Planning 3-month getaway to Australia

March 30, 2008 3:07 AM

Planning a 3 month backpacking trip for Australia (hopefully including New Zealand/Fiji) during September - November. Any suggestions/recommendations for locations and durations?

My fiancee and I (both 25) are starting to plan for a 3 month trip. We're starting off from UK, quick stop-over in Dubai (family live there) and then continuing on. I've been to Gold Coast several times (and Cairns) but is my fiancee's first visit.

We are considering exploring the Eastern coast, starting from Sydney (or Melbourne) and moving up to Cairns. We're planning on using the coaches, hopping on/off and exploring. After reaching (and exploring Cairns), we would like to go to New Zealand and perhaps Fiji.

Is this feasible? Any recommendations on ideal locations or durations for each place/part? Potential cost based on camping and perhaps motels (basically cheap accommodation)?

Thanks for all your help!
Excited to go!

posted by SRMorris to travel & transportation (18 comments total)

I can't make any specific recommendations on Cairns or the northern parts of Queensland, but my gut feeling is that it would be better to start up north working your way south. I would expect it's possible to do the whole thing by coach. I think a great way to finish the trip would be the Great Ocean Rd out to Port Fairy before returning to Melbourne for a flight to NZ. Also, there will be more, cheaper options to get to NZ or Fiji out of Mel or Syd than there would from up north.
posted by michswiss at 3:36 AM on March 30

Hi michswiss,

That sounds like an excellent idea - it would certainly be a lot better going North to South. (Update: my fiancee just told me that was her original plan to go North/South - sigh, can never get it right ;-) ).

Thanks for the tip!
posted by SRMorris at 4:04 AM on March 30

If you are hiking/tramping, which I suspect, then I very strongly recommend the Northwest Circuit on Stewart Island, New Zealand. It's a long hike 7-9 days, but it is incredible and your best shot at seeing a lot of NZ birdlife that won't be seen elsewhere (wild kiwis for example).

Also in NZ, if you go to Te Anau, you can head out on a bunch of incredible routes through Fiordland.

You can EASILY spend a month in New Zealand. Don't schedule yourself too tight!
posted by paperzach at 4:28 AM on March 30

And yeah, you'll want to be hitting Southern New Zealand towards the end of your travels. It'll still be frigid in the mornings.
posted by paperzach at 4:29 AM on March 30

do your research before heading to Fiji - while it's great, it's definitely not cheap by backpacker standards. we accidentally went during high season and ended up spending much more than we anticipated.
posted by wayward vagabond at 4:52 AM on March 30

Newtown is a good point to start in Sydney, there are a fair few cheap hostels and a lot of good cheap food that's usually there to cater to the uni crowd. Having been the QLD coast a few times I'm assuming you like beaches (and even if you go in winter, there are occasional good beach days there depending on your luck). If so, you're probably best avoiding Bondi or Manly, which aren't that great and are inundated with tourists. Coogee, Clovelly and the Northern Beaches are a good bet usually.
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party at 5:18 AM on March 30

Winter is a great time for hiking around South Eastern Queensland- The Gold Coast hinterland is lovely country, Laminton National Park - Check either Binna Burra or O'Reilly's mountain lodges- not far from the Gold Coast and offer excellent hiking (truly excellent) and good accommodation/camping.

Brisbane IMO doesn't offer a great deal apart from being the jumping off point for the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast.

Sunshine Coast and Noosa/Tewantin is worth it- the Cooloola Coast is fantastic, and a great time of year to be there- It's go to Frazer Island if I had the chance.

The further south you go the colder it gets.

I'm not a Sydney-sider, but Sydney is a lot of fun, expensive but HEAPS to do- ditto Melbourne, bit more bookish and colder.

Melbourne hostels are generally good and situated around Queen Victoria Market -Well worth it for food/buying cheap stuff etc.

Melbourne is the jumping off point for the Great Ocean Road- quite spectacular in winter. You'll see why it's called the shipwreck coast.

If you're into hiking Tasmania's Cradle Mountain is well worth the challenge, though getting into winter can be a challenge. I'd go there, it's stunning.
Tasmania is definitely worth checking out. Lots to do, small state - Really beautiful and just the tonic for a homesick pom.

If I were you though, I'd head inland and see the Flinders Ranges. Can go in winter- it's a great time. It is an amazing experience, and parts of Australia not often seen.

South Australia id often forgotten, but it's well worth it. Coober Pedy and surrounds is worth a look. Adelaide is a pretty town, good market cheap, plenty to do and fantastic food/culture.

Things you'll miss but probably shouldn't would be Kakadu and the Bungle Bungles and the Kimberly
posted by mattoxic at 5:56 AM on March 30

I'm a Kiwi so I'm probably biased :) but ...

I have a friend who runs a Bed and Breakfast place north of Auckland. He told me that he often gets people who spend a couple of weeks in Australia and then a couple of days in NZ. A frequent comment he gets is "if we knew more about NZ first, we might not have bothered going to Australia".

It depends what you're looking for of course and I'm sure you can have a great time in Australia too.
posted by tetranz at 8:13 AM on March 30

nthing spending a lot of time in NZ, if possible. I studied abroad there for 6 months. Generally speaking, I'd spend more time on the south island if possible; the entire west coast is beautiful.

As for Fiji, you can do it on the cheap if you stay away from major destinations, and if you don't try to get too far out from the main island. Do some searches for hostels and you'll find something cheapish.
posted by craven_morhead at 8:46 AM on March 30

yes spend a lot of time in new zealand! it was beautiful. great weather, great people, breathtaking scenery. just walking down the street could be amazing sometimes.

i've been to australia a bunch of times and it was nothing spectacular each time, but that may have been because they were family vacations to touristy places; i went to new zealand with some friends for a camping/backpacking sort of thing (2 weeks) and I wish i could have stayed longer.
posted by Xianny at 8:55 AM on March 30

I was in Australia last (Australian) winter, mostly in Queensland.

If you happen to have an isic card, you can get about 50-60% off train travel in Queensland which makes the train a cheaper option than the buses, which only have something like 10% for students. There are less train stations though. Also, you have to call to reserve a student ticket if you don't have an Australia student card.

I spent a couple days on Magnetic Island, just off Townsville. The YHA there was really relaxed, you can also camp for $10 pp although they aren't allowed to advertise that on the YHA website. It was really nice in comparison to some of the big city hostels which were filled with really drunk backpackers. I also took a learn to scuba dive course on Magnetic island, which was fun. There are lots of beaches and some walking trails.

My favourite part of my trip was Fraser Island. My friend and I went for a 5 day hike. You can stow stuff you don't want to hike with for $2 at the Hervey Bay YHA (also really nice, the staff were so helpful, you can camp here also) and take the ferry over to the Kingfisher resort. Queensland Parks has put a lot of effort into making these 'Great Walks' aimed at getting people walking in their national parks so there are really nice walkers camps on Fraser Island with big lockers to keep your food safe from the dingoes and other animals (don't be scared by the dingoes, we actually didn't even see any despite all the warnings). However, the start and end of the official great walk were hard to get to without transportation on the island so we kind of make up our own loop. I can give you all the details if you want. So I would highly recommend Fraser Island; it's especially nice as it was one on the few national parks we found that was accessible by public transportation. Camping is $5 pp in national parks. You can buy a hiking map at a parks office (we got ours in Brisbane).

Have a great trip and feel free to memail with any other questions.
posted by carolr at 9:05 AM on March 30

Speaking of great walks, stay away from the in NZ. I can't speak to what they're like in Australia, but in NZ they're overrun with people. There are lots of other hikes with equally spectacular views and without the mob mentality.
posted by craven_morhead at 10:52 AM on March 30

Did you know there was a New Zealand tag? There are a lot of previous good answers to be found with it. You should tag this post too.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 11:12 AM on March 30

I'm nthing plus one the "spend lots of time in New Zealand" vote. I've done NZ and Australia several times, and I like Australia tons, but I love New Zealand.

My Australia experience is largely a few big cities.

In Sydney, I highly recommend:
The Pink House - centrally located, inexpensive, and they have a private cottage that works well for people on honeymoon.
Harry's Cafe de Wheels in Wooloomooloo if you want a cheap, very local eating experience.
Bills for a breakfast splurge - I was married to someone who hated food when I went on my honeymoon, and even he had to admit it was worth both every penny and getting up at 4am in order to make it there from Canberra for breakfast.
The Domain for great botanical garden experiences.
The Rocks was very tourist-trappy, but I'm a history buff so it was still worth it.
The Hyde Park Barracks Museum was very intense, but great if you want to learn about the history of Sydney.
I have a friend who recommends Dee Why if you want to hit the beaches, but it was having some pollution problems when I was there in 2000, so I didn't go, and in 2004 I was with someone who didn't like beaches.
Def. take a ferry across the harbor. Great views.

I have a bunch of friends in Melbourne, so my trips there have been way more about hanging out with them than seeing the touristy spots. I love it, though - it's very much San Francisco to Sydney's LA. The one time I stayed at a hostel, I stayed at Carleton College, which was apparently nice in the '90s but was gross like ick in 2004. Based on my experience with Base Wellington, I'd recommend Base Melbourne.

If you like wine, I recommend the Yarra Valley, about an hour from Melbourne.

I really liked Canberra; it has great museums, great hostels, and no tourists to speak of. Hardly anyone agrees with me, though. I think you have to be the museum-y type to like it.

New Zealand:
I like Auckland, but I'm in the minority. There's an island that's a 30 minute ferry ride from Auckland called Waiheke Island, which is where I want to buy a house. Gorgeous, great wineries, great beaches, just glorious. If you're looking for someplace to kick back, I recommend it.

Napier is an art-deco town. Good wine tasting, but the place shuts down at 10pm, and in the off season - even the shoulder season! - there's almost nothing to do. Except for Opossum World, which is freaky and insanely tacky and OMG YOU MUST GO!!! This place sells opossum-fur pasties and has the worst taxidermy I've ever seen. It's a must-visit.

Wellington is awesome. The Te Papa museum is huge and fascinating. Again, Base has a great hostel - some of the best views in the city, very cheap, and rooms that are seriously like some better hotels I've stayed in. Nearby Martinborough has great wineries, but OMG do not drive there yourself unless you have nerves of steel - the road is insane, over mountains, with a sheer drop and absolutely no breakdown lane or guard rail. And people pass around blind curves! I was sure I was going to die. The views from the top are great, though, and I'm sure there's good hiking in the area.
posted by rednikki at 12:11 PM on March 30

I lived in Australia for a while but ran out of money before I could travel to NZ. Just about everyone else on my program went, though, and they said it was the best part of their stay. It's hard to imagine, because Australia is fantastic.

As for Australia, I really enjoyed going to Lamington National Park south of Brisbane, roughly inland from Coolangatta, which you may know from your Gold Coast travels. It's got mountains, a sub-tropical rainforest, vineyards, etc. I stayed at O'Reilly's Rainforest Guesthouse. There's a treetop walkway, excellent trails, unspoilt country, great food. And while they've got luxury accommodations, they've also got modest ones.

Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane, south of Noosa, was a great place to learn to surf, though I suppose you could do that lots of places. That could be a fun excursion for you both. It's like no other feeling in the world, seriously.

The Whitsunday Islands between Mackay and Townsville, still south of Cairns, are great. Friends and I booked spots on a chartered sailboat and sailed through them for several days along with some other nice people we didn't know. A captain runs things, but you get to help with sails and steering and stuff. You stop off at nice spots for swimming or island-exploring, and at night you anchor in little island bays and have barbecues and beers, sometimes hooking up with other boats anchored for the night. In this one bay, there was that phosphorescent stuff in the water, so when somebody dove in, it would activate all around them. Very cool. In the morning you might dive in and swim to shore just to explore a bit before sailing out.

In Cairns I went on this little day trip to some waterfalls and to a volcanic crater lake. There isn't much to the lake, but after swimming in it I felt cleaner than I've ever felt in my life. Has something to do with only rainwater coming in and only seepage going out. Mmm, soft.

Friends had good things to say about Fraser Island.

A fun place to stay in Fiji was Beachcomber Island. I went there because it was cheap, and just loved it. You can either get your own hut (hut on outside, nice hotel room on inside) or you can stay in the communal dorm, which was an open-sided pavillion with bunches of bunk beds and some lockers. The island is so tiny that they just beat drums when it's time to come eat. You can walk around it in ten minutes. The food is buffet, you walk on sand up to the bar counter, a band plays at night, you can probably share some kava with locals working there, you can go out on boat trips during the day or just laze and relax, and you make friends with other internationals staying there. I loved it. I've seen some people say it's more for partiers, but it was pretty relaxed when I was there, even though I was in my prime partying years. The airline sent my luggage on to L.A. by mistake but it turned out I didn't even need it. Shorts and a toothbrush and I was all set. That's my kind of island.
posted by kookoobirdz at 12:31 PM on March 30

As a New Zealander living in Melbourne I have to back other posters saying that Aussie doesn't compare to NZ as far as scenery goes (except, perhaps, Tasmania). NZ really is a very beautiful country - the South Island more so than the North.

On the other hand, NZ cities are very 'meh' with the possible exception of Wellington. They can be ok on the surface but they lack any depth compared to Melbourne and Sydney.

So, if you're going primarily for spectacular scenery, you might want to spend more time in NZ. Your pounds go further in NZ too than they do in Australia.
posted by dbateman at 3:54 PM on March 30

Having been to New Zealand for 3 weeks, I only partially toured the North Island, so I would recommend allocating as much time as you can to see some of the country. While we were there we used Active Earth / Hiking New Zealand for a small group (<8>Volcanoes and Rainforests trip for instance, which started in Auckland and ended in Wellington 10 days later.

2 people on the trip were doing exactly what you are planning and had a 3 month holiday planned in Oz, and hadn't got enough time to see NZ, but were trying to do both North and South Island.

Enjoy!
posted by sdevans at 5:53 AM on March 31

Not only does the AA have some good stuff that will give you ideas, but you absolutely need to play the video embedded in this page.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 12:58 AM on April 1