Australia (Besides Melbourne And Sydney) Master Thread

[damaxer91]

How much time do you need to spend in Australia to really cover the major sights?
Which cities are must-do and which are not?

I've made my way around OZ several time. Here's what I would recommend:

Fly Air New Zealand in their newly configured Business Class for 100,000 Aeroplan Miles.

3 days in Sydney     (Park Hyatt)
3 days in Gold Coast/Surfers Paradise (Versace Hotel)
3-4 days in the Great Barrier Reef (Hamilton Island or Cairns)
Melbourne is ok, but definitely not a "must do". Park Hyatt there is great

5 days in the south Island of New Zealand  (drive from Christchurch to Queenstown)

[moish]

100k from israel or the us or either? and the best time to visit is winter time here, correct?

[aussiebochur]

100k from israel or the us or either? and the best time to visit is winter time here, correct?

Both are 100k, AC award chart.
The seasons are opposite from the Northern Hemisphere. But Australia is always beautiful.

[aussiebochur]

How much time do you need to spend in Australia to really cover the major sights?
Which cities are must-do and which are not?

Dan, when are you coming to visit?

[moish]

it might be beautiful, but if the waters cold, thats a deal breaker
according to your link, it shows 160k from israel

[aussiebochur]

it might be beautiful, but if the waters cold, thats a deal breaker
according to your link, it shows 160k from israel

It is nicer in the summer and you get the added bonus of leaving the American winter.
Just beware, if you don't like massive crowds, mid-summer is not for you. There are times that you can't even sit on Bondi beach.
If you are going that time of year, try just before or after school holidays if possible.

[Dan]

I've made my way around OZ several time. Here's what I would recommend:

Fly Air New Zealand in their newly configured Business Class for 100,000 Aeroplan Miles.

3 days in Sydney     (Park Hyatt)
3 days in Gold Coast/Surfers Paradise (Versace Hotel)
3-4 days in the Great Barrier Reef (Hamilton Island or Cairns)
Melbourne is ok, but definitely not a "must do". Park Hyatt there is great

5 days in the south Island of New Zealand  (drive from Christchurch to Queenstown)

Does Air New Zealand have F? Any good? Is their J that good?

Seems like Qantas never has 2 J or F seats to Australia.

I was thinking of doing an AA OneWorld something like CLE-JFK (AA)-YYZ (LAN)-HKG-(Cathay Pacific)-SYD(Cathey/Qantas) in J or F.

When are school holidays from?

[damaxer91]

Does Air New Zealand have F? Any good? Is their J that good?

Seems like Qantas never has 2 J or F seats to Australia.

I was thinking of doing an AA OneWorld something like CLE-JFK (AA)-YYZ (LAN)-HKG-(Cathay Pacific)-SYD(Cathey/Qantas) in J or F.

When are school holidays from?

Air New Zealand has one of the best business/first seats around. Service is as good as most of the Asian airlines. Internal Australia flights are very cheap on either Virgin Blue or Jetstar

[damaxer91]

Both are 100k, AC award chart.
The seasons are opposite from the Northern Hemisphere. But Australia is always beautiful.

Middle East-Australia with Aeroplan miles is 160k in Business. Best way to do it from Israel would be 90k AA Miles on El Al/Qantas/Cathay

[Dan]

Anyone want to write up an Australia trip report?

[damaxer91]

Anyone want to write up an Australia trip report?

Feel free to pm me with any questions

[aussiebochur]

Middle East-Australia with Aeroplan miles is 160k in Business. Best way to do it from Israel would be 90k AA Miles on El Al/Qantas/Cathay

Stand corrected. I was looking at the award chart on my phone and confused the 6 with a zero.

[aussiebochur]

When are school holidays from?

Each state has their own summer holidays as follows:
New South Wales (Sydney) 20 Dec-27 Jan
Queensland (Gold Coast, Cairns) 10 Dec-24 Jan
Victoria (Melbourne) 17 Dec-1 Feb
South Australia (Adelaide) 10 Dec-31 Jan
Western Australia (Perth) 17 Dec-2 Feb

In general the places that you will be visiting will be most busy during the holidays of that state. But being that you will probably also be visiting very touristy places there will be people coming interstate and therefore very full for all the above dates.

Internal Australia flights are very cheap on either Virgin Blue or Jetstar

AA charges 20k/35k for flights wholly within Australia and NZ.

[Smirk]

Anyone want to write up an Australia trip report?

Sure, not much of a writer so ill write brief and feel free to ask anything.
Trip was with 4 guys
2/14 JFK-SFO-SYD Flew United Premium Economy for $1500. Did this to get 20k CO EQM's
Flight wasn't that bad although people had told me after the best way to fly from NY is to stay in Cali for a day, it supposedly helps with the jet-lag as we skipped a day on the way there.
Arrived in SYD 2/16 8:25am took a cab to the Sydney Park Hyatt with FFN
Being that i am a Hyatt Diamond they were able to upgrade me to a nicer room but i had to wait half hour for it to be ready which was no big deal. We got a room with a porch and view of the Opera House which was beautiful to wake up to. got two queen beds and a roll away on the house. room was very nice. The reason it's such a expensive hotel is the view and location. Location is amazing because it is a 2 min walk to Circular Quay which is where buses/trains/ferries leave from. we got a 4 day "green pass" which allowed us unlimited public transport. It is also a 10-15 walk to the center of the city.
Things we did
Sydney Opera House - we just walked around it didn't take the tour. Don't think you have to
Sydney Tower - basically about the tallest building with a 360 tour deck on top, if your daring enough theres a outdoor deck where you have to wear a harness (wish we could've went but that day it was to windy so it was closed)
Hop on Hope off tour bus (leaves right past ciruclar quay)
Sydney Harbour Bridge climb - its an arch bridge which you can actually walk on the arch (wearing a harness) lots of fun, and great views
Taronga Zoo - lets just say we were in the right mindset to do this
Bondi Beach - if you enjoy surfing, they say its one of the best beaches in AU to surf, really beautiful beach
Avrohm Fried / yehuda Glantz / Lee Kernaghan concert
Some great bars too Foster is probably bigger in the US than Au

Food
Most kosher food is in Bondi Beach as that's where the Jewish community is
Katz's was really good
In Rose Bay (got there with a ferry) there is this great israeli food place Pita Mix If you go, you must go across the street to the "Drive through Bar!!"
Kosher supermarket on Bondi Rd.
Glick's Bakery

Shabbos 2/20
4 guys stuffed in one room we decided to go to the Sydney Westin for shabbos and get 2 rooms.
Spg Platinum got upgraded, very nice hotel!
Chabad in Bondi make meals that cost $15 which we signed up for for Fri night. and bought food for the day as it was a hr walk back. Fri night i ened up bumping into a cousin i didnt know i had and ate there.
Shabbos morning we went to The Great Synagogue which is one of the most beautiful shul's ive ever been too (quite modern, most people probably drove to shul but hey theyre Jewish, im Jewish they davened and that's why i went
The hotel staff knew we couldnt open the doors on shabbos and whenever the manager saw us they started walking with us to open it up without even asking, also provided a fridge for out food.

Sunday 2/21
SYD-CNS Virgin Blue
Rented a car in the airport and drove 45 min to Port Douglas, a very scenic drive.
stayed at the Sheraton Mirage Port Douglas with C&P. I emailed the managed a week before and he told me in advance i would be upgraded, and did. It is a bit old of a hotel but yet very nice. if i remember correctly the amount was 5 acres of pools, that the rooms actually sit on (mostly seawater) probably because you cant swim by the beach because of jellyfish

We brought tons of bread and coldcuts which was fine for a few days. there is a supermarket with quite a few kosher things although none of them have kosher symbols, you have to look it up on =http://www.ka.org.au/KA website

IN the hotel there is a tour desk that i emailed before and went to, with a extremely nice lady who knows all the local attractions very well and will actually set it all up for you and can even charge it to your room. (you can also use points for it)

Weather there is kind of wierd, i counted one day it rained 23 times. it is very humid and a heavy tropical rain, it rains for 10 min the its crazy sunny. We just wore bathing suits all day

Things we did
Posidon Scuba Diving We woke up early and took a free shuttle to the dock 25 min away. it was pouring when we left but cleared up right away. It is a full day trip so we brought food with us. we drove out to the reef's (hour n half drive) on the way if you dont know how they give you a lesson and serve breakfast which we had some fruit and coffee.
We arrived at the first reef 3 of us went scuba diving and 1 snorkeling (it isnt that deep so snorkeling you still have amazing views) for the 3 of us we got our own guide. ive went a bunch of times before and let me tell you it was amazing, really gorgeous!  went down for about 45 min then came up and snorkeled for 20 min. then we went to a second reef which was even nicer! and this one i got to see 3 7-8 feet long sharks about 40-50 feet away (on the way i got kinda nervous when i heard there would be sharks but the instructor assured us that if we don't bother them, they wont bother us, and i thought to myself people go scuba diving here every day and no incidents so, what the hell, lets do it. it was amazing! oh and we saw tons of reef sharks which are 2-3 feet long and swam a foot away (theyre harmless, cant bite you if they wanted to) we dove down 3 times in total. a Must do!!

Aborginal tour of the rainforest
crocodile boat tour
we had jungle surfing scheduled and was on the way and as were driving we get stuck behind some traffic and get out of the car to look and the road was flooded, and it was the only road there! we walked across it but couldnt drive
Mossman Gorge - 10 min away from hotel and really nice

2/25 Thurs.
CNS-MEL
Not much to do there just went there for shabbos and purim to a friend of mine.
Stayed at Quest St kilda which used to be Jewish owned and was like a kosher hotel, got two ajoining rooms with shabbos keys and its in the heart of the Jewish community.
Purim was amazing, we went to a party which had lubabs, chassidim, modern orthodox and litiish people, was amazing to see everyone get along so well.
Purim day there was a meal and gad elbaz concert in Luna Park

3/1 MEL-SYD-SFO-JFK

[aussiebochur]

@AS
That was mighty quick! Did you have that written up previously?

[Smirk]

@AS
That was mighty quick! Did you have that written up previously?

nope, just wrote it

[aussiebochur]

nope, just wrote it

Nice report, brilliant for the time it took.
Where you there this year or have you got a fantastic memory? Or both?

[Dan]

Great report AS, thanks!!!

[Smirk]

Nice report, brilliant for the time it took.
Where you there this year or have you got a fantastic memory? Or both?

Thanks!
i'll go with both

[Smirk]

Great report AS, thanks!!!

Thanks, wasn't so detailed but any questions, ask away