Just wondering who from has been to Australia?

I'm hoping to go around early April and debating on either Sydney or Melbourne.
Which place would be best for a brief trip?

Any good suggestions of things to do (day/night) and eat?
Hopefully the sun will come out as I tour the beaches

also if you guys know any deals please do share!! Hitting up travelzoo like crazy.

 

Funny... I am also planning a trip to Sydney this year. I'm going September/October, though. I'd rather be there during their spring/summer.

 

Oh crikey. Put another shrimp on the barby.

 

We just bought a company out there, so I will be going to both this year as well. Couple colleagues have been out to both in the last 6 months so I will ask around.

 

Who is 'we' and are you hiring for AU?

 

PM'd you.

 

My wife just went to Adelaide... and was so bored she came back a week and a half later.

 

Thank you!!. This would help greatly.

I'll make sure to avoid there. I wont be staying in AU for to long, just only a week and half unfortunately.

 

If his wife only survived a week & a half in Adelaide before coming home and you are going for a week & a half, maybe Adelaide is the right place to go.

 

LOL, I was just thinking the exact same thing, but would rather spend my money wisely and have fun around the more popular tourist places like Sydney or Melbourne.

 

So far from what I have heard, Melbourne is cool but Sydney can't be missed. Have to get specifics.

 

I worked in sydney for a bit. it's basically a big city with many small neighborhoods. It may be hot and muggy when you're there in April. I would visit bondi beach, but you can also visit the smaller beaches north of that. If you can, I would head down to the gold coast (another plane or long bus ride). Visit the twin sisters, and take a walk in CBD/downtown area. I would also visit the port and the Sydney Harbour bridge. You can take the ferry from there to the zoo, and past the opera house. You can pet and hold kangaroos and koalas there. To do any of these things, you can pick up brochures at the train stations; their train stations are fluggin huge and expansive. They also have a pretty cool aquarium. They have a bargain basement chinatown thing going on too, down near the aquarium. Lots of asians down there.

For nightlife:
Below the opera house is a HUGE FLOGGIN' bar. A LOT of people at night. I would visit Kings Cross for late night food and bars.

The thai food down there is pretty awesome too. it's very different than what you get up here.

ps. Adelaide gets 100+ F degrees. Avoid at all costs.

 

TY!!! If you don't mind, I'll be PMing you in the coming month(s)

 

I went out to Au in August. Spent about 3 weeks traveling the east coast. S*** was awesome. Flew into Melbourne on Virgin Australia, and rented a conversion van to drive/sleep in. Melbourne is a big city, but has more of a Bay Area feel to it, where Sydney has a more LA kinda feel to it. The Thai food is ridiculous! We got lost in some podunk town between Canberra and Sydney, wandered into a thai place that was completely empty and had the best Thai meal of my life!

Even in the winter the weather was pretty warm. We initially planned on going all the way to Cairns for some Great Barrier Reef action. We made it to a town called Airlie Beach when we decided not to continue for another 8 hours through endless cane fields. The 80* temps ,high humidity, and broken a/c in the van also contributed to cutting the trip short. The fact that the town had 3 hostels with huge bars on the main strip in town also contributed to our decision to spend a few days there. Got to do a speedboat/snorkel tour of their end of the Great Barrier reef too.

If I was gonna do it again (probably will this octoberish) I'd skip renting the conversion van. I'd either rent a car & tent to drive between the places, or fly. There's a couple flight packages you can buy to do tours of the country (check Virgin Blue)

Kinda a weird place from an automotive standpoint. They make all kinds of stupid fast muscle cars, and have all the JDM goodies on hand, but have 100km/hr speed limits and speed cameras everywhere. I got a ticket for doing 113 in a 100. I do recommend that you catch some kind of automotive event while you're out there. All kinds of neat **** and not the usual sausage fest that they are out here.

The people out there are awesome too. Never got a funny look, or the feel that we were getting ripped off. Everyone's glad to help and will even let you in on the more local spots if you're cool. Tax & tip are included in every posted price, which worked out to be on par with Bay Area prices for food n stuff. Only alcohol was expensive. If you have something you like to drink, I'd def bring a couple bottles with you.



australia.com was pretty helpful in planning our trip. Make sure to apply for your visa before you go. It's an easy online application.

Listening to Triple J right now (their countrywide rock/pop station)

 

There's no Outback Steakhouse and no one drinks Fosters.

Pulled into Perth, Sydney, and Darwin at various times for a few days of liberty. All I did was drink, spend money, and stare at all of the cool imports when I was there ('02) so my insight into the city's intricacies and culture next to useless .