Australia for 4 Weeks

tech

Hi there im thinking of heading off to Austrillia for 4 weeks, in Sep/ Oct

Plan is to fly direct from London to Carins, you have get a 12 day bus trip down the east coast, I know that this will be slightly rushed but would love some more Ideas on what to do and see on the 4 weeks trip

has anyone been there recently for just a few weeks? whats did you get up to there

Are the hostels cheap ish ?

Many thanks

Xavi6

12 days is a very short time to be seeing the whole of the east coast. Any chance of extending that by ten days or so?

tech

anyone else?

hussey

tech wrote: »

anyone else?

Hostels are fairly cheap, if you book your trip when you get to Oz, you can get various 'package' deals, like bus + hostel + trip (say whitsundays/fraser) etc ... hostels can be very basic but very cheap with these options.

I would agree with Xavi, 12 days is very short.
The Must see places for me are :

Reef in cairns (can do from whitsundays also), Whitsundays, Fraser island, Byron Bay.
There are other options too, but the above would be considered the 'musts'.

If you head to sydney, I would spend maybe 4 days.
Musts, Opera House/Harbour bridge, Blue Mountains (day trip), either Bondi beach or ferry to Manly (I'd go Manly), maybe a day exploring the sites and sounds (or Bondi -> coogee walk)

If Melbourne, go to a AFL match, if they still on.
Great ocean road.

me personally the best place to see is Uluru, kings canyon etc.
Also Kakadu and litchfield .. though this might be too far away, and also check the weather for when you go.

Here are some cheap deal agencys for teh east coast
http://www.wickedtravel.com.au/
http://www.tribaltravel.com.au/Default.aspx?tabid=36&List=1

drunkmonkey

go from cairns to darwin and go down the west coast....take a trip down that side....it's an amazing place and not commercialised like the east coast...

Larianne

How come you have to do a 12 day tour? Part of package?

You're not going to see the whole of Australia in 4 weeks so concentrate on the east coast and possibly a trip to Melbourne. I'd say 3 weeks east coast, as Hussy said 4 days in Sydney is loads. I'd make a 2/3 day trip to the Blue Mountains and stay in the YHA in Katoomba (best hostel I've ever been in, and thats alot!). But depends if you like walking/nature etc. Then week doing Melbourne and Great Ocean Road/Ramsey street/MCG etc.

What time of the year are you going? EDIT: I see.

Look at the stickies here, I've posted a few websites that I found good for reviews when travelling.

what2do

Xavi6 wrote: »

12 days is a very short time to be seeing the whole of the east coast. Any chance of extending that by ten days or so?

The distances in Oz are huge compared to Ire - in 12 days you are going to spend a lot of time travelling if you are going by bus - just to get from Byron to Sydney is an overnight trip ... on the map its a lil distance and a fraction up the coast!

The Whitsundays and Fraser Isl will prob take you 5 days.

drunkmonkey

what2do wrote: »

The Whitsundays and Fraser Isl will prob take you 5 days.

And that's if you want to rush it...


suggest you take your 12 days a bit closer to home..... trying to see the east coat of australia in 12 days is pointless...

Australia is bigger than Europe.. think about it!!!;)

Larianne

You can do surfing schools up and down the coast from Sydney-Byron Bay. Takes 5 days I think. Meant to be great fun. Mojo's is one of the companies but I think there's another 2 or 3 that run it.

Check out www.britishballs.com and www.tntdownunder.com for information on accomadation and other stuff. These are free magazines you get in pubs and hostels.

legs11

12 days is not enough, unless u want to be on a coach all the time.

just toooooooooooo big.

TheDriver

Agree, 12 days won't see much but don't rush it either. If you don't like beaches, then get the bus to Uluru, if you love beaches then head to Whitsundays and frasier. Try to see some rainforest in Cairns also, Kurunda is on ly a half day or cape trib is a day trip. The Oz Experience bus also does some trips.
I wrote some reviews in the travel review section if you would like a gawk

niborm

tech wrote: »

Hi there im thinking of heading off to Austrillia for 4 weeks, in Sep/ Oct

Plan is to fly direct from London to Carins, you have get a 12 day bus trip down the east coast, I know that this will be slightly rushed but would love some more Ideas on what to do and see on the 4 weeks trip

has anyone been there recently for just a few weeks? whats did you get up to there

Are the hostels cheap ish ?

Many thanks

The east coast hostels are dirty and overpriced in my experience. There are obv a few decent ones, but you can stay in motels for only a small bit more and for 10x quality.

If you are definitely going to do this, I would suggest following hussey's advice. However, you should have a look at the Kimberley Trek from Darwin to Broome, or Kakadu National Park. Truly incredible. I think the west coast is infinitely better than the east, but it depends what your interests are.

what2do

Larianne wrote: »

You can do surfing schools up and down the coast from Sydney-Byron Bay. Takes 5 days I think. Meant to be great fun. Mojo's is one of the companies but I think there's another 2 or 3 that run it.

Although Oz is famous for its surfing if you are only there for a short time I wouldn't waste 5 days learing to surf. You can just do that in one of the many surfschools located on Irelands west coast