Australian Travel advice?

One option you could consider if you fly out seperately from the others is extended stop overs on the way, we took in Hong Kong on the way out and Singapore on the way back. In hindsight I wish we'd had longer stopovers.

Definitely don't rule out travelling seperately from the other two, it may also make it easier booking flights as you aren't relying on commitment/cash from other people and gives you more freedom to plan the holiday YOU want (potentially trip of a lifetime - this isn't a club18-30 jaunt!). Experience tells me organising expensive trips to other continents a long way in the future can have problems (agreeing on precise dates/flights/locations, risk of relationship breakdowns if couples are involved, firm commitment/cash from people to actually follow through on their promises, etc etc). In theory I should have been going to Las Vegas with a circle of friends around our 30th birthdays, but that never materialised.

Don't want to put you off the idea of travelling as a group though, 4 people should be manageable.
 
I spent 18 months over there and I know I'm going to upset the apple cart so to speak.

I spent 2-3 months travelling the east coast and I was ke very underwhelmed went to all main places. Seeing the bridge etc has to be done , but after the idols of taken it or left it.

West coast is where I would suggest, unspoilt scenery , but hugely touristy compared to east coast.

It can be remote but that part the thing that make it awesome. Karjena national park is one of those places I will remember for the rest of my life. Actually been in complete darkness with no light pollultion and then seeing the milky way and all it's colour.

Just have a google on west coast it might surprise you. I would link some places but rushing off to work. Either way Oz is a superb country so you will enjoy wherever you go
 
xxalxx said:
The first two days after you get here you will be too tired to do anything anyway!
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Only if you don't plan ahead in the days before and on the flight out to minimise jet lag, I suffered horribly the first time I took a long haul flight since then I plan a few days before and during the flight to adjust my body clock as far as possible in the right direction it really isn't difficult and while I'm not 100% for the first few days I'm far from the useless wreck that you seem to think everyone should be.
 
divaboy said:
I spent 18 months over there and I know I'm going to upset the apple cart so to speak.

I spent 2-3 months travelling the east coast and I was ke very underwhelmed went to all main places. Seeing the bridge etc has to be done , but after the idols of taken it or left it.

West coast is where I would suggest, unspoilt scenery , but hugely touristy compared to east coast.

It can be remote but that part the thing that make it awesome. Karjena national park is one of those places I will remember for the rest of my life. Actually been in complete darkness with no light pollultion and then seeing the milky way and all it's colour.

Just have a google on west coast it might surprise you. I would link some places but rushing off to work. Either way Oz is a superb country so you will enjoy wherever you go
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I have checked it out on google, looks great. Everything I have looked at thus far looks amazing, i'm so excited for this trip.

Can I ask Fox, or those of you that have been how much you took for the length of time you were out there?

We have worked out that we will have £5,400 saved by the time we go (exc flights) originally based on a two week trip (4 days accomodation free staying with friends in Perth) but were now considering a 3 week trip, do you reckon that would be enough?
 
£5400 excluding flights should be plenty for a 3 week trip. By the time you've taken off travel time and the 4 days free accomodation that basically means about 13-14 days accomodation to fund. Depends a bit on what you are accustomed to I suppose but say you spent half of that on accomodation (so not slumming it) that still leaves you with a further £200/day for travel, food and entertainment.

I went to Australia on honeymoon for 2.5 weeks and I can't remember how much we spent now but think it was about £4.5-5k total including flights (which will have gone up now in those days you could get a return for £500 if you shopped around and flexible on dates).

Then again the exchange rate has suffered since then so don't underestimate how much food and drink will cost you in popular areas, you'll be talking well in excess of £5/pint, meal for two in a standard restaurant probably running to £50 or so.
 
My testimony won't mean much. The first time I went was 20 years ago and I hitchhiked and backpacked. Backbacking was certainly different then. I went round the world on my own spanning 7 months and it only cost a few grand.

The next time time I spent a couple of months there. The exchange rate was good, bought a car in Perth. Put 25,000km on it then sold it in Sydney for $100 more than I paid. ( I omit the installation of a new steering rack when using that anecdote :-) )

The last time was all expenses paid by Fosters in Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast including full passes to the F1.

So not much use, but I will give the following advice. Don't skimp and don't hold back. You're not over the other side of the world everyday.
 
The exchange rate and flight prices right now have sent prices soaring. I spent £3k on my trip - though accomodation, hire car and fuel costs were halved with my girlfriend.

There is simply no way I could do the same for the same budget now. If I could then I'd be right back there.
 
Haven't read all replies, but as [TW]Fox says go for longer even if you don't spend all the time with mates. I would highly recommend spending two nights at least on rottnest island and doing some snorkeling. Absolutely amazing place and stupidly cheap housing on the island or was at the time of year I went.
The flights are very long, spend a bit of extra money if needed to make sure you don't have a long stopover anywhere. If I did it again, I would have at least one night stop over each way. A fair few places you could go as there's plenty of routes.

Excluding flights and pre paying a 1k trip(10days accommodation and some food included) I spent a little over 3k (iirc) over 4 weeks, Also had ~4 days free accommodation. It is very expensive over there.
 
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Things I'd recommend to see near Perth:

Pinnacles http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attrac...he_Pinnacles-Cervantes_Western_Australia.html

Penguin Island http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attrac...s-Penguin_Island-Perth_Western_Australia.html

Rottnest Island http://www.rottnestisland.com/

Awesome brewery/pub: https://littlecreatures.com.au/

Also, Kings Park in the City Centre is well worth a visit if you like chilling out, they have fantastic gardens, a great view and they do things like outdoor cinema/theatre :)
 
[TW]Fox;22310628 said:
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.
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This /\

I spent even longer and it STILL wasn't enough!!

HIRE CAR Essential IMO, the place is massive.
You do not want to be stuck in a metal tube for nigh on 24hrs for just a two week holiday.

It takes nearly 4 hrs to just fly from Sydney to Ayres rock
 
And the buses are ****, girlfriends mate did Brisbane to Cairns on one of those crappy 'hop on hop off' greyhound tickets. I can't remember the cost breakdown but I remember the cost of her ticket being more than the per person cost of the 270bhp hire car we hired, fuelled, and drove up to Cairns :D
 
Also FWIW I didn't mind the flying that much and that is coming from somebody who basically can't sleep on planes (I think I did get a couple hours coming back from Singapore but that's about it). I've heard people saying that you should not fly economy on long haul but it seemed fine to me. I think roughly speaking it worked out at flights of around 11hrs and 8hrs. I basically just sat back and watched films most of the time, plus a few hours of resting my head. I don't really understand why (non-rich) people would pay thousands of pounds extra for an experience that is still less comfortable than your sofa at home.

Jet lag is far more of an issue than flying I found, I had a theory that all I needed to do was just stay up making myself tired and then I'd fall into a better sleep pattern (I slept all hours while at uni) but it didn't seem to work out that way. I found my body clock would wake me up in the middle of the night and I'd feel really hungry. Went down to get breakfast at 6am when it opened, went back upstairs, but then ended up falling asleep until 2pm or something stupid. Best option I reckon is probably to start gradually staggering your sleep before you go if feasible (getting up and going to bed earlier than normal).
 
jam pie said:
SNIP
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30% of bites from this spider occur while asleep.....

This is my advice to you.

Sleep well.
 
[TW]Fox;22333639 said:
And the buses are ****, girlfriends mate did Brisbane to Cairns on one of those crappy 'hop on hop off' greyhound tickets. I can't remember the cost breakdown but I remember the cost of her ticket being more than the per person cost of the 270bhp hire car we hired, fuelled, and drove up to Cairns :D
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I did the sums for my uk mates to come and see me when I was travelling and the grey hound bus worked out a lot cheaper.

Not sure when you priced it up.

Also can I echo king park in Perth superb and there is a free bus because it's in the CBD.

Pinnacles I'd give a miss tbh.
 
divaboy said:
I did the sums for my uk mates to come and see me when I was travelling and the grey hound bus worked out a lot cheaper.

Not sure when you priced it up.

Also can I echo king park in Perth superb and there is a free bus because it's in the CBD.

Pinnacles I'd give a miss tbh.
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I'd go the opposite. Whilst nice Kings Park is like countless other city parks all round the world.

The pinnacles at dawn however are quite a sight. It's a fair drive from Perth though.
 
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