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Australian Vacation Extravaganza
RandomEncounter
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm visiting Australia this November and I'd like to know what some fun places are to visit. My current plans are to fly into Cairns on the first, staying there a week or so. Maybe do some diving along the Reef. Then I'm thinking about taking a train down the east coast to Sydney, stopping along at any interesting places and staying in hostels to save a little cash. I'll be in the country for about a month.
Any suggestions?
Any suggestions?
RandomEncounter on
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There are LOADS of good restaurants, wagamama is always good but then they have wagamamas just about everywhere on the planet.. still a good restaurant though.
(once I remember the good restaurant names i'll add another reply)
I've been to Australia twice now (going a third time around March as my brother is marrying an Australian lass), Taronga Zoo is excellent.
Also, if you see New Zealand too i'd do it. South Island is fantastic, although I only got to see a bit of North Island (Auckland is quite Sydney'esque)
EDIT: Go to Phillip Island and see the penguin parade! (It's an island near Melbourne, you can't take any photos of the penguin parade itself though as it spooks the penguins.. this is a photo I took on phillip island before the parade.. it's one of the last viewpoints before you go to the visitor center bit.. the beach for the parade is out of shot to the left)
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I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
Manly and Bondi are the typical tourist beaches and as such are pretty crammed full of people. There are very nice beaches that are less touristy, however are harder to get to unless you have a car. Mona Vale, Dee Why, Collaroy are examples of such beaches.
I'd also suggest heading out west from Sydney and visiting the Blue Mountains region. Places like Wentworth Falls and Katoomba all have popular tourist attractions (the Three Sisters being one of them), and are accessible via train. Breathtaking scenery can also be found, and if it's your thing, you can do some hiking... lots of good hiking tracks. November starts to warm up, so it may be hard to do long hikes, but you may get lucky and get cooler weather.
It really depends on what you want to do, too. I'd probably suggest you check out Sydney CBD. Centrepoint Tower, Harbour Bridge, Opera House, Botanical Gardens, Darling Harbour, The Rocks... all places within walking distance of each other, if you take a day out to do so. Though maybe 2 days would be better, so you can stop to eat/go shopping inbetween. These of course the usual tourist spots to visit, but they are worth it!
You could also catch a ferry from Circular Quay over the harbour to Taronga Zoo and Luna Park.
I'll post more if I think of it (there are alot of nice non-tourist places too!).
Whereabouts do you plan on staying in Sydney, and what do you plan on doing in Sydney? Maybe then I can elaborate some more.
Enjoy
The bugger with the blue mountains is all the damn flies in Australian summer, I assume you're from the UK RandomEncounter.. so prepare for them. (i'm from the UK)
Also, the great ocean road is great too.. but again, Australian summer = flies.
The problem is once you get outside of the cities in Australia is all the damn flies, I wasn't ready for them the first time I went. And frankly I wasn't ready for them the second time either.. the third time i'm planning to spend the majority of time in and around Sydney.
I'll put up photos of the first holiday if you're curious about the sights to see. (got Photos of Sydney, Blue Mountains etc)
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I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
This stuff is your friend if you don't like flies. In November it's still not too bad, I think, but I wouldn't remember too well, I'm used to it by now.
EDIT: Also works wonders against mosquitoes during the evening, which you get down here too, when it's warm.
So, heading south from Cairns. Avoid Townsville, its pretty much nothing but an army barracks and a meat packing plant with a giant drunken hick-fight in the middle of the two. Mackay and Rocky probably aren't bad, but the thing about Australian states is that the capital city is always over twice as big as the next largest town, so all the action gravitates to Brisbane. Such as it is *cough*. They're overgrown country towns really, so you'll find it interesting if you're into local history and being stared at by the old men affixed to the local bars. 'course, you can get out to places like Great Keppel Island from Yeppoon, just mind the serial killers.
I haven't been to Bundaberg since I was a little tiny person, so I don't remember much, but there's a rum distillery and a museum dedicated to Bert Winkler (aviator). Maryborough....meh. There's whale watching at Hervey Bay at the right time of year, which would be rad. If you can get to Rainbow Beach, there's some cool coloured sands there, and I hear its taken off as a tourist spot. It used to be really sleepy, but who knows now? Noosa's pretty godawful these days (its like someone hit a resort with gamma rays), but Eumundi has cool markets on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and the swimming is good from Peregian right down to Coolum. If you hire a car, go up into the Glasshouse Mountains and drive around the Maleny/Montville area, the roads are fun and there's lots of little craft/food/hippie haunts. We don't talk about Gympie.
In Brisbane, there's a beer brewery right in the middle of town. Um. Museum and fancy new modern art gallery over the river. West End is the nice bohemian bit, the Valley is the wanky trying-to-be-bohemian-but-spending-too-much-to-pull-it-off bit - but most of the nightclubs are over there. For some reason, the Americans I know who've been here think the ferry service is the bees' knees, so I guess go for a ride :P Its actually a really nice return journey up and down the river at night. There's a bunch of nice, reasonably priced restaurants at Southbank. If you can take a few days and score some camping gear and/or a hire vehicle, head over to Moreton Island or Stradbroke Island and camp for a bit. You'll need a permit from the local EPA, but they're cheap. You'll also need to take a ferry, which I think is not so cheap, but I've never taken a car over. Theme parks are south of town if you're in to that sort of thing. Lamington National Park is really gorgeous, Binna Burra at the north end is sort of back-to-naturey, and O'Reilly's at the south end is a little fancier, and has a treetop boardwalk thing through the rainforest.
Here is the tourist website for QLD, I dare say there's more in there
Oh, and Aerogard can go jump in a lake. Rosemary and cedarwood oil diluted into a cream will keep everything multi-legged off and you won't smell like you've been Agent-Oranged. You can buy the stuff at health food stores usually, although its not widely available. Horse owners use it mostly.
Of course, it's full of hicks, so it you don't want to expose Australia's uneducated underbelly, don't bother (kidding)
And remember, if it's in Australia, it's not human, and it moves, it will probably kill you. Frequently, that's true even if it doesn't move. :P
I've been to Sydney quite a few times now, i've been around the opera house, ate near it, took photos of it.
But I have never stepped inside it, I guess because of the word opera... *shudder*
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I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
But yeah, not sure how great the train trip would be all the way from Cairns to Sydney. Flights can be fairly cheap, and it saves you a fair bit of time! But if you plan on sight-seeing on the way down it might be a good idea.
Hah, a bit of an exaggeration... but... we do have a reputation to maintain I guess :P Although, if you do decide to go hiking / bush-walking (in the not so populated/busy tourist locations), chances are you may run into some of the resident creatures, though generally speaking, if you don't harm them, they won't harm you. Check out the National Parks site Cat recommended.
EDIT: If you think the flies are bad around Sydney, try spending 5 minutes up in the mountains around Thredbo or Perisher during the summer. Not only are flies bigger and more persistant, there's three times as many as anywhere else you'll find around Sydney :P
The train trip has a couple reasons. First of all, I've never ridden one and the whole idea just seemed interesting. Second, with a rail pass I could just stop off in any interesting looking towns along the way and just check out places for one low price (i think). I'm just looking to sight-see and be all touristy for a while.
The mountain and camping suggestions sound fantastic. I haven't seen mountains in a long time. Also penguins and whales. Do you know offhand what's the right time of year for whale spotting?
I don't have any specific plans for Sydney just yet or know where I'll be staying. A cousin of mine will be visiting there for a bit as well, so I was going to just hang out and see the sights.
I am definitely interested in pictures.
If any of you locals would be willing to part with an afternoon, I'd be glad to buy you a drink.
This is my first big vacation, so I'm kind of excited about it.
Edit: But interesting large hills none the less, they can get some pretty wacky things happening, like the Blue Mountains actually have a bluish tint to them due to the way the light interacts with the eucalyptus oils in the air (this might be bullshit, but that's what the tour guide told us when we went there), and the funky shapes you can get (Three Sisters, Breadknife, Devils Marbles) cuz they've been there for ages and have eroded funky.
Also Jenolan caves in the Blue Mountains is well worth it.
I think you should be able to get a rail pass like that... here's some links for the statewide trains anyway:
http://www.traveltrain.com.au/
http://www.railaustralia.com.au/tilt_train.htm
Flies, eh they aren't so bad, personally I dislike the mosquitos that will attack you at night.
The diving at the great barrier reef is obviously recomended. I strongly urge you to get a PADI certification and go scuba diving while you are there as opposed to a basic snorkel.
Satans..... hints.....
I know you guys have some pretty wicked jellyfish. Is that a seasonal thing?
Semi so in terms of jelly fish. Blue Bottles can hurt but people don't get stung by them that often. They're common enough that people know of them but they aren't a daily danger or anything.
When I travel I bring my fins/booties/mask/snorkel. I rent everything else out.
At the very least take your mask with you incase you have trouble getting one to match your face. But I like to take my own fins because they are hard to find similar rental ones (I have fairly large stiff ones).
EDIT: the other reason to bring fins/etc as well is you can do a bit of snorkelling whenever you want also.
Satans..... hints.....
And perhaps the Genolan caves although they really aren't that close.
Edit: Spoil'd. Cat, you are such a fun ruiner.
Taronga Zoo is a must though. And I'm pretty sure that in the summer they do night-time tours. So cool. Check the website maybe?
From my first holiday in Australia, i've now uploaded a few photos as can be seen here.
I've yet to add comments to the photos, but as you can see there is stuff like Sydney on new years eve, the blue mountains.. there is more stuff, like Mackay some sand island that I forgot the name of, Brisbane etc.
The first holiday I used a Canon Powershot A75 and on the second holiday I used a Canon EOS 400D. There is a big quality improvement, unfortunately I couldn't realistically upload the fullsize (second holiday) versions as they'd just eat into picasawebs storage space.
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I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
Means you're going to spend a couple of days extra just travelling (waiting for the train, and then the bits of days eaten up by the travel). Its also actually cheaper to fly, which is what we ended up doing - and then rent a car at various 'hubs'. Its madness to spend an extra £100 or so to spend 10 hours on a train rather than fly for less.
Far as Cairns goes, I'd give that a miss and head on up to Port Douglas instead - Cairns isn't actually on the reef and is a bit disappointing as far as tropical paradises go, being built on a swamp and all. Port Douglas is a bit more upmarket but still has a bunch of hostels and the road there from Cairns is truly breathtaking. Also worthwhile taking a detour up to Kurunda and going on one of the night walks there, plus a bit of platypus watching on the side. Can't remember the name of the guy we went with but he did a evening rainforest tour to see the Cassarories (and glowworms), a nighttime marsupial tour and a platpus trip in the morning - its much, much better than the Cairn's Night Zoo which has far too much of the Entertainment side of things and bizarrely very little Animals at Night.
I'd be tempted to give Hervey Bay a miss really, you'll see the whales in other places as well and there isn't a lot of other things there - its seen better times. If you are spending a week or more around Brisbane though its probably worth the drive up, if you do though, stop off at Tin Can Bay. Its a small fishing village a couple of hours outside Hervey Bay but there are a couple of dolphins who come up to the beach everyday for some fish. Practically no one else there most of the time so you are practically guaranteed to be able to feed them if you want unlike the expensive Monkey Mia and Tangalooma resorts.
Cairns is a must for me ,at least for a pass through, since that is where my plane arrives. It's the only place Continental Micronesia will fly. I'm starting to reconsider the train thing. Is Quantas the go-to airline for jumping around the country?
(sorry if this is a necropost)
The photo was taken from one of the towers, if I remember correctly it was quite windy that day so I wasn't all too hot on doing the walk thing. So, no I haven't yet done the bridge walk. Although I have walked the bridge the normal pedestrian way rather than the "lets see if we can take off" way.
I assume you mean this photo:
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I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
Keep in mind that some of the airports are in the middle of fucking nowhere (specifically virgin blue's melbourne destination)
You may save on the flight but you'll pay through the nose if you get a tax into the city.
Satans..... hints.....
Yeah, but in my experience those out in the back of beyond places tend to have really cheap car hire (there is one near Caloundra airport that is about $35 a day). Plus you would probably have to do something similar with the train anyway since you're waiting for a few days each time you stop. Just make sure you know how to drive a car with a manual gearbox, as the cheapest ones are usually those.
That would be this:
It's the disco ball, it had a load of windmill fans on.. it was on some kind of winch thing and was meant to rise as it counted down to midnight (on new years) with lights shining on it etc.
However, it never budged an inch because it was windy on new years eve. So it kind of hung there and did well... nothing
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I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
So as an inexperienced local, the only tips I can offer are:
- Everyone is right about the flies. They are everywhere in summer.
- Don't watch the movie Wolf Creek if you want to go to the outback.
- Don't worry about deadly animals. We have a large variety but it's not like they're lurking under every shoe and rock.
- If you're going backpacker then our cheapest accomodation is the Youth Hostels, there's at least one in every capital city.
- Western Plains Zoo is the biggest zoo we've got, a few hours southwest of Sydney. You can drive your car from one exhibit to the next! Or hire a bike.
- Supposedly our fast food restaurants have much smaller-sized meals than yours.
About the Blue Mountains, my knowledge of buses is slim but I'm fairly sure there's no flights or trains going there at all, you might have some difficulties getting there if you're not driving.
The two main airlines here are Qantas and Virgin Blue. Both have subsidiary companys that operate jets, which you would use to fly between cities. Only crazy people/rich businessmen take taxis from the airports in the cities, there will be a shuttle bus which will get you and all your baggage into the city at a much lower cost.
People in every country are like that really, only recently have I started taking more appreciation in UK stuff.
For example, I never really realised just how bloody good museums are in the UK until I went into a museum in Sydney. It was an eye opener, it was a case of "is that it?".. i'd been to the British Museum in London the previous year and when I went around a museum in Sydney (sorry, can't remember the name) it was essentially a bit about the history of Australia, lots of stuff about ships, a single Egyptian sarcophagus and surprisingly little about aboriginal history... oh and an almost excessive collection of rocks.
I guess it's because of the whole empire thing of the UK arse raping the rest the world during its empire period that we have all this stuff in UK museums, but then.. even UK specific stuff is extensive. I guess because the British Isles in general have been populated and had quite a tumultuous history spanning thousands of years helps too. Whereas Australia in terms of the non-aboriginal history spans essentially 200 years max.
Oh and the Rosetta stone is awe inspiring (to stand before) if you know its history. (take that France!)
Anyway, I veered a bit off course there.
Essentially, museums in Australia crap, museums in UK fantastic, weather, beaches and so forth in Australia fantastic, weather, beaches and so forth in UK crap.
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I've got a spare copy of Portal, if anyone wants it message me.
RandomEncounter: It's also my first time going to Australia! woot!
Do it.
Satans..... hints.....
The theme parks in Queensland (i.e. Wet n' Wild) if you have children, they'll love it. It's still a good place without, though.
Watch out for the flies in Summer. No exaggeration. They are everywhere, bring spray.
Melbourne Zoo
The Sydney Opera house, if its your type of thing.
Also, watch out for the weather. Australia (or at least Melbourne) is famous because you can sometimes experience all four seasons in a day. Rain here is quite random in its timing so you might want to bring a raincoat around with you.
I am traveling alone but will visit a friend in Melbourne, depending on how far it is a waterpark may be on the list.
Fear of falling is not a valid reason for not doing the bridge climb as from the moment you step into the bridge structure you clip your safety harness into a railing that runs continuously to the top of the bridge and back again and you can't unclip at any point. Even if you wanted to, it would be impossible to fall.
They have very strict safety requirements, including having you wear an incredibly dorky full body jumpsuit over the top of your clothes and go through a metal detector to ensure you aren't carrying anything that you could accidentally drop.
They make up for the dorky jumpsuit by giving you a bone vibration radio headset that makes sound by vibrating your skull whilst still allowing you full hearing out of both of your ears so that you can listen to the tour guide and still be aware of what is going on around you. It also feels totally badass.
Unfortunately, due to the safety requirements you can't take your own camera up there but you do get a free pass to one of the pylons that you can climb up later and take all the photos you want. The tour guide will also take photos which you can get on CD if you want at a reasonable price.
In northern end of Queensland, (i.e. Carins) it will be extremely hot and muggy. Further south you get, it will get better, but still expect the heat and humidity.
http://www.daintreerainforest.com/
I assume you're not going to the west coast (where I'm from) so I won't bother with suggestions on that side of the country.
Melbourne is cool, I like theatre and art so that's my favourite Australian city, and the Queen Victoria market there is worth a trip.