I am travelling to Australia for the first time in January for 5 months. I was wondering if anyone had any advice whether it is worth it to join Y.H.A or VIP hostels? also is the oz experience good/bad... worth the money?
I am travelling all over the east coast and potentially into alice springs. If you have any advice or recomendations PLEASE throw them my way.
Reply to this Hey!
I live in Sydney and i definitely think it's worth it to join YHA or something like that - as long as you're going to uses your membership every time you can (i.e. for discounts on the accommodation, as well as all the other discounts you can get). If you're here for 5 months you'll save plenty.
Where are you from?
I would absolutely recommend you travel inland - Alice Springs is great and there are plenty of other amazing places inland as well - Broken Hill is another beautiful town you should consider. I would wait until winter before you head inland though. Spend January until about April on the coast and head inland in April at the earliest - its way to hot and dry to be there in summer. Think over 40 degrees Celsius a lot of the time. Its great out there, its just not pleasant in summer.
What parts of the coast are you visiting?
Reply to this Thank you for your advice!
We are starting in sydney and then we were planning to head south to melbourne and tasmania and any little stops along the way. Then we were going to inland towards alice springs but hearing your suggestion i will forsure wait till april to go inland. As far as travelling on the east coast we were going to go anywhere and everywhere. Definetly to whisundays, brisbane, byron bay, gold coast, surfers paradise, and anywhere else haha.
& seeing as you recommend the YHA do you know which is better YHA or vip or another one?
THANKS.
Reply to this I don't really know about any other ones - I just know the YHA one because my friend uses that. But I'd say any of them would be good - probably just best to check out the websites for anything you can find and compare it that way.
Enjoy your trip - summers here are lovely and I know you'll have a great time!
Reply to this Hi,
I'm also travelling to Australia for the first time after seeing it on Oprah's Australian adventure. I took particular interest in the place with the giant red rock with red sand. Have you guys been there? What would it be like to go camping there? Thanks.
Reply to this Uluru??
There's a great camping ground there run through the Ayers Rock Resort. If you go on their website there's a link to it. It's fairly close to the rock with good facilities - I've camped there before and it's great. Make sure you don't go in our summer months (December, Jan, Feb) - it's just too hot and you won't be able to enjoy anything. August/September is a good time to go - not too hot, not too cold.
Also, if you're out that way you should visit Kata Tjuta which is another amazing rock formation in the area - it's really beautiful. So is Kings Canyon. There's heaps out there to see - make sure you allow enough time!
Reply to this Hey hey,
If your looking for places to stay maybe sign up to couchsuring.. You will get in and meet Australians right away..
Free accommodation anyone!? Give Couchsurfing a go
Yeah I agree that it can get very hot this time of year in the middle of Aus so stay away for awhile 😊 If possible and you wish to see remote Australia along the coast head to either Tassie, South Australia or Western Australia.. I always say West is best for the traveller who wishes to see true Australia and hit the road less travelled..
Have a great time as I am sure you will!
Reply to this I also recommend Canberra. A lot of travel books, and even some local Australians, bash the place. But if you enjoy history, culture, art, botanic gardens, and getting to enjoy them all for free - I really reccomend Canberra. If you are looking for the best place to grab some beers and go wild, best to avoid it as nearly everything closes by 5 or 6.
I really enjoyed the Gold Coast, but that was pre-flooding season. I find north eastern Australia to be a bit miserable right now (I'm living in Townsville for a year) so I am actually heading to Japan for some refreshing winter weather.
Be sure and monitor the flooding situation, much of Queensland is already underwater, and that was BEFORE the wet season officially started. There's also ebbs and tides in fresh food availability at many markets due to the damage and flooding of roads, closed ports, clogged waterways, and other issues from the floods - so It's a good idea to Know before you go.
And I think everyone who visits Australia shoud make an attempt to make it to the iconic Uluru in Alice Springs. 😊
Reply to this Also check out my blog to see what I have said about other cities in Oz. ^^
Reply to this Just a note on the 'wet season' - it's really only an issue for North Queensland and the flooding is nothing to do with the wet season at all - in fact southern parts of Queensland are just as bad, if not worse than some of the northern areas. Having said that, keep an eye on the whole thing, but as long as the floods are receeding, you should definitely go there - the more tourism, the faster they can rebuild their lives. They need all the money they can get and lets face it, if you're going to Aus in summer, Queensland's what it's all about.
Reply to this The flooding is because we had an abnormally wet winter and spring, thus saturating queensland soil before the normal heavy rains came. I'm a little confused by your post, cause you say it's only an issue for the north, but in fact the south is just as bad? I never suggested that any particular part of queensland had it "better" or "worse" than others, I was just pointing out that it IS the wet season, and much of queensland is already experiencing flooding. Not to mention, two recent cyclones. Brisbane, is in the middle of clean up, and toxins such as heavy metals and asbetos are prevalent - nothing wrong with visiting to help. But it's like I said - know before you go.
I prefer north Queensland in the fall and winter, where temperatures are milder (25-30) and the humidity isn't so bad. The summer is just really hot, very wet, and the ocean (off Townsville at least) is experiencing it's seasonal bombardment of poisonous box jelly fish.
Reply to this Uluru??
There's a great camping ground there run through the Ayers Rock Resort. If you go on their website there's a link to it. It's fairly close to the rock with good facilities - I've camped there before and it's great. Make sure you don't go in our summer months (December, Jan, Feb) - it's just too hot and you won't be able to enjoy anything. August/September is a good time to go - not too hot, not too cold.
Also, if you're out that way you should visit Kata Tjuta which is another amazing rock formation in the area - it's really beautiful. So is Kings Canyon. There's heaps out there to see - make sure you allow enough time!
Thanks for the information, that helps a lot. I was actually thinking of going during the beginning of the year but I also heard that the weather is too hot. How hot does it usually get there during summer?
Reply to this Charlie, it can get hot in January, here is a link from the Australian Government's Bureau of Meteorology Website:
BOM Alice Springs Airport
As you can see, mean temperatures (in Celsius) are 36.4 during the day and 21.5 at night. Note that it is almost 29.0 by 0900 every morning. It is a dry heat though, so you won't have to deal with the humidity.
Reply to this Agreed. I can say from experience (I lived in the centre for about 5 years) it's very often too hot to do anything. And 36.4 is the average meaning it gets much hotter than that, so be careful.
The summer is for the coast. I wouldn't head out that way until it's cooled down a bit March or April would be much better than Jan or Feb.
Reply to this Hi Hanna,
Good call on going to Australia, you’ll have a great time. How long will you be in Australia for? The East Coast is fantastic for backpacking. I went backpacking for 1 month down the East Coast and had the best time. I now live in Australia and any annual leave I get soon I’ll be going up the East Coast. I normally annual leave NSW but I want adventure! It’s difficult working here when it’s such a beautiful place, I just want to be travelling. I just have to think about my holiday leave. You may find this site of interest:
http://info.noleavenolife.com/
I don’t know about the travel groups, I just went on my own. Once you arrive you’ll never want to leave Australia.
Enjoy your holiday!
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