Australia next November
Australia next November
We've been invited to our friends wedding in Sydney next November and trying to get an idea of costs so we know whether we can go or not!
If we did go we'd like a couple of weeks, a few days in Melbourne too.
I love the outdoors, so seeing a bit of rainforest would be heaven for me.
So, what do you think? We'd have to fit most of it round the wedding, but after travelling all that way, we don't want to waste a minute, but keep the cost down as well as we're trying to buy a house! We're forgone a holiday this year and christmas presents to save for it, but want to know how much we need to save!
Any ideas or good websites which could cost something for us greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Starsong
PS Is the jetlag really bad? Which way does it kick in? Or both!!
(Can you tell I'm already excited, even though I have no idea whether we can afford to go!)
Answers:
Hi Starsong. I am planning my next trip back home for November next year. As far as I know its a fairly cheap time to fly (I think the extortionate Christmas prices kick in early December).
If you get the cheapest ticket you can, you will find yourself flying with Royal Brunei or Malaysian Airlines, and have up to 4 stops on the way (adding up to an exhausting 30 hours travelling time).
I have found Qantas, BA and Singapore Airlines the best, most comfortable to fly with, but they are often a little more expensive. However, they have less stops and it is usually a 24 hour journey.
Most BA/Qantas flights depart at about 10pm in the evening from Heathrow, and get in at 7am-ish the following day (this includes the 10 hour time difference).
Therefore the flight is a night flight all the way, so if you can get some decent sleep you can arrive fairly awake. They serve breakfast and turn all the lights on an hour before landing to wake everyone up. I am always more knackered going there than coming back for some reason though!
Good place to start looking at flights is the Qantas website. They will give you prices and also an itinerary, including flight numbers/stopovers/flight duration, etc. I always book through the Flight Centre though as they gaurantee to beat any fare and as they are an Australian company, really know their stuff.
I dont know a lot about Sydney as I am from Queensland, but we did spend a week there last time I went home. Feel free to PM if you have any more questions! (And keep me posted on how much you are quoted as like I said, we are intending to go back in November 06!)
Answers:
What sort of a max budget would you have and for how long do you intend to stay? If you can tell us this then it's probably easier to tell you how realistic it is.
We moved to Sydney in October and initially found it more expensive than home (Ireland and UK) for day to day things. Hotel accommodation is pretty pricey but work was paying for it :yay: and we were staying in top end places. Take a look at www.asiarooms.com for a good idea of discount rates. Will you be staying with your friends or be putting yourselves up?
I found the jet lag really difficult on the way over (people say it is easier going back) but then I broke the rules and had a 3 hr nap when we arrived at our hotel rather than staying awake. For the next 5 nights I was either crashing out by 9/10pm or wide awake at 4am. We left LHR at about 10pm, had a stopover in Dubai for an hr or so and got to Sydney for 8am. If you can stay awake you should be alot better.
Travelling around by bus is reasonable enough, probably similar to London prices, trains are ok (eg train from airport to city is $12 one way), taxis for short hops are ok but once you start going longer distances they're pricey enough and if you are using some of the many tolled tunnels / bridges then it'll get pricey. The ferry to Manly I find pricey ($12-$14 return) so if your friend is living on the North shore and you are staying in the city then bare this in mind if you intend seeing them every day.
Eating out can get expensive, especially in city centre locations ($20 - $35 a main), but if you really need to keep prices down then there are a good few asian style fast food restaurants around Chinatown where you'll get fab Thai / Japanese etc food for $8 a main. Salad / Sushi places in the CBD (Business district) do lovely lunches for about $7. Some things in supermarkets are expensive so don't make the mistake we did and think you'll have lots fo great fruit and veg for next to nothing given the fab climate. Drinking out depends on where you do it of course, usually about $8 for a beer or glass of house wine (175ml small glasses only :( )
I've not been to Melbourne yet but OH's brother lives there and loves it. It's pretty similar for day to day costs I think. Flying between cities on West coast seems reasonable enough. We flew to Brisbane at the weekend for about $150 and back from the Sunshine Coast for only $105. Best to book well in advance and travel midweek of course. Look at Jetstar , Qantas , Virgin Blue
Not sure about any jungle trekking or other outdoorsy places but the Blue Mountains are relatively close to Sydney (car rental is reasonable enough if you shop around for a good deal) and are meant to be lovely. In any of these touristy places you will probably be paying a premium for accommodation and food.
I think that should be long enough :eek: . If you have any specific questions about Sydney then just ask. By the way buy your outfit before you arrive as clothes shopping is pretty dear unless there are decent sales on.
Answers:
Morning
I haven't read everybody elses replies (sorry ;)) so apologies if i'm repeating something they've already said
We went to Australia in October this year and flew with Emirates. It was our 3rd visit but 1st time with Emirates. Our flights were Manchester - Dubai - Singapore - Brisbane. We found that the flights were excellent. Especially as each flight was 7 hours which is a reasonably comfortable stretch. The food and the service was brilliant. As for jetlag, we slept as much as possible on the flights. Landed at Brisbane around 7am then picked up a car and drove to Hervey Bay, which took most of the day including stops. Had a very early dinner and went to sleep around 7ish woke up at 5 the next morning raring to go.
Have a fab time. I loved Sydney :D
ETA - forgot to add - flights cost £750 each but you can probably get cheaper but I think it's worth paying the extra on long haul flights
Answers:
Wow! Thank you all for those wonderful posts! :bow: :thanks:
Speaking to my friend, it seems more likely to be October and he only needs us for 3 days, so we intend to do a bit more sight seeing!
I'd like to keep the budget below £3000 for the two of us - is that possible for 2 weeks? I'm budgeting £900 each for flights (using quantas/ebooker) and including a stop in melbourne.
Thank you again for your wonderful replies!
Starsong :flower:
We've been invited to our friends wedding in Sydney next November and trying to get an idea of costs so we know whether we can go or not!
If we did go we'd like a couple of weeks, a few days in Melbourne too.
I love the outdoors, so seeing a bit of rainforest would be heaven for me.
So, what do you think? We'd have to fit most of it round the wedding, but after travelling all that way, we don't want to waste a minute, but keep the cost down as well as we're trying to buy a house! We're forgone a holiday this year and christmas presents to save for it, but want to know how much we need to save!
Any ideas or good websites which could cost something for us greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Starsong
PS Is the jetlag really bad? Which way does it kick in? Or both!!
(Can you tell I'm already excited, even though I have no idea whether we can afford to go!)
Answers:
Hi Starsong. I am planning my next trip back home for November next year. As far as I know its a fairly cheap time to fly (I think the extortionate Christmas prices kick in early December).
If you get the cheapest ticket you can, you will find yourself flying with Royal Brunei or Malaysian Airlines, and have up to 4 stops on the way (adding up to an exhausting 30 hours travelling time).
I have found Qantas, BA and Singapore Airlines the best, most comfortable to fly with, but they are often a little more expensive. However, they have less stops and it is usually a 24 hour journey.
Most BA/Qantas flights depart at about 10pm in the evening from Heathrow, and get in at 7am-ish the following day (this includes the 10 hour time difference).
Therefore the flight is a night flight all the way, so if you can get some decent sleep you can arrive fairly awake. They serve breakfast and turn all the lights on an hour before landing to wake everyone up. I am always more knackered going there than coming back for some reason though!
Good place to start looking at flights is the Qantas website. They will give you prices and also an itinerary, including flight numbers/stopovers/flight duration, etc. I always book through the Flight Centre though as they gaurantee to beat any fare and as they are an Australian company, really know their stuff.
I dont know a lot about Sydney as I am from Queensland, but we did spend a week there last time I went home. Feel free to PM if you have any more questions! (And keep me posted on how much you are quoted as like I said, we are intending to go back in November 06!)
Answers:
What sort of a max budget would you have and for how long do you intend to stay? If you can tell us this then it's probably easier to tell you how realistic it is.
We moved to Sydney in October and initially found it more expensive than home (Ireland and UK) for day to day things. Hotel accommodation is pretty pricey but work was paying for it :yay: and we were staying in top end places. Take a look at www.asiarooms.com for a good idea of discount rates. Will you be staying with your friends or be putting yourselves up?
I found the jet lag really difficult on the way over (people say it is easier going back) but then I broke the rules and had a 3 hr nap when we arrived at our hotel rather than staying awake. For the next 5 nights I was either crashing out by 9/10pm or wide awake at 4am. We left LHR at about 10pm, had a stopover in Dubai for an hr or so and got to Sydney for 8am. If you can stay awake you should be alot better.
Travelling around by bus is reasonable enough, probably similar to London prices, trains are ok (eg train from airport to city is $12 one way), taxis for short hops are ok but once you start going longer distances they're pricey enough and if you are using some of the many tolled tunnels / bridges then it'll get pricey. The ferry to Manly I find pricey ($12-$14 return) so if your friend is living on the North shore and you are staying in the city then bare this in mind if you intend seeing them every day.
Eating out can get expensive, especially in city centre locations ($20 - $35 a main), but if you really need to keep prices down then there are a good few asian style fast food restaurants around Chinatown where you'll get fab Thai / Japanese etc food for $8 a main. Salad / Sushi places in the CBD (Business district) do lovely lunches for about $7. Some things in supermarkets are expensive so don't make the mistake we did and think you'll have lots fo great fruit and veg for next to nothing given the fab climate. Drinking out depends on where you do it of course, usually about $8 for a beer or glass of house wine (175ml small glasses only :( )
I've not been to Melbourne yet but OH's brother lives there and loves it. It's pretty similar for day to day costs I think. Flying between cities on West coast seems reasonable enough. We flew to Brisbane at the weekend for about $150 and back from the Sunshine Coast for only $105. Best to book well in advance and travel midweek of course. Look at Jetstar , Qantas , Virgin Blue
Not sure about any jungle trekking or other outdoorsy places but the Blue Mountains are relatively close to Sydney (car rental is reasonable enough if you shop around for a good deal) and are meant to be lovely. In any of these touristy places you will probably be paying a premium for accommodation and food.
I think that should be long enough :eek: . If you have any specific questions about Sydney then just ask. By the way buy your outfit before you arrive as clothes shopping is pretty dear unless there are decent sales on.
Answers:
Morning
I haven't read everybody elses replies (sorry ;)) so apologies if i'm repeating something they've already said
We went to Australia in October this year and flew with Emirates. It was our 3rd visit but 1st time with Emirates. Our flights were Manchester - Dubai - Singapore - Brisbane. We found that the flights were excellent. Especially as each flight was 7 hours which is a reasonably comfortable stretch. The food and the service was brilliant. As for jetlag, we slept as much as possible on the flights. Landed at Brisbane around 7am then picked up a car and drove to Hervey Bay, which took most of the day including stops. Had a very early dinner and went to sleep around 7ish woke up at 5 the next morning raring to go.
Have a fab time. I loved Sydney :D
ETA - forgot to add - flights cost £750 each but you can probably get cheaper but I think it's worth paying the extra on long haul flights
Answers:
Wow! Thank you all for those wonderful posts! :bow: :thanks:
Speaking to my friend, it seems more likely to be October and he only needs us for 3 days, so we intend to do a bit more sight seeing!
I'd like to keep the budget below £3000 for the two of us - is that possible for 2 weeks? I'm budgeting £900 each for flights (using quantas/ebooker) and including a stop in melbourne.
Thank you again for your wonderful replies!
Starsong :flower: