Help, help
Best mate has just left after watching Stage 3 with us
Hes been an Aussie for ages and the kids have grown up with him dropping in now and then and Skype-ing us

We’ve now decided its time to visit but even though I spent 2y there a while ago I utterly baffled on what to do

The known knows are:

We will have 3 weeks to include a stopover each way to soften the jet lag
The pound is gash against the dollar
Im not exactly flush, but its a once in a lifetime so we’ll manage
Mate lives in the Sydney suburbs, would rather spend time nearer the centre TBH
Sydney, the barrier reef and red centre are dead certs but not sure how to split our time

If anyone has done this with a 12 and 14y old Id love to hear your experiences

cheers

Before you makes definites what time of year.
Reminder it’s bigger than Europe and has a climate as variable. Up north (Cairns/Reef has a wet season in Summer) It’s snowing down here in Tassie and Victoria at the moment.

It’s hard to do Sydney cheap simple. It’s also a long way from their to the Great Barrier Reef.
It’s probably better to take free accommodation in Sydney and travel in and out off peak.

Make the most of your flights to fly in and out of different places. My folks got a great deal with trail finders and ended up with cheaper flights including internals than we could have booked.

My top spots
Great Ocean Road including Bimby Park for the 1000’s of Koalas
Melbourne as a city is place for eating/drinking & wandering
Up into the blue mountains from Sydney
Tassie Hobart, MONA, Freycinet, Cradle Mountain
Brisbane – No idea what you would do there
If your heading up there in Summer (Dec-Feb) be prepared for heat and humidity I found the humidity more unpleasant than the heat.
Red Centre top one for winter, again I wouldn’t be going there in Summer. Don’t climb the rock! Just had a mate back he did a 4 day tour with local guides that took in a lot but it’s a very very long way from Alice to Uluru.

Be realistic about your timescales
3 weeks/21 days
Flights in and out 3 days total – 19 Days
Flight to Cairns/FNQ 1 day – 18 days
Flights to Alice 1/2 day – 17 days
Alice to Uluru 6 1/2 hr drive each way (1 day) -16 days
Stopover 1-2 days? 14 days of actually doing stuff.

Personally I’d skip the stopover, look for decent flight times (Emirates from regional UK via Dubai then to Sydney/Melb) jet lag this way never seems as bad. On the way home deal with it when you get back.

I was in the fortunate position of my sister living in Sydney (fairlight, above Manly). I’ve been a few times and seen a lot up the west coast as far as Cairns. Best trip I’ve done was at Christmas and we all spent a few days in Sydney (another sister was also there on a bigger trip). Drove up the west coast together over a week stopping at various great beach campsites, then spent christmas and NY around Brisbane. No idea how it compares to other areas, was more about spending great times with family and extended Oz family.
Can find out the details of the beach campsites if that’s what you decided you want to do.

The pound is gash against the dollar

This isn’t really true, the exchange rate is the best it’s been for 4-5 years. But it will feel expensive. Paritcularly accommodation in the centre of cities and food – fresh food even from supermarkets costs a lot more than we pay.

+1 to planning where to go based on the time of year.
+1 to the GOR for the scenery and koalas if you are down that way. But if Sydney, the barrier reef and red centre are absolute definates you won’t have time/money for the Melbourne area too.

Regarding the great barrier reef, if you can’t all scuba it is worth considering staying at the southern end and doing the Heron Island area together with time in Noosa / Fraser Island. Not cheap but will be amazing snorkelling and could save on flight costs is you drive up there from Sydney (~ 2-3days); you would have to see if you can get cheap internals.

We got very cheap fares with Singapore Airlines which included long layovers at Changi Airport. It was actually great because there is a transit hotel (I think in T3) which you can pay for a 6 hour slot and use the outside swimming pool. Was a really good way to take a break and still get there in a reasonable journey time.

A comment on stop-overs.

The most common choices are Hong Kong and Singapore. Bit of a generalisation but HK gives you the buzz of Asia, crowded and air quality is poor but it’s a lot of fun, riding the tram, visiting the Peak, the harbour and Kowloon Ferry. Singapore is (unkindly perhaps) described as Asia-lite, much calmer, not as cramped and crowded, more culturally diverse (China, Malayana/India mix). If you are going to stop I would beak the trip so you get a whole day in either place. Other stopovers such as Bangkok can be considered. IMO stopping in Dubai offers not a lot but can be attractive pricewise.

As for Australia, with travel and recovery you really have only two weeks. I would focus on Sydney and the surrounding area with a trip to either barrier reef (it’s expensive up there and you should think about what you’ll do, eg diving/snorkelling or not ?) or “red centre”. Trying to cram in another city like Melbourne seems a rush to me and there is a danger the trip could feel like your spending it on planes.

The pound is gash against the dollar
This isn’t really true, the exchange rate is the best it’s been for 4-5 years. But it will feel expensive. Paritcularly accommodation in the centre of cities and food – fresh food even from supermarkets costs a lot more than we pay.

Comparing rough cost of living from my 09 trip (7 months actual living) to coming back in 2012 to now the AUD prices seem to be similar general inflation adjusted norms but then £1 got you 2.2-4ish. So it does feel a bit more expensive for £’s.

the big tips are shop seasonal, remember beer is taxed more but petrol isn’t.

Good points from jambalaya above re stop overs.

I’d say that SIN is easier with kids. HKG can be rather hectic.

Also, sounds obvious, but fly as far up the front as you can afford. It a hell of a long time with the wheels up!

I don’t think you should do a stopover on the way there – you might as well spend that “zonked out” time at your mate’s, and don’t plan to do anything for the first couple of days (and make sure mate knows that too,).

With your timeframe and 4 people, I wouldn’t consider a driving holiday.

My humble suggestion: 6 days in Sydney, 2 days at Uluru (it’s enough!), 4 days in Queensland (not Brisbane, somewhere further north with decent beaches), 2 days travel/stopover.

What suburb does your mate live in ie how far from the centre?

Last time I went I had a flight that got into Sydney @ 6am. I made sure I stayed awake til about 8-9pm. Seemed to really help with jetlag as I was at work the next day at 8am operating CNC’s 😯
The suburbs can be really nice and the beach is never more than a short(ish) drive. Blue mountains should be on your list, I was blown away by them, and only about an hour out of Sydney.

Don’t stop over other than maybe a stretch out in Singapore in the pool for 6 hours. Which ever route you go (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore) you’ll have a short 7hr /long 14 hr leg.

Emirates offer the shortest flight times and the best connections from regional airports on the off chance that you’re one of the 40+ million people who don’t live in the South East.

Have somewhere comfortable when you get there for 2-3 nights. Not sure if you’re at your mates but the serviced apartments in the CBD (Adina, Meriton etc) are great as there’s a ton of space, you can get some food in, they’re handy for attractions so you can come and go when you’re a bit battered.

Kids generally like food, telly and ipads all of which is plentiful when flying.

Get the kids surfing or body boarding.

If you do rent a car get excess insurance here and don’t pay it with the rental.

Gold Coast ain’t all bad and has a ton of theme parks and more sandy beach than you could imagine. Sunshine Coast is great too and more classy. Give Brisbane and Melbourne a miss or you’ll run out of time.

The effect of jet lag isn’t half as bad when coming back. As time is a premium be tired in term/work time rather than having a couple of days to recover and losing holiday time.

Go on kayak.co.uk for flights or search my post history for some guidance on flights+costs from a fellow STWer.

Agree with Scuttler. We did 4 weeks there with kids (ages 6 and 10) last July. Decided to minimise stopover time so were only 2 hours at Dubai Airport. Long enough to stretch the legs, eat, visit duty free and pee but no faffing, transfer, currency issues arising from leaving the airport. Kids were surprisingly good, plenty of in flight entertainment and meals to break the monotony.

You won’t have time to do the whole country, so be selective. We had a three centre holiday largely dictated by visiting relatives in Melbourne, Gold Coast (their timeshare) and Adelaide. We just did the ‘tourist thing’ in each area; Great Ocean Road, Bimby Park, Eureka Tower etc in Melbourne, Theme Parks, beaches and Surfers Paradise in Queensland, and some vineyards and markets in Adelaide.

If your destination is Sydney, look up what’s best to visit in the surrounding area. If you want to go further, internal flights using Virgin Blue or Jetstar can be fairly good value.

Cracking country, just wish we’d visited before we had kids, we would probably be living there now if we had.