Australian Travel advice?

jam pie

jam pie

jam pie

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18 Dec 2007
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209
Hi All,

OK, so we have some friends living in Perth Australia and a few of us have decided to plan a trip out to visit them and a few other places April 2013.

There are 4 of us in total that are planning the trip, the difficulty I have is that one is a teacher which means were bound by term dates and to pay extortionate amounts for flights. We could have flown out during the Summer term but were not keen to go over during the Auzzies Winter season, so we've decided on Spring Term - March 29 - 13 April, which does then also limit us to two weeks.

The plan is to spend around 5 - 7 days in Perth at our friends house and the rest over in the East Coast (no specifics as yet, although we have all agreed to take a raincheck on Melbourne)

I am trying to engineer this holiday so we can;
a) maximise on our time
b) pay as little as possible on flights
c) Avoid 2 stop off flights

This is the first time i have planned or attempted to arrange something like this so was hoping those of you that have some experience with this could help, what is the best way to try and arrange flights?

We’re not constrained to spending the first 5 - 7 days of our trip in Perth, one of the things i have considered is a flight from Manchester or Birmingham to Syndey or Cairns and then from there an internal to Perth back to the Midlands.

Also if anyone has any suggestions re places to visit/’must sees’ - given our limited time, that would also be greatly appreciated. :)

Many thanks
JP
 
Can you go for any longer? The flights are long and take a lot of time out of your trip. Its a long way to go to only spend a small amount of time there. Looks like you will have barely more than a week on the East Coast which doesn't seem like much really.

If you have to cram it in, make sure you spend a day in the Blue Mountains near Sydney.
 
The most amazing thing about Australia is the outback and the sheer isolation it offers.

Unfortunately you don't have the time to experience this really.

Perth is a nice place to live but ultimately boring. Sydney/Melbourne are interesting big cities. As Fox says, you should get out to the Blue Mountains as you'll be sure to go to the Sydney area.

Far North Queensland is interesting. Plenty of things to do there, (reef and forest etc.)

I know it's a cliche but the red centre/Uluru (Ayers Rock)/ Kings Canyon/Olgas are all pretty breathtaking. I don't think the Aboriginals let you climb the rock anymore though.

I can't really help with flights. You just need to get researching.

I really would try to go for longer, I appreciate it might not be at all possible though. If it isn't just get out there and make it work!!!!!!
 
Thanks for that, i've added a couple of those suggestions to the list for further thought.

Myself and my boyf could easily go for much longer, but our friends out in Perth were planning to visit the East Coast with us and cant afford to lose more holidays to accomodate our other friends should we go seperately.

So were now set on going as a group and as i said with one being a teacher we cant go for any longer, which was why we wanted to try and find flights that meant we were completely maximising on our time. Alternatively, we could have gone in the 6 week holidays but then could be constrained by the weather to do some of the activities we wanted to do. Plus it would be nice to have some good weather!

It is quite frustrating because it now also means that were paying extortionate amounts for flights that could have been used fund at least a 3 week trip! Nevermind, as you say Ben, we will just have to make it work!!

Thanks again chaps.
 
I'm in London so have more flight options, but I found a flight leaving Manchester international on Friday 29th at 2010 (so people might not need to take that Friday off?) and coming back leaving at 21:10 on the 13th from Sydney so you'd get that Sat to look around Sydney - with Emirates, for £1400. Not cheap, but would maximise your time in Australia. The stopovers are in Dubai and I think the longest is about 3hours, which isn't too bad.

So you'd get into Perth on the Saturday (30th) - spend 5 nights and head to Cairns on the Thursday (4th Apr). You'll lose the whole day travelling there as it's about as far as you can travel and still be in Australia. Spend 4 nights in Cairns (3 whole days) then get a flight down to Sydney on the Monday (8th), then spend the rest of the week in Sydney.

You could adjust the days as you wanted, I guess. I'm not really sure what the question is though - there's no secret cheap flight perfect schedule website. If you could find someone who flew direct to Cairns (instead of via Sydney/Brisbane) on the way from the UK, you could probably save some useless flight legs, but I'm not sure that anyone does that. In that case, you'd go UK->Cairns->Sydney->Perth->UK. This would make the most of timezone changes too, as it's 2 (or maybe 3 hours if Perth has daylight savings now) between Sydney and Perth.
 
jam pie said:
Thanks for that, i've added a couple of those suggestions to the list for further thought.

Myself and my boyf could easily go for much longer, but our friends out in Perth were planning to visit the East Coast with us and cant afford to lose more holidays to accomodate our other friends should we go seperately.

So were now set on going as a group and as i said with one being a teacher we cant go for any longer, which was why we wanted to try and find flights that meant we were completely maximising on our time. Alternatively, we could have gone in the 6 week holidays but then could be constrained by the weather to do some of the activities we wanted to do. Plus it would be nice to have some good weather!

It is quite frustrating because it now also means that were paying extortionate amounts for flights that could have been used fund at least a 3 week trip! Nevermind, as you say Ben, we will just have to make it work!!

Thanks again chaps.
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I'd go as a group for only part of the holiday, you should fly out ahead of your friend who is a teacher and stay on after them you will get a much better holiday for you money and still spend the time as a group.

You could go out early and hang out in the red centre then meet up in perth then do the east coast then you stay on and see some more of the east while your teacher friend flies home.

Or how about a different suggestion those not teaching leave early and do a few days in Singapore on the way out and then a few days in Hong Kong on the way back while teacher just meets you in oz?

It is an awful long way to go, the flights are expensive anytime of the year and you probably won't go many times again if it all don't waste it because one of you party has special requirments
 
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a1ex2001 said:
I'd go as a group for only part of the holiday, you should fly out ahead of your friend who is a teacher and stay on after them you will get a much better holiday for you money and still spend the time as a group.
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That sounds like a good idea, in 2 weeks your not going to see much and Perth/Sydney isn't very exciting, they are just big cities. WA is huge though and there are lots of awesome things north of Perth like Broome, Exmouth, Port Headland. I wouldn't stay more than 2 days in Perth. Do be wary that March/April is still cyclone season for NW/NE Australia, but that wouldn't stop me.
 
I love it just north of Cairns and Brisbane. Flight wise I always go from BHX - Emirates are great - stop in Dubai and Singapore which adds to the journey but means you don't get there really trashed. But if you can go for longer go for longer, like forever I would if I could get the wife to agree.
 
I agree with Alex too. Fly out before the rest of them or fly home later. It's not like you have fun on the flight together or anything!

Then you have a bit more time to experience things, and it probably wont cost you a penny due to you flying outside of peak season.

If there's something you're keen on doing but the other guys aren't, do that while they're not there. Maybe do Uluru during this time as it costs a lot to get to and involves a lot of traveling.

I'd echo everyone else's sentiments about the short duration. 2 weeks just isn't enough for such a big place. It's not just the flights there and back either. Getting from East to west coast will eat up a day easily, as will flying to the centre, and even from Melbourne up to Cairns takes a big chunk of the day with all the connections and waiting for a couple of hours at the airport.
 
Whatever you do, don't take any food else you'll get bummed by customs. If that channel 5 program is anything to go by :p
 
Cheers again guys, we're going to cost out flying out a week earlier and take it from there, I know what you're saying its a shame to compensate when you've travelled such a distance.

Xordium I'm looking at Cairns as a place to visit ahead of the group, any particular place(s) in or around that you would recommend a visit too?
 
The whole East Coast is awesome and there is stuff all the way up thats worth seeing. I spent 6 weeks there and it still didn't feel enough.
 
Right was about to post a new thread about Australia but since this is here, i might as well ask in here.

Right im planning to visit my brother out in Brisbane, at the moment my mum is with him till Sept then im off to visit him for a couple of weeks and fly back with my mum as its a long flight and i dont like her being on her own, although she is perfectly fine...its just a bit daunting for her i suppose.

Now someone told me that i need to get a visa to visit Aus...is that true??. Didnt realise that you needed one if true??. I have a full british passport as it is so i was under the impression because Aus is part of the commonwealth, you could travel there under a british passport and wouldnt need a visa. Ive never had to buy a visa to visit Canada, which is also part of the commonwealth iirc.

Sorry OP for hi-jacking your thread.
 
Doggie2k said:
Slap on the Aerogard and have a bloody good weekend ;)
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Lol. Brings back memories of Tropical strength Aerogard.

Which reminds me, if you're going into the centre spend a couple of dollars on a fly net to go over your hat.

In some places it can be so bad that it can spoil any enjoyment you might have. Landing on your arms is tolerable buy it takes s long time to get used to flies landing an crawling in your ears,nostrils and eyes.
 
Ben Cole said:
Lol. Brings back memories of Tropical strength Aerogard.

Which reminds me, if you're going into the centre spend a couple of dollars on a fly net to go over your hat.

In some places it can be so bad that it can spoil any enjoyment you might have. Landing on your arms is tolerable buy it takes s long time to get used to flies landing an crawling in your ears,nostrils and eyes.
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The flies in Australia are awful (hence the joke hats with corks on them).

In the UK a fly goes near you, you swish it away and it just goes off about it's business elsewhere.

In Australia they bond with you. bzzzz hey buddy i'm a fly wat you doin? look bozzz, what you doin? What's this on your head, ooh sunglasses, I liek your watch lemme see lemme see. Why you trying to touch me? Lemme see that hat again - etc. They DON'T quit.
 
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