Bharat

Hello everyone.

Been reading on these forums for a while, thank you all for sharing all your experiences and advice.

I have been contemplating moving away from the UK, as it's just become a joke of a place to be in nowadays !

We're a couple in our mid-thirties, no kids, just us. I have had a chat with my wife about things, and we have booked ourselves a (badly needed) holiday to Melbourne and Sydney.

We travel in less than 2 weeks now. Tickets bought, Australian ETA visa done, just need to plan a few things and pack our bags and head to Heathrow !

We travel from London to Dubai, stop for a day, then Dubai to Melbourne, stay for about 8 days, then fly from Melbourne to Sydney, stay for a few days, then fly back to London via Dubai.

I specifically planned the trip this way so we get a break from long distance travel by stopping in Dubai.

Staying at an apartment in Melbourne (quite close to the CBD, Victoria Street I think), and a hotel right near the CBD in Sydney.

Both, my wife and myself sat down with books about Australia and tried to plan this holiday right and make the most of it.

I am not a water person, so beaches are not my forte. Visiting parks, mountains, unique buildings, etc is what I might go for. She would also like to have a go in the Jetski and visit the sealife/dolphins (I think that is in Sydney) ?

But one of our predicaments is how to get around.

I feel that we could hire a car for about 4-5 days in Melbourne, as that way, we could get out of Melbourne, visit wineries, the Great Ocean road, etc. And use public transport for a couple of days to get a general feel of the place.

I have found varying rates to hire a car. And there is confusion about insurance cover, what is covered, what is not, etc, etc. Could someone please advice on where to hire, what to get in the policy, and what rates are good ?

As for Sydney, my wife found some information about the 3-day all inclusive Travel pass which allows us to visit certain places and travel on the trains, trams and ferries. Did look a bit steep at GB£120 per person !

I've read some reviews about the travel pass where people felt it wasn't good value for money. At the end of the day, if we make use of it, and visit some, not all, the places, then we may feel is was a waste of money, as it only gets us free entry to a handful of places, which may not necessarily be of interest to us.

Or should we simply buy a travel card for a day or a week and pay for entrance to visit places as we go along ?

What we intend to do in the next day or two, is sit down and try and make a list of places we would like to visit in Melbourne and Sydney.

Meanwhile, all advice/help/suggestions will be highly appreciated

NickyC

A 3-day Sydney Pass costs $110 per person (not 120 pounds) - http://www.cityrail.info/fares/leisu...jsp#SydneyPass.

Even that sounds a bit steep - I'd go for a daily pass at $18 each. It'll take you to most places you'd want to go to.

Bharat

Hmm.

That's interesting. Will have a read of that link, thanks.

This is the site we had found, a 3 day pass including travel shows up as £105 :

http://www.affiliate.viator.com/broc...DNEY&AUID=2268

The prices are towards the bottom of the page. Not sure if that is good value for money.

Thanks once again.

Juliecabs

We didn't spend too long in Melbourne, but while we were there we took a trip on the Puffing Billy steam train through the Dandenongs. Good day out.
There's also the Botanical Gardens and various museums to visit, and maybe take a trip up the Rialto Tower to the observation deck to get a birds eye view of the city.

In Sydney, a "must do" is the Bridgeclimb. Allow about 3 hours for this. Very well worth it.
Other good days out would include a trip into the Blue Mountains, Taronga Zoo, and the Hunter Valley wineries.
How about a visit to the Opera House to see a show / concert.

Bharat

Thanks for the tips Julie.

Noted down your suggestions on our list.

sciencemonitor

Regarding the car insurance and not being sure whether you are covered or not - rather than taking out the insurance with the car hire company (which can be expensive and not include the most important elements when you finally come to claim!) try this service instead:

www.insurance4carhire.com/

flip

thrifty.com.au are usually better rates than if you phone around.

School holidays in Victoria are from this Friday 19 September for two weeks - cars will be at a premium during that time.

If you can pay with a gold credit card I'm told that insurance excess might be covered with this. It's certainly worth checking.

Hope this helps.

LittleKittyCat

Just got back from Sydney yesterday. We stayed north of Sydney on the Central Coast but did visit Sydney to go to Taronga Zoo, which I would deffinitely recommend. Best way to go is to get the ferry from Circular Quay - absolutely fantastic views of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, sit at the back of the ferry on the way there - the views are best from here. We hired a car and did drive in Sydney which was fine - my recommendation is to get (or see if your car hire company provide) a good UBD street map - very easy to follow (they had run out of sat navs but I am glad we had the map anyway as it gave us a good idea of how the city was arranged). On the day we went in to Sydney to the zoo, we drove to one of the out of town stations (Gordon) and got a day ticket from here which was about $16. That gave you unlimited travel on the bus, ferry and trains. Had we had time we would have probably gone to the Blue Mountains. However, my hubby had a few meetings whilst we were there and with two small (jet-lagged) children we didn't make it.

Bharat

Hmm. This is helpful information, thank you.

I did reply to Sciencemonitor's suggestion, but for some reason my reply hasn't appeared, and I sent a PM to one of the Moderators too....never mind.

Have already booked a car for 4 days in Melbourne (Europcar, through a company called AutoEurope), and I did pay using a Gold card, so will check about the excess. I am taking my TomTom satnav unit with the Australian maps installed, hope they work

As for Sydney, we're probably going to just use the public transport and get around.

We're leaving in 2 days and just realized we haven't sorted out how to travel from Melbourne airport to the apartments in East Melbourne. At around 6AM !

Wife suggested a bus shuttle service called Jetbus - anyone ever used them ?

emelems

Well firstly HAVE AN EXCELLENT TRIP! ! We didnt get down as far as Melbourne on our trip, but we did go to Sydney for a week (and the Blue Mountains) so you'll have a great time..

Suggest that you get a normal daily pass ticket ($18 pp) and you can use it for the ferries, trains and buses!... you'll be fine.. sounds a bit cliche, but getting the ferry over to Manley beach or suchlike is fun in itself and strolling around the Opera House or just watching Sydney life go past.. you don't have to do all the tourist attractions.. I find the free stuff is just as good..

However I did like the zoo and spent the entire day there.. take a picnic tho if you do go.. the food in the zoo isnt particularly cheap and it gets quite busy too (stops you having to queue up!).. we did heaps of other stuff, massive amounts of walking mainly! LOL!

Good luck with your trip - and if you can get the train to the blue mountains for 1 night then I recommend that you DEF go!

Em x