Viewing 26 posts - 41 through 66 (of 66 total)
  • Australia for 1 month – help us plan our itinerary!
  • mikewsmith
    Free Member

    Another useful tip, is you will need to come back again. Don’t try and fit too much in or you will see loads and remember nothing.

    We did 6 1/2 months and managed a fraction last time.

    zokes
    Free Member

    And if you are in Melbourne, drink and eat in the Napier hotel in fitzroy. It’s what every inner city pub should be! (Loads of character and history, not too pretentious, and not a bloody wine bar!)

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    adding that to my list Zokes, normally end up round at Little Creatures for ease and burgers…

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    BillMC
    Full Member

    If you’re on the GOR, Bell’s Beach is worth a visit. I think Sydney’s a bit boring. Port Douglas is much nicer than Cairns. Byron Bay is a scream, Aqaurius is a good place to stay and the Friendly Railway Bar is a terrific pub, with pie shop next door, great surfing at The Pass (check it on Coastalwatch). Australia is now expensive but car hire is reasonable, I always use EastCoast Car Hire.

    teef
    Free Member

    1 week Melbs
    1 Week Sydney (internal flight over)

    1 day each will do you – go see the natural beauty of the country – not tourist traps & shopping malls.

    londonerinoz
    Free Member

    About 10 years ago I did a working holiday visa, and travelled round about half the country, plus 2 months in NZ. So some thoughts.

    Sydney and the East Coast are fine if you love lots and lots of beaches. Try to pick the best experiences, rather than doing everything. I was beached out after I left Airlie Beach, particularly given you can’t swim in most of Queensland due to the jellyfish (stinger suits excepted) and the humidity is so high most places are a ghost town till it cools in the early evening.

    So top East Coast experiences for me: Byron Bay (quintessential, made a bunch of mates, did an open water scuba course), Nimbin (short bus tour staged to trip you out while you’re tripping), Fraser Island (4WD along beaches & camping in the dunes), Whitsundays/Barrier Reef (combined the sail & dive options with a bigger sailing boat which offered diving in the Whitsundays and went on to the Barrier Reef, woke up on the boat to Whitehaven beach which we had to ourselves before the day trippers arrived having dived the night before to see a giant turtle sleeping), Noosa (just a nice feel to it, meant to be more upmarket). I flew out of Cairns back to Melbourne, so didn’t go further North which would have offered something different to everything between Airlie and Cairns, which was so boring.

    mark90
    Free Member

    We went for our Honeymoon back in 2004, basic itinerary was:

    Fly into Sydney.
    Couple of days in Sydney, that was enough (stayed on the rocks and did the bridge walk, plus a day on a beach).
    Spent a few days driving through the sticks mostly along the Murray river to Adelaide.
    Stayed a couple of nights in Adelaide with friends.
    Fly to Alice Springs.
    One night in Alice Springs.
    Picked up a 4×4 and drove to Kings Canyon for an overnight stop and an early morning walk around the canyon.
    Drove to Ularhu for an overnight stop and an early morning walk up the rock. Quick heli flight over then back to the airport.
    Fly to Cairns.
    Spent a great week or so driving down the coast to Brisbane, including stopping over at Arlie Beach, boat/snorking trips out to the reef and Whitsundays, and a few nights camping on Frazer Island with 4×4.
    Fly home from Brisbane.

    It was a great trip, we did pack a load into 3 weeks, 4 would have been more comfortable/relaxed.

    londonerinoz
    Free Member

    I also did a 2 week road trip from Melbourne to Ayers Rock (Uluru) and back via the GOR and Flinders Ranges on the way and Broken Hill on the return. Awesome experience, but some serious mileage, like up to 900km a day! I wonder if you can appreciate Uluru in the same way flying in to avoid the effort. Getting out at a totally isolated truckstop is splendid, and returning through Coober Pedy, where some live underground, felt like returning to civilization because it had an ATM! Rather madly we tried to use the Oodnadata (sp?) track with a 2WD car, and could only manage 20-30kph scrapping the bottom along the rocks, so 200km between the tiny towns took forever. In the end we gave up once we reached Oodnadata and retraced our steps just as slowly, so definitely use a 4WD.

    londonerinoz
    Free Member

    Melbourne was easily my favourite city, I lived there for about 5 months, but 3 days would be enough, preferably over a weekend to take in the CBD alley nightlife and an afternoon session down St Kilda and the Espy, with Southbank, the alley cafés and the inner suburb cafe strips in between. Shame it’ll be too early to catch an AFL game at the MCG, and don’t waste your time on Neighbours or “Irish” bars.

    If you’re going to 4WD, the Kimberley in WA is the go. This is where you get to swim in secluded pools after driving through rugged, amazing terrain. Broom afterwards staying at the Cable Beach Resort would be a most pleasant way to unwind. Not sure whether the weather is suitable for you though, it’s low season in Broom at that time due to the heat and humidity.

    plyphon
    Free Member

    So many ideas. Fantastic.

    We are trying to strike a balance between travelling, cities, and rural.

    I’d love to go to Cairns. I know people say it’s just another city etc but I’m all good for that.

    We might try and see if there are any festivals on at the time also.

    Another Questions:

    Whats best for accommodation? So far we have found some hostels that look alright and offer a private room with a double bed…. orrr go for rented apartment accommodation (both seem the same price aroundabouts)

    CaptainFlashheart
    Free Member

    Can I recommend some interesting reading before you go?
    Down Under – Bill Bryson. Light, amusing, but still fascinating snippets
    The Fatal Shore – Robert Hughes. Pretty much the definitive history of the founding of Australia. Heavy going, but well worth it.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    Accomodation…
    take a look at Wotif and Expedia – wotif goes down to hostel level and good for a comparison. Depends on who you are and what you want, romantic, bed for the night somewhere in the middle?

    If your avoiding most major sporting events (there are a couple) then you can generally get accommodation within a weeks notice (don’t hold me to that)

    Serviced apartments are great as you are able to self cater, most motels have fridge and stove top too so depends what your after. We were averaging $100/night for cabins etc. I can get CBD hotels (nice ones) for $120 depending on where/luck when I travel.

    If you need any specifics let people here know. Would suggest Bimby Park on the Great Ocean Road – thousands of Koalas! Waldhiem Cabins at Cradle Mountain (Tassie) basic but cheap and right on the edge of the wilderness.

    zokes
    Free Member

    mikewsmith – Member
    adding that to my list Zokes, normally end up round at Little Creatures for ease and burgers…

    That’s freo, surely?

    But yeah, the Napier is definitely worth the team ride. If you watched Jack Irish before Xmas last year, it was in that.

    And plyphon, as mws says, just ask us locals for specifics, happy to help out with advice if I can

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    Round the corner on Brunswick is the Little Creatures Dining hall, good beer, good food and free wifi though not a patch on the Freo one

    woody2000
    Full Member

    Top tip – if you’re heading into the bush, do not, I repeat do not, watch Wolf Creek before you go! 🙂

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416315/

    zokes
    Free Member

    Round the corner on Brunswick is the Little Creatures Dining hall, good beer, good food and free wifi though not a patch on the Freo one

    Actually, I’m quite glad I didn’t know that, otherwise I wouldn’t have spotted the Napier! I’m being an honorary Vic for the week so quietly supping Melbourne Bitter in my motel in Apollo Bay. They did have some decent local beer in the bottleo too, but it didn’t feel right to buy that there!

    konagirl
    Free Member

    +1 for not trying to do too much.

    And +1 for taking into account the weather in deciding where to visit.

    If you had 1 month to ‘see’ Europe you would similarly miss a lot out, so try and work out what you really want to see and do. I would highly recommend hiring a car + take camping gear or hire a campervan to get out of the cities to really appreciate the landscape and wildlife. (We paid ~AUS$1000 for 2 weeks campervan hire, one way between Melbourne and Brisbane – which was a bit too far really, but we had cheap flights! – plus about ~AUS$15-30 per night for campsites back in 2010). You wouldn’t need to book campsites ahead at that time of year (we arrived at a Blue Mountains campsite that the guide books say fills up months in advance, at the end of Feb, and we were one of only three couples there).

    Whereas if you are going to fly in and out of 4-6 different cities, then it is probably worth booking a vacation rental and doing day visits from each city. Depends on your personal preference.

    I think you get more for your money with a vacation rental, if you are staying in the same place for long enough. But thats just my opinion!

    For koalas on the GOR I would add Kennett River to mikewsmith’s suggestion. Kangaroos and wallabies can be seen all over once you get off the highways; we saw most variety on the back roads but they disappear into the bush pretty quickly. Also, if you head towards Adelaide, Kangaroo Island is supposed to be great for wildlife and star gazing. And there is a very large penguin colony on Phillip Island near Melbourne if you have never seen them in the wild, very cute (though you can also find lots of penguin colonies in Tasmania and NZ).

    Very jealous!

    epicyclo
    Full Member

    woody2000 – Member
    Top tip – if you’re heading into the bush, do not, I repeat do not, watch Wolf Creek before you go!

    … or Razorback 🙂

    The ‘real” Australia starts 300 miles inland. Worth a look and best done by road so you appreciate the sheer size of the place, but that might swallow too much time.

    peachos
    Free Member

    If you can, WA is the ‘real’ Australia. I drove round most of Aus and WA was by far the stand out area,

    Amen, brother! Was going to say exactly this, but my earlier recommendations were more based on the OP’s original itinerary. Lived in Broome for 3 or 4 months. Good times.

    Whats best for accommodation?

    some really good hostels if you are into that (some shite ones too, full of kids getting smashed day in day out). when on the road – a tent! loads of space to camp. much of the time we would literally pull over into a layby or down a dirt track and pitch up. most of the laybys have fire pits for bbqs.

    Perhaps you could look at National Parks and plan around those? My favourites were Kakadu & Karijini, though they’re about as far from Melbourne & Sydney as you can get!

    perthmtb
    Free Member

    Whoa boy! How many years did you say you had? All the suggestions above are great, but I’ve just two pictures to add…

    and…

    Would you expect to ‘do’ Europe or the US in a month? So, take your time, explore a bit of the East coast and maybe Tassie, and leave the best bits (the West and the North – but then I’m biased aren’t I) for next time 😉

    bigjim
    Full Member

    Nimbin

    Went there during Mardis Grass by mistake, was quite an eye opener to a real dark underside, loads of kids and older people with real drug damage. Lots of nice aspects to it too though, lovely part of the country.

    Also bear in mind the seasons if you go north – we didn’t get far north because roads had been washed away. Also 40C and 100% humidity isn’t much fun! I think the highest temperature we had was about 47C in WA, the guy in the roadhouse said it had been hotter the day before. We had to drive with the heaters fully on in the van to stop the engine overheating, it was pretty tough going!

    peachos
    Free Member

    I dunno, you could do a great tour within a month, such as what I suggested: in to Melb, bit of tassie, great ocean rd, adelaide or oodnadata, uluru, king’s canyon, fly to sydney.

    thing is, it is easier to say ‘save some for next time’ than it is to make next time happen. it is a long & expensive way away from UK (presume OP is UK) and you need minimum of a month there.

    if you are advising along those lines surely better to sack off Oz and spend the whole 3 months the OP is away in NZ (or vice versa)?

    ideally do what i did and spend 12 months driving around stopping to make money every now & then. and i’ve still got shed loads to do ‘next time’!! 😉

    londonerinoz
    Free Member

    Forgot to ask, what’s the plan for NZ? 2 months sounds like bike tour potential. I had my mtb with me so I chose an adventure coach tour round both islands that let me get off where I wanted to bike for a few days and join the next tour coming through. It turned out to be a great mix. NZ is a lot more digestible, there’s greater variety over shorter distances, and it’s generally stunning. Loved Wellington and Rotorua as far as cities went, but couldn’t get out of Auckland fast enough!

    perthmtb
    Free Member

    I dunno, you could do a great tour within a month, such as what I suggested: in to Melb, bit of tassie, great ocean rd, adelaide or oodnadata, uluru, king’s canyon, fly to sydney.

    I think you’ll find that’s what I said urm, right here..

    So, take your time, explore a bit of the East coast and maybe Tassie

    My point was that suggestions in this thread range from Kakadu in the NT, to Margaret River in the South West, Uluru in the Centre, crossing the Nullarbor, The Kimberley in the North East, Cape York in far North Queensland, Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, Barrier Reef, Tassie, and everywhere in between! And while I agree its all great and worth seeing, the point I was trying to make was the same as yours (I think)- if you’ve only got a month you need to pare down your geographic expectations a tad!

    When I did my first ’round’ of Oz as a backpacker many moons ago, the people I thought missed out the most were those rushing from place to place to tick as many destinations off the list as possible, but who never stayed long enough in any of them to soak up the vibe and enjoy.

    peachos
    Free Member

    fair do’s perth, we’re both on the same wavelength!

    i have traveled a lot. my best advice is: “you’re never going to see everything”. its not even advice!

    plyphon
    Free Member

    Forgot to ask, what’s the plan for NZ?

    Well my sister lives out in NZ, as well as a few friends from the UK who have moved over. First half of NZ is pretty much tied up catching up with those guys and being taken around an out by my sister (she has become an expert in NZ tours since moving there!)

    Mountain bikes WILL be rented at some point in NZ, that’s for sure!

Viewing 26 posts - 41 through 66 (of 66 total)

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