Hi New here
 

We are hoping to come over to Australia on a holiday next year. We are hoping to fly into sydney and then spend a couple of days there and then head off with a camper van up towards Cairns or Adelaide, not sure which yet. We have never been so any advice would be welcome.

We want to see the real Australia so not too much time in the cities. We are only going to have about 17 days so not much time.

Your thoughts and ideas would be very welcome.

I started another thread in the Australia forum but thought this one would be more specific for us.

The camper vans seem expensive to hire but so maybe a car with B&B would be cheaper?

What is the cost of fuel in Australia?

What is the average cost of a B&B or motel/travellodge?

We are thinking coming end of March so what is the weather like at that time of the year in New South Wales, Queensland area?

Enough questions for now................

Re: Hi New here
 

I live on the West Coast, so not too sure about things to do and see over East, however 17 days doesnt really seem long enough????

Re: Hi New here
 

Lots of questions!!!! ;)

First up, in March the weather will be good (warm to hot, basically Summer weather) almost all of the places you potentially might visit...the one exception being North Queensland (if you go to Cairns)....then March is in the wet season and you could be looking at a serious amount of rain.

Second, bear in mind driving from Sydney to Cairns up the east coast is approaching 3000km so in the 15 days you'd have to be averaging 200km a day...thats quite a lot if you want to do many side trips or spend a day relaxing here and there.

In Qld fuel is about $1.20/litre (i.e. about 50p) - a few cents more in other states I think.

If you really want to get to Cairns I would consider flying part of the journey. Maybe drive up from Sydney to Brisbane / Gold Coast / Sunshine Coast - taking some time to stop off at places on the way then fly from Brisbane to Cairns and spend a few days up there (be prepared to get wet though!).

Re: Hi New here
 

For Cairns especially the OP will do little else but drive. It took us 6 weeks the opposite direction and we still felt like we had only scratched the surface.

Re: Hi New here
 

I have to agree with everyone, You'd be mad to drive to Cairns if you only have 17 days. Personally I would only go as far as Brisbane from Sydney, take your time and enjoy the wonderful places that you can visit around these areas.
Come and be on Holiday not on a mission :eek:

We drove from Melbourne to Brisbane three years ago and just scratched the surface in three weeks. We had a one way car hire and stopped at Motels and Hotels along the way, that worked best for us.

All the best.

Re: Hi New here
 

Thanks for all your tips and advice. It is looking likely that we may fly into sydney and fly back from Brisbane to give us more time. Unfortunately we only have 17 days as that is the longest the other half can take off work. Please keep the suggestions coming we need all the info we can get. Fuel seems cheap, is it the same alll over Australia or does it vary from state to state?

Re: Hi New here
 

Qld government subsidises fuel cos the road taxes are higher in Qld but i think the other states are less than 10c more expensive so not a great deal in it. Worth shopping around though as unlike the UK you'll find that there can be large differences between petrol stations....you'll also find that the price shoots up Thursday to Sunday.

Re: Hi New here
 

Hi
I agree with everyone - maybe driving to Brisbane then fly to Cairns. The Brisbane to Cairns leg, on top of the Sydney to Brisbane is long long long and not that exciting.
Campervanning would probably work out cheaper than motels - less accomodation costs/can cook some meals rather than eat out every nite. Really good fun too.
Once in Cairns, you could just hire a car to be able to get out and about.
Have fun, sure you will
xxx

Re: Hi New here
 

I think we will definately do the fly to sydney have a few days there, pick up a camper van and then head off towards adelaide and fly back from there or Melbourne. We are using travel counsellors to book it all for us so will keep you all informed when we get booked and what we are planning to do.

Re: Hi New here
 

How about flying into melbourne and hiring a car. Then i would personally stay on caravan parks along the way. These are nothing like the ones you get in england a much better standard. That way you would see the great ocean rd and victoria which has so many sites to see as opposed to driving all the way upto cairns. In 17 days you would probably be able to see melbourne, sydney and brisbane with lots of sightseeing along the way. You could get a one way car rental from melbourne and drop off in brisbane and fly back.
I spent a year driving round oz andd i didnt even scratch the surface of the country, its a great place to go and see. It took us 3 months to drive from cairns to melbourne but i still think you would see enough to get the taste buds going in 17 days!!! It all depends what sort of holiday you want to have!!!
good luck