Planning a trip to Australia

[Totally Guy]

I'm planning on visiting Australia soon. I'm taking Serpentine up on her offer to come and see her country. I'm really excited! So it looks like I'm going to try to be in Brisbane for Serp's birthday in May... (May the twenty-somethingth...)

I want to see more than just the one place though. After that where should I go? I'm not much of an outdoors type but it'd be cool to see the wildlife, even the bugs and plants. But I'm much more at home in a city and from Serp's descriptions of Australian cities they sound like the best kind.

Any playgrounders interested in hanging out? I know I'm not the most outgoing around these parts but you never know. :smalltongue:

What are the travel costs like for domestic flights?

[Peccavi]

I can't believe nobody has replied to you! There is loads to see and do pretty much no matter where you go.

And you'll be in a great place to start. We do have some really great cities, and Brisbane's probably one of the best, Melbourne's the other really good one, IMHO.

Not too far from Brissy, is the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast, so if your into beeches, the nightlife, pretty scenery, rediculously expensive and expansive houses or watching people spend way too much money, you can't go far wrong. I believe Australia Zoo is nearby also, so you can get your fix of critters.

Domestic flights between the capital cities can be quite cheap, I often do Melbourne to Sydney, and you can get them for as little as $50 sometimes. Flying to other destinations can be pretty steep though, I flew from Brissy to Ayers Rock and it cost me about $600, it would've been cheaper to fly to Vietnam...

Hope this helps

[Serpentine]

I should go through all the stuff up here, shouldn't I. Let's see now... Interesting places within an hour or so drive of me:
- various museums and galleries
- Carrumbin Wildlife Sanctuary
- Australia Zoo (the Steve Irwin place)
- lots of really nice bush walks, swimming holes, waterfalls and so on.
- Bunch of theme parks: Dreamworld, White Water World (or something like that), Seaworld, Movie World and Wet'n'Wild.
- Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum
- Infinity (a weird... funhouse sorta thing).
- Dracula's Caberet Restaurant

And around Coffs Harbour, where I'm hoping to take you and some friends:
- More ridiculously nice bush walks.
- Waterfall Way
- Obscenely gorgeous beaches.
- The Big Banana (with lolly shop).
- A honey tasting place.

They would be the places I might be able to come with you. I can recommend a whole lot of other places you should see if you get a chance - Heron Island, Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the Great Ocean Road, Uluru... - but sadly, unless you're willing to shout me again I'm unlikely to be able to afford to go with you, sadly :smallfrown:

I really do recommend renting a car, by the way. There's heaps of places you just can't get to at all without one.

[Totally Guy]

So as well as Brisbane I've been thinking of other places and which I might like to see when I'm there.

Sydney - Sydney Harbour and Opera House, beaches, maybe histoic rocks. Plus I think it'd be relatively easy to get to.
Blue Mountains - Are there blue mountains there? Is this one of those situations where I could get in danger by not knowing the survival skills? I don't want to be that guy that does the old "everything is going to kill you" jokes but I'm not actually competent in non-civilisation environments.
Snowy mountains on the south coast - I could do some walking but I think that'd be true of anywhere. I've seen mountains with snow before.
South of Townsville - The Great Barrier reef, beaches, Fraser island, but is it possible to get a lot a that sort of stuff from Brisbane?
Cairnes - Rainforest stuff, I hear it good for seeing birds, but as Serp'll tell you, I don't know much about birds...
Darwin - Seeing all the Aboriginal stuff, climate.
Uluru - I don't know if I'd get much out of going to see it for the time and money it'd take. I imagine it's expensive and slow going to travel. I assume you can go on a coach trip or in a camel party.
Perth - See the surfers, snorkle at Ningaloo Reef perhaps.
Adelaide - Kangaroo Island... what else?
Melbourne - I think I'd be in my comfort zone here. See the penguins of Philip island.
Tasmania - History as penal colony. Rivers to see. I hope to see waterfalls around Brisbane too.

I might get to one or two of these locations in addition to Brisbane. But which ones?

[Chen]

How long are you going to be there for? There are some pretty nice tourist type areas along the east coast such as the Whitsunday Islands and Frasier Island. Uluru is definitely worth visiting though it is pretty out of the way so its either time consuming to get to (bus) or expensive (flight). Depending on how long you're there you may want to limit your trip to one of the coasts/center rather than trying to hop all over the place. The country is big so you're either going to pay for expensive flights or take a lot of time getting from one place to another or both (Brisbane to Perth is like a 6 hour flight I think).

[Serpentine]

Just so's you know, I'm gonna go through that list in great detail.
Eventually.
I've been busy :smallfrown:

[Totally Guy]

http://vimeo.com/62543972#

Oh my goodness!

[Serpentine]

Alright now... So, because we know you're coming to Brisbane at least, I'll be including the "distance from Brisbane" factor.

Sydney - Sydney Harbour and Opera House, beaches, maybe histoic rocks. Plus I think it'd be relatively easy to get to.Ugh, Sydney beaches. They might be famous, but trust me: the ones at Sawtell will blow them out of the water. City beaches are dirty and flat and blech.
That isn't to say that Sydney's not worth seeing, though. Especially if you like cities. The Australian Museum's pretty cool, and if you can see a show in the Sydney Opera House I encourage you to. One possible thought: Sawtell's about half-way between Brisbane and Sydney. Maybe consider using that as your launching-off point for a travel further south.

Blue Mountains - Are there blue mountains there? Is this one of those situations where I could get in danger by not knowing the survival skills? I don't want to be that guy that does the old "everything is going to kill you" jokes but I'm not actually competent in non-civilisation environments.The mountains are indeed blue, cuz of all the evaporating eucalyptus oil. It is very possible to get yourself lost in the mountains and have to get rescued, but realistically you're gonna have to go out of your way to do that. If you stick with the more popular sights like the Three Sisters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(Australia)), you'll still be well within the welcoming arms of civilisation. The Blue Mountains are also quite close to Sydney. I used to live in the lower parts of the mountains for a while, by the way... Very, very pretty area.

Snowy mountains on the south coast - I could do some walking but I think that'd be true of anywhere. I've seen mountains with snow before.Not sure where exactly you're talking about there. The Great Ocean Road along the south coast is very spectacular; also very wet and cold. Well... for Australia, anyway. I'd love to do a long drive along the GOR at some point, but I should point out that this is a long, long way from Brisbane - roughly northern Scotland to London, or thereabouts.

South of Townsville - The Great Barrier reef, beaches, Fraser island, but is it possible to get a lot a that sort of stuff from Brisbane?Townsville is nearly as far from Brisbane as Melbourne (and the Great Ocean Road) is. Fraser Island isn't too far away, just a 3 or 4 hour drive, and the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef (specifically Heron Island) is another 2 or 3 north of that. The GBR is definitely something worth seeing, and Heron Island is gorgeous (although I haven't actually been to any other Australian tropical island).

Cairnes - Rainforest stuff, I hear it good for seeing birds, but as Serp'll tell you, I don't know much about birds...Cairns is a long, long, loooooong way away from Brisbane. Like, northern Scotland to London again. It's the furthest north I've been while still in Australia. This'll definitely have to be a flight if you wanna go up there. It is very pretty, and almost like being in a foreign country. On the other hand, you can see rainforests further south as well, even if they're not quite as lush. This one I'd probably suggest putting off for another time, and making a special trip in the north for it.

Darwin - Seeing all the Aboriginal stuff, climate.Northern Scotland to London and back again sort of distance from Brisbane. Very very hot, very very humid. That's about all I know about Darwin. Again, probably more worth its own special trip. If that's something you're interested in, I'll make a point of checking whether there's any aboriginal sites around Brisbane or Coffs Harbour.

Uluru - I don't know if I'd get much out of going to see it for the time and money it'd take. I imagine it's expensive and slow going to travel. I assume you can go on a coach trip or in a camel party.Think more a flight again. The resort there may actually have its own airport... But at minimum you'll want to fly to Alice Springs and coach from there. I strongly recommend seeing it some day, but again, probably worth its own special trip. Especially so you could go see Kings Canyon and everywhere, as well.

Perth - See the surfers, snorkle at Ningaloo Reef perhaps.This one's more like going to Kiev from your place. Don't know anything about Perth, except that Peregrine and Lady Moreta are there (and you'd like them). Aside from those two I wouldn't bother :smalltongue:

Adelaide - Kangaroo Island... what else?Eh. Coober Pedy, north of there, is kinda cool - it's a town built into the opal mines. Long, long way from Brisbane again.

Melbourne - I think I'd be in my comfort zone here. See the penguins of Philip island.Yeah, Melbourne's a pretty nice city, very artsy and "metropolitan". That'll be the place to start your trip on the Great Ocean Road if you want to do that.

Tasmania - History as penal colony. Rivers to see. I hope to see waterfalls around Brisbane too.Very pretty and very historical state from what I've heard. Again, probably well worth seeing, but will also be extremely cold and is, again, a long long way from Brisbane. If you want waterfalls, maybe we should go for a drive up the Waterfall Way while we're at Sawtell.


I might get to one or two of these locations in addition to Brisbane. But which ones?My very vague recommendation, under the assumption that you will be arriving in and leaving from Brisbane, would be that you pick a direction: north to Fraser Island and the GBR, or south to Sydney.
If you decide on Sydney, we should time the Sawtell trip to have that cover the first leg of your trip south. Spend some time in Sydney itself, seeing the Bridge and the Opera House and so on, and then go stay somewhere like Katoomba in the Blue Mountains and explore up there for a bit in the bush. I can come up with some other interesting places to stay around that way, depending on what you're interested in.
If you decide on north, we can put Sawtell at the start or end of your trip, whatever you like. I don't know much about the north, except that there's some lovely places up there. If you can afford it, I would recommend a few days on Heron Island (http://www.heronisland.com/). If not, I'm pretty sure there's other places around that way you can go diving on reefs.
Another option would be picking a place far away and just flying there. If you wanna do that... Well, further advice would depend on where you pick.

Do you think you'll be hiring a car while you're here?

[Serpentine]

http://vimeo.com/62543972#

Oh my goodness!00:45 - Southbank artificial beach thing. A sort of pool, about 20 minute walk from my place.
00:55 - The river, right next to Southbank.
01:14 - I think that's the Cultural Centre bus station. At the end of Southbank.
01:18 - That's the mall in the city, about 30-40 minute walk from mine.
01:36 - The Wheel, also in Southbank. We could go on that if you like!

As far as cities go, Brisbane is fairly pretty... Have to remember to take you to Mana Bar, too.

[Elemental]

For approximate distances so you can compare them better:
Brisbane - Sydney: 1000 km (About eleven hours on a bus)
"" - Melbourne: 1700 km
"" - Adelaide: 2100 km
"" - Townsville: 1300 km
"" - Cairns: 1700 km
"" - Cape York: 2700 km
"" - Perth: 4500 km
"" - Darwin: 3500 km
"" - Alice Springs: 3100 km

Everything is so far away that we practically treat them as separate countries, even in the case of Cairns and Townsville.
Do what Serpentine suggests: Start in Brisbane and choose a direction. If you're going to be here for months, you can go for a circuit if you want.

[Totally Guy]

I was thinking of allowing for one return domestic flight. A coach or train could substitute if appropriate. Or the equivalent cost in car hire and fuel if I'm not exceeding several hundreds of kilometres, this'd be better if I go less urban.

[Serpentine]

I think my recommendations would be doing Sawtell when you first get here and then either:
1. Going down to Sydney (flight or train or coach; probably plane if you can find a cheap one, or train if you can't), staying in the city for a few days, and then getting the train up to Katoomba and doing some tours (there's horseriding ones, for example) through the Blue Mountains, or
2. Going the whole hog, flying down to Tasmania and doing a coach tour there, or maybe
3. Flying or train or *maybe* coach up to Fraser Island for a few days, then if you can afford it a 3 or 4 night stay on Heron Island,
and then hanging out in Brisbane for a few more days before you leave again, hiring a car for that.

[Lady Moreta]

Domestic flights between the capital cities can be quite cheap, I often do Melbourne to Sydney, and you can get them for as little as $50 sometimes.

Seriously? I've never seen flights that cheap from Perth. Stupid city on the other side of the bloody country...


The mountains are indeed blue, cuz of all the evaporating eucalyptus oil. It is very possible to get yourself lost in the mountains and have to get rescued, but realistically you're gonna have to go out of your way to do that. If you stick with the more popular sights like the Three Sisters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(Australia)), you'll still be well within the welcoming arms of civilisation. The Blue Mountains are also quite close to Sydney.

Katoomba is about an hour's drive from Sydney, if I remember rightly. I've only been there once, and the thing I remember most clearly is that I didn't get to climb the Three Sisters, because no one would come with me :smallfrown: I was sad, it was the one thing I really wanted to do. But that's what you get for going up there with your mother, uncle and grandmother... The one walk we did do was very well signposted though, so as long as you don't wander off, the odds of getting lost are pretty slim. And I think they do some guided walks as well. I think. I could be making that up, as I said, I've only been there once and it was over ten years ago.

Damn, that's ages... when are you planning on coming over? Depending on the time, and if you do go up to the Blue Mountains, I'd be tempted to drag my husband over and visit :smallsmile:


This one's more like going to Kiev from your place. Don't know anything about Perth, except that Peregrine and Lady Moreta are there (and you'd like them). Aside from those two I wouldn't bother :smalltongue:

Thanks :smalltongue: Yeah... Ningaloo Reef is a two day drive from Perth (up the coast, so getting hotter and more humid as you go), or a two and a half hour flight... and checking Skywest, it'd cost about $800 (return) to fly from Perth - and that's not counting the airfare to get to Perth in the first place. And I am fairly certain that you can't fly to Exmouth (the closest airport to the reef) from anywhere execpt from Perth on one of the smallish, WA-only airlines.

I feel vaguely disloyal saying this, but I'll be honest - I wouldn't bother with Perth at all. It's too far away - you have to fly to get here (well, you don't have to, but it'll take about a week to drive it), there isn't all that much to do that doesn't involve going out somewhere else that's y'know, another two days drive away, it'd cost probably at least $500-600 return to get here - and to be perfectly honest, Perey and I just aren't that interesting :smalltongue: Stick to the east coast, if you ever decide to come back and do Perth, you're better off making a trip over to the west coast and making that the only thing you do.

[Dr.Epic]

Space Australia? Make sure a space dingo doesn't eat your space baby.

[Proud Tortoise]

Have you read The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett? :smallbiggrin: