BootsnAll Travel Community

Unexpected unemployment has afforded me the opportunity for a walkabout. Seems everyone goes to Australia in December and January...what can I expect in terms of weather, available services, crowds, and prices when traveling during April, May and June? Specifically, is Easter week to be avoided or embraced? I'm not big on crowds, but I don't want to be all alone, either...

I don't have much of an itinerary yet, but am mostly interested in the cities of Southern Australia, with a possible excursion to Cairns or Brisbane. Suggestions are welcomed. The entire beach road seems like a little too much beach for my pale skin.

My husband and I want to travel on the cheap, but we are about twice the age of your average back-packer. I don't have any delusions about not being a tourist, but I don't want to spend the bulk of my time interacting exclusively with other foreigners. I want to meet (and drink with) locals, preferably closer to my own age (late 30's). What is the best way to travel economically without spending my evenings locked in a hostel with perky youngsters whose livers are still entirely intact?

Oz is certainly busier Dec/Jan in coastal/beach areas because of mainly English backpackers getting away from the cold and also it's like annual hols (4w/y) coinciding with main school break, but nowhere really closes down, and just gets quieter other than for easter again which is considered to be like the last chance to get away prior to winter and next Xmas, and because it's a shorter time (long weekend) and everybody is in a rush, weather could be wetter, it can also be a tragic time re road deaths.

But April, May, June generally is a great time for getting about without the tiring non-stop heat of summer, and yet not too cold even in the south tho Tasmania will be getting a bit cool, but other than a bit of unsettled weather usually early Autumn, the rest of Autumn (fall for you but spring over there when its Autumn here)and early winter is reasonably settled/mild and still warm up Cairns way.

The other big advantage is that all the caravan parks will have plenty of vacancies (other than at Easter) and thus no booking ahead needed other times, you pay low season rates and they have onsite vans and cabins for about what you'd pay for two in a hostel, and you'll get a chance to meet heaps of locals in them (lots have a big outdoor bbq area which can be a good meeting place), many a bit like yourself deciding to take an extended holiday and do it when they know it'll be easier to get accomodation and there will not be too many kids about.
And don't be backward in coming forward with aussies - say "howyagoin mate" and we'll work out pretty quick you're a buddy of Bush- just kidding! and you'll find that politics is not huge on the agenda for most aussies and we recognise easily that as in Oz where not everyone agrees with all government policies, the same applies in other countries, and you could be surprised on just how familiar aussies are with US matters as I know of people who from experience reckon we in Oz get more on the outside world than what the US shows other than for Iraq/terrorism.

Ask about what code of football they follow and do get along to a game or two of AFL and even Rugby (not a Cantebury Bulldogs match - bad vibes on supporters), and you could even find people happy to discuss the rules with you, but certainly be plenty of aussies about.
Seeing as you're on a bit of a walk about, have a look at www.standbycars.com.au as on their hotdeals you might be able to score a few campervan relocations around the eastcoast, some at pretty cheap $1/d rates and even a fuel allowance thrown in - pretty cheap transport and accomodation.
On other threads on Oz you'll see heaps of links re other transport options and cheap flights.
June is a brilliant time to get up to Cairns and the GBR area, tho Innisfail, down the road a bit will still be a bit of a mess - great opportunity to meet some Aussies tho if you have the time and are getting a bit bored - wander on down and roll the sleeves up - what can we do to help!

And another great cheap accomodation option particularly away from the coast a bit is country pubs with rooms as cheap as a hostel dorm, and place to certainly have a drink with the locals.

The impression I get is you want country pubs. In the states that have it, daylight saving ends at the end of March or thereabouts and the daylight hours available for doing whatever are suddenly different. WA and QLD do not indulge in daylight saving.
June and Cairns fit together fairly well. Easter, well it's almost upon us. It is celebrated and accomodation can be harder and more expensive. (particularly in my area. there is a professional foot race meeting over three days and everything within a 100 km radius is booked out but the whole nation is not like that.)

If you are here for three months, buy a car. You'll pay three thousand for it and sell it for two, but unless you are a lead foot thrasher, should work out. A ten year plus car with about 200,000 km on the clock will go for three grand (AUD). You'll put another 10,000 km or more on it and shouldn't have any worries. Commodores are the go for that sort of thing. Just plastic and soft tin but mechanically sound and if you do have trouble parts are easy and not to expensive.

Anyway, that's what I'd do if I was you and your husband which I couldn't be as I am only one person. Buy a station wagon, you can sleep in it if you want on the odd night and the AUD 1.20 a litre for petrol will be the major hassle. Go from country pub to country pub and drop in on the cities as you want.

quote:

And don't be backward in coming forward with aussies - say "howyagoin mate" and we'll work out pretty quick you're a buddy of Bush- just kidding!

When traveling outside of the US, I generally begin conversations with foreigners by apologizing profusely for the actions of our elected government. In Mexico, I quickly learned how to make friends and win a round of drinks by proclaiming "Bush esta un chingarron." (Just about the worst thing you can call someone there - a rapist.) Still, you won't find me sitting around arguing the finer points of politics (or religion).

The Australian language is most definitely a source of fascination for Americans, believing as we do that we somehow have the same ownership over the English language as we do the world's oil supply. I'm pretty well used to making an ass out of myself in Spanish, but I confess I am very self-conscious and nervous about trying to speak Australian...Do you guys sit around making up words and phrases just so you can laugh at tourists as they try to decipher what you are saying? Certainly a worthwhile pastime! Do Aussie's find it endearing or annoying when tourists adopt the local patter?

Thanks for the advice and travel tips. A "footy" (? - I'm trying to learn) game is definitely on the agenda. When I was a kid, My mom and I used to stay up late to watch Australian Rules Football during the early days of cable TV. That is one bad-ass sport!

You should frame any apology as a question in "Is it true everybody here loves little Johny so much that the garden suppliers cannot keep up with the gnomes?" - that'll sit them on their ass!
I think re the language fascination bit, it probably goes both ways with there being US phrases (just like bad-ass) too that are particular to even different parts of the US.
We do have a reputation for talking with a pace so as to not waste drinking time, and perhaps we shorten words up a bit to go even quicker, and have a look at
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~enigman/australia/slang.html and if it don't work, just aussie slang.

Reaction to use of local patter is probably a personal thing with bad-ass folk possibly being bad-ass about it, but I'd reckon with most folk it's not a problem and if you've got a slightly wrong or distorted meaning on something, the helpful ones might grin and explain.
Just don't study up too much and overdue the slang as you will come across a bit goofy.
We do not all talk like Steve Irwin either, or I hope we don't sound like him too much.
Sounds as though you'll fit into the scene pretty easily.

Coming across goofy is my specialty. It just can't be helped. I'm basically a dork. But I mean well and I am a cheerful drunk, more likely to tell everyone I love them before I would start an arguement.

What happens if you buy a car in Australia then can't sell it before your flight leaves? Are there shady car dealers that will take it off my hands at the last minute for a fraction of the value, or would I just abandon it outside the airport? How difficult is the rigamarole for getting it registered and properly insured? Can it be registered to someone without a residence address? (Here, spending time at the Department of Motor Vehicles is akin to having a root canal without anesthesia, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wants to sustain a favorable impression of the US. It can easily be a three day ordeal.)

No end of shady dealers, and I wonder whether they get name from the fact that they'll hog the shade and let you fry in the sun because the car has broken down or by parking a car in the shade you might miss a few dings and rust!
There's a travellers market in Sydney, cnr of Ward Ave and Elisabeth Bay rd (second floor of a multi story car-park) where all the backpackers go to but/sell cars and like you say when sellers are leaving and desperate, buyers can get some bargains - place is pretty reasonably set up apparently with advice on car checks and registration etc.
You also usually find in some hostels, especially ones away from city ventres that people have for sale ads up, and www.redbook.com.au and www.tradingpost.com.au ought to be consulted to get an idea on trade/market prices and then it's haggle time.
There are different registration requirements for each state, with at least Vic and Qld requiring that a RWC is obtained for ownership/registration transfer whereas in NSW, none is required for transfer but one is required annually.
WA apparently allows transfer to be done via the post so that you can take over a WA reg'd car when in NSW, but you would be facing some difficulty doing a VIC or Qld car while in NSW - mean either getting a full dept of Transport inspection to re-register the car in NSW or driving to the other state with transfer forms if they were available all signed by seller - could get very messy.
So in summary either buy a NSW reg'd car with about 6- ideally 12 months rego, so it'll be attractive to next buyer, and leave from NSW or have transfer forms available for new owner or buy a WA reg'd one, but they'll be more like hens teeth in NSW.
I've heard of people parking their car under Sydney Harbour bridge and taking rego plates home as a souveneir, met another chap whose intended last parking bay was at the wreckers, and yes, parking at the airport is an option, but if you get a reasonable buy at the market and plan on being some where around the same locale for a week before you leave, advertising the car in a hostel, taking it back to the market should result in a sale at the right price.
Wagons and smaller vans are popular and could even come with a matress in the back and camping gear and thus you'll find like minded people to sell on to.
Address wise, a hostel address seems to be the done thing, and whereas third party compulsory insurance is separate to registration in NSW, it is a straightforward matter to transfer.
Trick to any public service type place is to be first in the door on opening and have all the paers in order, and then you should be OK.

On top of what gonorth says, this is something like what I had mind for you;http://cgi.ebay.com.au/1990-VN-Commodore-Stationwagon-S...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem



In NSW so no road worthy worries, registered until feb next year. Seller says he will take 3000. Be prepared to drop 2 grand (I know I originally posted one) and anything extra you get is a bonus. I don't know about the hostel network for cars but e bay for mine gets you a vehicle below market value. So if you sold back on e bay with no reserve, punters market. Chances are you will meet some one who is looking for a vehicle on your travels.

Just make sure on wherever you source a car from, you have a good look and test drive and if not too familiar with vehicles, a test by an auto club is not too bad an idea for $100 or so, and haggle with the seller re they paying part of cost of test and any repairs found necessary.

If you have a US auto club membership you could qualify for reciprochal rights re roadside service and if not then the NSW NRMA basic membership was about $80 last time I enquired and you can get free maps through the auto club offices in Qld. NSW, Vic and other staes probably.
You'll find also that there'll be visitor information centres at just about every town you go to and they are good for local info and free maps and guides etc.

On the footy, if you want to experience an AFL classic that co-incides with another very important part of the Australian character, if you're here in time and it fits with your travel, then be in Melbourne for Anzac Day as apart from the Anzac Day March (and there are marches/celebration all over OZ.)for a number of years now, Essendon and Collingwood, two long time AFL traditional rivals take to combat on the MCG which is like a modern day colleseum able to hold 100,000 people and the two teams both having high club membership and many others in Melbourne for the march will see the ground probably having somewhere between 90,000 - 100,000 in attendance - undoubtedly other than a final/Grandfinal one of the greatest AFL scenes going- www.afl.com.au
You might even find a bit of interest before the game in two-up games you'll find occurring at just about any pub around the CBD/MCG area, Anzac day being the one day of year that gambling is allowed in public - it being a game the diggers would play in the trenches.
That professional foot-race meet too that Geok mentions, the Stawell gift is worthwhile going to experience too over the easter weekend if you can get accomodation - I think it is Tims place down that could be worth a try at Halls Gap, not too far away that and centre of Grampians - very spectacularly rugged mountainous outcrop for bushwalking, spotting koalas and kangaroos in abundance, there being camping grounds to west of Halls Gap as well and area being sort of halfway to Adelaide so you may be able to work into a trip that way along with the Great Ocean Road route out of Melbourne or on the way back for that FOOTY match.

Here is a long overdue follow-up on our trip.

We ended up getting a very good deal renting a camper van, which allowed us to save a lot of money on camping fees and meals. In three months, we put on over 12,000 km and saw more of Australia than many Australians (Sydney - Melbourne - Adelaide - up the middle to Townsville - then down the caost to Sydney). Being "off season", things were pretty quiet in most places - no big festivals or open markets, but we found plenty of great deals and never had to book ahead for accomodations.

The highlight of my trip was a three day cruise to the Whitsunday Islands. Fantastic!

Everyone was very nice to us, and we were eager to dispell the cowboy myths surrounding Americans. Most surprising was how surprised people were to hear that everyone had been nice - which makes me wonder what you say about us Americans behind our backs!

My husband was so enamored with Sydney, that he immediately filed for a work visa upon our return. We are now living comortably in Lane Cove and will gladly shout anyone a round of beers who would like to stop by...

GoNorth - we tried to call you in Agnes Water, but you were sleeping and my husband had a bad case of itchy feet, which were promptly cured by a visit to the Bundaberg Distillery - my second favorite place in OZ.