Australia…again…

[Beezerk]

The missus and I are toying with the idea of a holiday to Oz next autumn/winter, flying to Brisbane, working our way down the east coast and flying home from Melbourne 3 weeks later. Has anyone done this sort of thing before and got some top tips? Hire a car and book hotels, hire a campervan/motorhome and go off grid? I’ve got no idea at all how to go about it so any advice is really welcome

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I haven't done Australia but we did a similar holiday to Canada this summer. Try Trailfinders. They were brilliant with us, they put this type of holiday together all the time, it is their speciality. Even if you don't end up using them, it will give you an idea of how to do it.

 

[Beezerk]

Thanks mate, I’ll check them out later

 

[full_throttle]

Travelbag are supposedly good

I did a month on the East coast some years ago. did it all myself apart from flights and hotels in Sydney

I did a week on the Queensland/NSW border and paid pennies for a beach front hotel room, then drove north to Cairns and stayed in a penthouse suite with private pool and again it was pennies in comparison to the UK. I worked on the basis I had two drivers so would spend one day travelling,



.

 

[KenL]

No, but sounds fab. Please keep us updated.

 

[Tashyboy]

Am sure the last time I went to Oz, ( via my round the world trip ) you went a few days later. Drove as far south as Byron bay from Brisbane and loved it. Gold coast, Coolangata. Yalata Pies. What’s not to like. Personally I think our resident Aussie forummer is the fave for best advice.

 

[AussieKB]

Travelbag are supposedly good

I did a month on the East coast some years ago. did it all myself apart from flights and hotels in Sydney

I did a week on the Queensland/NSW border and paid pennies for a beach front hotel room, then drove north to Cairns and stayed in a penthouse suite with private pool and again it was pennies in comparison to the UK. I worked on the basis I had two drivers so would spend one day travelling,



.

Long drive from border to Cairns, did it with a friend back in the early 70's, I would suggest stop along the way and travel out to the Islands on the Great Barrier Reef.

Plenty to see and do, plus the golf is cheap compared to UK.

Petrol about half the cost as well.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

A few years ago (in April 2019) we did the Queensland coast from Cairns up to Cape Tribulation then all the way down to Brisbane then Byron Bay (in NSW) and finally back up to Brisbane in a small Toyota Hiace HiTop/Funmobile campervan. We took four weeks to do that - it’s a long way but was easy driving.

Rented the CV (from Apollo…possibly not the best but fine) in advance but sorted out our stops as we went along…most often on the day as we travelled. It was dead easy as the sites are very regular and usually very well provisioned with showers, waste disposal and kitchen facilities. We used an app we downloaded to find our next stop site as we went along. Not once was a chosen site full and unable to accommodate us. We stopped in some absolutely stunning locations.

A brilliant experience - though my wife would mutter that she found the Hiace a bit small and limited when the weather was bad…and it was quite wet from time to time. But the sites always had a common room/shelter for the wet times. I loved it - and though small we found the flexibility of having a small CV a great plus.

ETA…We also drove Melbourne to Adelaide - booked a hire car in advance picked up in Melbourne - venturing a couple of times up into deepest Victoria staying in a v small rural places. Used AirBnB as we went along…again a great experience and dead easy to sort stays as we went along - we took just shy of three weeks to do that.

 

[Beezerk]

Thanks for the replies, I have family near Brisbane (Tamborine) and friends in both Sidney and Melbourne so we would hopefully have some free beds there. The loose plan is a steady drive down and then spend the final week in Melbourne as I absolutely loved it there back in 2019. What’s the hotel situation like on the coastal roads, chocka block or are there some arrive and pay places? I think we don’t want to be too tied down with times or an set agenda, just sort of stop off somewhere for the night if we like the look of the place.

 

[AussieKB]

Thanks for the replies, I have family near Brisbane (Tamborine) and friends in both Sidney and Melbourne so we would hopefully have some free beds there. The loose plan is a steady drive down and then spend the final week in Melbourne as I absolutely loved it there back in 2019. What’s the hotel situation like on the coastal roads, chocka block or are there some arrive and pay places? I think we don’t want to be too tied down with times or an set agenda, just sort of stop off somewhere for the night if we like the look of the place.

No problem with getting a Motel room for the night, away from Sydney or Melbourne at a reasonable price.

Friend owned the Tamborine Caravan Park a long time ago, very nice area, if you get a chance just up the road is Kooralbyn Valley
Golf Course, I spent a week there many moon's ago, great course, it is where Jason Day learnt a lot of his golf.

 

[Voyager EMH]

If by "autumn/winter" you mean November, then here is something you could do on your final leg to Melbourne.
Stop in the Jindabyne area for one or two nights in order to go up highest peak in Australia Mt Kosciuzko.
There should be enough snow melt by then to make it a fairly easy walk as long as you can manage 18km round trip. Just enough snow at the top to make it pretty in the sun.
You have to drive to Charlotte Pass and walk from there.
Lets you take home a different view in your mind of Australia from your average Brit tourist.
Mrs V and I did it in the 1990s in November.

 

[AussieKB]

If by "autumn/winter" you mean November, then here is something you could do on your final leg to Melbourne.
Stop in the Jindabyne area for one or two nights in order to go up highest peak in Australia Mt Kosciuzko.
There should be enough snow melt by then to make it a fairly easy walk as long as you can manage 18km round trip. Just enough snow at the top to make it pretty in the sun.
You have to drive to Charlotte Pass and walk from there.
Lets you take home a different view in your mind of Australia from your average Brit tourist.
Mrs V and I did it in the 1990s in November.

I was lazy and took the chair lift.....worked in Jindabyne and Cooma back in 70's.