garywarby

Hi All,
Is anybody else in the same position as us? We have the job offer, we have sold the house, we will be set to go in 3 weeks! But I have not even booked the flights! Apparently there is no formal exchange of contracts anymore when selling houses, with regards to physically going to the solicitors and signing and exchanging. Basically you just get a date for completion! It just seems weird that I am sat here, titting about on the T'internet, and i will be in OZ in 3 weeks and I haven't booked the flights! What's the point, if the sale does go tits up! We are buggered, and lose the money we have paid.

So,we hope to complete either next week or the week after, who do we fly with? stopover in Dubai for 3-4 days.

Suggestions welcome!!!

Thanks for the replies in advance.

Gary
:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

jayr

Have you checked availability?

garywarby

Nope! What can I do we need the dosh from the house to pay for the flights! Do you think it will be a problem Jayr?

garywarby

With your local knowledge Jayr, I wondered if you could help me out, Clare my partner has a job offer in Rockhampton, we will fly to Brisbane and Hire a car when we land, Are we better off hiring at the airport? We want to leave the car in Rocky, so a national firm is probably a must!

Also we will spend a week making the journey from Bris to Rocky, where should we stop off, probably a night here and there, sorry to bombard you but your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Gary

mashiraz

We booked our flights weeks ago and they were the last places available in June. In July the price goes up.

This was at the height of SARS and they may now have reinstated more flights, but I wold check and reserve some if I were you. Pay on credit card so you can settle from the house money.

Mash

jayr

I hope not! Try ebookers by the way, they saved us about 1000GBP off the best price anywhere else (2 adults, 2 kids). We booked our flights early October for a mid-December flight and got three of the last four seats on the plane! We hadn't even got the Visas at that point but were only risking a 200GBP deposit. Don't worry, however, I think it is only over the Christmas period when it so busy. We booked 'cos we were told it would be mid to late January for next availability otherwise

garywarby

OH BUGGER!!!
Bricking it now, we might be stranded with nowhere to live.

Help
Thanks Mash, Jayr

jayr

Just checked with Hertz, they are based at Brisbane airport and also have a branch at Rockhampton airport and Rockhampton downtown. Quote for one week Ford Laser $250, Ford Falcon $320 (one way) You could book this online but compare prices from booking in Uk.

My knowledge north of Brisbane currently extends to Noosa, stay there for a bit!

garywarby

Really good of you to take the time, Thanks Jayr. The forum depends on people like you offering advice. Hope to do the same when I have experience of OZ, have to stop now my opinion of the human race has just increased ten fold, want to get back to my cynical self.

jah4reds

There are national car rental offices at Brisbane International Airport. If you are arriving during *normal* hours - you should be able to hire a car - no problems.

If you are relocating to Rockhampton, you may get some assistance...

http://www.rockhamptoninfo.com/rocky_relocating.php

Rocky is about 630+Kms from Brisbane - so it would be a solid days driving (without stops) depending on the traffic (tip: don't set off Saturday/Sunday morning after 10am from Brisbane).

Maybe break the drive into a 2/3 day journey with 2 overnight stops - (1) Noosa Heads, (2) Hervey Bay (for Fraser Island).

RACQ have a good travel planner

http://www.racq.com.au

Anybody else?

AndyH


[Edited: I see Jayr has already answered - I second Noosa]

jayr

Gary

Here's some options on 20 June (for example) from Manchester to Brissy. Don't assume that these are necessarily available however without calling first! Note that I checked on the Qantas site (which will tell you if unavailable) and didn't say anything. Don't worry about travelling through Singapore if necessary, you'll be fine.

http://www.ebookers.com/afo/flights/...=45&submit.y=9

pott

HI There,

We booked our flights about 10 days before we flew and the flight was not full. Flew on 23rd May. We went through Trailfinders as we found their flights the same price and it was nice to talk to a person on the phone. You can reserve the flights just in case.

We went Man to sing to Bris with a 3 hr stop over. Went Singapore airlines and they were good.

We have sold the house but the contracts have not been exchanged - Still waiting!!!! Living off the old visa cards till it all happens. Signed our bits before we left and solicitor is(not) sorting the rest.

Booked car rental about 3 days after we got here. Did the sleeping and sorting stuff in the city first. Did consider car hire before we came but glad we did not.

Hope this has been of some help.
Hope you have a good time.

Pott.

JayneTee

Hi Gary

If you're thinking of hiring a car when in Oz, it's normally cheaper to collect it from the downtown office of the hire company rather than the airport as you're charged extra for collecting at the airport - though there's no extra charge to leave it at the airport!

Vee

You could always buy a Lonely Planet Guide for Qld. We have one at it's great. Tells you about car rentals, where to go, where to stay, prices.....When we travelled around Oz we did it with the LP Guide. I thought that there would be millions of people at each place we visited/stayed in all with LP Guides but there wasn't.

It will also come in handy when you are living in QLD. We live in London and have one for London which can sometimes be of a help.

V

yvsie

hi gary,

www.travelmood.co.uk

they told me that we could put a deposit on our flights £75...and then the dates could be flexible if needed...worth a try...