Australia

Moondust

Active Member
Well the Mrs has finally convinced me to go to Australia next year. I will be completely honest and say it has never been on my radar so have never given it any thought so with that said i haven't done any research on what to do and where to go.

She has a good friend who lives on the Noosa Coast in Brisbane where we will be based for the first week of three, After that im guessing anything logistically possible is possible.

Any of you guys been/go??

As i said at the minute i have not researched anything so any tips or advice will all be taken on board.

Many thanks in advance.
 
I went a few years ago and slummed it, so probably a million miles away from the experience you are looking for!
I really loved Noosa though. It's about the first point down the east coast where you can get in the sea without a stinger suit. So it felt quite liberating by the time we got there. Lush foliage and great climate. I don't know how much this statement stands up to geographic scrutiny, but it felt like the place where the tropics and the developed towns merged. It had an air of a retirement destination (then again, I guess a lot of Oz feels like that!) But there was a hippie vibe where we stayed - couldn't tell you if that's a general rule though.

Steve Irwin's zoo isn't far away. Depending on your ethics, that may or may not be of interest? All I will say is, that while they have merged the traditional zoo experience with theme park fanfare, you can see conservation is at the heart of what they do. They are passionate naturalists - albeit with bells and whistle thrown into the mix. Well worth a day out.
 
I only went for 2 weeks beginning of this year but Melbourne was by far my favourite city. Great vibe, good size so easy to get around. Sydney was over-rated, in my opinion.
 
Well the Mrs has finally convinced me to go to Australia next year. I will be completely honest and say it has never been on my radar so have never given it any thought so with that said i haven't done any research on what to do and where to go.

She has a good friend who lives on the Noosa Coast in Brisbane where we will be based for the first week of three, After that im guessing anything logistically possible is possible.

Any of you guys been/go??

As i said at the minute i have not researched anything so any tips or advice will all be taken on board.

Many thanks in advance.
My wife and I went for a month for our honeymoon. We did some of the East Coast back packing route, but not really as back packers! We travelled from Cairns to Sydney for NYE.

Cairns you can do the rainforest and Great Barrier Reef amongst over trips.

Noosa is really nice, good vibe with bars and restaurants, nice beach. We got a car parking ticket for not parking straight in a bay!
Just north you have Fraser Island- highly recommend visiting, the main road is a 75km beach. We stayed in an aboriginal camp in tents and shared 4x4s driving around the island to different lakes/beaches etc. Stand on the cliff where aborigines were forced off the edge by police and see sharks, dolphins, tortoise in the sea. We caught the boat from Rainbow beach.

Tim can Bay close by, traditional little place but you can hand feed wild dolphins that come to a certain spot each day. Over seen by conservationist.

South you have Byron Bay which is meant to be a hippy hang out, great place with a mix of people/variety of bars and restaurants.

Get a flight to the Hamilton island in the Whitsundays. Mint place where you hire buggies to get around, very upmarket.

We mainly flew between places because time was limited. We did hire a camper in Brisbane for the area near your wife’s friends.

Main criticism was we struggled to get a beer on the beach anywhere :D
 
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Just north you have Fraser Island- highly recommend visiting, the main road is a 75km beach. We stayed in an aboriginal camp in tents and shared 4x4s driving around the island to different lakes/beaches etc. Stand on the cliff where aborigines were forced off the edge by police and see sharks, dolphins, tortoise in the sea. We caught the boat from Rainbow beach.

Fraser island was one of the highlights of my east coast trip. We had torrential rain on our day of arrival, but the clouds parted and we got two solid hours of sunshine when we got to Lake McKenzie. Best day ever.
Later that evening we caught tailend of a cyclone - on the mainland there were even a couple of fatalities. Got a bit hairy camping, I'll tell ya!
Also loved Eli Creek, Champagne Pools and Lake Wabby.
 
Fraser island was one of the highlights of my east coast trip. We had torrential rain on our day of arrival, but the clouds parted and we got two solid hours of sunshine when we got to Lake McKenzie. Best day ever.
Later that evening we caught tailend of a cyclone - on the mainland there were even a couple of fatalities. Got a bit hairy camping, I'll tell ya!
Also loved Eli Creek, Champagne Pools and Lake Wabby.
Amazon couple of days for us too, we were there upto Christmas Eve :cool: Watching the sun set, whilst playing football on the motorway/beach...whilst watching for dingos :confused:
All places were ace but walking across the sand dunes to find Lake Wabby hidden down the hill...felt like an explorer who’d found paradise.
Just found a picture from Champagne Pools...

Moondust if you head towards Byron Bay, Nimbin is not far away. Small counter-culture town which is very liberal, I don’t smoke but everyone else there seems to. Touristy but maybe worth a few hours.
 

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Ha. Nimbin. I thought it was a total charade. We bought some cookies, for a laugh more than anything else. Part of the sales patter was this elaborate covert sale in an art gallery. Of course, they were duds. Smelt the part but didn't touch the sides. And we don't even use cannabis, so our tolerance is practically zero. Made us glad we never purchased anything advertised stronger!
 
Western Australia for its beaches. Visit Fremantle, Perth for definates. City Beach is my favourite.

Currently in Perth airport waiting to go back to blighty.

Sydney was grea, bridge climb superb. And has alot more life than Perth. Express climb is just the right time. Do the bondi to coogee walk fantastic along the coast.

40c yesterday in WA. Great country to visit
 
Did you see any Roo's?
Yes at Caversham wildlife park in WA.

I saw wild dolphins in the swan river when I was sailing on it, was more wow factor as I didnt expect it even though they are in there. Have to drop lucky to see them. Didnt see any bull sharks but plenty of helicopters flying over on the beaches to suss them out. There is also nets in the sea etc

Very tasty meal aswell, fortune of war pub on the rocks do kangaroo meal. Oldest licensed pub in Sydney. Check it out moondust if you go there


Also to add try and fit in Esperence further south if you go to WA. Stunning scenary

Downsides

Can't get a beer midweek in Perth after 10pm. And there is always someone on an acoustic (if you like that thing). Unless you go Irish bars they are open later

Expect to pay 10 - 12 $ pints in places, they do schooners for less and middies. You can get EMU cans in fremantle for $5...taste like Carling haha.

Sydney was later times but they are very strict on the doors if you've had a drink. Was paying $10/11 pints.

Eating out meals both citys cost roughly from $18 - $34 in pubs/restaurants depending on what you ordered.

Of course if you look around during happy hour you can get good deals on food & drink. Cash is hardly used in the citys its all plastic, I took a ASDA travel card and it worked fine you can top up as you go, uber is normally $20 cheaper than normal taxis but if you do use taxis take cash as there is about a 11% card fee
 
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If you want to get buckled, take your wallet. Getting high in Australia isn't cheap.

Debauchery aside, most of its been covered already.

*note: Melbourne is where it's at club scene wise. Sydney's pathetic.
 
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