East Coast - Best way To travel??

RandomPunter82

Hey Everyone,

I'm arriving in Sydney on January 24th and i intend on travelling up the east coast to Cairns and than make way to Alice Springs & Ayers Rock.

Travelling solo so would anyone have any advice on best way to Travel.
I was thinking Oz Experience cos it sounds like a good way off meeting people on my travels.

As i'm 26 I hope it wouldn't just be full of Drunk Teenagers!!

Any advice would be great!! :)

dSTAR

Have you got a valid European license? If you do I would recommend doing a Google search for camper vans (with air con!) for hire in Sydney, hiring one and going solo. You will get to meet people on your travels and won't be stuck with the type of people you wouldn't even sit beside on a train let alone spending weeks with them.

Coileach dearg

If you're not into driving long distance, I would recommend getting the greyhound hop-on hop-off mini traveller ticket from Sydney-Cairns. I did the east coast over the Christmas there and it was deadly. I did a couple of night buses and it disn't bother me at all. They are a highly professional outfit and everything from their customer reps over the phone to their drivers treat you well. I have heard some bad things about OZ Experience but each to their own I suppose.

Don't worry about travelling solo (thats what I did), you will meet loads of people. You will notice you bump into people fairly often on the trip.

Highly recommend Fraser Island and the Whitsundays. The place is fantastic.

justfortherecor

If you're looking to avoid drunken teenagers, then it's probably best to skip Oz Experience. The company has cultivated quite a bad reputation in recent years and I've heard first hand accounts of people being stranded in towns on the east coast for a number of days due to full/late/absent oz exp buses.

I'll probably be travelling solo up the coast myself and will most likely do the Greyhound pass as mentioned above. Also keep an eye out on the travel partner section of gumtree.com.au though just before you leave; sometimes there's people on there looking for an extra body to fill a camper van, jeep etc.

hertz

I am currently travelling east coast down to Sydney on my own by greyhound. I think Greyhound is a good way and it is full of other backpackers so you will meet people on the bus also. I have heard the Oz Experience has a lot of younger travellers and boasts a more party atmosphere. With Greyhound you can book your ticket and particular section of your journey in advance on the net or by phone so you are guaranteed a seat on the bus when it arrives, there is no crowding and pushing to get on the bus as everyone is assigned a seat in advance.

RandomPunter82

Thanks to everyone for all the great advice!


The greyhound sounds like the way forward, I have a full Irish license so i may as well get the European license before I leave just in case!

I'm going to do a week with OzIntro in Sydney once i arrive, Hopefully i'll meet other travellers interested in travelling up the east coast with me.

Any advice on how long I would need travelling from Sydney to Cairns - would 3 weeks cover it? And than maybe 4/5 days in Alice Springs / Ayers Rock?

What are the must see attractions along the east coast?

Thanks to ye all for taking the time to respond

youcancallmeal

Anyone know how much the Greyhound bus ticket costs? Sounds ideal for us as well!

TonyD79

Just priced the greyhound bus from Sydney to Ciarns for 188 euro.

Thought I read somewhere that they will accept your full irish driving licence. I was planning to get the international licence through the AA but totally forgot about it as I was away and will now only be at home for 3 day befoe I go travelling again.