Sydney Travel Forum

Last year when visiting Australia, we prebooked flights and excursions from the UK but found that we had a lot of time on our hands. For example, an excursion which finished at lunchtime but our prebooked flight wasn't leaving until the following day. this meant paying for an extra nights hotel accommodation and meal instead of continuing our journey.

As last year we are only there for April and our base will be Sydney. So while we are travelling I don't want to have too much time sitting around hotel pools although that can be welcome sometimes. This time we plan to book trips when we arrive so i need any tips on good internal airlines or land carriers and good excursions in and around NSW and Victoria.

Webjet gives comparative look between airlines. http://travel.webjet.com.au/webjettsa/home.aspx?EntryPoint=Flight

Your 3 airlines to choose from (in case you don't know) are:

www.virginblue.com.au
www.qantas.com.au
www.jetstar.com.au

Its been awhile since I was in Oz (7 years). When researching back then I found that booking domestic Australian flights from home provided substantial discounts compared to booking them there. I don't know if this still applies today, or if it is even a concern of yours, just maybe something to be aware of.

Jetstar has a very cheap service to Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays. Also, have a look at the specials on flightcentre.com. Have fun downunder!!
Cheers, Ann :o)

From your other replies in the forum i see you live there. Any advice on worthwhile trips?

Prebooking domestic flights has the big advantage that you pay less. If you book spontaneously normally all the red, hot or whatever deals are gone and you pay the double or even triple price.

I have been travelling regularly between Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra in the past some years, and by booking early each flight was under A$ 100.

The carriers have already been named in another post.

If you say your base will be Sydney - do you intend to stay there the whole month and just make day trips, or also stay some days or a week in Melbourne, a day or two in Canberra, for example, so we could give tips that make sense?

Sissi

What Sissi says makes sense too Paul. A return flight to Melbourne is cheap and Melbourne is a great place to visit. Perhaps you can hire a car and do the Great Ocean Road. Do you like wine? You could hire a car and go to the Hunter Valley and spend a few days there. Or even better, travel just that little bit further from the Hunter Valley and visit Barrington Tops.
I have a page here on Barrington Tops Guest House. Unfortunately the Guest House has burnt down but the cottages on the hill are still there and you can speak to Elaine about hiring one on 1300 731 490 and here is the site -
http://www.barringtonwildernesscottages.com.au/
Now...just going to update my Barrington pages :o)

ok now dont forget tiger air has just hit the deck and are really shaking up the prices.
As some of the VTers have said booking ahead will save you serious $ last minute fares are NOT cheap in Aus. - they figure if you want to fly next week then you gotta go and they gotchya.
Consider going to Sydney - Tour the Blue maountains / Barrington hunter valley drive down to Melbourne via the Hume _ stop lots and divert to Canberra then tour Melbourne and fly back to Melbourne -
If that interests then I'm sure VTers can point out lots of highlights on the way down

anyway have fun and enjoy the trip
Don

ps check out the prices on the .com.au sites for each airline

as an extra if you were to stay in the sydney area you should be able to do a lot.
for some ideas look up
blue maountains
woollongong
harbour feries
luna park
taronga park zoo
harbour cruises
historic tours
harbour bridge walk
mrs macquaries chair

go for accomodation near the rail or public transport system for access to things easily but tour operators abound
check out these 2 sites
www.visitnsw.com.au/See_p637.aspx
www.sydneyvisitorcentre.com

I'm sure you can have a great time -
ps the footy (both codes)will be back on by April so that could appeal

have fun
Don

and excuse the spelling

When I visited Oz (albeit over 10 years ago), I found air travel to be the cheapest, quickest and most convenient and never booked anything earlier than the day before travel. When I flew from Melbourne to Launceston (not realising the ferry was every other day), I had no problems getting the flight and it was barely more than the cost if I had taken the ferry. When I got to the airport, I was my usual early-self and they had a seat on a flight that left even earlier than my booked one and was asked if I wanted to go right away.

I have seen advertised over here that Qantas has a package from the US (I'm from Toronto, Canada) that includes return flight from L.A. to Sydney plus 3 internal flights .... perhaps they have a similar deal from the UK.

Sure you would get a flight by booking just a day in advance but it is almost impossible to get a low airfare this late. Things have changed LOL

In your query, you did ask about airlines "in and around NSW and Victoria". The main airline carriers have few services outside the capital cities - Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. To go *around* you will need a commuter airline - Regional Express (or just Rex) is the main one - www.regionalexpress.com.au/ There are few discounts and if you have time, I'd suggest hiring a car and seeing the country is preferable to flying, particularly as car rentals can be limited in some country towns. As mentioned earlier, we have a new discount airline (considerably cheaper but still with limited services) called Tiger Airways www.tigerairways.com/ which is based in Melbourne. Jetstar do not fly to Canberra and Tiger are currently not flying to Sydney. Also, to repeat the excellent advice already given by others, you will find the airfares are considerably lower if you make internet bookings well before travelling.

I just tried a search to see and if I was leaving with Jetstar tomorrow going from Melbourne to Adelaide I can get a flight for 79$. If I leave on Wednesday I can get one for 59$.

I think sometimes it just depends on how lucky you are. I got a seat with Air NZ from Christchurch to Melbourne for 232 which sounded like a great deal as the others were advertised at 362. When I got to Melbourne there were some advertised on tv for as low as $100.