Trip to Australia

[bball2]

Hey guys, me and a buddy are looking to visit Australia for a couple weeks in May. Does anyone have any good recommendations in terms of trip planning? Awesome places / cities to check out? Or where to get good deals on flights / accommodations?

Right now I was thinking of a big east coast trip; something like Melbourne to Brisbane, or Sydney to Cairns; hitting the big cities, checking out some sights, staying in hostels, and etc. But yeah definitely open to suggestions.

[Jay911]

I was there last Sept/Oct for about 3 weeks. Had other stuff I was doing so I went Sydney -> inland Queensland (town called Roma) -> Brisbane, then north a little bit, then south along the coast from there to a bit south of Sydney. From there, inland again to Bathurst for car racing. We spent IIRC 5 or 6 days on the trip from Brisbane to Sydney and could have spent more. Going as far north as Cairns would easily add on a few more days.

One of my favorite places along that particular part of the trip (Brisbane to Sydney) was the Australia Zoo - Steve Irwin's place - in the Beerwah Forest about 2/3 down from Brisbane.

My itinerary kind of looked like this.

- Arrive Sydney 22 Sept
- gotta be in Roma at least one day early on
- gotta be in Bathurst from 6 Oct to 11 Oct
- gotta be back on a plane in Sydney on 11 Oct

Everything else was "point the car in this direction and see what's out there".

[thrasher22]

If you only have a couple weeks, I'd reccomend focusing on certain parts of the coast, or fly between cities. Otherwise you'll be spending most the trip in transit.

Melbourne is SICK, Sydney is a must do, Brisbane is nice but there isn't a ton to do as a tourist, reminded me of a nicer version of Calgary. Surfer's Paradise (just south of Brisbane) is a must if you want to party.

If you're looking to do a short road trip, rent a car in melbourne and drive the great ocean road, its a day (each way) long drive down the coast with unreal views and weaves through wicked surf towns.

Cairns is in the middle of no where, but the Great Barrier reef is worth the trip, and there are some great jungles to drive around up there.

Flights are cheap if you book a couple weeks ahead, check out Virgin Blue, Jet Star and Tiger Air.

Have fun, Aus girls eat up our accents

[Dumbass17]

if you come here, id' definitely try to get more than a few weeks. i met alot of people who came here and only had 5 weeks and missed tons of stuff to do.
if i would suggest must do's it would include
whitsunday sailing on the great barrier reef (3 day/2night packages galore) very fun, very awesome.
fraser island camping, gigantic beach island with dingos and stuff, alot of fun
byron bay, for alot of people, this is their favorite place in australia, and skydive here, the view is AMAZING and very cool

brisbane is boring, sydney is ok but it's just huge city. i was there for a week and took up the sights. but you kind of walk to the bridge/opera house, look at it, take a few snaps and then go..uh ok..pub? haha
melbourne is pretty cool, very very european feel to it

i live on the gold coast, about 10 minutes south of surfers paradise and i love it.

i'm kinda just rambling but really try to get more time for here man, there's so much to do.
don't come in their winter though, it's effin cold (well, 9ish degrees at night but that's cold now)

[tch7]

Originally posted by Jay911
One of my favorite places along that particular part of the trip (Brisbane to Sydney) was the Australia Zoo - Steve Irwin's place - in the Beerwah Forest about 2/3 down from Brisbane.

Eh? The Australia Zoo is about an hour north of Brisbane.

May is pretty chilly anywhere south of Brisbane, especially since central heating is rare. Take a warm jacket & hoody. Definitely not beach weather.

Sydney is my favourite city - lots of unique neighborhoods, good transit, awesome city life, great beaches (in summer). Melbourne's also interesting, but less polished. Brisbane's pleasant, but doesn't have much for a traveler. Adelaide is a boring version of Calgary, if that's possible.

I'd suggest focusing your time on doing the Sydney-Cairns trip, with Byron Bay, Fraser Island, & the Whitsundays being among the must-sees along the way. Lots of cool spots in the Northern NSW Hinterland and Gold Coast Hinterland that are off the tourist radar, but you'll need your own car to really explore that area. Same goes with the Kangaroo Valley area near Sydney.

Besides Dumbass, I can't recall encountering anybody that admits to loving the Gold Coast/Surfer's Paradise mess of development. It was neat to see, but didn't float my boat at all.

[Jay911]

Originally posted by tch7

Eh? The Australia Zoo is about an hour north of Brisbane.

My bad - it's about 2/3 of the way from where we started north of Brisbane, to Brisbane. I knew it was just north of one of the cities.

[Dumbass17]

what?!
gold coast for life. i fucking love it here man!
beaches, bitches, balconies and beers haha

you should look into the Oz Experience bus trip from sydney to cairns or visa versa if you have enough time. so good

[bball2]

Originally posted by Dumbass17
you should look into the Oz Experience bus trip from sydney to cairns or visa versa if you have enough time. so good

Man I've been checking out that website all morning, and it sounds awesome, I'll definitely look into.

Did you do that as well? How much did you end up paying for everything in the end? So it basically just drops you off at each location for a day or two and picks you up the next morning?

[Mar]

Morrigan Slayde!

[240SX92]

Hit Kings Cross in Sydney on a friday/Saturday. Hundreds of bars/clubs, thousands of people walking the streets, people with nice cars doing fly bys on the street to show off. Pretty weird atmosphere, I'd never seen anything like it.

Hit up an Aussie Rules football game in Melbourne. Go see my team Collingwood so I can be jealous. Like someone said Great Ocean road is amazing as well.

Whitsundays trip for sure, find the cheapest possible boat trip, that's the one the rowdy backpackers will be on. Get drunk on a boat for 3 days near one of the top rated beaches in the world.

Adelaide was pretty boring. Can't say much about it haha there's a mountain pass where local tuners meet on fridays/saturdays that's pretty neat to check out, but not much was happening while I was there. The time you're going is end of summer so it's going to start getting colder, windier, and rain will come. You got about till May's when the weather starts going south.

Cairns someone said is in the middle of nowhere, there's a few bars in the "downtown" area, more of a backpackers party area for downtown, then the great barrier reaf is worth the trip.

Brisbane was pretty boring. Just kind of a big city, very corporate feel to it. But lots of good bars in the Market area. No beaches really. If you rent a car for the east coast there are a few nice little towns on the way. Airlie beach is a big party town, it's the docking point for whitsundays trips. Noosa heads is another nice little scenic town, Rainbow beach as well. (someone mentioned)

Never went to Perth but my buddy said it was his favorite part of his trip. It's kind of out in the middle of absolute nowhere.

Didn't do surfers paradise, heard mixed thoughts from others about it.

Darwin was pretty boring, theres a street of about 3 hostels and 3 bars, filled with backpackers, thats about it. Can't swim because of all the jellyfish and crocodiles.

Bring small Canadian money (Hahahah there's a good story behind this one.) And take advantage of you having an "accent" If you met an Australian girl here they would be 10x hotter just for having it, well that works both ways, especially down under. Australians absolutely love Canadians.

Jetstar definitely for flights, can fly to most cities close for 50-200$.

Hostelworld.com for hostels.

Sydney I stayed in a place called Wake up I believe, absolute party hostel, make sure you're not on the first or second floor or you'll be up all night from the noise of the bar. Pretty expensive though you're looking at 30$ to share a room with 8 other people haha. It's a weird way to live but can be fun.

Melbourne didn't stay for too long unfortunately, couldn't tell you the best hostels, stayed at Urban Central which was big, and decent close to downtown... Pretty nice.

Adelaide stayed at a place called the Franklin. Shit hole but a lot of personality. Nice place to get smashed at the pub downstairs, but like I said, pretty big shit hole.

Brisbane stayed at Base Brisbane Central. Great big hostel, really nice rooms, awesome backpacker bar in at the bottom, cheap food, lots of drinking games.

[Dumbass17]

Originally posted by bball2


Man I've been checking out that website all morning, and it sounds awesome, I'll definitely look into.

Did you do that as well? How much did you end up paying for everything in the end? So it basically just drops you off at each location for a day or two and picks you up the next morning?

depends on which trip you want, but i did the sydney to cairns one and it cost me $470 for it or something,i got it on sale from $599 regular i believe. but you can wait to get here and book that even thru an agent and they'll give you more info/insight on where you want to stay and maybe how long you want to stay in certain places.

you just book your buses a day or two in advance (unless it's over xmas then maybe a few moer days) online and then bam, the bus shows up at the meeting spot, calls your name, you get on and then travel with more backpackers to your next destination. and if you find you love a certain place but already booked a bus, you can just cancel that bus. there are several buses running up and down the coast daily so you have lots of options. i had a good time with it. and you meet people on the bus so you can always share rooms at the hostels (which your driver can recommend and even book for you while you're on their bus) and you always have new drinking partners for the upcoming hostels!

definitely check out Holiday Village in Byron Bay, it was probably my favorite hostel and it's not licensed so you can bring in your own booze, which is great. its' also across the street from the main party bar in byron. they also let you use their surfboards for free and it's run by goofy, chill canadians.

and i don't know why everyone says our canadian accent works so well here lol, there are canadians everywhere so we're not rare anymore haha.
beleive it or not, people seem to love the irish accent over here...i know, i don't get it either.

[thrasher22]

^^ I did a similar bus tour in NZ, and it was one of the most fun trips I've done, the hop-on-off bus style trip is a great way to meet people but do things on your schedule.

I agree with Dumbass, definitely hit Byron, its an amazing chill town.

[nancy121]

Great advice given by 'thrasher22'.

“rent a car in Melbourne and drive the great ocean road, its a day (each way) long drive down the coast with unreal views and weaves through wicked surf towns.”

To rent a car you may find somewhat cheaper deals at http://www.australiarentcar.com/. They are brokers and have tie-ups with big names. I usually prefer them as their car variety is also good and you can easily select a suitable car according to your budget.

[in*10*se]

co-sign w/ oz exp.

i did it sydney to cairns, pretty fucking dope.

[Feruk]

I went backpacking there for a month 2 years ago. On the trip, we did 3 big cities (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane); I'd suggest skipping them all. They're no different then Canadian cities, don't waste your time.

The best: Whitsundays, Fraser Island, Byron Bay. You can get a group deal if you buy your Whitsundays sailing trip at the same time as the 4x4ing trip on Fraser Island. We also did a 5 day surf camp with Mojo Surf where you started in Byron and went down to Sydney surfing in different places along the way. Was amazing.

I think anyone who's backpacked Australia and still recommends seeing the big cities missed all the good stuff.

[bball2]

So it looks like we only have about 19 days there; I can't leave until a certain date because of work, and my buddy has to get back for convocation, so unfortunately it looks like the OZ experience is a no go.

Right now we're looking at just renting a car in Sydney and driving all the way up to Cairns and pretty much checking out as much cool stuff in between. Things we have on our list so far include:

Cities / places
- Sydney
- Gold coast
- Byron bay
- Brisbane
- Cairns

Stuff
- Australia zoo
- Surfing
- Camping on Fraser island
- Catch a rugby game
- Whitsunday sailing on the great barrier reef

Another option we were looking at is a 16 day sydney to cairns backpacking tour which pretty much hits most of the things we want to do:

http://www.adventuretravel.com.au/to...flexi_touring/

[thrasher22]

You're going to be spending a LOT of time on the road driving the whole coast. Since none of the places you mentioned are between Sydney and Brisbane, i'd recommend getting a cheap flight from Sydney to there. You should be able to find tickets for <$100. Gas is also pretty pricey there, so that would save you some cash.

If you're driving north, I also REALLY recommend Fraser Island! The whole island is essentially a giant sanddune, with some of the softest beaches in the world, and there are Dingos everywhere.
You book onto with a tour company that puts you with 8-10 other backpackers in a self drive off-road truck, that you drive at ridiculous speeds up the beach. There are lots of companies that you can book a package whitsundays/fraser deal with and its really affordable.

http://wikitravel.org/en/Fraser_Island

[240SX92]

Originally posted by bball2
So it looks like we only have about 19 days there; I can't leave until a certain date because of work, and my buddy has to get back for convocation, so unfortunately it looks like the OZ experience is a no go.

Right now we're looking at just renting a car in Sydney and driving all the way up to Cairns and pretty much checking out as much cool stuff in between. Things we have on our list so far include:

Cities / places
- Sydney
- Gold coast
- Byron bay
- Brisbane
- Cairns

Stuff
- Australia zoo
- Surfing
- Camping on Fraser island
- Catch a rugby game
- Whitsunday sailing on the great barrier reef

Another option we were looking at is a 16 day sydney to cairns backpacking tour which pretty much hits most of the things we want to do:

http://www.adventuretravel.com.au/to...flexi_touring/

Not Rugby, Aussie Rules, AFL at the MCG in Melbourne. Try and find a bigger matchup and get tickets early. 90,000+ people. Can't do that in a small town eh?

[Dumbass17]

if you are planning on hitting bigger cities, i would skip cairns and brisbane over sydney and melbourne. i enjoyed melbourne, it's very different from the rest of the bigger cities here and it's very european, but again, it could be considered just a big, european city haha.

yeah driving with just your friends sucks, i think it'd be harder to meet people and when i travel, that's usually the highlight man, meeting strangers and learning new lingo. i've learnt so much ridiculous terminology now haha.

byron bay is cool as hell, pretty touristy and canadians have taken over it.

gold coast is where i live and i love it, i never want to leave! i wish i had more interesting things about the gold coast to show you or even meet up and take you out but i don't..sorry

OH you should try to check out a crocidile habitat if you can. i went to one and it was so cool being 2feet away (with only a chicken wire fence seperating us) from a 457kg, 6 metre croc. and walking around next to Emus, kangaroos, wallabies, dingos etc. oh and cassowary's, those things are badass! (they're the half bird/half dinosaur ostrich looking things)

enjoy man