# Hi! Help me :)!



## David (Jun 20, 2009)

Australia has always been my "dream-journey" but ive always been to young to go there (by myself) but now its happening! I turned 20 a month ago and im planning a 6 week trip.
Ive noticed that the eastcoast is the most popular and ill probably go there. Victoria, New south wales and Queensland are probably the places i can fit in my trip..I was planning on buying a greyhoundpass, ill choose the exact one when i got a plan figured out..

Ill be landing in Sydney and probably flying home from there too. But i dont know what to do from there on, i wanna see things and the outback during my trip cause ill spend a few days in sydney and probably another big city, but dont know yet which one (melbourne, adelaide or cairns, which is the most interesting?) but apart from that i wanna see beaches, and like i said the outback and other interesting parts of the victoria, nsw and ql..
Some recommendations please! Im planning on spending week 5 and 6 around byron bay, surfers paradise, port macquire etc (that area) and then going down to sydney a day or two before going home but the first 4-5 weeks is the problem..i want to see something more then only backpackers, so again what are the most-see or stuff you find interesting in the three parts of australia i mentioned..

A route i was thinking about was sydney -> victoria (melbourne and/or something interesting there) and then start going up to queensland and stopping at places that seem nice before reaching cairns or something around there and then go down to byron bay and then to sydney like i said..is that something realistic? I dont want to run around all the time but 3 days per stop is fine..Is there a place during the route where i can see "the outback" or get a feeling of it? I know diving in the reef is something ppl recommend and ill do that if the budget allows me but apart from that whats there to see? Alice springs is probably not a good place to travel through when i got 5-6 weeks but if everything turnes out alright it wont be my last trip there so..but again, recommend stuff or comment on my text !

If i buy a pass that lasts 30 days ill probably fly from byron to sydney or catch a bus..and if i decide to go to melbourne is the smartest thing to fly to cairns or go there by bus and stopping at some place during that trip cause i know its a looong way!


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

Starting from your last comment first, you're right David in that Melbourne to Cairns is a long way and essentially to fit as much in as you can, a bit of flying will help.

Even coming to Australia is a long and can be an expensive trip and some people do certainly make the best of it financially or how where they land and leave can affect best travel and save a bit of backtracking etc.

Are you from the UK by any chance for if so have a look at Welcome to AirAsia.com, The World's Best Low-Cost Airline re cheap flights from Stansted I think they use to Kuala Lumpur and then you can use either them to fly direct to the Gold Coast or think about Welcome To Tiger Airways to get to Singapore and on to Perth and hence Adelaide or Melbourne and then they also have cheaper flights to Alice Springs.
You'll find that kind of routing using budget airlines will be a lot cheaper than the main airlines and also give you an opportunity to check out a bit of asia on way out and/or way back and cuts down on longer flight times jetlag impact.

You mention maybe not going there but it's probably the best place to get to see the outback.

When are you planning to come is the other factor to fit in with best weather for the outback [gets extra hot out there for six months and more of the year] and then likewise you have the summer wet season in north Queensland when it can be extra humid with storms and/or a cyclone on the agenda.

As well as something like the greyhound pass, there's also a flights pass with Regional Express :: Home an airline that does a lot of smaller locations and at $450/month, not bad value and as an alternative to Alice Springs you have a place like Coober Pedy where Opals are mined and you have an underground backpackers.

If it was me I'd certainly look at making use of a pass like that for most of a month and use them to fly as far north as they go, getting your time in Sydney in that period and maybe get another flight up to Cairns and then bus back to the Gold Coast over a couple of weeks and you can fly back via KL from there.

Alternately, if you plan it so you bus all the way back down to Sydney for a few days there by departure, there's a budget airline Welcome to Viva Macau! Simply Different that'll get you from Sydney to Macau pretty cheap and then you should be able to get back to KL from there, maybe needing to go via Singapore with Tiger if Airasia don't have a direct flight.

The other thing I'd be considering if a young fella is to consider if you have not got immediate training/employment commitments to have a look at a Working Holiday Visa if from an eligible country - Department of Immigration & Citizenship and even if you cannot fit that in right away, think about waiting a while until you're free for that, save up a bit more money and then with a WHV you can have at least 12 months, do some work while here and get an extra 12 months and you then will have much greater flexibility in where you go and when - using the seasonal weather to to best advantage - two years without a winter even.


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