Thread: Australian vacation

Randall & Julie, Hi.
Sounds like you know more about this place than I do !!
I'm digesting all you've put down and coming up with some answers for you. Will get back to you in a day or so if that's okay.
Cheers.

Okay. Seems you are the adventurous types and like to see, feel, taste and experience the "real" bits of the country you are visiting! A lot like myself, although I do prefer the creature comforts !!

Easy ones first:
HNL - Air Canada flies daily HNL-SYD and v.v. so if you can get yourself to HNL then usually you are okay on the HNL-SYD part of it, more so early in the week. QF also fly 3 days per week, so if you plan it right, you will have 2 choices on the day you want to fly. As always, it's HNL to the U.S. mainland that's hardest.
DRW - nonrev. Don't do it! Since Ansett vanished, the NorthWest and top end have been hit hard. Ansett was a lifeline to intra-WA, nth west Oz and Top End air routes with 80-90% of the flights offered. QF either can't or don't want to fill the void for the most part, and it's very hard to even find full Y seats some days on these routes. (PER-DRW flights are only 1 per day, most days.)
Having said that, I would seriously consider getting nonrev PER-BME (Broome) as there are several flights per day with QF. Broome seems like your kind of place - an old pearl lugging town, full of character, history and real NorthWest experiences. 2 days is probably enough though! Rather than fly to Darwin from there, how about an overland Safari instead? An 8 day Safari 4WD camping trek through the stunningly magnificent Kimberley region over to Darwin leaves Broome 2 days per week. It's 7 nights/8 Days so not sure how you would go time wise, but definitely worth a look and worth studying the regions involved via the www. Even if you decide it's not you, then AirNorth offers reasonable fares on it's Broome-Darwin flights, and if you do decide to do it this way at least consider going via Kunnunara and doing an aerial safari of the Kimberley and Bungle Bungles.
The tour iself is on
this link
I think it may be right up your alley as far as experiences go.
In Darwin itself, plenty to do, although again a couple of days is probably enough. The attractions are out of Darwin - Kakadu and Katherine Gorge to name two. There are numerous options to tour from Darwin, safari or bit more style coach, 1 day to 4-5 days. Because of the options, I'd only suggest you look at the official Northern Territory Government tourism pages on this link to work out what you can/can't do with the time you have. Katherine Gorge, Jim-Jim falls, and Kakadu itself are definite "must trys".

As for getting out of DRW, I'm a bit stumped. There are flight options via ADL BNE SYD ASP CNS and MEL, but one per day for the most part to each one with QF. Most are also back of the clock flying with 0100 type departures. I've found the MEL flights late in the evening are better options to try for. Can do worse than visit Melbourne too - stunning city. VirginBlue also now fly into DRW, so you may be able to find cheap web fares on their website or QF's website for that matter. QF also offer a Boomerang Pass at a set rate per coupon. You may want to consider these options as an alternate to nonrevving, which I imagine will be hard to do, but could work. Alternately you could either safari or tour down to Alice Springs via Kakadu, Katherine etc and try to get out from there. A bit cheaper perhaps but again limited options for nonrev.
(A shame you're not coming in February - after 110+ years, they've finally finished building the line and The Ghan will be at long last running to Darwin from Adelaide!!!)

As for the 30th, well can only pass on my congratulations and best wishes !! Refreshing in this day and age to see something lasting that long. Am trying to work out your schedule - if you are having a few days in Sydney on arrival, then you will be either on the Indian Pacific going to PER or in PER on the big day. Now while the Indian Pacific is pretty top notch and a lovely way to travel, it's pretty uninspiring for a 30th celebration !!
If you can get to Perth by the 6th then there are a few more options for you to enjoy! PER is a beautiful city, but one of the top 5 most isolated major (1,000,000 plus) population centres. It's miles from anywhere, and it's just the way the locals love it!

Hope this helps a little bit at least - don't hesitate to holler for more detailed things, or more general queries. More than happy to help where I can.
Cheers!

Nah - no other note I've seen anyway !!!
Loads on AC on 30 Sep and 01 Oct both currently look great (HNL-SYD), but it's still 4 weeks away, so anything can happen, but I'd be reasonably confident at the moment.
As for PER, well, there's no "definite must see, must do" things I can think of. The surrounding area is nice, but it's similar to many other parts of the world. I'd be inclined to go down to Fremantle (original settlement of PER - lot's of historic buildings etc) for a good walk around and a nice lunch on the Indian Ocean there.
Apart from that, I'm really scratching my head !!
Rottnest Island is okay for a day trip, but not a lot over there except the Quokkas (unique mammals). Maybe get a ferry across there from Fremantle as well.
You'll be in SYD on my birthday weekend, so I may be hard to catch, but happy to try and catch up for a beer or chat if we can swing it.
What did you end up deciding on doing from DRW to PER ???

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Randall & Juli:
We're trying to find a "cute, clean" place to stay in Darwin...can't make up our minds. I was looking for a place like the Coral Tree Inn, in Cairns...that was the cutest place.
In Syd, we'd like to stay by the beach. Randall has found a BB that we might look at when we arrive Syd.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi ya's !!
It's been some time since I was last in Darwin, and the accom scene up there has changed dramatically since then. As for "cute", there's not a lot. DRW is a frontier town in the true sense of the word. Because of the climate, isolation and little in the way of corporate travellers, most accom places cater to the adventurous tourist types as well as the family type. Practical, no nonsense with no frills for the most part. I'd probably suggest the Holiday Inn Esplanade (there are a couple up there - make sure you look at Esplanade). Was the Carlton Hotel there for a while and is very good value. Upmarket, but small with an excellent location.

As for Sydney, if you are wanting beach rather than harbour, then for convenience and easy access to the city centre and other parts, I'd suggest one of three options.
Manly - a 30 minute ferry or 15 minute catamaran connects frequently to the city centre. Manly is on the Northern side of the harbour and quite a few good options exist there. Downside is the hassle of connecting into town.
Bondi Beach - trashy, touristy, tacky and popular with the locals. Again a few options in accomodation, but be warned, it's noisy, loud and brash. More so late in the week and definitely on weekends.
Coogee - a charmer! Until the trendy set moved in en masse, was a quaint little beachside suburb, more akin to a seaside village than a bustling suburb only 20-30 minutes by bus from town. Now, there are a myriad of eating places, and accom options. It's still managed to retain it's "sleepy" & charm atmosphere for the most part although again on weekends can get rowdy. There is a delightful little motel literally right on the sands of the beach itself - Coogee Sands Motel & Apartments. Very reasonable rates. There is also a Holiday Inn and a Medina Apartments property there as well. Medina is a block away from the beach but the property is more like a little village of it's own. There is also a small B&B type hotel also facing the ocean, but I'll be darned if I can remember it's name. Very frequent buses into town as well as a stop on one of the "hop-on, hop-off" explorer bus routes. A trip into town on the bus would be about 20-30 minutes, pending the time of day and destination in the city. A cab would be approx $15-$20 per trip.
Another beachside location could be Cronulla, although it's quite a distance from town itself and a long train trip is involved.
If you want harbour, then that's a different matter again !!!
Cheers.