Can anyone recommend some nice places to see in Australia?

Question

I'm going to visit my friend in Sydney for 15-20 days, and we're both college girls looking for some sun and fun.

We've decided to hang around Sydney (Bondi Beach and such), and then go to Melbourne, maybe check out the Ulruru rock.

If you had an itinerary like mine, how would you go about it? Would you drive to Melbourne, or fly there? What would you do in Sydney? Do you think going to Ayer's Rock is worth the time and money?

By the way, my budget is around 2000-3500 AUS dollars, though I don't know if this is being practical or not.

Your input would be greatly appreciated (and probably followed!)! Thanks!

Answer 1

Aww mate that sounds awesome, you'll love it here you really will.

Lets go through the cities.

Sydney - Sydney is really the "cosmopolitan" city of Australia. Great place for fun, lots of good night life, clubs, shopping, beaches and the biggest city in Australia. Sydney is a definately a must; especially for the iconic Harbour Bridge and Opera House. Bondi is a really good beach, but is a little talked up, and i suggest driving somewhere down on the east coast near Sydney (perhaps on your way to Melbourne) and find a beautiful quiet beach. If its in Australia - its gonna be an awesome beach. My top pick for a coast spot is Byron Bay...also notorious for its fun. (Very popular college party spot). But in Sydney just try to have a good time.

Melbourne - Personally, my favourite city in Australia, and ive lived in every capital city in the country. Its a little different from Sydney, i see it as a little nicer and clean and of course the home of the nations version of football - AFL. Melbourne has some of the best FASHION in the country, and there are alot of great sales going on all the time. My pick for the best shopping city in Australia. Also, not sure if you've heard of it but it is the filming location for "Neighbours", Australia's favourite soap which is successful in the UK as well, not to mention Rove - Australia's favourite talk show. My tip is to go to Lygon St - it has the best food in the entire city, and is famous for it ;). The main thing to do in Melbourne is shop and eat :).

Now, for the travel question, if you want to drive to Melbourne from Sydney, it will take about 10 hours in the car. If you wanted to make a road trip out of it i suggest staying one or two nights in Canberra (the nations capital, and where i live right now :D) to break up the driving and to see the Capital of Australia. TIP: if you have time, and if you decide to go to Canberra, i suggest driving down Anzac Parade. Its so beautiful, behind you is the National War Memorial while in front of you across the lake is Parliment House. Plus down Anzac Parade it has the memorials to all the different wars. Also, to see the city at night (which is actually quite stunning) drive up Red Hill which also has a very nice restaurant on top of it. Or Black Mountain, where you can view the city from the revolving restaurant in Telstra Tower. Canberra is really a place for tourist attractions and relaxing, its not a very big city but is interesting if you have time to explore it.

Brisbane - Now, just putting it on here that you may have the time or many to visit Brisbane (my home town) or as the locals like to call it - Brisvegas. It is truly an awesome city, and is home to the best beaches, hot surfie guys, and theme parks including Dream World, Movie World, Sea World and WetnWild. Brisbane's beaches are that great it even has a huge mass of skyscrapers on the beach called "Surfers Paradise". Brisbane is especially notorious for its laidback people and friendliness and the HEAT :) it is very warm here in Summer.

Flying would definately be a shorter trip, but driving will show you some of Australia's really traditional country towns and landscapes and the road from Sydney to Melbourne is the best for this.

Now for the Uluru question. Honestly, i have never been to Uluru which is a huge shame because i would love to go, but i have been around the area and have camped out in some of the most remost parts of the Australian desert and i can tell you that its an experience :) Swimming in water holes, waking up with kangaroos outside your tent, and just exploring is awesome and why i love the country. In saying this, Uluru is a fair way from the East Coast (Sydney) and even further away from Melbourne so it will take like you said time and money to get there. Unfortunately, having never gone there i cant really answer that question. But i recommend you take another trip to Australia to visit Darwin in the Northern Territory which is great fun and is home to Kakadu - an excellent national park. But be warned - it is also home to ALOT of crocs :| And then from Darwin do the trip to Uluru.

But of course the Northern Part of Australia will have to wait for another time :)

P.S - Take the time to go to one wildlife park either in Sydney or Melbourne, to see the native animals ;)

Ive been around a fair bit (ive lived in Germany and visited Paris, London, Amsterdam etc lots of countries in Europe) and i have been amazed at the sheer size of some of these places. Yet Australia is the kinda place you can call home sweet home.

Wherever you go in Australia you will be recieved with open arms :) Everyone down here is super friendly and we love to meet and help foreigners. If you want to know what to do in the cities you go, just ask a local on the street, and they'll tell you whats happening around the area. Not to mention all the hot surfie boys we have around our coasts :)

My top tip - See as much as you can, and have as much fun as you possibly can take.

I hope this helps, and if you need anymore tips just give me a yell.

See ya later mate, from down under

x*x

P.s - Heres a map so this makes a little more sense to you. Note the Northern parts i was talking about (Darwin, Kakadu) And the distances between Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/pacific...

Answer 2

take the train to melb fr sydney. a very very long journey but lotsa cute guys :D