Australia

gary the great

I’m thinking of going to Australia for some time from September. I am going to leave my job due to other reasons and therefore see this as an ideal time to do some more traveling. I’ve done SE Asia and Aus is next on my list.

I’d appreciate if somebody could answer some questions for me.

Is Australia as good as everyone makes it out to be? TBH nothing will beat Thailand for me, but I’d like to know if it’s the young travelers paradise like everyone goes on it is. What makes it so great!?

With regards to Visa, whats the craic with them. I’m thinking of going for 2 months, how much does it cost and how do I go about applying for it?

Will 2months be enough time to see a good bit? I’m thinking of just going and doing one of the coasts and spending our time there – any suggestions? West coast or East Coast?

How much money would I be looking at for 2 months, using backpacker accom, eating cheap food etc and generally doing the backpacker thing?

How much am I going to be looking at spending for flights? I plan on stopping in somewhere like Singapore for a few days so I’ll need to take this into account. I will probably Ryanair to London and fly from London, did that when going to Thailand and saved a fortune by doing so.

Do I need to get any injections before I go?

I like the idea of renting a camper van for a couple of weeks and driving about in it with my mates, is this a good/bad idea and cheap or expensive?

Any other advice or potential routes would be much appreciated! It will be quite short notice before we go, only a couple of months, but I’m sure we can make it happen.

I will be looking into this into more detail over the next few days cos I’ve to get the ball rolling asap, but I always use boards as my first port of call before to get some Irish peoples opinions and perspectives!

I was nearly convinced to go back to Thailand, Cambodia and Nam but I want to go somewhere new and broaden my horizons a bit!

If there’s any links to any good forums or travel sites that deal with Australia that people recommend let me know!

Thanks for any help!



PS I can’t go into Trailfinders because I’m in the UK at the moment and don’t really like them anyway!

hot fuss

Lots and lots of questions, so I'm only going to answer a few!

No, you don't need injections, unless of course you're stopping somewhere else en route.

I'd recommend doing the west coast - flying into Darwin, seeing Kakadu (amazing place - national park) and travelling through Broome (great town) and the Kimberleys on the way down the coast to Perth and on down to the south west with places such as Margaret River. It is a completely different Australia to the tried and tested Sydney to Cairns route, but a lot more unspoilt and equally if not more beautiful in my opinion. I would always recommend the less travelled west to people with any sense of adventure. I would imagine that the east coast would be polluted with Irish and English teenagers/college students around this time of year, but maybe by the time you go, there won't be as many.

I just way preferred the west to the east, by far!

Yes, it is an amazing place. There are bad parts to it too as you'll experience if you go the west coast, particularly the way some Aboriginals live and are treated. On a whole however I suppose it's so popular because it is so so so easy to travel around. It is really built for backpackers, obviously you speak the language, the culture is very similar to Ireland, there is backpacker accommodation aplenty and you will meet people very easily.

As for the camper van, I would definitely recommend getting one - great way to get around and gives you buckets of independence and freedom. You could look into buying one though and seeing it before you leave - might be a better option than renting one. Saying that thoug you'd need to know a bit about mechanics, as you could end up with a dodgy one that will cost you a fortune to run if anythign goes wrong with it. Also, just so you know, Perth is really a buyers market when it comes to vans as most people tend to leave from there as opposed to arrive there, so there's a glut on the market.

I wouldn't have a clue about prices now because it's been quite a few years since I was there. It wasn't expensive at all when I was there though, but you'll find it more expensive than SE Asia definitely.

You will have a ball!

Spud83

gary the great wrote:

Is Australia as good as everyone makes it out to be? TBH nothing will beat Thailand for me, but I’d like to know if it’s the young travelers paradise like everyone goes on it is. What makes it so great!?

Yes. I spent a year there and have never had a better time, and I done Thailand. You will enjoy every minute of it.

gary the great wrote:

With regards to Visa, whats the craic with them. I’m thinking of going for 2 months, how much does it cost and how do I go about applying for it?

You should just be able to get a holiday visa so check out the Australian embassies web site for this here

gary the great wrote:

Will 2months be enough time to see a good bit? I’m thinking of just going and doing one of the coasts and spending our time there – any suggestions? West coast or East Coast?

Two months is pushing it I think. To do the east coast alone could take that time, and you won’t be leaving any time for Sydney and Melbourne. If you have to pick a coast definitely the east, for Fraser island, the Whitsunday’s, barrier reef... I could go on. I would recommend a year and try seeing it all. Would you be interested in doing the working holiday visa?

gary the great wrote:

How much money would I be looking at for 2 months, using backpacker accom, eating cheap food etc and generally doing the backpacker thing?

Varies from person to person using the same accom and food. Depends on what you want to do. For some it cost €1500, others €4000-6000.

gary the great wrote:

How much am I going to be looking at spending for flights? I plan on stopping in somewhere like Singapore for a few days so I’ll need to take this into account. I will probably Ryanair to London and fly from London, did that when going to Thailand and saved a fortune by doing so.

Don’t know about now we paid about €1300 for flights with a stop in Thailand and Tokyo.

gary the great wrote:

Do I need to get any injections before I go?

No.

gary the great wrote:

I like the idea of renting a camper van for a couple of weeks and driving about in it with my mates, is this a good/bad idea and cheap or expensive?

We bought a camper van so I can’t real say how much it costs to rent but definitely the best way to get around. You have no timetable, and can stop were you want and do what you want.

gary the great wrote:

Any other advice or potential routes would be much appreciated! It will be quite short notice before we go, only a couple of months, but I’m sure we can make it happen.

If you have more questions PM me or visit my travel blog at here

gary the great

Thamnks for the info so far lads, has given me some food for thought!

Keep it coming!

gary the great

Your blog is a good read!

Looking really forward to going.

Would 6k be enough, including flight costs, for 2 months??

Spud83

gary the great wrote:

Your blog is a good read!

Looking really forward to going.

Would 6k be enough, including flight costs, for 2 months??

I presume this was aimed at me. if you take €6000 - €1300(flight estimate) that leaves ya with €4700 = $7300(xe.com) oz dollars. Which I would imagine would be enough. Fraser Island + Whitsundays + Great Barrier Reaf is about $700+ and thats just the tours and some accomodation. You will also want to think about doing surfing lessons along the way + other stuff along the east coast. Definitly all doable on that budget, I know people including me who done it for way less ( we camped and alredy had our van), and people who spent more. I feel like a travel agent now, my commission better be in the post.:)

gary the great

ye that was aimed at you alan!

6k is a lot to spend in 2 months! Had a look at some camper vans for sale - there dear enough, seem to be about 3k for decent one.There will be 3 of us so thats 1k each.

Wonder would renting a van be as expensive. is it easy enough to get the odd days work here and there to keep the finances going?

Spud83

gary the great wrote:

ye that was aimed at you alan!

6k is a lot to spend in 2 months! Had a look at some camper vans for sale - there dear enough, seem to be about 3k for decent one.There will be 3 of us so thats 1k each.

Wonder would renting a van be as expensive. is it easy enough to get the odd days work here and there to keep the finances going?

You should be able pick up a few days in work in the bigger places like melbourne, sydney, cairns, brisbane. At the smaller towns though its near impossible.

gary the great

Virgin are the only ones that seem to be doing a decent price from London.

Am going to hold out for Air Asia though and see if there prices are any good when they release them.
Someone else recommended tiger airlines but they dont fly form London or Dublin!!

Joeyjoejoe43

I think most of your questions are answered... But here's just a few things. You may be better of renting a van from someone like http://www.wickedcampers.com.au/ for as little as $40 a day, althought that would work out at around 2 1/2 grand if you had it for 2 months. But you would have peace of mind that if it broke down they'd have a new one for you that day. I know some people in Oz who've boughts ****-boxes that have broken down, so... I reckon though your best bet should you decide to do the East coast is to fly into Melbourne, rent van for 2/3 days and do great ocean road, then fly to Sydney (internal oz flights are cheap with virginblue and jetstar) where you will not need a van and you will want to see opera house, harbour bridge, Kings cross, maybe Bondi (not somewhere id recommend) etc.. Then you could fly to Brisbane and rent a van this time for maybe 2 weeks to do Byron bay, Nimbin, Noosa, then make your way to Fraser island, whitsundays, magnetic island and on up to Cairns where you could give the van back. You could then bus it or fly to Darwin, where you could rent a 4x4 (best way to do Kakadu national park) wicked campers rent out 4x4 camper vans, but there about $60 plus a day, so maybe another 3/4 days for that. All in thats 3 weeks rental which will set you back in the region of 1000 books, 330 each isnt too shabby, but remember you'll be flying some places, but this will be less expensive than driving when you think of petrol etc.. cause Oz aint a small country

As for the west coast, I hav'nt been there myself, but Ive heard great things about it. But it's only hearsay as ive not been myself so cant really advise ya on that one mate...

gary the great

Thats sounds like a very good plan Joeyjoejoe, i think that could form the basis of our trip!

Joeyjoejoe43

No hassles man, Enjoy it!

gary the great

still waiting on air asia to realese details of their cheaper flights.
virgin for 1100 may be the way to go though

leninbenjamin

wicked campers can be crap. it's pure luck of the draw, hippiecampers (or something like that) are cheaper and from what i hear have better vans. i'm just after busing it from Cairns to Byron, then spent the last leg to Sydney in a camper with some other lads i bumped into (they had a wiked that wouldn't lock properly and had a wee bit of engine trouble) and will tell you that it is the best way to go, offers you so much more freedom.

cash wise you can save a bit of money by working for accomodation(say a couple hours cleaning a day) in a lot of hostels. you dont need a working visa either to do this. on the money issue though its hard to know really. it all depends on what activities you wanna do and what you wanna see (e.g. do you wanna do a full open water for 600 bucks or would you rather just snorkel?). on the back of the east coast though i'd say eur1500/mnth min.

piece of advice though, if you do decide to do the east coast make sure you spend a few days in town of 1770/Agnus waters and do the scooterroo tour thingy. everyone seems to overlook 1770 but it was one of my favourite spots along the caost. just a small chilled out town with a few things to do, plane ride for $75, seakayak for $30, good bit cheaper than elsewhere. we managed to find a nice beach there too a wee bit out of town that we had entirely to ourselves! very few places along the east coast where that'll happen in my experience.

gary the great

Ye ive heard that wicked campers can be a bit crap alrite.

1500 a month is a lot, im going to have to do a lot of overtime here before i go. i would be willign to do a bit of work out there to keep costs down though, if theres some going. And drink that cheap wine in a box that people go on about!
So how much does accom for one night in your average backpacker hostel cost? Can casual work (ie 2-3 days work) be got?

Anyone know anymore about the air asia flight special thats ment to be happening for Spetember (could save me a fortune) and if not, were can the cheapest flights be got from?

Thnaks for the help lads!

leninbenjamin

accomodation in hostels can range from $15 - $30 a night really, depending on the sandards of hostel, location and season etc. 21/22 is around average in my experience on the east coast.

dunno about casual work, i did see the odd flyer in hostels here and here on my way down, but a lot of people told me it depends on who you get to know really. i'd look for it, but i wouldn't budget for it.

depending on how you do the camper, it can actually save you money. dont bother paying for campsites and that, just kip on the side of the road. you'll get to know pwople here and there who'll be able to let you into thei hostel for a shower and that. it would also make it cheaper to do things like cape trib. a day our from Cairns costs like $100 a day on avg. with a van you can do basically the same things but only have to pay for petol, which wouldn' be too steep split three ways, and then just have to pay for park enty fees etc.

thee are also ****tons of travel companies which will do packages and tha for you on like Fraser and Whitsundays, and they'll throw in a few nights accomodation here and there. Peterpans, Oztravelbugs.com. worth a look at prices and that before you leave, although you'd be able to sort that out once you get over here.

the best thing though is word of mouth. talk to people in hostels and that, they'll be able to give you advice on what to do and see, you'll pick up some great info here and here. tha's how i found out about 1770, wouldnt' have been in any guides or that really.

and yeah drink the goon a they call it, 4 litres of "wine" for as little as $9 in some places. watch ou for the fishheads though

gary the great

Anyone else like to add anything?

I'd love a stop over in Hong Kong or Bangkok but cant seem to find a decent price. Looks like i'll be flying Etihad, flights are about 1.1k

Am working every hour of overtime to get some cash together.
is Aus much dearer than NZ?

I cant wait to go, but still dont think it could beat thailand!