Travelling to oz: tips and advice welcome

podge1979

Hi,

I'm travelling to oz in october for 3 weeks flying into sydney and was wonder if anyone has any tips or must see's as i haven't been to australia before so far the only thing on my list are the blue mountains. Also would anyone have a ball park figure of spending money needed for a 3 week stay. Was thinking maybe 3.5k??

Xavi6

All well and good you flying into Sydney but where else do you plan on going? Australia is far too big to see in just three weeks.

A few more details and I'd say there will be plenty of tips from people.

Spud83

Are you staying just in Sydney for the three weeks?

Do the bridge walk, where you walk to the top of Harbour Bridge. Incredible journey and well worth it. They do them at all times of day and night.

Do the Oztrek + Skywalk at Sydney Tower.

Do the cliff walk from Bondi to Coogee (or the other way).

Definitly do the Blue Mountains, you can rent out bikes and do a bike trek, some companies even run a trek with a nights stay in the Blue Mountains.

Do white water rafting in the man made course in Penrith (easily accessable from Sydney).

Walk around the Sydney harbour and the Rocks.

Go to Taronga Zoo, you can get a boat over from Sydney Harbour which crosses the harbour over to the Zoo. Very Good.

Do a Harbour Cruise.

Thats all I can think of for now, if you are planning on moving around away from Sydney more then I can give more ideas. Also give if I had an idea of your age and what your interested in it would help.

podge1979

Hi Guys thanks for the suggestions,
I know 3 weeks isn't enough time really but it's the best i can manage. Ideally i'd like to spend a week in and around sydney (couple of mates living there) but trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my time. Head up the gold coast? head the melbourne direction or head to the west coast.

I'm 28 don't really want a booze holiday (too many of them done) did an adventure holiday last year so have the bug now so more of that would be welcome.

Spud83

podge1979 wrote: »

Hi Guys thanks for the suggestions, I know 3 weeks isn't enough time really but it's the best I can manage. Ideally I’d like to spend a week in and around Sydney (couple of mates living there) but trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my time. Head up the gold coast? head the Melbourne direction or head to the west coast. I'm 28 don't really want a booze holiday (too many of them done) did an adventure holiday last year so have the bug now so more of that would be welcome.

Right well I have probably given you enough suggestions for the week in Sydney. I'll try and give a few examples of what else you could do.

A) Rent a car/camper van and head south towards Melbourne. There are supposed to be some great National Parks with plenty of activities between the two and you could also take in the capital city as well Canberra. You could also include the Blue Mountains in this part of the trip. I did not do this so somebody else may give you more information but I'm sure there is plenty on the web. Once you get to Melbourne you could spend a few days there, it’s a really nice city, and then head along the Great Ocean Road towards Adelaide again there is a lot you could take in along the way. You can then fly back to Sydney if you have to for your return flight from Adelaide or Melbourne. If you have time you may fit Ayers rock.

Rent a car/camper van and head north. Plenty to do along the gold coast. I won’t get into it all here (but will answer any questions you have as best I can). I have a blog on www.bugbitten.com/alanmurphy that details everything I did on the Gold coast. Check out the sections Cairns to Brisbane and Brisbane to Sydney. I don’t know how much you would get done in two weeks; though you could prob fit a lot in. Maybe drive Sydney to Brisbane, and then fly Brisbane to Cairns or something. Or fly Sydney to Brisbane and drive to Cairns.

C) Fly to Perth and drive up the west coast. Xavi can fill you in on Perth and I’m sure he will once he comes back online. Along the west coast I would recommend checking out the Kalabarri national park, Monkey Mia, Coral Bay, Exmouth, and head towards Broome. Depending on how long you spend you could fly from to Sydney from Broome, or keeping going towards Darwin, I didn’t find a lot between Broome and Darwin so maybe fly to Darwin form Broome. From there you have access to Litchfield national park and Kakadu National Park.

Buy your self a Lonely Planet for Australia and see what interests you most, and check out my blog it covers what I did in Oz (a lot of it was the piss up backpacking stuff), but some of the piss ups involved adventure stuff like Frasier Island and The Whitsunday Islands.

podge1979

Thanks for that alanmurphy83, that's great plenty to mull over there.

No doubt there be the odd beer drank over there but no intention of sitting on a bar stool for 3 weeks i could do that at home

ibh

podge1979 wrote: »

Thanks for that alanmurphy83, that's great plenty to mull over there.

No doubt there be the odd beer drank over there but no intention of sitting on a bar stool for 3 weeks i could do that at home

Spent 3 weeks in Sydney at Xmas with my brother who lives there. Alan covered most the things that we got up to, Blue Mountains etc. Also head to the Hunter Valley or if you have a chance there is a brilliant small wine region west of the Blue Mountains.

I wouldn't travel too far from Sydney cause 3 weeks isn't that long to get to see stuff. I would go North about as far as Port Maquarie, which is a fantastic little town about 4 or 5 hours North of Sydney and great for Kayaking, Surfing or bodyboarding.

Then another place to go is my favourite part of Sydney and is ignored by almost all the backpackers. Down the coast south od Sydney, past Wollongong down to cool little places like Gerringong (Seven Mile beach is as good a beach as you will find and it's never close to being full), Kiama, Jervis Bay, Batemans Bay, Broulee(great surfing beach). When you're down is this area you can stay in a caravan park(just like in Summer Bay!!) for fcukall and it isn't an expensive area to eat out.

When you are in Sydney just get on the net and see whats going on there when your around. Most weekends there is something going on in Hyde park or Newtown or Botanic Gardens. In January we went to the cricket and the tennis cause they coincided with us going nothing for a few days.

podge1979

Thanks ibh,

I wouldn't mind kinda getting off the beaten track a bit so I definately consider checking out Gerringong. I kinda knew that 3 weeks is really enough time so cross country trips will probably be ruled out.

Xavi6

If you could fly out west then there's plenty to see and do, though if you only have 3 weeks you might not wanna spend 2 days of that flying over and back cause that's essentially what you'd have to do.

I'd hit the Gold Coast most definitely. Take in Surfer's Paradise. A crackin spot. Even if you don't want a 'piss up' holiday, a night or two out there will do no harm and is well worth it. I spent three weeks in Brisbane at Christmas and the highlight was most definitely Fraser Island. It's an absolute paradise and a must see if you can get to it. Not too far from Brisbane itself.

ibh

Xavi6 wrote: »

If you could fly out west then there's plenty to see and do, though if you only have 3 weeks you might not wanna spend 2 days of that flying over and back cause that's essentially what you'd have to do.

I'd hit the Gold Coast most definitely. Take in Surfer's Paradise. A crackin spot. Even if you don't want a 'piss up' holiday, a night or two out there will do no harm and is well worth it. I spent three weeks in Brisbane at Christmas and the highlight was most definitely Fraser Island. It's an absolute paradise and a must see if you can get to it. Not too far from Brisbane itself.

I'd have to disagree with you entirely. Hated Surfers and Brisbane is just ok. Nicest place is Stradbroke island, very quiet thou.. Just the way Australia is, you might love one place and the next person will hate it.. First impressions and all that...

Derek B

If I was you I'd spend the first week in Sydney, catch a flight up to Airlie Beach and go sailing around the Whitsunday Islands for a few days, then start heading south for Fraser, maybe stopping in 1770 for a night along the way.. 3 days foing Fraser and if you still have time maybe Noosa and/or Brisbane for a few days.

*edit* Fraser can't be a different experience depending on the weather by all accounts..we got lucky

Spud83

Derek B wrote: »

If I was you I'd spend the first week in Sydney, catch a flight up to Airlie Beach and go sailing around the Whitsunday Islands for a few days, then start heading south for Fraser, maybe stopping in 1770 for a night along the way.. 3 days foing Fraser and if you still have time maybe Noosa and/or Brisbane for a few days.

*edit* Fraser can't be a different experience depending on the weather by all accounts..we got lucky

I done it twice once with really good weather and once bad(ish) weather as in overcast for the three days, fairly cold, and some showers but we still had a great time. It depends on your attitude not the weather if you enjoy it in IMO. The same can be said for Whitsundays where we spent most of time in big yellow rain jackets but still loved it.