Off to Oz... What to pack? Where to go?

[Dibble]

Mrs Dibble and I are off to Oz over Christmas and New Year. We arrive in Melbourne, and get to Sydney just before Christmas. We don't have an itinerary other than that.

I have a selection of equipment [Frankie Howerd]ooer missus[/Frankie Howerd] which (off the top of my head) is as follows:

Nikon D1x body, 2 batteries, mains and car charger.
Nikon D50 body, 3 batteries, battery grip, mains charger, IR remote.
Nikon F65 Body.
18-55 lens, 55-200 lens.
Manfrotto tripod
Manfrotto monopod (with tilting head).
LowePro trekker backpack.

I'm limited on weight in my luggage, so what's the collective wisdom of what I should take? My initial thoughts are stick with the D50 body, the two lenses, spare batteries and monopod, using the backpack as my carry on.

We'll be doing a fair bit of driving, so should I go for a car charger for the D50 batteries? We stopover in Dubai on the way out... what should I be buying while I'm there (sorry, what should Mrs D be buying me for Christmas?)

When we get to Oz (and specifically Melbourne/Canberra/Sydney), what are the "must shoots"?

Over to you.

[VxDuncan]

I normally go for redundency in everything, cameras, batteries, cards, chargers etc. But then Aus is hardly the third world so you've not wasted a holiday if your camera dies. Personally I'd say cheap charger that's in car / mains as a spare (circa £15 off ebay - don't rely on dubai - you want to be shopping for an obsure charger when you only have a few hours to spare?), and sort your photo storage out - cheap portable storage device should do the trick.

Would also advise a decent digi compact as a backup - great for evenings out (without the dslr), and limits the damage should the dslr fail on you. I was glad for mine in India this year - great for evenings out, and the only chance I had to take images in the monsoon season at times! Also good when you don't want to look too serious as a photographer - a bit more subtle...

[Rednut05]

As you say, take the camera bag as hand luggage.

Can you not fit the tripod in your main bags? Surely it would be of more use than a monopod?

Take the D50 if it's your camera of choice. Are you to stay in Hotels for most nights? If so I'd buy an adapter for the mains charger and charge them over night when you stay, maybe bring the car charger too.
You can buy batteries on Ebay for about £5. Could be worth it for the trip, not very expensive and they'll help, even if they aren't as good as the official ones, for that price they're worth it.

Also, what's your situation on memory cards? Storage is cheap and you don't want to run out of space and end up deleting pictures.

So I say take

Nikon D50 body, 3 batteries, battery grip, mains charger (with UK to OZ adapter).
18-55 lens, 55-200 lens.
Manfrotto tripod.
LowePro trekker backpack.
Lots of storage media.

My 2pence.

As to what to buy out there. I wouldn't a faintest.

David

[Gemm]

I'd definitely take a tripod too.

[bramley]

I got chatting to a bloke on a train once (he was keen on photography and saw my camera) and he said when he went on holiday he always rang the airline first and explained his interest in photography and he claimed he was always offered additional luggage allowance as a result. Never tried it myself but for the sake of a phone call it's gotta be worth a try?

If you do, let us know how you get.

[kiwisr]

Must shoots :

12 Apostles, general coast line of Victoria.
Yarra River, time it to get the casino and and shooting fireballs.
Luna Park in St Kilda
Melbourne cityscape from St Kilda
Melbourne Trams
Melbourne in general has some very nice building which you can get interesting shots of.
Shrine of Remembrance & Eternal Flame - very nice dawn photos
Cooks Cottage
Arts Centre Spire
Art Gallery (outsid they have some sculptures)
Federation Square
Royal Exhibition Buildings
MCG
Views from Rialto Tower

Sydney
Just your general touristy snapshots - Bridge and Opera House, there isn't much more in Sydney.

Oh, and when touring by car I always take a 12V inverter thingy

http://www.apcc.com/resource/include/techspec_inde...

Edited by kiwisr on Friday 9th November 10:00

[Cactussed]

Being from Sydney, I beg to differ...

Photos
1. Do the bondi to Bronte walk. Plenty of photo ops.
2. Do the spit to Manly walk. Then get the Manly Ferry or jetcat back to town.
3. Walk along the botanic gardens towards the opera house and round to the harbour bridge.
4. If you have a car, you HAVE to drive south, down through the national park and towards Kiama. Great driving (new freeway bolted to the side of the cliffs, amazing) and some superb cliff top views.

Dining
1. Breakfast at Bills or Bills 2, Ash's cafe in Rushcutters Bay, Jones the Grocer
2. Lunch at Doyles, Watson's Bay (get the ferry there and back from circular quay), anywhere along finger wharf in wooloomooloo (don't laugh), or along Oxford St. Dim Sum in chinatown is also v good.
3. Dinner at Longrain (Asian fusion, amazing), Becasse (top French), Balzac (more French), Tetsuya (supposedly best restaurant in oz, with prices to match), Heaps of places along Crown St in Surry Hills.

Drinks
1. Go for a cocktail in the orbit bar at the top of Australia Square (office tower, but restaurant at the top and amazing views)
2. Heaps of bars along King St wharf for a nice beer / pub lunch
3. The marble bar under the Hilton is v unusual and quite cool.
4. Cruise bar is fabulous, sip a beer / wine and look straight at the opera house
5. On the other side, go to the opera bar and look straight at the harbour bridge (they used to have jazz on sundays)
6. Good drinking holes include the Trinity in Surrey Hills, Light Brigade (top of oxford St).
7. Victoria Room in darlinghurst is also very cool for a cocktail.

Thereare also heaps of bars/clubs/cafes etc in Kings Cross / darlinghurst.

Shopping
1. Oxford St (also HEAPS of cafes)
2. Westfield, bondi junction (shopping mall but v v good).

Should see you sorted for a few days