kwhite7

I am a student that will be studing in AU/NZ for about four months. Some friends and I will be spending NYE in Sydney then going down to Melbourne. We are thinking about driving down, but not sure if this the best way to do it. If we did drive, we would have to rent a car, does Australia have laws that you have to be 25 to rent a car. None of us will be 25, the oldest will be 24. Would you recommend to drive, fly, or take a train or bus?

Thanks for the help!!

skittle

It is not an Australian law but the rules of each Car hire company varies. It is more about insurance that anything else. If you are under 21 you will have real trouble finding a company but when you enquire tell them the ages of the drivers. You will be able to do this over the internet.The advantage of driving is the independance it gives you when you arrive and public transport is expensive in Melbourne.International students must pay full fare.

Neil_Oz

"The advantage of driving is the independance it gives you when you arrive and public transport is expensive in Melbourne"

Well... I'd think twice there. If you're staying somewhere central in Melbourne parking may be a problem, and it's hard to see how a few tram fares a day could add up to the cost of renting a car.

Check the rental companies' web sites. The major operators are the usual suspects - Budget, Europcar, Hertz and Avis.

If you drive, it would be preferable to overnight somewhere. The main advantage would be the opportunity to see some of the Australian countryside, although the most dircet route (the Hume Highway) is pretty boring. Use 'search' to check past threads on this subject.

If you don't want to be bothered with wheels, you may be able to score cheap fares with one or more of the three major airlines - Qantas, Virgin Blue and Jetstar.

Buses are a drag and I'm not sure that I'd recommend the slow train trip.

chimani

Will you be returning to Sydney? If yes, then recommend one of the non-global companies like Bayswater. You may have to pay a bit more if you are under 25 but they are good value.

If you are not planning to return to SYD then driving one way will incur a oneway drop off charge and that can make it quite expensive.

Do you want to get there in a hurry? If yes, then fly, though you are looking at an expensive time of year and to get a good deal you would have needed to book many months ago. So maybe driving would be better, even with the one way charge, if you do it all in a day. Seems a wasted opportunity to me, but then if that's what you need/want to do, why not?

If you can spare the time then I wouldn't drive, and I wouldn't fly. I'd use public transport. Go take a look at Canberra. From there I can think of two different ways to get to Melbourne by bus/train.

If you are interested, post again and I will elaborate.

Cheers

kwhite7

Thank you all for yoru responses. We will not be retuning to Sydney, and we only have 2 days to make it to Melbourne. The main reason why we wanted to drive was to see part of sceanery on the way. But it looks like its a very boring drive. I have heard that there is a highway that goes along the coast, I was told that it takes longer, but its worth it. Does anyone have any info on this?

Thanks!

Bokhara

If you have a few days, you could certainly take the coast road, which has some lovely aspects.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&h...p;z=7&om=1

However, as you aren't returning to Sydney, you may find the "one way" rental fee prohibitive. Suggest you google "cheap car rental" & try some of those sites on the one-way.

OTOH, if you're here for a couple of months and plan on doing a bit of travelling around, you might consider buying a cheap car for your stay.

guaranteed

Definitely fly with Virgin Blue or one of the other discount carriers !

One of the quirks of travel within Australia, is that car rentals are extremely expensive and discount air fares are extremely inexpensive.

You could easily snag a one way flight for not much more than $100 each. A one way car rental + gas + overnight hotel will easily cost a lot more than the combined air fare. And it's not the world's most scenic drive.

kwhite7

Thank you all for the help, I will suggest to my friends that we fly instead of drive. That way we can spend another day in Sydney.