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My wife and I are going to spend a few weeks in Australia next month, arriving Melbourne 15/10 and departing Sydney 8/11. We're going to spend a week in Melbourne and around 5 days in Sydney and we're trying to decide what to do in between. We've been thinking about finding a nice non-expensive resort somewhere near the Barrier Reef for snorkeling and beach-going, but since that covers a huge stretch of land we're kinda lost. Another option we were playing around with is forgoing the reef and popping over to Tasmania for a week or so of relaxation and sightseeing. More than one location to stay at would be ideal since we don't want to just get stuck at one place. Any suggestions or pointers for the right direction would be appreciated.
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Sep 14, 2019 17:45
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Along the reef I liked Airlie Beach and Cairns/Port Douglas. Airlie Beach had a bit more of a party atmosphere, but it was still a nice place.
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Sep 14, 2019 18:34
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Don't Ask posted:My wife and I are going to spend a few weeks in Australia next month, arriving Melbourne 15/10 and departing Sydney 8/11. We're going to spend a week in Melbourne and around 5 days in Sydney and we're trying to decide what to do in between. A week is good for the highlights around Tasmania, you'll want to hire a car. It will still be chilly around that time, but probably not too cold. Consider not using AirBnB, at least in Hobart. It has played havok with the local rental market.
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Sep 14, 2019 23:53
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I'm back from Sydney, and had a great time. My spouse does the plant-based thing, so she insisted we do a tasting menu at Yellow, and I'm glad we did. We left stuffed and delighted. The Blue Mountains were really cool, but in retrospect I'd skip Scenic World and find another way in, maybe the Giant Staircase by the information center at Echo Point. They were a mild hassle going up, but going down wouldn't be so bad. I had the most fun once I left Scenic World's boardwalks and wandered onto the actual trails. Only regrets there were that I didn't leave for the park as early in the morning as planned, so I only got five hours or so to explore before the sun went down. Also I should've brought hiking poles, but that's a given. Of all the money I spent I think I got the most value out of my Opal card. With weekly and daily caps was able to travel wherever I wanted for $50 all week long. Coming back and being forced to get behind the wheel to get anywhere was a bummer. I realy knew I was back in the US when I ordered a coffee and was served bilge slime instead. I'll miss being able to get good coffee almost anywhere.
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Sep 15, 2019 01:26
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Ethics_Gradient posted:A week is good for the highlights around Tasmania, you'll want to hire a car. It will still be chilly around that time, but probably not too cold. It's Spring in Tassie, it could be cold, it could be sweltering hot. It could flip between extremes multiple times a day or you could have a week of mid 20s average days where it barely changes. It's all part of the fun of being down here (always have a jacket on hand) Seriously though, the flight from Melbourne to Hobart is usually fairly cheap, it's only an hour and then the flight back up to Sydney is only about 2 hours so it's super easy to do. A couple of days in Hobart followed by driving around the state doing touristy things for the rest of the week is a good time.
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Sep 15, 2019 07:11
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Apparently Tasmania is great for hiking and walking around, which sucks for us since I've got a hosed up leg. We've gotten recommendations for Port Douglas from several people so the new plan is to spend a few days at resort there, then move on to another fun place somewhere (pls recommend also). Has anyone been to a one of the resorts there and can reccomend? Also, how does the snorkel/dive the GBR work? Is this something that the resort can arrange or is it better to arrange that independently? tia
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Sep 15, 2019 19:36
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Arrange it independently, do it with a company that does an outer reef trip, it's nicer out there. I haven't been in years but I think last time I was there we went with Neptune? Or Poseidon? Named after some God of the sea and it was really good.
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Sep 15, 2019 21:44
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Make sure you get a small boat, though realise in this context “small” means probably 50 passengers. The larger boats have 200+ people and often just dock at pontoons in fixed locations
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Sep 16, 2019 00:42
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Loucks posted:I'll miss being able to get good coffee almost anywhere. This is what I miss the most as well
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Sep 23, 2019 19:33
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Loucks posted:I realy knew I was back in the US when I ordered a coffee and was served bilge slime instead. I'll miss being able to get good coffee almost anywhere. Ugh, coffee has somehow gotten even worse in the US in the past couple years, America decided that if you make bilge slime but let it sit in a refrigerator for 24 hours suddenly makes it refined and amazing. Cold brew might be literally the worst thing ever done to coffee; at least a frappuccino serves as a caffeinated milkshake. I was in SF a few months ago and had to go to three independent coffee shops before I found one that served anything other than cold brew, or pot-roasted coffee left overnight and turned into battery acid and then reheated. It'd be like if craft brew pub deciding that they will only serve Heineken, PBR, and Shiner, and still then only after they're been left in the sun for 24 hours. I really don't get the point, you might as well just take caffeine pills.
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Sep 23, 2019 20:23
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Saladman posted:Ugh, coffee has somehow gotten even worse in the US in the past couple years, America decided that if you make bilge slime but let it sit in a refrigerator for 24 hours suddenly makes it refined and amazing. Cold brew might be literally the worst thing ever done to coffee; at least a frappuccino serves as a caffeinated milkshake. I was in SF a few months ago and had to go to three independent coffee shops before I found one that served anything other than cold brew, or pot-roasted coffee left overnight and turned into battery acid and then reheated. fresh cold brew is the tits and easy to make at home with some good beans as well but i do imagine NA cold brew tasting like day old hortons coffee so im sorry it pout you off
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Sep 24, 2019 03:41
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When I worked at Muffin Break just after moving to Australia two tradies came up and ordered two "normal coffees" so I asked them what kind of coffee they wanted and they annoyedly told me "JUST NORMAL, THANKS". So, I ordered them two long blacks, since that was the closest thing to "normal" to me. I went on break right after but apparently they came back super mad that I put their coffee order in wrong and I will always be sad that I wasn't there to tell them maybe if they ordered a loving flat white maybe that's what they would have gotten.
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Sep 25, 2019 03:02
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Blend 43, two sugars and milk. Enjoy smoko, fucko.
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Sep 25, 2019 14:52
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Negative Entropy posted:Blend 43, two sugars and milk. In dirty mugs and the spoon for the sugar has been used to stir everyone elses coffee multiple times.
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Sep 27, 2019 06:02
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So, I'll be in Melbourne at the end of next month. Was super stoked to see Metallica and Slipknot...
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Sep 30, 2019 23:19
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JaySB posted:So, I'll be in Melbourne at the end of next month. Was super stoked to see Metallica and Slipknot... Have you considered seeing a John Farnham concert on the 24th of November in Werribee?
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Oct 1, 2019 01:41
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I would blow Dane Cook posted:Have you considered seeing a John Farnham concert on the 24th of November in Werribee? I would but I don't think I'll still be in Australia the end of November.
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Oct 1, 2019 06:02
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Oh i thought you meant end of November. Well Jimmy Barnes will be in Melbourne on the 12th of October.
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Oct 1, 2019 09:34
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I'm planning to travel to Australia for about a 3 weeks on the ground in March. I'm planning to start in Melbourne and end in Sydney, but I'm trying to figure what my 3rd city should be. Is Canberra a good place to visit?
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Oct 10, 2019 05:27
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Cemetry Gator posted:I'm planning to travel to Australia for about a 3 weeks on the ground in March. I'm planning to start in Melbourne and end in Sydney, but I'm trying to figure what my 3rd city should be. Is Canberra a good place to visit? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe5xuWmtlVA
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Oct 10, 2019 05:34
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https://youtu.be/32eKGFeoQeo Edit: but seriously, Hobart is pretty cool, as is Tasmania overall.
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Oct 10, 2019 06:44
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canberras a shithole go to tassie for some nice beaches and hiking/food stuff or further up the coast for beaches and bogans
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Oct 10, 2019 06:51
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Cemetry Gator posted:I'm planning to travel to Australia for about a 3 weeks on the ground in March. I'm planning to start in Melbourne and end in Sydney, but I'm trying to figure what my 3rd city should be. Is Canberra a good place to visit? Sort of, but not really. Canberra is a planned capital so if the idea of grand boulevards with distant important buildings sounds appealing, then you'll enjoy it. You can tour the national parliament, and there's a couple of decent galleries. But it's mostly full of public servants and that makes it fairly quiet in terms of culture and nightlife. Are you driving or flying? If you're okay with driving, spend say 4-5 days in Melbourne, drive the Great Ocean Road for 2 days, then back to the Yarra Valley for the wineries. Then take a couple of days driving up the NSW coast to Sydney. Maybe spend a day or two in the Blue Mountains exploring nature, then spend the rest of your time in Sydney. Or if you're flying, head to Tasmania or up north to Cairns and see the Reef. I would honestly recommend seeing the reef sooner rather than later, it's genuinely dying because of climate change and politicians/media/tourism industry folk are all pretending it's  completely fine:D because otherwise people will stop coming and the money will dry up.
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Oct 10, 2019 10:33
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Well, I'll probably only be going to Australia once, so maybe I should see the reef now. I remember one time, Mr. T was going to be at the mall. And I kept on waiting, thinking he'll still be there. And when I got there, he was gone. I asked a worker there if he would be back, and they said "I don't know." Well, I'm not going to let that happen to me again!
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Oct 11, 2019 01:36
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Just got back from my little trip (discussed in an earlier post). Had a great time in Melbourne, though I really didn't have enough time to explore beyond the normal things in the city centre. Thanks to whoever suggested visiting Tasmania in my spare time. I flew into Hobart for a day and a half and had a great time climbing Mt. Wellington, exploring the city, and eating some very delicious food. It was a nice contrast to Melbourne and a very simple 'add on' to my existing trip. Obviously there's so much more I could have done both in Tasmania and on the mainland, but I'm really happy with how I used the limited time and resources I had available.
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Oct 30, 2019 06:33
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Anyone had any experiences with obtaining the tourist visas? I'm from britain and this info is just baffling to me - Processing times 25% of applications: 13 days 50% of applications: 23 days 75% of applications: 4 months 90% of applications: 13 months I already got tickets for April 10th booked and I've no idea if I'll need to cancel if its going to take 13 months to obtain a visa. Any advice would be much appreciated <3
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Jan 19, 2022 18:50
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If you're from Britain you'll be fine, the long processing times are just so they can harass the people with passports from non-white countries.
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Jan 19, 2022 21:14
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Faithless posted:Anyone had any experiences with obtaining the tourist visas? Are they even issuing tourist visas yet? My understanding was it's just people with student visas, work visas, and working holiday visas. Of course, AFAIK there's nothing stopping you from entering on a WHV and just forgetting about the "W" part.
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Jan 22, 2022 22:15
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Ethics_Gradient posted:Are they even issuing tourist visas yet? My understanding was it's just people with student visas, work visas, and working holiday visas. Yep, tourists have been allowed back in since 21st Feb https://www.timeout.com/news/australia-travel-restrictions-border-closures-latest-news-010621 https://www.cntraveller.com/article/travel-to-australia-from-uk
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Mar 22, 2022 09:06
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I’ve got a trip to Australia coming up in September and looking for advice. I’ll be there for 2 weeks - planning on doing roughly a week in Melbourne, 4 days in Cairns, and 3 days in Sydney. Not sure if that’s gonna be stretching myself too thin though? I’m staying with a friend in Melbourne and there’s plenty of guides to Sydney online, so I’m most curious about Cairns. I started looking at Hotels, and the Hilton caught my eye just because it looked affordable, nice enough, and I have status with them. But it looks like it’s in downtown Cairns, while the beaches are all further to the north. Seems like it would be a problem? That brings me to my next issue - I’m not planning on renting a car in Melbourne or Sydney because it seems like my friend and public transport will be enough. Should I rent one in Cairns? I’m uhhh…nervous to say the least about driving on the left so I was trying to avoid it. But if it’s gonna negatively affect my time there I’ll look into it further. Also - regarding Cairns - my friends recommended Cairns and Port Douglas and I just landed on Cairns because it was the first one I searched for. Is there a noticeable difference, or are they just two beach towns near the reef? Would anyone recommend one over the other? I probably have more questions, but I’ll leave it there for now, those were the big ones!
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Aug 11, 2023 02:58
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So Cairns is basically just a tropical city and the gateway to the region, kind of like Honolulu I guess? Nice enough, but there's better stuff going on elsewhere. And yes, there's no real beach to speak of in Cairns (it's on a river mouth, so the waterfront is largely a mud flat. That said, it kinda depends what you want to do up there. With four days, I'd say one day out on the reef, a day trip up to the Daintree/Cape Trib area, and a day up into the hinterlands around Kuranda. Other day just for relaxing I guess? Palm Cove is the best bet for beaches near Cairns; it's about 20-30 minutes north, though it's more a collection of beachfront resorts than an actual town. There are some good restaurants and cafes along the waterfront, though the area is kinda expensive. Port Douglas is about an hour north of Cairns and is much more of a tourist town. There's a cool vibe, great cafes, and yes - a great beach. Couple of other tips for the Reef since I assume you'll be going out there. When checking out different options, make sure it's a "small" boat. In this context a small boat will be a couple of hundred people, while the larger operators might have 1000+ passengers on their boats. Clarify if it's going to the outer reef, which is generally in better condition (again the larger boats often go to fixed pontoons). Be aware that the reef is a fair way off shore, so you might not be able to see land when they tell you to jump in. Also the water is deeper than you think, so be mentally prepared for jumping into 20 metre deep water (though of course you can see the bottom quite clearly). In September you probably won't need a stinger suit, though if it's recommended absolutely take it. Crocs don't go out to the reef, but if anyone on land talks about crocs in local swimming holes or whatever, absolutely believe them. Australians are kinda blase about snakes/spiders/sharks/etc, but everyone absolutely takes crocodiles seriously.
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Aug 11, 2023 13:23
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Thanks for the tips! After a little more investigation, it sounds like Port Douglas is more our speed, so we’re gonna look to stay there. Unfortunately , that probably means renting a car while we’re in this area, so I’d better get over my anxiety about driving on the left real quick
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Aug 14, 2023 07:09
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Yeah Port Douglas is a pretty good choice. It's mostly walkable iirc and there are plenty of shuttle options from Cairns airport. If you're doing a tour out to the Reef or the Daintree, most of those will include a hotel pickup. Going up into the hinterland is probably a bit trickier, but I reckon you'd find options to the base of the Skyway going up to Kuranda, and then from the railway stop back down at the bottom. Otherwise, driving on the left is pretty much fine if you're a confident driver. Just follow everyone else and it's hard to go wrong. Trickiest parts are when you're not following someone else through an intersection or turning into/out of a driveway. And we don't have "turn x on red" rules like the US - if the light is red, don't go. Wear a seatbelt, don't touch your phone, don't have more than two beers and drive - all of these are actively policed here.
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Aug 17, 2023 04:44
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OldSenileGuy posted:so I’d better get over my anxiety about driving on the left real quick You're not going to just wrench your wheel around and drive directly into oncoming traffic because it's what you're used to. Either you're going to be around other cars, in which case you will follow the ones going in the same direction as you, or you will screw it up and drive on the wrong side of the road by accident because you've forgotten, but that means there's no other cars around, so whatever, you'll eventually see one coming and be like "oh poo poo that's me" and move over. quote:Wear a seatbelt, don't touch your phone, don't have more than two beers and drive - all of these are actively policed here. Also don't speed at all, Australian cops are dicks who will ticket you for going 5kph over the limit.
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Aug 20, 2023 15:13
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