Australia Travel Forum

My boyfriend and I are in our mid twenties and we both are arriving in Oz towards the end of january for 4 weeks. We arrive in brisbane first and the main ports of call are brisbane, sydney and melbourne before flying to perth from melbourne as we have friends in all these places. we have all the flights booked from the uk but no domestic ones. obviously we were thinking of flying from perth from melbourne but was wondering how many days do you reccommend in perth?

also wondered what is best route to take from brisbane to sydney? hiring a car? bus? does anyone reccommend on anywhere to maybe stay the night on the way from brisbane to sydney. was also thinking when in the brisbane area on visiting fraser island? how many days would you need for fraser island?

when in sydney what attractions, sites etc do you reccomend? and how many days is substantial enough to see the city and surrounding area?

i was then thinking of taking the overnight bus to melbourne? is this good idea? my thoughts were that it saves time as leaves at 8pm and arrives at 8am. any other suggestions?

what attractions/sites do you suggest in melbourne?

and then again how many days is enough for perth? we fly home from perth at the end of the 4 weeks.

i realise a month is not a long time to see all this but i would apprecitate any tips, advice as im wanting to make sure i see as much as i can without doing too much.

thanks in advance

D (",)

Yeah you are doing a lot in 4 weeks but you can still see lots of things. I would probably look at a week in each place which in effect would prbably be 6 days hen you allow for travel unless you fly. And you mighht get some cheap advance ourchase tickets now even tho you will be here during holidays.
virginblue.com.au https://jetstar.com.au tigerairways.com

Fraser you would want 2 day minimum and travel - lots of tours from Brisbane would help on that. Brisbane to Sydney is about 11-12 hours by car, a lot of boring travel but there are some great spots off the highway. Looking at roughly half way you could stay at places like Port Macquarie or any of the beaches between there and Taree. If you went the inland road you would half way at Tamworth - Country Music Capitol of Australia. There are still some overnight buses.

Overnight bus to Melbourne wouls be fine.

I'm sure your friends will have lots of suggestions but places to see could include: Sunshine and/or Gold Coast, Moreton Bay Island (if you didn't go to Fraser) QLD, Byron Bay NSW, Blue Mountains, Bondi, Sydney Harbour ferry trip, Phillip Island Vic, Healesville Sanctuary (see the native animals here - not too far from Melbourne.) Great Ocean Road,. There are lots of nice places around Perth too, and you would easily fill in 5 days.

HAve a great trip

Wow so many questions!!! So much to see as well. Advice up front - don't worry if you can't see it all. Australia is a relaxing place, so if you try to pack it all in, you'll be rushing around like a goof, and this will spoil the relaxing vibe of so many towns/cities...

Brisbane and surroundings - A few spots to choose from:

Noosa - great little beach town. Relax, hike, cafe culture
Fraser Island - sounds like you already know about this. Don't miss it. It's amazing. At least stay over one nite
Byron Bay - Great little beach/party town. Smoke a joint, have some drinks, enjoy the beach and meet some travelers

From Brisbane to Sydney? The buses are very affordable and pretty comfortable. There are many towns on the way down to Sydney, but you might enjoy Port Stephenes which is 2hrs north of Sydney.

Sydney? Gosh, so many attractions. 10 days would be a good time with a visit to the Blue Mtns and Hunter Valley, but that might be too much considering your itinerary. Just do a search on members' pages to see all that Sydney has to offer. Give Sydney 5 days at least.

I'd recommend flying from Sydney to Melbourne. 12 hours in a bus is taxing, and the Syd-Melb flight is just over an hour and pretty cheap if you look in advance. It's worth the money I think.

Am sure the Melbournites will give you good advice on what to do there. Shame you'll miss the tennis in late Jan.

Perth is fantastic! 5 days would be good? Don't forget Rottnest Island - it's an amazing, amazing little island off the coast. Margaret River wine region is beautiful as well.

Is also hard to say, since you didn't fill out your profile, so we don't know what you like to do really...but you'll have no problem filling 4 weeks of fun!

Happy travels!

Goodness, a lot of questions :o) Welcome to vt. This is a wonderful site so stick around and enjoy. For flights go to flightcentre.com.au. Coffs Harbour is about half way between Brisbane & Sydney. There's a place just south of Coffs called Sawtell. It's a pretty good place to stay. We've also stayed at the caravan park at Nambucca Heads...pretty good there too. Don't forget to visit Bellingen. Yep 5 days is good for Perth. If you are interested in what to do, just flick me an email and I'll let you know....or look up old Perth forums. Also visit all of our pages for some great info. Have fun downunder!!
Cheers, Ann :o)

Great advice from every one, however I am not a bus fan - I almost veiw it as a form of torture. They are stuffy, cramped, uncomfortable and impossible to sleep on. If you are taking the overnight bus to save time, you will be completely wrecked the next day and will be so tired you wont see anything or wont enjoy it. If you want to see the landscape between sydney and melbourne - take the train. Otherwise fly - it is probably cheaper.

I will probably get howls of disagreement from the greyhound fan club out there, but it is just my opinion.

Jo

You have got a lot of great advice here. I would also have a look at the VT pages for those cities to come up with a list of what you want to see and do.

Here is a link to a recent melbourne to sydney travel question that may be of interest.

http://forum.virtualtourist.com/discussion-428011-1-1-Travel-0-1873103-Melbourne-discussion.html

Check out if one way rentals impact when deciding which car hire firm to use.

D

Can help with Melbourne. First suggestion is to fly or train rather than bus. Check virgin blue or jetstar for discount flights. Even if you are not into sport, you might want to get a day pass to the Australian Tennis open. If you are there for the first week of the tournament its good value and they have local bands playing on the "lawn" if you are into into tennis. Its a really cool place to be and you will enjoy meeting many people from all over the world..
As for other things to do close to the city, there is the Zoo, the aquarium, the Rialto observation deck, botanical gardens, St Kilda beach, China town, Southbank, Fitzroy Gardens, Museum etc. Thers is heaps to do and see.

Good luck,

Eggboy