my wife and i are considering a 4 week trip to australia - fall 2010. we were there 5 years ago and drove 1800 miles on the east coast. this time we would like to see more of this huge nation. looking for inexpensive transportation and itinerary ideas.

thank you for your help

Flying is the way to go ddreher. Our distances make it the better choice timewise and rail travel is quite expensive here. We just don't have the population to support the wonderful railway services of the US, Canada & Europe.

Local carriers: www.qantas.com.au (Qantas) www.virginblue.com.au (Virgin)
These two often have specials, join their (free) internet services for notifications.

Tiger Airlines has started flying some limited routes at bargain basement prices, but has a shocking reputation for overbooking & cancelling flights. You get what you pay for & $28 (intro Melbourne-Sydney fares) doesn't buy much.

Jetstar is Qantas' lower cost subsidiary. Notoriously inflexible about check-in times and will forfeit pax fares if they miss the deadline by even a minute, despite the fact they may have been standing in the line for ages.

To give you a couple of examples of rail v's air:
Sydney - Brisbane: Train - 14 hours and includes transfer to a coach (bus) for the last 2 hours .... $89 economy class
Flying (Qantas) 90 mins $98 economy*

Sydney - Melbourne: Train - 11 hrs $91 economy
Flying (Qantas) 90 mins - $85 economy*

These fares have some restrictions regarding cancellation/changes.

An exception just now is Sydney - Canberra as there's a $29 /$36 promotion for March & April in conjunction with the Masterpieces from Paris exhibition http://www.visitcanberra.com.au/paris/
It's about a 4 hour trip and if you like train travel, may be interesting for you.
Qantas : 50 mins $79

Most certainly agree with Bokara - the cost of flying is cheaper than the petrol you would need to drive those distances.

We've flown Virgin Blue several times over the past 6 months and if you book early you get very reasonable prices and good service. They do not include meals, or checked baggage, but what you can buy on board is good, fresh, and not expensive, and you can add a bag or two at AUS$20 ea. I'd go Virgin, unless you can get a special ticket which includes X amount of miles in Australia connected to your overseas tickets with Qantas. Ask whoever is booking your international flights.

thanks for the info. bokhara2 - i wish that our rail system was as good as you think. nyc to toledo, oh = 14 hours. usually longer because rails are owned by freight trains and passenger trains have to give right of way - some times as long as 3-4 hours.

I fly Virgin quite a lot too, tinydancer, and am very satisfied with their service. I don't see the need for food on flights of less than a couple of hours and as you say, what's available seems to be good quality & price. Often there's not much price difference between Virgin & Qantas, but a couple of years ago, QF were late so often, I just about gave them away.
Seem to have sorted that out now, thankfully.