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New Zealand was awesome. And Fiji was great. It was a rad trip.
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Dec 30, 2018 11:23
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I'm visiting Australia in April for a month - Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney. I want to get a prepaid SIM card for my phone - any suggestions for a good deal on that?
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Feb 14, 2019 00:19
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clockworkjoe posted:I'm visiting Australia in April for a month - Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney. I want to get a prepaid SIM card for my phone - any suggestions for a good deal on that? If you are are spending time out in the country, pretty much your only choice is a Telstra or Telstra reseller. If you are sticking to the main cities / towns, you will be fine to go with whoever. I use amaysim, they are an optus reseller, and they seem to have good deals. Depends on how much data you want.
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Feb 14, 2019 07:54
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Don’t think that Telstra thing is true anymore and I don’t think it has been in a while. Been to loads of places where you get Optus and not Telstra, more than Telstra and no Optus actually. Unless you’re going way out, maybe it’s different, but I think then you’re lucky to have reception at all. I’ve also never been to SA. I have gone pretty far out in nsw and qld though. Optus has only let me down once, and that was a town that only had Telstra because they set it up specifically for the event I was at If you’re in the city, literally just get the cheapest Optus or Telstra reseller that has enough data. underage at the vape shop fucked around with this message at 13:03 on Feb 15, 2019 |
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Feb 15, 2019 13:00
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Just drove from Melbourne to Adelaide today and had no coverage issues with vodafone, so unless you're going really remote you should be fine with anything
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Feb 15, 2019 13:29
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Yeah. Australia doesn't have issues with coverage in populated areas, pick up a sim anywhere and use a credit card to add some data. Telstra is typically the more expensive option because it used to be the monopoly telco. Also welcome to Oz.
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Feb 15, 2019 21:25
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underage at the vape shop posted:Don’t think that Telstra thing is true anymore and I don’t think it has been in a while. It's still true in Tassie but it's gradually getting better.
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Feb 17, 2019 22:12
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I'm a long-time Telstra user and their BYO phone plans are pretty decent these days. That said, I have two phones when I embark on remote area road trips because there are places with Optus coverage only - William Creek and a few places in south-western Queensland spring to mind.
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Mar 1, 2019 08:40
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HELLOOO! So instead of Japan I will be visiting Australia in May! For $1800. YAY! I previously have been to New Zealand. I plan to visit Sydney for 2 nights, Cairns for 3 nights, and Melbourne for 2 nights. I hope to see the Great Coral Reef Barrier from Cairns before it dies completely. I plan to go snorkling. Would you recommend Scuba? I can get training for Scuba if it's better.
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Mar 10, 2019 21:08
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Definitely do scuba, but you don't need training, they'll let you do "beginner" dives where you just go around at like 10m and honestly that's perfectly fine for most people but is definitely way better than snorkelling.
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Mar 10, 2019 21:55
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Gatts posted:HELLOOO! thats a crazy amount of distance in just a week, especially if you are going in that order. cairns is 2300 km north of sydney, melbourne is 1000km south of sydney. if you're doing this tell me you're flying. that amount of days in those places, you aren't seeing what australia is really like (because you're always in a city) and you aren't even going to be able to do much because you'll always be traveling. scuba is better but more expensive. dunno how snorkeling the at the great barrier reef works though, i think youd need a guide either way, so it might be similar.
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Mar 10, 2019 23:29
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Yes, that is the order I have and yes I'll be flying from city to city. I've got day trips to stuff like the Blue Mountains and Great Ocean Road planned. I have tours in mind from Viator for snorkling and scuba for Cairns. I'm trying to search for what kind of country side and wilderness trips there are. One thought I have is Tasmania from Melbourne for a day.
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Mar 11, 2019 00:37
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Man you're severely underestimating the size of Australia. Like, ridiculously so. I can't blame you, we have the population of Tokyo in a landmass the size of the USA and have like 1 major city per state where other countries have several.Tasmania is absolutely not a day trip from Melbourne. You could spend a week in Tasmania alone and still not scratch the surface. We have many national parks that are bigger than entire European countries.  If its not too late, I would seriously reconsider everything about your trip. You're going to spend a lot of time and money and experience very little, you could spend much less and stay in any 1 of the places you've mentioned and have a much better trip for less money. You're doing too much and your holiday will be poo poo. I'm sorry to be blunt but you're wasting your money. It's not like Berlin or something where you can see the Brandenberg gate, walk down to the Monument to the Jews of WW2, then just a little bit further is the fuhrer bunker, the wall, checkpoint charlie, whatever. You can see all of those things on foot in less time than it takes to get the train from Sydney to Katoomba (which is where I'm assuming you mean by the Blue Mountains). Australia is vast. Tasmania has a landmass of 70 000 square KM. The whole country of Slovenia is 20 000 KM. Germany has a landmass of 350 000 KM. Queensland alone is 1.8 million. Have you seen those Chinese tour busses where they pull up in front of a statue, shuffle out for a photo, then immediately shuffle back into the bus to drive to the next monument without actually taking the time to soak it in and enjoy it? You're doing that but on planes and trains. I spent 3 full days in Katoomba this time last year and felt like that wasn't enough, and I live here. I'm used to all the Australian stuff that will be a massive novelty to you. underage at the vape shop fucked around with this message at 08:32 on Mar 11, 2019 |
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Mar 11, 2019 08:24
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Thats France, Germany, Portgual, Austria, Serbia, and Slovenia. Together they don't even make up Queensland. You know how you see people on tinder and stuff and their entire bio is 20 flags because they went on a Contiki in Europe? (maybe this is just an Australian thing). Thats what you're doing underage at the vape shop fucked around with this message at 08:35 on Mar 11, 2019 |
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Mar 11, 2019 08:28
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Just spend a week in Canberra, you won't regret it.
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Mar 11, 2019 08:33
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I would blow Dane Cook posted:Just spend a week in Canberra, you won't regret it. yeah do that and get a bus to jindabyne and go climb mt koscisuko or something. or a week in sydney with a night in katoomba. just not what youre doing
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Mar 11, 2019 08:40
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Cut sydney out, split the days between Cairns and Melbourne imo.
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Mar 11, 2019 09:01
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Good advice all around, exceptI would blow Dane Cook posted:Just spend a week in Canberra, you won't regret it.
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Mar 11, 2019 13:31
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I could also do my plan then come back another time to do other stuff. I only get 2 weeks of vacation so I'd like to split them up in a year. However, any places suggested I look for guided travel in the countryside or to parks? It's not like I want to drive while there.
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Mar 12, 2019 02:41
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Seven days of a good vacation in one place is infinitely better than a rushed lovely vacation in 3 spots. If you plan to come back, then why rush to see everything in your minimal time this time around?
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Mar 12, 2019 03:11
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Sydneysider here, echoing pretty much all the previous advice. A "day trip" to Tasmania is completely unfeasible, just forget about it. Same with Great Ocean Road (3+ hour drive from Melbourne CBD) A "day trip" to The Blue Mountains is I guess doable, but it's a 2 hour train ride each way. You'd get out at Katoomba station, walk 30 minutes to the Three Sisters lookout and then...go to another lookout around the corner? It's nice enough, but without a car, and with only a day you'd be limiting yourself to seeing only the most accessible, touristy spots. You could maybe find a short hike nearby to do, but again you'd be really limited, and at the end of the hike you'd have to walk an hour back to the station and then get a 2 hour train ride home (plus then get back to wherever your hotel is). Assuming you're flying into Sydney first this would also all be off the back of a 14-20 hour flight. Getting around Sydney is also really time-consuming without a car (but parking sucks too!). If you're staying in the city, it can take you up to an hour on public transport to get to Bondi Beach (the most touristy beach). To get to a nice, quiet beach you're looking at 2 hours. If you know where you're staying in Sydney I can give you a few recommendations if you insist on keeping your trip the way you suggested, but honestly I would stay in any of those 3 places for the whole time. Your current itinerary means you'll be seeing A LOT of the insides of buses, trains and planes.
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Mar 12, 2019 03:43
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Aight guys, thanks.
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Mar 13, 2019 00:11
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Yeah. You'll need a car. Travelling in Australia just soaks up time.
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Mar 23, 2019 13:00
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I did this a couple of years ago: The distances aren't too bad.  But the roads can be pretty crappy.  The scenery is nice.  Full gallery: https://imgur.com/a/WJzVr I did the 2100km trip over three days, and they were long days. 10/10 would do again.
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Mar 27, 2019 23:09
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I did Brisbane >Coonabarabran >Parkes >Sydney >. Coffs Harbour > Brisbane in 5 days on a motorbike. It was pretty hell the last two days. 200km stints for fuel.
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Mar 30, 2019 23:06
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So I'm heading to Melbourne in mid-October for a conference. I'm living in Texas right now and this will be my first time in Australia. I have 3.5 extra days tacked onto my trip for general purpose exploration/leisure travel. What should I do with those days? I was thinking of catching a flight to Sydney and having a look at that city, but one of the things that worries me is that having lived in Canada and the US my entire life, simply going to a second Australian city won't be the most novel or exciting way to spend my time on that side of the planet, especially since I don't own much outdoorsy gear and so I'll probably be limited to urban sightseeing. Another option is to find a flight to somewhere else "nearby" and have a few days there. I was looking at places like Hong Kong, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, or really anywhere on that side of the world with cheap flights from Melbourne. I realize none of these places are actually that close, and that 3.5 days is not really enough for the full experience, but as long as my job is footing the bill for a round trip to Australia, I might as well try to get the most I can out of it. Any recommendations for how I should spend my extra time? Or for that matter, sights in Melbourne I should check out between tedious conference presentations?
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Jun 10, 2019 20:08
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funny song about politics posted:So I'm heading to Melbourne in mid-October for a conference. I'm living in Texas right now and this will be my first time in Australia. I have 3.5 extra days tacked onto my trip for general purpose exploration/leisure travel. What should I do with those days? Flying to Asia and back is stupid the flights will eat up two of your 3.5 days basically. Go up to Cairns and check out the Great Barrier Reef and the rainforest. Melbourne is a cool city (and Sydney less so) but it sounds like you've been an urbanite your whole life and getting into nature a little bit without having to invest in any real gear might be of interest to you.
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Jun 10, 2019 22:32
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Or hop over to Tassie and spend 2 days doing nature stuff / winery tours.
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Jun 10, 2019 23:27
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Yeah honestly, Melbourne -> Singapore is an 8 hour flight so going there for a day or two is just ridiculous really. Lots of cool stuff to see in Melbourne itself, lots of little laneway bars and cafes to check out and try different foods and drinks. Melbourne is pretty renowned for its coffee if you're into that (note that it's real espresso coffee, not American style dishwater "joe" coffee). Further afield, you can do a one or two day trip to the Yarra Valley where there's a whole bunch of wineries. Some of Australia's best wines come from that area. To the south-west of Melbourne there's also the Great Ocean Road which includes the 12 Apostles (big sandstone pillars sticking out of rugged surf). That's worth a two day trip, which you can self drive or book a guided tour of. Or yeah you could head up to Cairns (5-hour flight, mind) and check out the Great Barrier Reef.
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Jun 11, 2019 00:01
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Yeah I'm starting to realize that visiting Asia is a pipe dream. Chalk it up to me denying geographical reality. I was just doing some comparisons and this plan makes even less sense than someone visiting NYC and deciding to hop over to LA for a few days (that's only like a 5.5 hour flight). Anyway, Tasmania is a great idea and a super cheap/quick flight so that's definitely something I'm going to look into, as well as some of the sights in Melbourne and beyond. Outdoorsy things like day hikes are definitely a good option. I do a fair bit of this kind of solo travel for conferences, and my routine for my off time is pretty boring. I love just wandering the streets of a new city and moving from cafe to park to bar and reading my book and just kinda absorbing the culture as best I can. But yeah this is the farthest I've traveled for such a thing and I'm trying to be a bit more deliberate in how I plan my time.
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Jun 11, 2019 01:05
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If thats the sort of thing you are into, I would skip Tassie then. Spend a day wandering around melbourne, a day doing a bush walk somewhere a short drive away, and then another day checking out some sights, maybe take in a sporting event or something.
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Jun 11, 2019 01:39
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funny song about politics posted:Anyway, Tasmania is a great idea and a super cheap/quick flight so that's definitely something I'm going to look into, as well as some of the sights in Melbourne and beyond. Outdoorsy things like day hikes are definitely a good option. As the poster above me said, Melbourne's actually probably the best city for that. If you're willing to hire a car, 3.5 days is a good amount of time to do the Great Ocean Road. Tasmania/Hobart is close and you could easily fill a couple days in (depending on your interests), although some stuff you'd likely have to do on a tour if you didn't drive.
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Jun 11, 2019 09:04
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funny song about politics posted:Yeah I'm starting to realize that visiting Asia is a pipe dream. Chalk it up to me denying geographical reality. I was just doing some comparisons and this plan makes even less sense than someone visiting NYC and deciding to hop over to LA for a few days (that's only like a 5.5 hour flight). Melbourne has a really really good city bike network! You can get around and see so much really easily
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Jun 14, 2019 13:51
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Hey so I've just recently moved to Melbourne after living in Wellington for the past two years. We had a pretty good goon pub quiz group that met every week in Wellington and was wondering if any Melbs goons would want to go out for a beer or maybe even start doing a pub quiz or something similar.
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Jun 22, 2019 11:13
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My flight to Sydney leaves this afternoon. I'll be there from 9/7-9/13, and as is typical I don't have any sort of itinerary planned. Is renting a bike to get around remotely feasible? I'll be staying right near the opera house and botanic gardens, and google maps implies that it's bikeable. Also, any cultural stuff to do that doesn't show up on all the Top Ten Sydney Attractions lists? I see the Australian Museum is closed for renovations, but surely there is some other super boring nerd destination I'd enjoy.
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Sep 5, 2019 13:08
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There's heaps of those hourly rental e-bikes around (it's a law that you have to wear a helmet), and public transport is actually pretty decent most of the time. Museum of Contemporary Art will be right near you, it has a great view of the harbour on level 3. Drink as much coffee as you can. There's also a lot of good Asian food around if that's not a thing where you live.
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Sep 5, 2019 13:41
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Yeah the CBD is fairly bikeable as it's pretty flat. Just be careful of Australian drivers, most people are fine but dickheads in utes (pickup trucks) sometimes get weirdly aggressive about cyclists. There's the Powerhouse museum in Ultimo which is cool. If you don't feel like shelling out hundreds of dollars for Bridgeclimb you can pay a few dollars to climb one of the pylons (it's the south-west one, closest to Circular Quay). Inside there's an interesting exhibit about the building of the bridge. Head out to Newtown and walk up and down King Street. It's the centre of the hipster and student communities so there's quite a bit of cool stuff there. Try a bunch of cafes as our cafe culture is pretty good, just make sure you read up on how to order coffee beforehand (if you just order "coffee" you'll get a weird look). Get the ferry across to Manly, and use the green & gold public ferry rather than the private "fast" ferries. Do the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk.
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Sep 5, 2019 13:49
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Thanks for the suggestions/advice. I always wear a helmet anyway because in the US midwest there are plenty of rear end in a top hat drivers who want to kill cyclists too. Pick-up drivers are usually pretty chill around here in my experience, except for the bros in lifted trucks with smoke tunes. MCA sounds like exactly my thing, and I'll definitely to check out the bridge. I didn't want to invest the time in the bridge climb, but a shorter experience would be cool. I love nature/trails, so the coastal walk is definitely happening. I usually just order an espresso when I get coffee, but I'll check out the local conventions. I do love both coffee and asian food. We don't get enough of the latter here except for the terrible americanized buffets. Loucks fucked around with this message at 14:06 on Sep 5, 2019 |
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Sep 5, 2019 14:03
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Scenic World in the Blue Mountains is definitely a must-do. Catch a train from Central Station to Katoomba (Usually terminating at Lithgow, but there’s a track possession this week and next week). Getting into the site is $44 with a train ticket being another $10-15 return to the city. The site is about 3km from the station and served by a bus. Be prepared for a day of walking, there’s an absolute ton of history involved with the area (mainly mining but there’s a castle and flora/fauna). Paying entry let’s you use the three forms of transport for free (steepest train in the world, cable car and skyway). It’s located in a world heritage site and gives incredible panoramas you can’t forget.
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Sep 5, 2019 22:19
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Oh yeah and do not bother going to the fish markets in Pyrmont it loving sucks
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Sep 6, 2019 04:57
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