[laurajcd]

Hello!

Im planning to travel to Australia from mid January to mid April 2006 and have a couple of questions and I would be really grateful if anyone could answer them for me.

1. I will be travelling from Sydney to Carins. Is three months too long? Will I get there and realise i've over estimated my time?

2. How much will I need? I'm travelling on a budget and will be staying in hostels and travelling north by Greyhound (Coach). I'm not going to work while I'm there so is there a legal minimum amount I have to take with me?

3. I' really worried about going alone? Has anyone got any advice? How do I meet up with people? Will there be people in the same situation as me?

Thanks

[pointblank]

Im planning to travel to Australia from mid January to mid April 2006 and have a couple of questions and I would be really grateful if anyone could answer them for me.

1. I will be travelling from Sydney to Carins. Is three months too long? Will I get there and realise i've over estimated my time?

3 months would be quite a lot for me, maybe if your asking then it might be too long, but then theres loads to do if you have the money. If your into watersports or seeing some cools things like the reef, crocs, Aussie nasties, i.e snakes, jellyfish , octopus, sharks or spiders, and plenty other things, then you could plan something for every second day or so.

2. How much will I need? I'm travelling on a budget and will be staying in hostels and travelling north by Greyhound (Coach). I'm not going to work while I'm there so is there a legal minimum amount I have to take with me?

no legal amout if you have a return ticket, if not i think you need about $2000 in the bank, dont quote that tho. Easy to spend money and things arent as cheap as i was told, bout the same as the UK. Hostelz are about $20 a night but most do weekly or monthy specials at say 6 nights @ $20 with the seventh night free.

so hostel $120 a week
food $60 a week
other $depends $20-200 a week

if you cant be bothered getting the bus from sydney to cairns then flying is actually cheaper if you book in advance maybe 3 weeks to 1 month in advance @ www.virginblue.com or www.jetstar.com check out each site 12pm- 1pm queensland time for happy hour discount deals. You could fly from sydney to cairns for under $100 one way if you book early enough and find a happy hour deal.


3. I' really worried about going alone? Has anyone got any advice? How do I meet up with people? Will there be people in the same situation as me?

Plenty of people in the same situation especially at that time of year, AUS summer time, wouldn't worry about that. Best place to meet people in at the hostel, just remember first impressions count, treat other the way you want to be treated, must sound pretty patronising but still a good tip to remember.

Just remember to watch out for the funnel webs, the white tailies, the redbacks, the salt and fresh water crocs, the jellyfish(most Venomous creature in the world, get stung = death), the snakes(most Venomous in the world), the platipus, and loads more ..lol

[laurarwells]

Hi laura,

First of all you have absolutely nothing to worry about!!! You are going to have the time of your life and when it's over you will laugh that you ever worried about it before you left. Saying that, it is completely natural to feel scared because i was really worried just before i left at Christmas and was convinced i would meet nobody.
Australia was the second country i visited and i had no problems and i can't think of a single day there that i spent alone.

I do think that 3 months in the east coast is a little too long as there are so many gorgous places you'll be missing out on if you do just concentrate on that area.
I was in Australia for 2 months and had planned just to do the east coast, but i changed my mind when i arrrived.
Instead i arrived in Melbourne and spent a week there, i travelled along the gt.ocean road to Adelaide then flew by internal flight (www.jetblue.com.au) to Alice springs and did a one day trip to Uluru (a must see!!) then i flew to Perth by Quantas (wwwquantas.com.au) spent some time in Perth then flew to Sydney and travelled up the east coast to Cairns.
This was all in two months and although it sounds a lot and was i never felt rushed and had a fantastic time. You can get great bargains on seats on internal flights and they have a special time during the day when they reduce loads of seats i think it was 1pm-2pm but don't quote me on that!!
I spent £2200 on the whole trip acc, food, sight seeing, transport etc. And although i was being careful i didnt really really scrimp.

Greyhound was great especially as there are several buses a day as opposed to oz where there only one and sometimes only every couple of days. also on Greyhound you can travel overnight and save on accomodation. Some of the journeys are huge for such a little distance on the map!!!!

You will meet people as soon as you get to hostels especially i found in dorm rooms when you're making your bed or just come in with your bag, You'll get fed up of the same questions 'where have you come from? where you headed? how long have you been out for?' etc etc but it is all part of the meeting people!

Seriously you are going to have the best time, i did it as a gap year and now have uni to go to and am so glad i went out there and saw some of the world because i had the time of my life

Oh and no don't need any funds to show when you arrive if you're not working. The customs people were a bit arsy with me asking lots of questions but they are just doing their job so answer them and carry on.
Go have fun!!!
Laura