Gail1966

Hi

We are hoping to have our first holiday in Australia next year and are thinking of flying into sydney spending a few days there and then hiring a camper van and heading of towards adelaide or cairns. Any advice on how we can get the most out of Australia would be welcome as we are only planning on spending about 17 days in Australia.

We don't want to waste too much time in the cities and would like to see the outback and the wildlife.

I look forward to your comments.

JoolsB

Daintree rainforest in Queensland plus barrier reef are musts. Around Adelaide tour the Clare & Barossa valleys-beautiful wine regions. Blue Mountains outside Sydney.

Gail1966

Thanks for getting back so quick. As I said it is our first visit and we don't want to waste a single minute so we want to plan well. We thought the camper van would give us much more flexibilty than car hire and hotels.

JoolsB

As you're driving, time is limited & it's a holiday I would probably choose to head up to Queensland rather than to South Australia but that's just my personal opinion having been to both-South Aus has some lovely scenery but Queensland got more wow factor!

MurphFam

We did the camper van thing back in December 2005 - we flew in to Cairns, picked up the camper van, first stop to get provisions then drove up to Cape Tribulation and then all the way back down! Would thoroughly recommend it - we had great fun and that was a family of four - two adults, one boy aged 11 and girl aged 6. Had a great time!! There are some fantastic campsites to stay at on the way down and loads to do as well. Long time since we have been to South Australia so difficult to comment on this neck of woods.

Tracy

Gail1966

I will have loads of questions sorry! What is the average cost of hiring a good quality well equipped camper van? What do the camp sites charge per night?
Are there plenty to choose from are they well signposted and well equipped. i.e. shower and toilet blocks, shops, electric hook ups etc.

If we head towards Queensland how long do you think it will take to get from Sydney to Cairns and back. I know Brisbane is in Queensland but we have a relative in Sydney we want to see so it makes sense to fly into there first.

Sorry for all the questions!

want 2 be there

Hi there, here's my story

Myself, Hubby and 2 kids about same age as yours have done the camper van thing twice in the last 4 years, it's not cheap but great fun, our experience is approx. 30 days £2,800 (oz autumn) & 35 days £3,600 (oz Summer)(yes pounds) just for the camper, 6 berth though we're greedy but this included insurance as you just never know, on our first trip we were parked at the blue mountains and somebody managed to hit us when we were parked, not badly but could have been worse, and would have cost us more than the insurance premium if we had had to pay to get it fixed. Both trips started and ended in Sydney. On the first trip we travelled up at a steady pace to Hervey Bay (loved it) stopping along the way anywhere that took our fancy doing the traditional tourist attractions, lots and lots to do, stopped at just a few spots on the way back as we were running out of time! Second visit again started in Sydney and travelled more directly up to Hervey Bay then did more stops on the way up to Airlie Beach spent Christmas there and then travelled back to Sydney at quite a pace again as time was getting short. On hindsight we should have flown home from Brisbane that time, but having relatives in Sydney and loving the place we drove all night just to make the most out of our time there. As for camp sites used the Big 4 sites and they were all excellent, clean, friendly and cheap, paid as little as £12.00 for an electric hook up the max was about £25.00 (peak times) you say your trips going to be shorter, don't think you'd see much if you tried to get up to Cairns and back from Sydney i say try and go for longer there is too much to see/do/miss it's a big place. I hope you love it as much as me, will stop going on now........