Australia -- General Information
Remember that Australia covers an entire continent – just as you might not recommend that someone visiting North America for a short period should try to do it all (e.g. see the east coast, the south, the Rockies, the west coast, etc), you probably will not want to try to tackle all of Australia in one trip. Each part of the country is interesting and worthy of exploring in its own right. It would be difficult to go wrong … in the following postings we will provide highlights for the various places to which we have been … This posting is about some of the practical matters associated with traveling to Australia.
Visas
Yes, this is a country where even North Americans must get a visa before entering. Fortunately, getting a visa electronically is quite easy. You can get one through the airline or do it on your own. If you want to do it on your own, the official site for getting an ETA (electronic travel authority) is http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETAAusXEn.html.
Flights
To/From Australia: You have several options for flying to Australia. From North America, the common way is to fly from east to west on Qantas (get a ticket from their website www.qantas.com.au or from American Airlines, www.aa.com). You can also fly United Airlines (www.united.com) and Air Canada (www.aircanada.ca). American/Qantas and United start from the west coast (Los Angeles or San Francisco). Air Canada makes a stop in Hawaii after leaving from Vancouver. In the past stopping in Hawaii was a bit of a pain because you had to clear US customs even though you were “in transit.” We hear this is no longer the case – and that by stopping in Hawaii you are breaking a very long trip into two parts. Also, Air New Zealand (partnered with United) will fly from the west coast to Australia, making a stop in Auckland.
If you are looking for a great airfare, sometimes if you fly in the opposite direction (west to east) and you go through Asia you can get a good fare on one of the airlines that fly to Asia and to Australia. We think there are even ways to fly through Europe.
The price of a fare really depends on the time of year in which you will be flying. We have seen a dramatic variance in the roundtrip economy airfares over the last few years. Most flights go into Sydney or Melbourne. Sometimes, however, you can get a better fare if you are willing to fly through Brisbane.
Within Australia: Sometimes, Qantas will offer a special deal where you can fly to/from Australia and for just a bit more add in a few segments within Australia. This is usually a good deal. Otherwise, you should try to book your flights within Australia separately from your flight to/from Australia. Currently, there are two key airlines that fly within Australia: Qantas (and it’s subsidiary Jet Star – www.qantas.com.au, www.jetstar.com.au) and Virgin Blue, www.virginblue.com.au). The best deals can be found on Jet Star and Virgin Blue. It is worth watching both websites as they often offer pretty good seat sales. Also, at this point, every day both Jet Star and Virgin Blue have special “happy hour” deals where they will put certain flights on a deep discounted fare. These flights change everyday. Go to their websites to learn more about the happy hour deals.
Driving in Australia
Apart from the fact that you have to drive on the different side of the road, do not expect to get from one destination to another quickly in Australia. While there are a few freeways to be found – most often you are driving along a 2-lane highway with periodic passing lanes. Our first time we thought we would drive from Sydney to Brisbane, about 500 miles. Knowing this would take about 10 hours straight, we decided to do it over 3 days. Were we ever wrong. Each day we were barely making it to our next destination (yes we made stops along the way, but not as many as we thought we would make). If you have limited time in Australia, unless you are going somewhere that is just outside of the city, try to fly.
If you do want to rent a car, a few tidbits. In general, booking on the car rental’s agency’s website will get you a better rate than booking through the agency (even the folks at the agency will tell you this). You can find last minute deals so long as you book with at least 36 hours notice. We were quite happy using either www.frogandtoad.com.au or www.lastminute.com.au). Also, make sure you drive on the correct side of the road. Some insurance companies may not insure an accident that was caused by not abiding by the “rules of the road.”
Train Travel in Australia
We have never taken a train in Australia. A friend has though. Our impression is that it is quite a civilized (and interesting) way to see the country. But there are very few passenger trains in operation.
Lodging
In the major cities, it is easy to find the common names in hotels as well as Australia based hotel chains. The rates may be good, the locations good … or the rates may be high. If the rates are high and you are looking for a deal, two websites we used frequently when we were traveling through Australia were www.frogandtoad.com.au and www.lastminute.com.au. The frog and toad website is run by a travel agency that seems to be based in Sydney. It has search engines for both discount accommodation and last minute accommodation. It covers both areas in the big cities as well as the smaller towns and areas outside of the big cities. The last minute site also provides discounted rates. It covers areas outside of the cities, but is not always as extensive as the frog and toad site.
For areas outside of the big cities, each state in Australia runs a tourist service. Some (at least in Victoria) of these tourist services can help you with finding accommodation in these areas. The website for Victoria is www.visitvictoria.com. In addition to the generic hotels, motels, and inns, there are unique types of accommodation. For example, we discovered that former lighthouse keeper cottages at several lighthouses in Australia are now operated as a bed and breakfast. Although not as posh as today’s hotels, staying at a lighthouse is a great way to see a bit of the outdoors along the coast.
Maps
It can be hard to find a good map when you are planning a trip. While mapquest or yahoo do not have maps of Australia, www.whereis.com.au does … it also has links to let you do a search of business by category near a specified location.
Visas
Yes, this is a country where even North Americans must get a visa before entering. Fortunately, getting a visa electronically is quite easy. You can get one through the airline or do it on your own. If you want to do it on your own, the official site for getting an ETA (electronic travel authority) is http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETAAusXEn.html.
Flights
To/From Australia: You have several options for flying to Australia. From North America, the common way is to fly from east to west on Qantas (get a ticket from their website www.qantas.com.au or from American Airlines, www.aa.com). You can also fly United Airlines (www.united.com) and Air Canada (www.aircanada.ca). American/Qantas and United start from the west coast (Los Angeles or San Francisco). Air Canada makes a stop in Hawaii after leaving from Vancouver. In the past stopping in Hawaii was a bit of a pain because you had to clear US customs even though you were “in transit.” We hear this is no longer the case – and that by stopping in Hawaii you are breaking a very long trip into two parts. Also, Air New Zealand (partnered with United) will fly from the west coast to Australia, making a stop in Auckland.
If you are looking for a great airfare, sometimes if you fly in the opposite direction (west to east) and you go through Asia you can get a good fare on one of the airlines that fly to Asia and to Australia. We think there are even ways to fly through Europe.
The price of a fare really depends on the time of year in which you will be flying. We have seen a dramatic variance in the roundtrip economy airfares over the last few years. Most flights go into Sydney or Melbourne. Sometimes, however, you can get a better fare if you are willing to fly through Brisbane.
Within Australia: Sometimes, Qantas will offer a special deal where you can fly to/from Australia and for just a bit more add in a few segments within Australia. This is usually a good deal. Otherwise, you should try to book your flights within Australia separately from your flight to/from Australia. Currently, there are two key airlines that fly within Australia: Qantas (and it’s subsidiary Jet Star – www.qantas.com.au, www.jetstar.com.au) and Virgin Blue, www.virginblue.com.au). The best deals can be found on Jet Star and Virgin Blue. It is worth watching both websites as they often offer pretty good seat sales. Also, at this point, every day both Jet Star and Virgin Blue have special “happy hour” deals where they will put certain flights on a deep discounted fare. These flights change everyday. Go to their websites to learn more about the happy hour deals.
Driving in Australia
Apart from the fact that you have to drive on the different side of the road, do not expect to get from one destination to another quickly in Australia. While there are a few freeways to be found – most often you are driving along a 2-lane highway with periodic passing lanes. Our first time we thought we would drive from Sydney to Brisbane, about 500 miles. Knowing this would take about 10 hours straight, we decided to do it over 3 days. Were we ever wrong. Each day we were barely making it to our next destination (yes we made stops along the way, but not as many as we thought we would make). If you have limited time in Australia, unless you are going somewhere that is just outside of the city, try to fly.
If you do want to rent a car, a few tidbits. In general, booking on the car rental’s agency’s website will get you a better rate than booking through the agency (even the folks at the agency will tell you this). You can find last minute deals so long as you book with at least 36 hours notice. We were quite happy using either www.frogandtoad.com.au or www.lastminute.com.au). Also, make sure you drive on the correct side of the road. Some insurance companies may not insure an accident that was caused by not abiding by the “rules of the road.”
Train Travel in Australia
We have never taken a train in Australia. A friend has though. Our impression is that it is quite a civilized (and interesting) way to see the country. But there are very few passenger trains in operation.
Lodging
In the major cities, it is easy to find the common names in hotels as well as Australia based hotel chains. The rates may be good, the locations good … or the rates may be high. If the rates are high and you are looking for a deal, two websites we used frequently when we were traveling through Australia were www.frogandtoad.com.au and www.lastminute.com.au. The frog and toad website is run by a travel agency that seems to be based in Sydney. It has search engines for both discount accommodation and last minute accommodation. It covers both areas in the big cities as well as the smaller towns and areas outside of the big cities. The last minute site also provides discounted rates. It covers areas outside of the cities, but is not always as extensive as the frog and toad site.
For areas outside of the big cities, each state in Australia runs a tourist service. Some (at least in Victoria) of these tourist services can help you with finding accommodation in these areas. The website for Victoria is www.visitvictoria.com. In addition to the generic hotels, motels, and inns, there are unique types of accommodation. For example, we discovered that former lighthouse keeper cottages at several lighthouses in Australia are now operated as a bed and breakfast. Although not as posh as today’s hotels, staying at a lighthouse is a great way to see a bit of the outdoors along the coast.
Maps
It can be hard to find a good map when you are planning a trip. While mapquest or yahoo do not have maps of Australia, www.whereis.com.au does … it also has links to let you do a search of business by category near a specified location.