sti-04!!

Guys,

I'm looking for some suggestions & pointers. I am going to be planning a holiday to OZ later this year & need some advise as to;
Location ?
Hotel / Villa ?
Best time to go ?
Who to fly with ?

Having never been before the above will help me at least plan something.

TIA

andythejock01wrx

Emerates and Quantas are best to fly with. Best service and seat space, short stop overs at Dubai and/or Singapore. More luggage allowance with Emerates at 30kg(but not for your internal Australian flights which will be a std 20kg).

Where to go - depends what you fancy really. I guess you'll want to see the iconic sights in Sydney. So many other options.Lots of people try to see as many different sights they can in 3 weeks, which I think is a mistake as they spend the entire trip on planes, trains and automobiles! Byron Bay is a great party town, Cairns is a freat point to go scuba diving in the Barrier Reef, Fraser Island is great fun if you can spare a few days and hire a 4x4 to explore and camp.

Coffin Dodger

Was quite a few years ago but did a month long tour of the east coast and it was excellent. Went in November so start of Aussie summer, weather was nice but not too intense

How long are you going for? Australia is so massive and diverse it's worth trying to get as long a break as possible and do some touring.

We flew with Quantas, and got a deal where several internal flights were bundled in with the main flight package. Flew Heathrow to Sydney direct (re-fuelled in Singapore), spent a week in Sydney seeing all the sights and adjusting to the time zone, had a short trip up into the Blue Mountains while we were there, well worth it as the scenery was spectacular. Ended the week in Sydney at my mates wedding

Then flew to Cairns and got a spacious apartment at a place called Palm Cove which was beautiful + great bars, restaurants etc. Did a few tours including Cape Tribulation which incorporated a boat ride to look for crocs Also did a boat trip for snorkelling on the Barrier Reef, this is unmissable the colourful fish and coral is amazing, my brother did a dive with them and saw reef sharks. Finished our stay there with a few days car hire to self explore (loads to see, rain forest etc.).

Then flew to Alice Springs and went on a pre-booked tour of Ayres Rock, Olgas, and Kings Canyon. That was the real highlight of the trip for me, proper outback stuff, we stayed in tents and there was plenty of drinking round the camp fire late a night (though the early mornings, e.g. sunrise over Ayres Rock, were not always greeted with such enthusiasm ) Had a helicopter ride at Kings Canyon

Didn't stay in Alice Springs itself for any longer than was necessary, okay but a bit rough due to drunken Aboriginals

Flew from there to Brisbane, stayed in the city for a couple of nights, then got another hire car and drove up to the Sunshine Coast, got another apartment there. Spectacular beaches and popular with surfers. Went on a 4x4 tour of Fraser Island (worlds largest sand island) and that was superb. Finally headed inland to the Blackall (sp?) Mountain range and stayed in a beautiful little farm cottage there, did some further sightseeing before finally heading back to Brisbane (via Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo) for our flight home (plane change in Kong Kong)

Great holiday, second only to the month I had in New Zealand.

dpb

You could get some amazing deals in Queensland ?

andythejock01wrx

Now now!

Funkii Munkii

Buy yourself a copy of lonely planet Australia, that should wet your appetite.

So many things to do and see you wouldn't believe it

A few NSW highlights for me have to be
Blue Mountains, to many amazing outlooks to mention, although Hargreaves on the Shipley Plateau is absolutely beautiful, plus the drive from Lithgow to Windsor over Mount Victoria.
Bathurst, do a few laps in your hire car
Jenolan Caves
Jervis Bay, Hyams beach, excuse my French but Hyams absolutely ***** on Fraser island and Whitehaven beach as stunning as they are. The beauty about Oz is all the beaches are amazing and there just aren't enough people there to fill them, except Bondi which is a crap hole.
Driving the Illawarra Highway
Nightcap National Park - up the road from Byron Bay
Nambucca Heads.
The Harbour Bridge walk is a must when in Sydney

Fancy a couple of days away to recharge the batteries then head off to Hamilton Island.

Sitting here writing this in cold cloudy West London is fookin depressing.

njkmrs

Just heard on the news that the floods here are covering an area the size of France and Germany combined .

Holy Hell that is some flood and makes our recent floods look like puddles .

Funkii Munkii

Forgot to add, I'd go Singapore Airlines every time, and get a stop over, Singapore is a lovely place.

P1Fanatic

We were in Oz Nov 2010. Airline depends where you want to fly to. We flew with Cathay Pacific into Melbourne and back from Cairns as one of the only airlines to offer that option (friends who went with Qantas flew back from Cairns via Sydney). We also found them to be well priced (LHR-HKG 747 and HKG-SYD A330).In Economy they have some new seats that dont tilt fully but the inside does. I read a lot of complaints about those being uncomfortable but found them fine.

One thing Id advise is if your flying as a couple is to look for airlines using planes with a 2 seat configuration as 13hrs+ is a long time to sit next to someone else.

First thing is to decide your route - how long are you going for? East coast is the most popular. We started Melbourne and worked our way up the east coast but also with an 11 day trip out to NZ South Island. Really check your distances - Google Maps is very accurate. We self drove around NZ and Google gave our entire trip as 2400km and we did 2500km (few extra trips for dinner etc).

I really enjoyed Melbourne. We did a nice tour aloing Great Ocean Rd, went to Phillip Island to see the Penguin Parade, went up the Skydeck Building (talling building in Melb), cruise on the Yarra River etc.

Sydney
Manly Beach (ferry from circular quay) is far better than Bondhi (dump).
Taronga Zoo was nice
Bridge Climb
Botanical Gardens next to the Opera House - at night the bats come out - hundreds of them
Darling Harbour for food & drinks (they also have nice fireworks there every 2nd sat)
Rocks Market for cheaper lunches
Hunter Valley wine tour was good
Blue Mountains also good
Make sure your hotel is near circular quay or darling harbour as otherwise it can be a long walk as most things go from these two places (I didnt realise Sydney was so hilly as imagined it to be flat).

Hamilton Island
We decided here as one of only places you can fly to in Whitsundays. I personally wouldnt go back. Way overpriced not that pretty and is a bit like a more upmarket Butlins (everything under one resort = young student type staff everywhere).

Airlie Beach
We went on a 2 day catmaran cruise and this was by far the best tour we did in the entire holiday (NZ included). Id thorughly recommend Whitsunday Blue (max 8 passengers) run by Whitsunday Sailing Adventures. A trip to Whitehaven Beach a must - I would say that as I proposed to my girlfriend there.

Port Douglas
Good selection of restaurants on the main strip. Make sure you go on a snorkel tour to the outer reef. Can recommend Wavelength as they looked after us and very knowledgeable.

Summertime = jellyfish season (box and the little irukandjis) = you have to wear a stinger suit (fully body lycra suit).

One thing to be prepared for is the cost of things. On our first night in Melbourne we went to 7-11 (like a spa corner shop) and found that even small things like Mars bars are $3 (£2). Eating out in sydney is $25+ for a pizza and $9 for a beer. Aussie economy hasnt suffered from a recession with several mining booms. Quite a bit of flooding in Queensland currently may have an impact on that.

Funkii Munkii

When they had the floods at the start of 2010 they had an inland sea the size of Wales !!

That country is so vast you really cant get your head around it.

P1Fanatic

Depends on how long he is going for. We looked at that but a night or two there or HKG really cuts into the time you spend in Oz (admittedly we also crammed NZ South in).

And I have to disagree with Hamilton Island. I was severely disappointed and reading the many trip advisor reviews its a common theme. A lot of money for not much in return unless you like golf maybe. Id recommend spending that money on a whitsunday sailing cruise (also expensive depending on who you sail with but at least you see the reward).

P1Fanatic

Oh and if you do hire a car dont speed. My mate got caught by a cop doing the equivalent of 77mph on the freeway and got fined £230! The locals were all complaining about the lengths they go to to get a fine. On bank holiday weekends they dish out double points on your licence lol.

Funkii Munkii

I can concur, I got done doing 61kph as it went from 60 to 50 and got a similarly massive fine. The double demerits usually starts a day before the holiday weekend and finishes a day after, what do you expect from convicts.

I must have got lucky at Hamilton, had a great time, also had the pleasure of wearing the lycra body suit, leaves nothing to the imagination, pack an extra pair of socks that day

oldsplice

Manly beach, not Bondi as stated earlier.

Port Douglas

Hunter Valley

Dunk Island

Barrier Reef cruise (we did the 6 day one)

Squeeze a koala.

Didn't like Sydney (even though my brother lives there). They're too chippy.

sti-04!!

Wow! Some cracking advice. Keep it coming.
One thing that i forgot to mention is that my 11yo is coming although by november he'll be 12. I see BA charge adults prices for a 12yo but Virgin dont?
I'm now on a research mission so i can make this happen.

Coffin Dodger

Do Virgin fly easterly routes to Oz, I ask that because going via the US (prob LAX) is a pain in the ****. Despite the fact that you are only in transit you still need the electronic travel authority for the US applied to your passports (£9 each) and you'll spend ages queuing up for their uber paranoid security and immigration

FlightMan

Virgin fly to Sydney via Hong Kong.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

I have flown to Oz several times - preferred BA although Singapore were very good. Quantas service was a pain in the ****.

cster

Are you saying QANTAS are a load of bummers?
Coz if you don't, I will.
I'd give BA a miss as well.
The Asian airlines seem to be a lot more service oriented.
IMO all the flights are a pretty crap way to spend 24 hours.
Best get some Valium or whatever from the GP - AKA cheapskates business class. Lay off the booze though.
Stopped over in Hong Kong recently - that is quite a buzzy and not too expensive place.
If you are going with your lad, asking him what sort of things he'd like to do might be a good starting point. Maybe he is interested in weird murders and you can visit Adelaide.
Just remember you are having a holiday, and don't try to pack too much in - as it is very easy to fall into this trap.

SinghSuperStud

iTrader: (2)

Have only been Sydney which I found to be a waste of time after 2 days of being there - apparently they've used the map of London as a basis for the design of Sydney.

I also found that Australians have to be some of the worst dressed people I've ever seen - all the shops we went to had Primark clothers at Next prices lol

Not of any use to you but fancied a mini-rant!

SiPie

Best thing to do with Australia would be to fly over it and book yourself a month in New Zealand instead

Much better

davyboy

I could understand someone asking a question like this about a town, city or small island.......but a country that is 7 million sq KM!!

Scooby.Newbie

WAs a few years back, 2003, flew into Brisbane and stayed in the backpackers by the main station, was not as bad as it sounds.

I flew with Singapore with a short stay over on the way, flight was great and they looked after you, to be honest on the way you are too excited to care much and are too knackered, if you have enjoyed yourself to care on the way back.

Once there we booked the flights as we went online with Virgin Blue, very easy, good price and can get anywhere you need to go.

Flew up to Cairns, did the barrier reef thing and the bungy jumping at A J Hackets (if this is your thing great place to do it). We then hired a 4x4 and drove up to Cook Town in the North across the Black Mountains stopping at places like Cape Tribulation and Mareeba, if you want to experience something a little locally rural.

From there we flew down to Sydney, I enjoyed the city and again we hired a car and did Bondi (a little dissapointing, but one to tick off the list) and the blue mountains, which were spectaular. The night life in Sydney is pretty good and safe, from what we experienced, and give Kingscross a go if you are alowed out alone

From there we flew back to Brsbane and took a boat out to Noth Stradbrooke Island, taking a train down to the boat pickup. Again this was something different if you are in the area, nice and empty with nice walks, scenary and good surfing, both water and sand dune!

This is obviously only one perspective of a tiny part of a massive country and opportunity to experience a little of everything.

Summing up, it was amazing, everyone was friendly, we saw cities, desert, rainforest, sometimes all within 24 hours. You will enjoy anywhere you go, either planned or just making it up as you go alone, as we did (I went with two mates, all in our 30's) or something a little more planned.

Enjoy whateber you do, but honest if you go off track everything wants to eat, bite or sting you, I have the photos from Cook Town hospital to prove it