Thread: Australia May 05

Hi Kathy,

May is a good time to be up around Cairns as it will be hot but not too humid and is out of NSW/QLD school holidays. When you are up that far north it is warm all year around. In Sydney it would be cooler as it is autumm at that time of year.

What is rock hounding? I haven't heard of that before.

It is a LONG drive from Sydney to Cairns - over 2,000 kilometres.

I don't know much about renting campervans - perhaps if you look at the Avis/Britz/Hertz/Budget etc sites.

We have stayed in caravan parks over here - mainly in cabin accommodation - I always like to have accommodation booked but at that time of the year you should be okay. There are also lots of motels and holiday houses. With the exchange rate it will be quite good value for you. There is a chain of caravan parks "Big4" <a href="http://www.big4.com.au" target="_blank">http://www.big4.com.au</A> and another site <a href="http://www.familyparks.com.au/" target="_blank">http://www.familyparks.com.au/</A> that might be helpful but I can't really recommend any one way or another. You would have to price it all as it might be cheaper to hire a car and stay in cabin accommodation or similar.

Hope this helps, Vicki

Hi Vicki,

Have you visited Australia often? Or are you from there?? I really appreciate your information. Rock hounding is
going out looking for rocks! We belong to a group called the diehards, all with a great interest in rocks and geology. We get together as often as possible and go out on field
trips in the desert or to mines to find Tourmaline, Geodes, Crystals and any other beautiful rocks or just interesting pieces. It is great exercise and if you love the outdoors like we do it is very peaceful. Our dogs love to go on the outing too!

I have read that Coober Pedy has Opal mines and
since we have never looked for Opals I know we
would probably have a great time. Not sure
how we would get there though as we will be
flying into Sydney and possibly flying up
to Cairns and then renting an RV. We don't have
it all planned out yet. As you said it sounds like the places we want to visit are long stretches apart. I know I would love
to see the AUS rainforest too. We love hiking
camping and backpack stuff so that is why I was leaning towards renting an RV rather than having
to make a hotel reservation for each night and have our trip all planned out. We tend to be spontaneous and if we hear about something interesting would like to be able to investigate it rather than be scheduled somewhere. Do not know if that would be doable in AUS though not sure of last minute availability and such.

Anyway we are just in the beginning of planning this trip. I have purchased a couple of travel guides on Australia to kinda help us decide what we want to see.
Thank you for the RV park sites you included I have already checked them out.
Australia seems to have so much to offer that is
right up our alley that my head is reeling trying to figure this all out.

Thanks again for your words of wisdom. It sounds like the weather will be nice for snorkeling in Cairns and we will bring a jacket for Sydney.
Kathy

I think some countries prohibit the export of natural artifacts and this may include the rocks you collect, so check the laws before bringing back items like that.

Plus your baggage may get an overweight surcharge if it's full of rocks!

Try this to find campers for rent:
Australia RV Rentals

Hi Kathy, I am from Australia.

I haven't been up to Cooper Pedy yet although I know people who have and thoroughly enjoyed it. Years ago I've been gold fossicking out at Hill End though didn't find too much gold.

Do you enjoy going through caves? The Wombeyan Caves (south of Sydney) or Jenolan Caves (west of the Blue Mountains - lots of hiking trails there) might appeal to you and have lots of interesting rock formations although none you can take for souvenirs!

Further north from Cairns is the Daintree rainforest - you can do cruise tours there.

It is a lot of driving - it all depends how long you have and how much driving you like, but to drive Sydney to Cairns would take approximately three full (ten hours) days driving.

As you are coming in an off season I don't think you'd have much trouble getting accommodation especially during the week.

Hi Vicki,

Finally found my way back to this site as I lost my password.

Anyway, although we have not done much cave exploration other than a couple in South Dakota your suggestions sound right up our alley. We do love to hike and were planning a visit to the blue mountains.

I realize that Sydney to Cairns is a very long drive so I am thinking we will hangout for maybe a week in Sydney and do blue mountains and a few other places and then fly from Sydney to Cairns and rent the rv and meander our way back. Would love to see rainforest and of course the great barrier reef for snorkeling.

We have at least the 9th thru the 29th and depending on my husband's line bid for May we are hoping to add some days on at the beginning or end of the month.

Someone told me we not only need a passport but a visa is that true? Sure hope we have enough time to get that done. Guess I better get on it. Since my husband will not know until mid April what his line for May will be I am glad to hear that we most likely could find a room on short notice. I do want at least part of the trip with reservations in place including the RV so we know we have that.

I appreciate all your help.....Am so looking forward to this wonderful trip.
Thanks, Kathy

Hi again,

A couple more questions....has anyone heard of
escortedaustraliatours.com? Wondered if they are a good company. They have an interesting 17 day reef and rainforest tour I was looking at. I thought it might be another option for us. It mentions quad accomodations though and since my husband and I are on our anniversary don't think we want to "share" a room. It does sound like it has alot of things we would enjoy.

Also, any thoughts on a day of the week that it might be easier to get out of LAX to SYD the first week of May . My husband flys for Skywest and so United is probably our best option. Although I think they have only one flight a day so other options as a back up might be necessary. Also Al mentioned our visa could be processed on line through the CRS system. How do we go about doing that? He is a pilot so does not work at all with the ticketing system for the airlines. He normally just has one of the gate agents list us on a certain flight.... Anyway, as you can see we have not taken much advantage of the nonrev benefits he has. We are definitely newbies....

Thanks for all your help everyone!! Hope to hear from you soon.
Kathy

You can apply for an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) online thru the Dept of Immigration: <a href="http://www.eta.immi.gov.au" target="_blank">http://www.eta.immi.gov.au</A>. It costs AUD 20 and will be issued immediately; when you checkin for your flight the airline's passport reader is linked to the government's database.

I don't believe they are free under any circumstance. My airline can issue them thru the CRS but there is a charge of EUR 15 for it.

Regarding flights I took QF from LAX to SYD last September. They offer an afternoon departure (1pm) a few days per week that tends to be less crowded since more people prefer the late evening departures. I flew midweek and we had only 80 pax in Y on a 747-400, and arrived into SYD the following night at 8pm. No lines, right into a taxi, and at the hotel by 8:45pm for a good night's sleep.

UA has only 2 flights to SYD (LAX and SFO) and they always seem full! Plus, my company has a ZED agreement with QF so it was $84 each way vs. ID90 on UA of over $200 one way (both before taxes).

Plus, in addition to 2 or 3 SYD flights, QF has service from Brisbane and Melbourne, and direct flights thru Auckland. There's a HNL flight too if you want to stop off there (but flights between LAX and HNL are tough). BNE might work out for a better return if you're up in Queensland. Was going to try that one myself but opted to fly from CNS back down to SYD for more wide-open flights the day I flew out.

Another little thing...if you don't sleep on planes (like me) I prefer QF since you have your own tv with choice of movies at the seat unlike UA.

Two more airline options people don't always consider: Air Canada and Hawaiian Air both serve SYD from HNL (the AC flight is a stopover enroute from Vancouver, but you can fly just the HNL-SYD leg).

I spent a few days in SYD, then flew to Alice Springs, then Ayers Rock, then Cairns, then home via SYD. To give you an idea of distance all the domestic flights were 3 hours (except Alice to the Rock; about 45 mins). I did all the trips on QF ZED tickets and made all the flights I wanted. Their staff were generally very pleasant toward non-revs (a bit less so at SYD, but that's expected). There are QF offices in each city where you can inquire about latest availability and a dedicated non-rev line within Australia to call for listings, etc.

For hotels you might want to check out Accor Hotels (www.accorhotels.com) since they have good deals for airline staff. They are pretty well represented in Oz and we found some good deals. The Sofitel in Sydney was a special treat - 75% off rack rate and the place had just finished a total refurbishment. Even then it was a splurge but worth it. If you go to Ayers Rock the only game in town is Ayers Rock Resort (in fact they ARE the town...). Rates are high but email their reservations centre to inquire about 50% off rates at their properties for airline staff (www.ayersrockresort.com.au).