning? Any advice on lodging would be deeply appreciated. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!

prue

Barbie,<BR>There has been an enormous amount of just the information you are looking for discussed on this Forum in the past couple of months - if you scroll down the Posts on the left and do a Search at the top of the page I am sure you will find a lot of what you need.

barbie

Hi Prue,<BR><BR>Thanks for the tip. I'll try a search for Australia and cross my fingers. Thanks again!

prue

Barbie,<BR>I would narrow the Searches you do by entering each city individually and working your way through that way.<BR>However, I think you will find a lot of good information just scrolling down the left column.

alice13

Hi Barbie - travelling in Oz is SOOO easy. I spent 6 mths wandering the country when I was 46. If u are a budget traveller there are loads of facilities for you - day trips, longer trips, accommodation. There is usually no need to take a tour if you are happy to do yr own thing - but one I did that I can recommend without reservation is the Wayward Bus from Adl to MLB or vice versa. 3.5 days - travels the Gt Ocean Road plus stops to see temperate rain forest, koalas, limestone caves, windswept coast, sand dunes, etc. etc. It is a backpacker trip but when I went ages ranged from early 20s to mid 70s (a lady from Sydney who had left her husband at home!). www.waywardbus.com.au<BR><BR>Have a great time.

mjnbrown

Barbie -<BR><BR>I would recommend 4 days in Sydney - do the Bridge Climb, for sure. I would also recommend staying in Port Douglas for several days and from there do reef trips as well as trips to the rainforest. You could fly from Sydney to Cairns and then take the shuttle bus service up to Port Douglas, where the best places to stay are the apartment complexes close to the beach and downtown.<BR><BR>Martha<BR>

barbie

Dear Debbie, Prue, Alice and Martha,

Thank you all for wonderful tips. I look forward to my trip to Austrila and The Great Barrier Reef. I couldn't have asked for nicer woman to respond to me questions. I'm putting together an itinerary and with all of your help, I plan on having a great time while I'm &quot;Down Under&quot;. Thank you all again. Happy Travels to you all! Barb

margo_oz

Heavens - if you can travel to Africa and China, solo, then Oz will be a piece of cake!

You already speak the language (sort of!) and can read the street signs and timetables. You can use the websites.

You can even ask the natives! There's enough on this forum to answer specific questions &lt;puts hand up! &gt;