Expert: John Baranyai - 11/13/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi John,
I have a few Questions About my visit to Australia,I am travelling to Australia in FEB'of 2010 with my family of 3.And will be in Australia for a duration of 30-45days.I am planning to travel around Australia and see major Tourist Palces of Sydney,Cairns %26 the Great Barrier Reef,Brisbane,Melbourne,The Great Ocean Road,The Red Centre including Uluru-Tjuta National Park,Canberra,Adelaide can u help me by planning an itinerary how how i might be able to cover this in say 10-15days and also i am on a tight budget so can u suggest some cheap modes of transport and stay at these places.I can afford a budget of about 35$-40$ per person on stay at B%26B at these places.Please Help Me Out



ANSWER: Hi Ashutosh,

You could cover all of this in 15 days but I suggest you try to expand it to 25 days as you don't want to be in a hurry while you are holiday.You could start at Melbourne and then work your way to Adelaide , Uluru then Sydney then Cairns or vice versa.You could hire a car but a bus tour would be cheaper plus you then  have the added benefit of having a professional tour guide .I would advise you to stay in Motels or Hotels which are not in the city district as they are a lot cheaper that way.Also when you get to Uluru by sure to take lots of drinks and sandwiches as the Native Aboriginal owners of the Rock do not allow any commerce there  which I found out the hard way and waited 5 hours to get a drink and a meal. I hope you have a great trip and please feel free to write to me again if you  need any clarification on anything I have written or any further advice.

Regards,

John

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks For your Reply john I have taken note of the details you have provided! could you recommend any place to stay at? According to my budget and any contact details for them so that i can make my booking when i do visit.Would appreciate it a lot thanks once again!

Answer
Hi again Ashutosh,

If I were you I would not be inclined to make any bookings in advance because that wil restrict your choices. Most country towns have a couple of Hotels where  you can stay very cheaply. Also for example the Gold Coast has a street strip of about 2 kilometres which  just consists of Motels . That way you can get a good choice of where to stay. However if you feel you must book ahead  I would look for any motels  with the word "Budget" in front of their names.You can get details by logging onto www.google.com and typing in 'Budget Motels  Australia".

Best wishes and  could you please rate my answer?

John