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I fancy a trip to Australia, its a massive country and i've never been so I don't really know where to start. I'm thinking about a three week trip, maybe start off in a city then hire a car and explore. Anyone got any recommendations of the best parts to got to, advice on hiring a car etc.
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Australia is MASSIVE - Far bigger than you could ever imagine.
Dont go there with the intention of driving to the sights - you will never get there.
Sidney - An absolute MUST, car not needed public transport is superb (train, bus and water bus) and very cheap 30 dollars (about 15 quid) for a go everywhere pass for three days
Ularu. (ayres rock) A must see - get there by train or fly.
Gold coast - Blackpool and LAs vegas all rolled into one with class and sunshine - Train from Sidney or fly
Adelaide and South Australia - pass it by you wont miss anything.
The northern territories and the Barrier reef - Fabulous - Fly there.
Perth and Western Australia - the jewel in the crown. Fabulous place - Fly there and once there use excelent public transport - hire a car for three days to explore up and down the ocast a bit. Visit Freemantle, the old town and the jail. While out west fly north to Shark Bay and Monkia Mia to see the dolphins.
Finally - the only place where a car is of use is Tasmania - travel back in time 20 years. Visit Port Arthur and actually feel ghosts of the convicts.
Get the hint FLY FLY FLY - NO drive drive drive - once you have done 500k's of very straight road they all start to look the same.
Book your flights here with your main flight out - they are very cheap but dear once you get there.
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Oops forgot Melbourne. Fly there and use the trams - beware - its chilly in winter (our summer)
ANd finally Canberra - so boring even Aussies wont go there.
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Adelaide and South Australia - pass it by you wont miss anything
Pardon? Must have been spoken by someone who's never been there.
Adelaide is a revelation. This was said by most who have been there.
Barely an hour north of Adelaide you can taste your way round the Barossa Valley (by far Australia's best wine-growing area, contested only by the Cooonawarra* in the far south-east of SA). Of the two visit the first, for nearness, and also nearby Clare. Too much to say about it to do it here - check it out at
www.barossa-region.org
*It's spelt with two o's really but these keep being replaced by asterisks
Out of Sydney and Melbourne, do not visit both, and therefore give Melbourne the flick. Depressing socially and climatically. So much to do and see in Sydney. Enjoy.
Oz (as was)
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Was there last christmas but one, Got family there. Stayed at Glenelg, did the tour of Penfolds Magill, drove to Victor Harbour. Did the Barossa last time we were there.
Compared to Sidney or Melbourne or Perth - Adelaide is like Basingstoke in the sun!
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I can't believe no-one has mentioned the Great Ocean Road yet
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Now for some obligatory Trans-Tasman rivalry. If you want a driving holiday and some great scenery/hospitality/cuisine then go the extra little bit and visit New Zealand. Sensible distances (about the size of Britain) to drive, not many roads with more than ten mile straight stretches, friendly (mostly) locals. I'm in the South Island, and it has some of the finest scenery anywhere, and a great range of other features.
I don't discount the attractions of Australia, I've been there many times, but it really is a vast continent, and for a short holiday you tend to spend a lot of time travelling between the attractions. Oh and there is only one poisonous spider in New Zealand, and it's nearly extinct. I wish I could say the same for Australia.
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All the states, and NZ too, are good places to holiday. Just don't try to do too much at once. If you only have three weeks pick a State and stick to it rather than wasting heaps of time travelling around. RF is right about flying. Also check out what the weather will be like in the season you will be visiting. For example WA is great (I live there) but a lot of Brits find January and February too hot. It is not like Spain - more like North Africa then. Nov/Dec and March April might be better for Perth if you don't like 35'C+ temperatures. Our winter (your summer) is better for North Australia. So do a bit of research, look on the web, talk to people who have been over and then book where you want to go. You are sure to have a great time. It won't break the bank either. The rule of thumb is that if it costs a pound in the UK it costs an Aussie dollar over here. Not strictly true but a good rule of thumb for meals, hotels etc.
Car hire is a bit different from the UK. Most hire companies limit how far out of the city you can go before you go onto a higher rate. Unlimited mileage is less likely also. We have a much bigger island so the companies could get really taken on unlimited. It is a long time since I hired over here so it may have changed but I think you will need to have a good look at the contract.
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Oh and there is only one poisonous spider in New Zealand, and it's nearly extinct. I wish I could say the same for Australia.
Now THAT is a good advertisement :D
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I have always wanted to go to Sydney, hire a car, and drive right round the coast until I get back.
Does anyone know how far this would be, and about how long it would take?
My son went to Aus and said that Adelaide was fantastic.
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you mean do a full circle on Highway 1?
No idea how long it would take but i'm sure it's been done a few times!
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If you want to drive right round then take about 6 months and stop off at all the interesting places along the way. You would have to be mad to try to drive continously right round. It would be totally pointless. Just driving for drivings sake. You wouldn't want to hire either. The mileage charge would be enough to pay for the purchase of a car. Best to do what RF suggested. Fly between the main places you wish to visit and then drive or take public transport when you get there.
We do have a lot of people who buy a 4wd and a caravan when they retire. They take to the road each winter and head north to the sun for months at a time. They are often called Grey Nomads. Some of them might drive right round.
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Spiders - Pah, they are wimpy. Its snakes you need to worry about.
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My outlaws have spent nine months out of the last 30 in Oz, basically poodling around the eastern half and generally enjoying themselves immensely. FIL says the driving is OK if you've got the time, as RF says, it takes forever to get somewhere and you don't want to be spending the three weeks just driving so fly and hire when you need a car. Plenty of hire places at the airports and cheaper to hire there than pre-book cars from the UK.
FIL recommends EuropeCar, a subsidary of Virgin Blue (the airline who have taken over most of the old Ansett routes), reasonably priced, good cars, lots of depots in case you have a problem; Aussie country roads have accounted for the front suspension on two of his cars. Also says aircon a must for we soft Poms, at least for the first month....
Also don't think that the Aussie traffic police are laid back, there are cameras, FIL has a ticket to prove it! Plus beware if you like a tipple, breath tests are carried out at random, the police tend to camp out on a road for the day and stop and test EVERYONE without exception; they do have a habit of targetting roads to and from tourist areas. FIL thinks it quite amusing that he has been tested on no less than seven occasions in Oz, he hasn't touched anything stronger than ginger beer for years!
Enjoy yourself, I'm a tad envious!!
Cockle
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Carl,
The others have covered distance s a little, but also consider road surfaces....outside the cities dualled roads are rare and even some highways (eg Newell between Melbourne and Brisbane) can be of a poorer standard than a rural A road in the UK.
I lived for 5 years midway between Brisbane and Melbourne on the Newell Highway in a small country NSW town near the Warrumbungle National Park. Almost all of our holidays involved substantial driving. Melbourne was 1000km and 10 hours continuous driving (to take ferry to Tassie).
A drive to Broken Hill was 800km and 8 hours of deserted road. The drive from Broken Hill via Mungo and Grampian National Parks to the Victorian coast (with a day in each) took us 5 days, then a day around the Ocean road and another day to get home. All with two drivers swapping every few hours. (6000km in all)
Going North, one year we drove from Dubbo to Cairns which too 4 days continuous driving in daylight by the direct route. After a week on an island we drove back taking two weeks but going inland in Queensland. Put about 10000km on the car in three weeks with several short breaks on route.
My parents visited us several times, they would not contemplate coming out for less than 3 weeks, a few days in Sydney or Melbourne to get acclimatised, get over jetlag and see the sights, then fly/drive or take a tour.
Dont just fly out and hire a car without a definite plan of action, you will not see the best that Australia has to offer!
Dont bank on nighttime driving on rural roads!
StarGazer
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Just remembered - no speed limit on roads outside of towns in the Northern Territories ;-)
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Thanks to everyone for the surgestions, I will do more research on the web. Many people have told me that 3 weeks is to short so I may have to have at least a month, there's just so much to .
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Last night I found this: neptune.spacebears.com/cars/racing/darwin.html link which details a fairly long Australian road trip. It's an entertaining and informative insight into the pleasures and perils of these journeys. Well worth a look.
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If you're planning to drive around country do it in an anti-clockwise direction so as to take the inside line. May count in the end.
Remember " Stop, Revive, Survive"
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