Australia Holiday
Discussion
I went to Sydney for 5 days, Melbourne 3 and Cairns 4 days.
I found I spent the first day taking it quite easy and chilling out.
Sydney is generally very nice. Lots to do here.
I wasn't a huge fan of Melbourne, aside from the Neighbours tour (which you gotta do) it wasa bit crap)
Cairns is more warmer and tropical, much smaller and seems to be geared towards partying and adventure activities (i did lots here) and everything is easy to book. Brits everywhere here.
I found I spent the first day taking it quite easy and chilling out.
Sydney is generally very nice. Lots to do here.
I wasn't a huge fan of Melbourne, aside from the Neighbours tour (which you gotta do) it wasa bit crap)
Cairns is more warmer and tropical, much smaller and seems to be geared towards partying and adventure activities (i did lots here) and everything is easy to book. Brits everywhere here.
Edited by mouk786 on Sunday 3rd August 15:56
greygoose said:
The Great Ocean Road from Melbourne to Adelaide is a good drive and very scenic. Sydney is great too, the Harbour Bridge walk gives great views and the ferry over to Manly is good for sightseeing as well. The Blue Mountains are nearby if you want to see the wildlife.
Second the Great Ocean Road - lovely bit of coastline, and lovely road - hate to know how money in tyres I have worn out along that road 
Take two days and have have a nice dinner at one of the nice resturants.
Or hire a camper. We drove from Cairns to Sydney in 3 weeks and managed to get to Mount Panaroma racetrack, along with Australia Zoo (you won't regret that). We met some students who had bought a car and where selling it at the other end. This seen to happen quite a bit so plenty of cars/vans about.
Have a great trip and if you manage to get up North take in the Barrier Reef and Mission Beach.
Have a great trip and if you manage to get up North take in the Barrier Reef and Mission Beach.
For sport, well, there is cricket
India and Sri Lanka will be touring in summer in Oz.
Australian Tennis open finishes at the start of March in Melbourne.
Australian F1 GP usually in March.
Superbikes at Phillip Island (a few hours from Melbourne) around the start of March - great track, but can be windy and cold!
India and Sri Lanka will be touring in summer in Oz.
Australian Tennis open finishes at the start of March in Melbourne.
Australian F1 GP usually in March.
Superbikes at Phillip Island (a few hours from Melbourne) around the start of March - great track, but can be windy and cold!
Depends what you want?
Ayres Rock - is just a rock!
Sydney - just a city with a bridge you can climb and an opera house. Avoid Bondi - go to Manly instead
Melbourne - cosmopolitan city within reach of Great Ocean Road, Phillip Island, the Gold Fields
Drive from Alice to Darwin - the falconio route!
Crocodile Dundee country and the Darwin Stubby!
Tasmania - Off the beaten track but very different
Cairns / Queensland - the tourist rush for the Barrier Reef
I am off to Perth 5nts, returning to Melbourne 4nts (for 4th time), and Sydney 2nts (3rd Time) - Melbourne over Syndey anytime for me
Ayres Rock - is just a rock!
Sydney - just a city with a bridge you can climb and an opera house. Avoid Bondi - go to Manly instead
Melbourne - cosmopolitan city within reach of Great Ocean Road, Phillip Island, the Gold Fields
Drive from Alice to Darwin - the falconio route!
Crocodile Dundee country and the Darwin Stubby!Tasmania - Off the beaten track but very different
Cairns / Queensland - the tourist rush for the Barrier Reef
I am off to Perth 5nts, returning to Melbourne 4nts (for 4th time), and Sydney 2nts (3rd Time) - Melbourne over Syndey anytime for me
I went on this bad boy...great day out, food, drink, snorkling, whitehaven beach ....Fantastic
http://www.cruisewhitsundays.com/camira.aspx
http://www.cruisewhitsundays.com/camira.aspx
As mentioned above, I would recommend staying in hostels in shared dorms in terms of meeting new people.
It's a bit like a hall of residence, young folk drinking and coming in at all hours. If you don't like that kind of thing (it's obviously not everyone's cup of tea), hotels should be around AUD100 a night in Sydney. There are websites for booking of rooms at cheap rates (wotif)
places I liked:
Whitsunday Islands, Queensland - go island hopping on a boat with 20-30 random people. On our boat we had Canadians, Japanese, Czechs, Swedes. Watch the sun set getting lashed on whatever cheap booze you've brought on board. Jump off the boat and snorkel with dolphins / turtles.
Noosa, Queensland - fantastic beach, one of the best places for surfing in Oz. Much better than surfers' paradise
Cairns, Qsland - a bit tacky but fun, cheesy might life. Good diving for the beginner, if you already have PADI may to go further North up coast, time permitting
Sydney, NSW - lovely picturesque city, very chilled out, good food, nice women. Manly Bay is worth the ferry trip too.
places to avoid:
Surfers Paradise - this is generally regarded as the Oz version of Ibiza. Which is ok but not worth travelling 12,000 miles for. Unlike Cairns it doesn't have fantastic diving and is too congested for surfing
I didn't go to Melbourne or Uluru but both have been highly recommended to me. As was Fraser island. I only had 3.5 weeks there and felt like I could do with another month
It's a bit like a hall of residence, young folk drinking and coming in at all hours. If you don't like that kind of thing (it's obviously not everyone's cup of tea), hotels should be around AUD100 a night in Sydney. There are websites for booking of rooms at cheap rates (wotif)
places I liked:
Whitsunday Islands, Queensland - go island hopping on a boat with 20-30 random people. On our boat we had Canadians, Japanese, Czechs, Swedes. Watch the sun set getting lashed on whatever cheap booze you've brought on board. Jump off the boat and snorkel with dolphins / turtles.
Noosa, Queensland - fantastic beach, one of the best places for surfing in Oz. Much better than surfers' paradise
Cairns, Qsland - a bit tacky but fun, cheesy might life. Good diving for the beginner, if you already have PADI may to go further North up coast, time permitting
Sydney, NSW - lovely picturesque city, very chilled out, good food, nice women. Manly Bay is worth the ferry trip too.
places to avoid:
Surfers Paradise - this is generally regarded as the Oz version of Ibiza. Which is ok but not worth travelling 12,000 miles for. Unlike Cairns it doesn't have fantastic diving and is too congested for surfing
I didn't go to Melbourne or Uluru but both have been highly recommended to me. As was Fraser island. I only had 3.5 weeks there and felt like I could do with another month
Edited by jnm23 on Sunday 3rd August 22:28
bigburd said:
Drive from Alice to Darwin
Don't do that. Feb-March is still the wet season. Fine if you're into 100% humidity, heavy thunderstorms every day and temperatures in the mid 30's. Really, really uncomfortable if you're not although Kakadu is something else. Better around June though when there's still plenty of water and blues skies. Oh, and the Wet is jellyfish season so no swimming and if they don't get you the crocs or sharks will. Go during the Dry when there's only the crocs and sharks to contend with.Stay on the east coast. Start in Sydney and follow the Pacific Highway northward. Byron Bay on the NSW/Qld border is hippy town but somewhat commercialised. For fun climb Mount Warning and watch the sunrise. Just north of there is the Gold Coast. Southern end is less spoiled, as you go north you'll get to Surfers Paradise. Bit more modern. North of there is the Sunshine Coast then beyond that Cairns but you're getting far enough north to encounter the Wet again.
Don't bother going west of the Dividing Range. The only points of note that way are Alice (a dusty town in the desert full of drunken aboes) and Uluru. "Please don't climb our rock as it's sacred but if you do that'll be $25"
. We did Oz in 3 weeks a few years ago. We probably did TOO much in not enough time but it was easily the best holiday I've ever had, even if not the most relaxing.
We flew into Melbourne and had a couple of nights there. Hired a car and took 3 days driving the great ocean road to Adelaide, then flew to Coober Pedy. From there we got the bus to Alice Springs, did a 3 day tour from there around Ularu and The Olgas, Kings Canyon etc, then back to Alice. Flew from there to Cairns, then bus down to Magnetic Island, then Airlie Beach. 3 days sailing round the Whitsundays from there, then drove hire car down East coast to Sydney, stopping at Byron Bay and Hervy bay (went whale watching from there- humpbacks 10ft away!). Flew Sydney back to Melbourne and bussed it down to Philip Island and back and flew home with an overnight in Singapore. We stopped in hostels, never more than 2 or 3 nights in one place (most just 1), but we got to see everything we wanted to. Look back on it now as kind of a Oz taster, so we know where we want to go when we go again!
PM me if you want any more details.
We flew into Melbourne and had a couple of nights there. Hired a car and took 3 days driving the great ocean road to Adelaide, then flew to Coober Pedy. From there we got the bus to Alice Springs, did a 3 day tour from there around Ularu and The Olgas, Kings Canyon etc, then back to Alice. Flew from there to Cairns, then bus down to Magnetic Island, then Airlie Beach. 3 days sailing round the Whitsundays from there, then drove hire car down East coast to Sydney, stopping at Byron Bay and Hervy bay (went whale watching from there- humpbacks 10ft away!). Flew Sydney back to Melbourne and bussed it down to Philip Island and back and flew home with an overnight in Singapore. We stopped in hostels, never more than 2 or 3 nights in one place (most just 1), but we got to see everything we wanted to. Look back on it now as kind of a Oz taster, so we know where we want to go when we go again!
PM me if you want any more details.
dienamic said:
We did Oz in 3 weeks a few years ago. We probably did TOO much in not enough time but it was easily the best holiday I've ever had, even if not the most relaxing.
We flew into Melbourne and had a couple of nights there. Hired a car and took 3 days driving the great ocean road to Adelaide, then flew to Coober Pedy. From there we got the bus to Alice Springs, did a 3 day tour from there around Ularu and The Olgas, Kings Canyon etc, then back to Alice. Flew from there to Cairns, then bus down to Magnetic Island, then Airlie Beach. 3 days sailing round the Whitsundays from there, then drove hire car down East coast to Sydney, stopping at Byron Bay and Hervy bay (went whale watching from there- humpbacks 10ft away!). Flew Sydney back to Melbourne and bussed it down to Philip Island and back and flew home with an overnight in Singapore. We stopped in hostels, never more than 2 or 3 nights in one place (most just 1), but we got to see everything we wanted to. Look back on it now as kind of a Oz taster, so we know where we want to go when we go again!
PM me if you want any more details.
Do you mind breaking down which places you thought were unmissable for someone who maybe doesnt have all the time you did?We flew into Melbourne and had a couple of nights there. Hired a car and took 3 days driving the great ocean road to Adelaide, then flew to Coober Pedy. From there we got the bus to Alice Springs, did a 3 day tour from there around Ularu and The Olgas, Kings Canyon etc, then back to Alice. Flew from there to Cairns, then bus down to Magnetic Island, then Airlie Beach. 3 days sailing round the Whitsundays from there, then drove hire car down East coast to Sydney, stopping at Byron Bay and Hervy bay (went whale watching from there- humpbacks 10ft away!). Flew Sydney back to Melbourne and bussed it down to Philip Island and back and flew home with an overnight in Singapore. We stopped in hostels, never more than 2 or 3 nights in one place (most just 1), but we got to see everything we wanted to. Look back on it now as kind of a Oz taster, so we know where we want to go when we go again!
PM me if you want any more details.
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