Tootsabella

Our daughter is studying at Swinburne for a semester. We want to meet up with her at semester's end(Thanksgiving week) and hope to see the Southeastern region of Australia & Tasmania. We hopefully will have our other kids meet us( 24 and 22).
ISSUE#1: From other people's responses i have been reading it is imperative to get over the jet lag as soon as you land. We will probably land on a Thursday. We are Sabbath observant Jews who will need to lay low from Friday sunset to Saturday at sunset. Maybe we should start on a beach with snorkeling and maybe some other things to do within walking distance of where we will stay. We love B&B's and will not have a problem with food since we will eat vegetarian.
ISSUE #2: The Sabbath problem will come up one more time during our trip so we will need to be in a place we can walk to many sites if possible, possibly Sydney? or a nature preserve, rainforest?
Any and all comments would be appreciated. We are at a total loss as even where to begin to plan this trip.

Susan7

I don't know when Thanksgiving is, but I'm assuming you mean October/November which is when most Australian universities break for summer. Just one more thing to take into account, usually assessment is due after the semester finishes so don't necessarily count the last day of lectures as the last day of semester.

If you are flying into Melbourne you could easily stay in the city and have everything within walking distance. Or stay in St Kilda (a suburb of Melbourne on the Bay) which has a lively Jewish community.

It might help with planning to get a good guidebook, Lonely Planet is probably the best for Australia.

ivenotbeeneverywhere

Its hard to comment when I have no idea what Sabbath observant Jews do so perhaps you can enlighten us as to how it will effect you.

Bokhara2

In Sydney's eastern suburbs, Rose Bay, Bellevue Hill, Dover Heights & Bondi have lots of Jewish families and there's an Eruv, which may be of interest to you. http://www.sydneyeruv.org.au/index.htm

Lovely walk between Bondi & Bronte (or Coogee) along the cliffs. http://www.visitnsw.com/town/Bondi_B...Walk/info.aspx

Thanksgiving isn't an Australian celebration, so it would probably be more helpful to give dates.

I was about to say that late November is a little early for snorkelling, but there were quite a few swimmers at Manly last weekend (mid-winter for us), so it may well be warm enough. Bring your "togs/cossies/boardies/swimmers".

tt7

"I don't know when Thanksgiving is, .."

It's always the 4th Thursday in November, so November 24 in 2011. Of course, the really important day in November is the first Tuesday....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Cup

If you do come to Melbourne, the best way to discover Melbourne is on foot. Central Melbourne is criss-crossed with alleys and laneways, which is where much of the shopping / restaurants / bars / galleries etc. are to be found, so walking around Melbourne is never a problem. Much of Melbourne is hidden - up (or down) an initially-unappealing flight of stairs, down an alleyway, behind an unmarked door etc. Part of the charm of Melbourne is finding or discovering all those places, many of which you can only do on foot. Central Melbourne is built on a grid and is relatively compact, so easy to find your way around. For those parts of town that are slightly further afield (St. Kilda, for example), you can use the trams (when your faith permits) to get around.