Australia - what's hot & what's not?

[B.M.F]

Sydney is awesome and agree with everything said apart from the beer. I lived on Tooheys Old which is much nicer than the new and if you get yourself to Pier 24 in Darling Harbour they do a nice tiple called rooftop. I beleive Pier 24 is also a haunt for sydney seagulls. For chilling get yourself up tooosa. The place is beautiful, loads of nice walks with Koala if you are lucky. Really bizarre seeing Roos jump past you whn playing golf as well.

You will love it. Oz is the best place in the world bar none.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

The best place in Australia is the Whitsunday Islands - especially Whitehaven Beach. Spend 4 days sailing around those Islands. Fraser Island is cool too, though beware the snakes! Ayers Rock is overly priced, but worth going for a couple of days. I've been to Perth once - thought it was oaverrated personally, but I'm told the surrounding areas are really nice.

The Bondi to Coogee walk is fantastic. Bondi is a big beach, but too commercialised now - Bronte is the best beach on that coast. Coogee is going the same way as Bondi & Manly.

There are some areas within 3 hours drive of Sydney. The Blue Mountains are a must, but do it during the summer - it's cold otherwise. Hunter Valley is good if you like wine & want to see a load of Kangaroo's - spend at least one night there. Finally, I would strongly recommend spending 3-4 nights at Port Stephens. Unbelievable place - loads to do, great deserted beaches. Fantastic. I can recommend some reasonable places to stay there.

Don't forget Palm Beach an hour north of Sydney too - it's where Home & Away is filmed.

Beer - 4X is only sold in Queensland, only ever seen Fosters in Perth. I drink Tooheys New.

I'll drop you a PM. We'll organise an Albion piss-up when you're in Sydney

 

[MattBackHome]

Funnily enough I'm in a travel agency in Brisbane waiting to book my Fraser / Whitsundays right now. It is beyond BOILING here. In fact it's HOT AS BALLS. Not that much going on though.

Byron was very nice, Surfers is a shithole with a pretty long beach and Reading quality bars and clubs.

Sydney is one of the best cities I've ever been to. I'll be back there in a couple of months to work over Xmas.

Basically the next bit of my trip is going to be f***ing awesome and I cannot wait...

I'm going to hit Melbourne for the tennis in January as well.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

I'm off to Daydream Island for my birds birthday in November. Haven't been to the Whitsundays since beginning of 2003. Can't wait!

 

[finbar]

East Coast - what everyone said, Fraser Island and Whitsundays are the way forward. Sydney is fantastic.

But, dont make the mistake most people do and miss Western Australia (WA). If you got time get some friends and drive there from the east coast, takes a few days but is amazing. Or fly - whatever, but then spend a few days in Perth and Fremantle, the climate is fantastic, never humid, but nice and hot. Do Rottnest island and then hire a camper van and go south of perth down to Albany and Augusta for a week via Margeret River and Bunbury (better dolphin swimming here than Monkey Mia,they actual come up to you when you are stood in the sea), stay near Pemberton and do the tree top walks, then drive back up the coast to Broome via Kalbarri (definate) and the ultimate for snorkelling is (YOU MUST GO THERE) Exmouth/ Cape Range national park / Coral Bay- coral is about 5 metres of the beach and you're inside a sand bank that stretches about a mile out so no bad currents or things to eat you. You can park your van on loads of small camp sites about 20 metres from the sea. Basically, theres one main holiday route for WA, get any decent guide book, i.e. lonely planet and it tells you what to do, follow it for 3/4 weeks and you will f****** love it, its the most amazing scenery on earth, bigger than europe with only 1.5 million people, and very very laid back and friendly too, more so than east coast, and not full of jason gillespie looking type meat heads who kill you and bury your body in the desert like the Northern Territory is and theres only one poisonous spider in WA and it doesnt even kill you its that nice!

 

[Seagull over NZ]

Do what every sensible person does, skip Australia and land in Godzone, the place they call the Land of the long white cloud.

Seriously though, make sure you get over to NZ in that year and spend at least a month in the south island, its simply awesome.

And make sure you drink some Speights..........

 

[South Yarra Seagull]

LOL, waiting for Seagull Over NZ to pipe up!

Can only second everything everyone said.

If you are on a Working Holiday Visa, you'll find work easy to come by. All the usual agencies and stuff abound.

And yeah, don't live in Sydney. Come to The Sporting Capital Of Australia and cheer on The Victory