Australia Travel Forum

Hi y'all,

I'm in the planning stages for a trip to Australia. I'm looking on spending many nights sleeping under the starts at the many beautiful National Parks over there. Is there a national park pass similar to that in the US that I could buy to save money? I figure i'll go to at least 10 parks, if not more so it'll definitly be worth it if there were such a pass. Any ideas on how or where to buy it?

Thanks in advance.
Fernando

Thanks Helen :). I did a search a few days ago and found a national pass for NSW. I'll keep my ears and eyes open :).
cheers,
Fernando

New South Wales - National Parks and Wildlife Service http://www.npws.nsw.gov.au/parks/index.html The page for ordering passes to the parks is here: https://shop.npws.nsw.gov.au/

Western Australia - CALM = Dept of Conservation and Land Management
http://www.calm.wa.gov.au/national_parks/

A detailed site, with maps, opening hours, facilities, tours, all you need to know. For passes, go directly to: http://www.calm.wa.gov.au/national_parks/park_passes.html

Queensland - Department of Environment and Heritage
http://www.env.qld.gov.au/environment/park/discover/

Has information on each park but only general info on camping fees and nothing that I could find about entrance fees (maybe there aren't any?) or passes.

South Australia
Department for Environment, Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs
http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/parks/park_search.html

Good maps, searching, lists of facilities and fees, etc, including passes good for various combinations of time and parks in SA.

Northern Territory - Parks and Wildlife Commission
http://www.nt.gov.au/ipe/paw/parks/parks.htm
Useful, informative site.

Victoria - Parks Victoria
http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/1parks.cfm
Map, list of facilities, lots of info.

Tasmania - Parks and Wildlife Service Visitor's Guide
http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/natparks/index.html

Fees and park passes on this page:
http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/natparks/current_fees.html
Can order passes online.

A related private site, http://www.geoffmurray.com/, has beautiful photos of scenes in Tasmanian national parks.

ACT - Environment and Heritage
http://www.environment.act.gov.au/ie4/bushparksandreserves/parksandreserves.html

Australian Alps National Parks
http://www.australianalps.environment.gov.au/

http://www.exploroz.com/Shop/DisplayItems.asp?CategoryID=6

Also, excellent stuff Audrey! Depends what type of National Park you want to visit. You'll find there is no overall pass nationally (to the best of my knowledge) and so it is cheaper to stay in one state.
Depends on what type of holiday you're after.
Obviously for an outback experience you won't be heading to Tasmania though it features, in my opinion, the best wilderness.
The northern N.S.W. coast is littered with possibilites, including beachside, rainforest and bush walking (keep the New England in mind for the latter).
All states have much to offer and my advice would be to not try and see too much as you'll miss more!
Some of the stuff mentioned here is in my pages if that helps.
Cheers and happy walking, Ian

Hey Fernando,

I was looking for a pass like that as well when I traveled over there in '99. I asked around and there was no such thing as a national parks pass that covered all of Australia. Individual states had passes and I do remember getting a 4 week pass in WA. Not sure anymore about the other states. I visited a lot of national parks and I have this feeling that some don't charge admission... I'm not sure anymore though. I did go to some remote, sparsely visited parks, so that may have had something to do with it...
Have fun in Oz - I'm envious, those national parks over there are fascinating!

Hi Fernando,

I'm not sure about national parks in other states but in Victoria it's free, except Wilsons Promontory (AU$30). If you are setting up wildcamps you don't need to pay either but you'll have to check whether it's permitted. You'll need to pay a small fee if you are staying at the campsite (usually less than AU$10/day).

Some of my favourite national parks in Victoria:

1) Wilsons Promontory National Park (also known as the Prom), wildcamp allow

2) Grampians National Park, wildcamp allow

3) Hattah-Kulkyne National Park, wildcamp allow

4) Port Campbell National Park, unfortunately you are not allow to camp here

5) Lake Eildon National Park, wildcamp allow, saw my first wild koala here. =)

Where are you planning to go?
Have fun!

The situation in Australia is that national parks are administered separately by the states as well as by the Commonwealth (federal government). They don’t have arrangements for a “one pass for all” type of permit.

Not all parks have a fee, it depends on where you go. Information about the Commonwealth parks can be got on the following web site : http://www.ea.gov.au/parks/commonwealth/index.html. It provides a list of links to the various parks but you have to search a bit on each site for information on fees.

There’s no Australia wide pass for their parks, the closest I know of is an annual ticket which includes both Uluru-Kata Tjuta and Kakadu National Parks but not any of the others. But it’s only economical if you plan multiple visits. Some states do have passes for all their own parks but definitely nothing Australia wide.

Thanks for the help y'all. These are great tips!

Audrey those are great links... i'm definitly going to check those out.

Ian, i'll definitly keep Tasmania in mind. Part of the reason of going to Australia is to see nature at it's best... I'll be looking for the unique fauna and flora found in Australia. Yes, I definitly want to see the eluded Tasmanian devil :).

Ernst, I think i'll probably go to off-the-beaten path destinations as well. I'll keep an eye on those state passes, specially on those states where i'll be around for a while.

Nice poem Jennifer. I hope I get to see what is left of the Koscisusko Park.

Thanks again,
Fernando

PS: I'm glad to be part of such a helpful community :).