Our Plan...

paddyg

Hi all,
The plan is to take a month off work to tour OZ. Start in Sydney, stay there for 3 days. Fly from Sydney to Brisbane, and from here work our way up along the east coast of Australia via "The Bus Experience" over the next two weeks. Once we land in Cairns we are going to stay there for a few days, then fly from Cairns to Bangkok where we intend to stay for 4 days before flying home again.

My questions are:
Is 3 days enough in Sydney?
Is 4 days enough in Bangkok?
Has anyone done this Bus Experience?
What was it like? worth it?

What do ye think of the plan? Would you make any changes? Have ye any advice on places to visit, must-see's etc etc etc???

Thanks for all/any hints/tips/advice.

solice

3 days is plenty for sidney, all u need do is not sleep. its a massive city that goes on for miles but 3 days is loads. never been to bangkok so i dont know

cairns is a must. a week is not long enough there is so much to do. scuba diving, bungee jumping, sky diving. the entire town is made up of travel agents and food courts. food there is cheap and the ice cream is great. when you are in cairns i would highly reccommend renting a 4x4 (not as expensive as u would think) and drive north to cape tribulation. its a once in a lifetime opertunity to drive down dirt tracks in the heart of a rain forrest. accomodation at the cape is cheap and unreal. log cabins in the darkness of the rain forrest floor a stones throw from amazing beaches (unspoilt and deserted). drive up one day, stay over night and drive back the next day. its amazing

word to the wise, cairns has a high crime rate. our apartment was broken into while we were asleep and the took my wallet (the little ba$tards!!!) scary thing was, my wallet was right beside my head as i was asleep which means they were standing right beside me. its an amazing town with lots to do but just be careful.

davidoco

Queensland

Must do

1. Hervey Bay (whale watching September/October)
2. Fraser Island 4 wheel drive tour
3. Airlie Beach hang out and reef.
4. Townsville pubs and reef.
5. Carins pubs and Reef.

When going out on boats, which are great all along the coast, go for the fastest boat there is. You don’t want to spent half your day getting there and back. That is, of course, unless you really like sailing along. In Airlie beech we took this one http://www.whitsundays.com.au/reef_jet/ which was like a rocket compared to this one http://www.cairnsinfo.com/tour/Reef/67/ in Cairns which although it was a fantastic day out took a couple of hours extra sailing time. These types of trips are great value in Australia. Since you are taking the bus I suggest that you really PLAN PLAN and prepare to make the absolute most of your time at each stop. Two weeks from Brisbane to Cairns is going to go in a flash. Remember it's at least 1500kms between the two and your looking at about 20 hrs driving or four of your days gone on travelling.

Bangkok is definitely worth seeing and smelling and experiencing but I would give a day in Australia for two in Bangkok (but on the other hand I would give two days in Australia for one day on a beach in Thailand).

paddyg

Yeah, we are doing a lot of travelling alright so its a bit of a balls, but cairns sounds good. How long should we spend in Cairns? I've heard that Cairns the town is not that good and that its better to spend time on the outside of cairns rather than in the actual town?
Bungee jumping, sky-diving and snorkling are on my list of to-do's so is Cairns the best place for these??

One other question also, would I have to pre-book these snorkling day trips or would it be ok to turn up on the day? or maybe book a week ahead or something???

Thanks for all the responses!
Paddy

davidoco

http://www.geocities.com/austtravel/qld/cairns.html


I don’t want to insult anybody but Cairns isn’t really a city. It’s just a town with a beachfront about a half mile long with restaurants and shops, a dual carriage way type road behind and parallel to that about 2 miles long with more shops and businesses and outside that it’s just houses and the marina. It typical of a lot of Australian towns. If you want to get around without your own transport you have to walk or take a taxi. We arrived in at about 9.10 on a Sunday night on a flight from Sydney and the domestic terminal was only open for our flight and the international terminal was closed. Six people caught the bus to town which took 10 minutes. The bus driver asked each passenger where they were staying and dropped them to the door. It has that one large family sort of feel to it. There are only one or two bus routes in the town which go up and down the main street and out to the suburbs.

But it’s where all the action for the surrounding areas (forest/mountains/sea/activities) kicks off and it does a great job of this. I do remember a few good pubs and good restaurants on the beach side and a really really good man built lagoon.

As far as booking is concerned we only booked day trips the day or even night before and once we just turned up at the jetty and asked for a free space on a boat. Every hostel and nearly every second shop is a booking centre for these types of trips. Have a look on the web before and note down a few that you would like to do. The descriptions they give are usually pretty accurate and you won't believe how enthusiastic and energetic the staff on these boats and tours are, they really give 100% so that everybody enjoys their day out.

mic_d

hi there, this is a reply for paddyg (!). By the way, what is your surname?? Anyway, I've been to all those places you mentioned in your posting and my advice to you is to hand the reins over to your girlfriend (you did mention that you're going with her didn't you!). In my experience it's best to let the girlfriend make all the plans, don't worry, if I know her (and i do!!!) she won't lead you far wrong. She's a clever girl, but she's not the "take the bull by the horns" type is she (!!), well now you have the oppurtunity to coax her out of her shell and let her take charge for once. I've noticed that you like being in control, well maybe the time has come to take a backseat.....trust me, you'll enjoy the ride!!!

So that's my advice to you, take it or leave it.

P.S. How would you feel if your girlfriend scuba-dived, bungee-jumped and sky-dived before you, say in Fiji??!!! Hahaha!!!

solice

paddyg wrote:

One other question also, would I have to pre-book these snorkling day trips or would it be ok to turn up on the day? or maybe book a week ahead or something???

Thanks for all the responses!
Paddy

in cairns you dont need to pre book these. there are so many differnent companies there offering to take people out scuba diving and snorkling. all u need to do is book it the day before u want to go and its all rosey!

maybe if u want to go on a 3-day diving course u might want to pre-book but im fairly sure its not necessary. look into it just to be safe. but u do not need to pre-book for day trips

paddyg

Ah here sure look!!!
Its nice of you to reply to my post, but when you dont even offer one bit of decent advice it's no good!!! telling me that i should let my girlfriend handle it all is a bit of a joke cos she is doing that already...!!! "Our Plan"...yeah right...its more like "Her Plan"...
Anyway, sure as the man says... she might come good in the end!!!

later
paddyg