4 weeks in austrailia
4 weeks in austrailia
Hi,
dh and i are travelling to austrailia at christmas for 4 weeks to the east coast. we are starting in sydney (there for 1 week but might go to blue mountains in between christmas and new year).
Does anyone have suggestions about must see places, areas , accomodation and things to do?
thanks
skywalker
Answers:
Depends what you like doing - are you a beach person, an explorer, a city fan? Will you be hiring a car (recommended if you can cope with driving long distances) or flying between major destinations? Internal flights can be cheap sometimes when the airlines are having sales etc.
NSW
Sydney - spend a couple of days here to see the major sights. Visit a beach - Bondi is my local, but there are loads to choose from. The City is where all the tourist places are in general, but the Eastern Suburbs are good for looking out for celebraties and their huge house, Inner West has great restaurants and markets, North Shore has great city views.
Climb the Bridge if you can afford to.
Visit Kings Cross/Oxford St/Newtown - people have lots of scare stories about them but they're not bad really and have great bars etc.
Blue Mountains - try to stay overnight so that you can explore the whole area (eg the Three Sisters and the Jenolan Caves are quite far apart)
Byron Bay - chilled out hippy destination, good surfing
South Coast (esp Jervis Bay Marine Park) - beautiful coastlines, dolphins, very white beaches
Hunter Valley - Australia's no.1 wine growing tourist destination. Go round all the wineries cellar doors and get drunk for nothing (they let you test the wine before you buy...)
There are many places I could recommend in NSW but they're not really touristy...
QLD
Gold Coast - Blackpool with better weather and more money. Love it. Spent a weekend there going to theme parks and people watching.
Sunshine Coast - a place called Noosa is especially nice here, its where the rich people move to when they've made enough money in Brisbane and Sydney. Beaches, rivers, mountains.
Cairns - gateway to the Barrier Reef. Scuba diving is the thing to do here.
Dunk/Lizard/Hamilton Islands (and similar) - got lots of money? Go to one of these islands for lots of relaxation and water sports.
Fraser Island - world's largest sand island. Camp overnight. Hire a 4wd and explore. Shipwrecks. Interior rain forests. Lovely lakes to swim in. Huge sand dunes. Creeks to swim in (with little turtles for company). Don't go in the sea - sharks a bit of a problem...
Cape Tribulation - not many people make it that far but it's a gorgeous, remote part of the country if you want to do something a bit different.
VIC
Melbourne - very European. Lots of culture (galleries, musuems, performance). Shopping capital of Australia. Lots of bars and cafes. Trams. Huge market. A few hours away are vineyards, areas of natural beauty, and the penguins (colony of penguins which is a big tourist attraction). Another major attraction is the 12 Apostles, but one fell into the sea the other day - catch the others while you can...
I could go on...We moved over to Sydney from England a year ago and there's loads we haven't seen here yet!
chels
Answers:
thankyou for your reply.
We will be flying between sydney-melbourne - hobart and cairns. Although we'll hire a car in all the places (except sydney). i can't wait but i know even with the perfect trip there will always be things not seen or done!!
:)
skywalker
Answers:
I'm from Western Australia, but I gather you won't be coming to the west so I'll not list all the touristy things here. However, if you do a search of the forums, you will find heaps of Australia topics with many ideas and links as well.
Answers:
I've never been to Hobart but it's supposed to be a beautiful place, very peaceful in parts and a lot more like Britain that the rest of Australia. I think flies and mozzies are a bit of a problem though in (Oz) summer (and mozzies are definitely a problem in Cairns) so bring some heavy duty repellent with you.
You shouldn't need a car for when you are in Sydney, most places are accessible by train (even the Blue Mountains, though it is 2hrs from Central Station) or bus.
Activity-wise, as well as surfing, diving, snorkelling and body boarding (the trad stuff), there's horse riding, balloon trips, cycling, skiing (though admittedly not when you'll be here!), trips in planes and probably lots more but I have to admit to being a non-sporty person.
It sounds like a great itinerary, you should have a great time!
Hi,
dh and i are travelling to austrailia at christmas for 4 weeks to the east coast. we are starting in sydney (there for 1 week but might go to blue mountains in between christmas and new year).
Does anyone have suggestions about must see places, areas , accomodation and things to do?
thanks
skywalker
Answers:
Depends what you like doing - are you a beach person, an explorer, a city fan? Will you be hiring a car (recommended if you can cope with driving long distances) or flying between major destinations? Internal flights can be cheap sometimes when the airlines are having sales etc.
NSW
Sydney - spend a couple of days here to see the major sights. Visit a beach - Bondi is my local, but there are loads to choose from. The City is where all the tourist places are in general, but the Eastern Suburbs are good for looking out for celebraties and their huge house, Inner West has great restaurants and markets, North Shore has great city views.
Climb the Bridge if you can afford to.
Visit Kings Cross/Oxford St/Newtown - people have lots of scare stories about them but they're not bad really and have great bars etc.
Blue Mountains - try to stay overnight so that you can explore the whole area (eg the Three Sisters and the Jenolan Caves are quite far apart)
Byron Bay - chilled out hippy destination, good surfing
South Coast (esp Jervis Bay Marine Park) - beautiful coastlines, dolphins, very white beaches
Hunter Valley - Australia's no.1 wine growing tourist destination. Go round all the wineries cellar doors and get drunk for nothing (they let you test the wine before you buy...)
There are many places I could recommend in NSW but they're not really touristy...
QLD
Gold Coast - Blackpool with better weather and more money. Love it. Spent a weekend there going to theme parks and people watching.
Sunshine Coast - a place called Noosa is especially nice here, its where the rich people move to when they've made enough money in Brisbane and Sydney. Beaches, rivers, mountains.
Cairns - gateway to the Barrier Reef. Scuba diving is the thing to do here.
Dunk/Lizard/Hamilton Islands (and similar) - got lots of money? Go to one of these islands for lots of relaxation and water sports.
Fraser Island - world's largest sand island. Camp overnight. Hire a 4wd and explore. Shipwrecks. Interior rain forests. Lovely lakes to swim in. Huge sand dunes. Creeks to swim in (with little turtles for company). Don't go in the sea - sharks a bit of a problem...
Cape Tribulation - not many people make it that far but it's a gorgeous, remote part of the country if you want to do something a bit different.
VIC
Melbourne - very European. Lots of culture (galleries, musuems, performance). Shopping capital of Australia. Lots of bars and cafes. Trams. Huge market. A few hours away are vineyards, areas of natural beauty, and the penguins (colony of penguins which is a big tourist attraction). Another major attraction is the 12 Apostles, but one fell into the sea the other day - catch the others while you can...
I could go on...We moved over to Sydney from England a year ago and there's loads we haven't seen here yet!
chels
Answers:
thankyou for your reply.
We will be flying between sydney-melbourne - hobart and cairns. Although we'll hire a car in all the places (except sydney). i can't wait but i know even with the perfect trip there will always be things not seen or done!!
:)
skywalker
Answers:
I'm from Western Australia, but I gather you won't be coming to the west so I'll not list all the touristy things here. However, if you do a search of the forums, you will find heaps of Australia topics with many ideas and links as well.
Answers:
I've never been to Hobart but it's supposed to be a beautiful place, very peaceful in parts and a lot more like Britain that the rest of Australia. I think flies and mozzies are a bit of a problem though in (Oz) summer (and mozzies are definitely a problem in Cairns) so bring some heavy duty repellent with you.
You shouldn't need a car for when you are in Sydney, most places are accessible by train (even the Blue Mountains, though it is 2hrs from Central Station) or bus.
Activity-wise, as well as surfing, diving, snorkelling and body boarding (the trad stuff), there's horse riding, balloon trips, cycling, skiing (though admittedly not when you'll be here!), trips in planes and probably lots more but I have to admit to being a non-sporty person.
It sounds like a great itinerary, you should have a great time!