Australia itinerary help!

Hey everyone! I am shipping out to Oz on February 1st 2011 and was planning on staying until the 28th, or until til my money runs out. LOL I got myself a one way ticket! I start in Sydney, and I'd like to hit the gold coast and Cairns for the reef and then hopefully back to Sydney in time for Mardi Gras! Any suggestions? Also, I am a HUGE fan of concerts and other music festivals and anything odd/eccentric/or off the beaten path. I like hiking, exploring beaches, experiencing new things, and of course meeting rad new people:) I heard there is a place to wrestle a croc?!

Congratulations on taking the plunge and buying the ticket!

Australia is a fun country, however, you'd be surprised how quickly your money runs out, and I would recommend at least SOME kind of budget goals before you get there, especially if you'll need to have at best $800 budgeted for your return flight (If you're coming from North America or Europe, anyway).

I visited North Stradbroke Island outside of Brisbane, and that was a little off the beaten path. There are several incredible beaches there, although there's only one or two that are safe for swimming.


^ Main Beach, I believe-- absolutely breathtaking, but not recommended for surfing/swimming.

I wouldn't recommend staying much longer than 2 or 3 days there since you may go a little crazy, but there's definitely enough outdoor adventure (beautiful walks, a bike ride to the middle of the island to check out Brown Lake and Blue Lake) to fill two days.

Regarding your itinerary -- it sounds doable for a month's time, and it sounds like you have the time to stop somewhere if you decide you like it. The East Coast is heavily trafficked by backpackers; meeting people will be no problem.
Greyhound offers a hop-on, hop-off bus pass from Sydney to Cairns that a lot of folks seem to like.

Didn't hear anything about croc wrestling; sounds a little dicey and a bit like a tourist trap. I doubt it's covered by travel insurance.

Regarding on wrestling a crocodile, I think the place of Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve deep in the Cape York Peninsula is perfect for you. Well, just search it from Google, am sure Google's have they're information. Good luck on your trip.

I highly, HIGHLY doubt anywhere allows croc wrestling. You must understand that crocodiles are wild animals and cannot be tamed (as I have been told several times by reptile handlers). No establishment would ever let a member of the public inside a crocodile enclosure unless they wanted to run the massive risk of a massive lawsuit, and IF anywhere was stupid enough to allow such an activity, I am sure your travel insurance would not cover it.

Steve Irwin, while crazy, I believe was not just an idiot and was actually very calculated and was definitely very well-practiced in his croc wrestling. He started doing it when he was young, on young crocodiles, and learnt from there. Unfortunately, however, he has given many international visitors the idea that 'croc wrestling' is a national passtime and something undertaken by many Australians. It's not. No sane (or sober) Australian would voluntarily go anywhere near a crocodile unless they were a trained reptile handler.

(Note that I am referring to estuarine crocodiles. Freshwater crocodiles have much calmer temperaments and are not considered a threat to human life, however they could still put you in a world of hurt if you made one angry.)

Hey Fun Girl!

Sounds exciting! I agree with the comment above that a little bit of budgeting is in order - Australia is sneaky like that and leaves travelers without funds sooner than expected.

I would suggest budget flights for getting to the Gold Coast and Cairns. It'll save you time and give you more time in these areas to relax and take advantage of everything in store. I think that focusing on just a few places over your month is better (in my opinion) than trying to cram in too much.

I haven't heard of anyone wrestling crocs, though... uhm... I highly suggest avoiding that sort of adventure

let me know if you have any other questions on your trip! I am based in Sydney

Sounds like an exciting trip! I have to agree with the others about budgeting. We found Australia to be quite expensive at times, especially Sydney. We stayed there for about two days before we decided to ditch for Australia's cheaper attractions. If you want to see some crocs (i dunno about the croc wrestling) go to the Irwin's Australia Zoo near Beerwah. They put on a great animal and croc show in their stadium. I'm really not one for zoos or tourist traps, but this zoo was amazing! The animals seem to be really well treated and cared for. If you want more info check out our article on the zoo http://www.ordinarytraveler.com/articles/do-you-come-from-a-land-down-under. For more information about places that we visited from Sydney to the Sunshine Coast check out http://www.ordinarytraveler.com/category/australia-surrounding/. Have a great trip and if you have any questions please feel free to email us from our site.

There is a million different ways to travel around Australia and just as many things to do!!!

At the moment Australia is expensive to anyone from Europe or America...its a boom country and its showing in bucket loads. AS such you need to be really cautious around your budget and consider what you want to do, where you want to sleep and how you want to eat. These are basic things but critical at the moment.

Sydney is an experience not to be missed if you haven't been there before so don't skip on this just for money savings sake. Consider staying in a hostel or other low cost accomodation. If you like the wild nightlife then go to Kings Cross. I myself find it a little too wild (slowing down now I'm in my thirties ) so would go somewhere different. Indeed do you want to be in the main CBD at all or would you be happy across the harbour somewhere?

Getting away from Sydney? Trains and Coaches are a good option...coaches especially so if you don't mind the mode of transportation. The trains can be quite relaxing as well although I've not costed them up for a while. Whatever you do, if in Kings Cross or another backpackers you will have the Wicked Camper people trying to lure you in for a rental. DO NOT GO THERE. On the face of it they look great but delve a little deeper and its not what it seems to be. The servicing of their fleets is questionable at best and the inevitable breakdowns are treated by the customers services as a laugh and "Part of the experience".

Obviously you can fly to a lot of destinations but the internal flights are quite pricey even on JetStar.

So mode of transportation set and you head north....what next? Well Byron Bay is always a good place to stay if you like beach life, music and nightlife. Originally part of the "hippy" movement its a little (a lot) more commercial these days and is a focal point for those kids on spring break who arent going to Surfers Paradise. Consider either the hostel or the caravan park at the back of town as a good place to stop.

From there head to Hervey Bay via Australia Zoo to see why you DONT want to wrestle a croc! (Although if you must the aforementioned Cape York Peninsula is a good place to do so....just realise that you WILL Die a horrible and painful death ) In Hervey Bay you can organise a trip across to Fraser Island which is a great place to go and chill out, great beaches, safe swimming holes etc. You can go on an organised trip or self drive in a 4x4. Self Drive is good but you need to have some experience offroading irrelevant of what the companies renting the vehicles say.

Carry on up north after Fraser and get yourself to Airlie Beach just south of Cairns. Gateway to the WhiteSundays and masses of excursions to go on to snorkel, dive, swim or just plain chill out. Excellent party atmosphere as well and cheap food a plenty at the backpackers.

Cairns is a place you have put on your list as well I see. Always a good place to chill out and/or party to the wee hours of the morning but you can also use it as a base for several day trips. Consider a visit to Cape Tribulation which is in the Daintree area. NAtural rain forest brilliance and incredibly chilled out. A great place to stay as well although you are nearer the wildlife. Snakes and spiders hanging around the hostels/hotels arent uncommon but you leave them alone, they leave you alone. Easy

Thats just some highlights as well borne out of my 9 trips across to Oz. Like everyone has said, you wont run out of things to do but equally dont fall into the trap of trying to cram in too much, quality time in one place is better than buzzing here there and everywhere.

Enjoy yourself and post some updates about how your trip is going!

Chris

just remember that you are planning Cairns at the wettest time of the year. Maybe fly to Cairns when you see a weather window. Check out www.bom.gov.au for forecasts.

It will cost a little more to fly last minute, but your time won't be wasted sheltering in yr dorm watching a cyclone

Check the weather carefully, SE Queensland has just been completly flooded and now cairns, Townsville and NE Queensland is about to be ravaged by a massive cyclone...

You might want to rethink your trip to Queensland - it was hit by Cyclone Yasi around 11.00pm on the 2nd February and has caused devastation in its wake. It will take a few weeks for the tourism industry to start getting back on its feet. The floods devestated about 75% of Queensland and now this. TC Yasi is the biggest cyclone to hit the state in living memory.

TC Yasi approaches Queensland



Cyclone and Australia

This will give you some idea just how big Yasi was -

TC Yasi superimposed over the USA

Hey!! How exciting.. you must be in Aus by now. Although the comment by whistler is true Queensland has had a lot of issues over the past few weeks with severe weather hitting the state. However Queensland is still an amazing state so just do a little bit of research to see where you should and shouldn't go. Cairns may not be the best idea but the Gold Coast hasn't been effected so I would definitely head up there. If you like bands and heading to the goldcoast check out The Cooly Hotel... I worked there years ago and it won the best entertainment venue in Queensland and has some of Australias best bands and popular international bands play there so you might get lucky and there's a good band playing while you're there!! (Just Google Cooly Hotel and you'll find it)
Oh and although you're only here for a few weeks i would recommend coming to MELBOURNE! That's my home city and I absolutely love it! There is so much to do and the weather has been pretty good recently!! (I would say it's much better than Sydney but I guess I say that because there has always been a rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne... but just FYI Melbourne is heaps better )
Wish you had more time to check out our beautiful country... there is so much to see and I know you'll have an absolute ball!! Have Fun!!

If only Qantas had some civilized people manning their office there I might have had a chance to experience Melbourne instead of spending 2 days arguing with morons who didn't know their jobs but were the epitome of arrogance!

There is a bunch of Music festival that occur around the city (also look out for ones towns as well). Keep out a look out for them. We had good vibrations last week. Check out http://inthemix.com.au for more information!

How are you going with the flooding and stuff?

When you go to Sydney, don't forget to drop by the Bondi beach! It's just near the city. Also, try going to the Queen Victoria building, factory outlets (billabong, roxy, etc.) for great shopping