Australia - Complete Beginner
Discussion
Hi guys,
Me and the mrs are in the very early days of planning a 3 week trip to Australia, however I have very little knowledge of the country so looking into costs etc are somewhat confusing.
I suggested spending a week in 3 different places, Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast.
Flights aren't a problem, neither is car hire however accommodation is where I am struggling.
What sort of accommodation should we be looking at? I don't really fancy spending our time in a hotel so are apartments, villas etc available easily over there?
Budget wise we are looking between £5000 and £8000 in total including spending money.
Any help will be greatly appreciated
Me and the mrs are in the very early days of planning a 3 week trip to Australia, however I have very little knowledge of the country so looking into costs etc are somewhat confusing.
I suggested spending a week in 3 different places, Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast.
Flights aren't a problem, neither is car hire however accommodation is where I am struggling.
What sort of accommodation should we be looking at? I don't really fancy spending our time in a hotel so are apartments, villas etc available easily over there?
Budget wise we are looking between £5000 and £8000 in total including spending money.
Any help will be greatly appreciated
Edited by Original Poster on Monday 28th March 19:33
Original Poster said:
Also just to add, I don't really fancy a ridiculously long flight so would be interested in doing it in two halfs, are there any recommended "half way points" that would be worth stopping over in for 1-2 days?
Bangkok one way and Hong Kong the other is the best in my book and splits the flight up nicely.Either Hong Kong or Bangkok on the way there and definitely Tokyo on the way back.
Australia is vast (I know you know that but until you visit you can't quite imagine how vast).
If you have just three weeks I would stick to one coast that you are intending to go to. I wouldn't be too bothered about Melbourne (unless you want to see the set of Neighbours). I would go Sydney, Brisbane (Noosa) and up the coast to Cairns - Barrier Reef and some amazing islands Whitsundays etc.
And TBH you are probably better off in hotels really for such a short stay (I have lived there twice and my Mum still lives in Adelaide). If you choose right, they are not that expensive, especially in Cairns.
That's just my opinion obviously.
Australia is vast (I know you know that but until you visit you can't quite imagine how vast).
If you have just three weeks I would stick to one coast that you are intending to go to. I wouldn't be too bothered about Melbourne (unless you want to see the set of Neighbours). I would go Sydney, Brisbane (Noosa) and up the coast to Cairns - Barrier Reef and some amazing islands Whitsundays etc.
And TBH you are probably better off in hotels really for such a short stay (I have lived there twice and my Mum still lives in Adelaide). If you choose right, they are not that expensive, especially in Cairns.
That's just my opinion obviously.
I'd certainly say internal flights instead of driving to get between the cities as the distances really are vast. Virgin Blue do an airpass where you can have a few internal flights bundled together, easy to date change and will save you some cash too. Qantas have something similar if you fly out to Australia with them IIRC.
Melbourne - worth spending some time. Nice downtown, St Kilda and the beaches there are nice. A day's drive on the Great Ocean Road is highly recommended and Phillip Island is nice for a day too.
Sydney - a must. The harbour, Blues Mountains, the Rocks, Manly Beach, Inner East, Bondi, Sydney Tower... If you do a search on Sydney on PH, I've posted loads of detailed ideas for the city.
East Coast - Byron Bay, Cairns, Great Barrier Reef, Fraser Island, Daintree River (far north) are all good places to spend time. Just work out which ones you really want to see and get flights between them.
Stopovers - Tokyo on the way back would be my choice. Personally I'd look at Singapore or Hong Kong on the way out. Both very interesting cities to spend a bit of time and get a flavour of Asian culture/food/weather/exotic cars!
Melbourne - worth spending some time. Nice downtown, St Kilda and the beaches there are nice. A day's drive on the Great Ocean Road is highly recommended and Phillip Island is nice for a day too.
Sydney - a must. The harbour, Blues Mountains, the Rocks, Manly Beach, Inner East, Bondi, Sydney Tower... If you do a search on Sydney on PH, I've posted loads of detailed ideas for the city.
East Coast - Byron Bay, Cairns, Great Barrier Reef, Fraser Island, Daintree River (far north) are all good places to spend time. Just work out which ones you really want to see and get flights between them.
Stopovers - Tokyo on the way back would be my choice. Personally I'd look at Singapore or Hong Kong on the way out. Both very interesting cities to spend a bit of time and get a flavour of Asian culture/food/weather/exotic cars!
I think Bangkok and Singapore would be a good choice for stopover. Hong Kong is also good but also consider Shanghai and Seoul.
Depending on what you want. But I would spend 3 days in Melbourne, then pickup a hire car to do Great Ocean Rd for a couple of days.
Fly from Melb to Syd. Spend 4 days in Sydney seeing the usual sights. Drive from Sydney to Brisbane/Gold Coast (about 1100 Km), stopping in the Hunter Valley for some wine tasting and sight seeing. Take a few days driving up to Queensland stopping along the way in some of the pretty coastal towns. Byron Bay is Ok for tourist but there are much better places on the way up. Don't bother booking anywhere to stay on the way up. There are always plenty of hotels/motels available when outside of the main school holiday seasons.
Unless you like theme parks and the beach, Gold Coast is only worth staying for no more than a few days. Brisbane and Noosa is OK for a few days also.
Fly from Brisbane to Cairns or Whitsundays to see the reef which is a must.
Depending on what you want. But I would spend 3 days in Melbourne, then pickup a hire car to do Great Ocean Rd for a couple of days.
Fly from Melb to Syd. Spend 4 days in Sydney seeing the usual sights. Drive from Sydney to Brisbane/Gold Coast (about 1100 Km), stopping in the Hunter Valley for some wine tasting and sight seeing. Take a few days driving up to Queensland stopping along the way in some of the pretty coastal towns. Byron Bay is Ok for tourist but there are much better places on the way up. Don't bother booking anywhere to stay on the way up. There are always plenty of hotels/motels available when outside of the main school holiday seasons.
Unless you like theme parks and the beach, Gold Coast is only worth staying for no more than a few days. Brisbane and Noosa is OK for a few days also.
Fly from Brisbane to Cairns or Whitsundays to see the reef which is a must.
Original Poster said:
What sort of accommodation should we be looking at? I don't really fancy spending our time in a hotel so are apartments, villas etc available easily over there?
Have a look at Questhttp://www.questapartments.com.au/HomePage.aspx
They provide serviced apartments across Australia. Last time I went to Melbourne for a week I stayed at the St Kilda bayside. The prices were pretty reasonable and the apartments weren't bad at all. Obviously they're self catering but the apartments have a half decent kitchen and you'll probably want to eat out most nights anyway.
Emirates are doing First Class to Oz for £3500. Do that and eat chips when you're there
Seriously though, I don't see the point in a stopover if you only have three weeks. You're wasting days being a bit jet lagged in Hong Kong. Just get it over with. As somebody mentioned earlier if you go Quantas, the internal flights are super cheap, like £50. We did Business on Quantas on the A380, was £2k which was a bargain (Nov 2009). The flight was certainly no ordeal.
Itinerary was LHR-> Sydney -> Ayres Rock -> Cairns to Port Douglas for the reef and off-road to Cooktown.
Cairns -> Brisbane for Noosa. Fraser Island for more off-road. Brisbane -> Melbourne for some city action then the Ocean Road. Melbourne-> Sydney -> LHR
Ayers Rock I could take or leave though the flight in was cool. Landcruiser action on Fraser was the highlight for me. I would do Sydney, Port Douglas and Noosa / Fraser in 3 weeks.
Seriously though, I don't see the point in a stopover if you only have three weeks. You're wasting days being a bit jet lagged in Hong Kong. Just get it over with. As somebody mentioned earlier if you go Quantas, the internal flights are super cheap, like £50. We did Business on Quantas on the A380, was £2k which was a bargain (Nov 2009). The flight was certainly no ordeal.
Itinerary was LHR-> Sydney -> Ayres Rock -> Cairns to Port Douglas for the reef and off-road to Cooktown.
Cairns -> Brisbane for Noosa. Fraser Island for more off-road. Brisbane -> Melbourne for some city action then the Ocean Road. Melbourne-> Sydney -> LHR
Ayers Rock I could take or leave though the flight in was cool. Landcruiser action on Fraser was the highlight for me. I would do Sydney, Port Douglas and Noosa / Fraser in 3 weeks.
I'm going on Monday!
Glasgow to heathrow, heathrow to hong kong with Quantas. Couple of nights at Kowloon grand harbour hotel then off to Sydney for one night, Lillian Fells in the Blue mountains for three days. Back to Sydney for two days at the shangri la hotel.
Then off to Hamilton island for 4 days, then Brisbane(staying with relatives for a few days). Then Adelaide and have rented a beach house for a week as other relatives are coming to stay as well.
Way back a killer as not staying over, so Adelaide to Sydney, to Bangcock to heathrow to Glasgow in a oner!!!
Glasgow to heathrow, heathrow to hong kong with Quantas. Couple of nights at Kowloon grand harbour hotel then off to Sydney for one night, Lillian Fells in the Blue mountains for three days. Back to Sydney for two days at the shangri la hotel.
Then off to Hamilton island for 4 days, then Brisbane(staying with relatives for a few days). Then Adelaide and have rented a beach house for a week as other relatives are coming to stay as well.
Way back a killer as not staying over, so Adelaide to Sydney, to Bangcock to heathrow to Glasgow in a oner!!!
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