Possible Australia Visit

Hello OZ VAF members

I am looking for advice on visiting Australia and perhaps meeting fellow RV builders/pilots. Since this is only marginally RV related, if you wish to respond perhaps PM would be better.

Here is some background:

Our daughter has been accepted as an international exchange student at James Cook University in Townsville, QLD. She will be leaving in July. She has corresponded with an internet pal in Townsville for the past 6 - 7 years, so she will be meeting and going to school with a friend she has known long distance since she was 14. Our family is pretty excited because we have skyped with that young woman and her family.

Even though we understand it won't be the best time of year to be tourists, Jan and I are considering a 3 week vacation that would overlap the end of our daughter's semester at James Cook U.

Any advice you could give would be wonderful. I like to fly my RV-6A because it also gives me the opportunity to land anywhere there is a strip and meet the locals. Since the only choice for us will be commercial airline transportation I am considering a bus or rail pass for the QLD portion of the travel. I would like to know if either is a decent choice.

Thanks in advance for any helpful advice.

LarryT

Larry, we're just about to fly back from Oz after staying here 6 months and even that period feels woefully inadequate. So 3 weeks...well, it will be no more than a 'taste'. But visiting here is like going to Disneyworld for kids; it's just a wonderful place with warm, open people. I also would imagine that visiting the country your daughter lived in and meeting her 'family' and friends would help tie the experience together among your entire family. Sounds like a great idea.

"Jan and I are considering a 3 week vacation that would overlap the end of our daughter's semester at James Cook U."
But when is that? If in cyclone season, it will hot & muggy of course. OTOH it's the perfect time to fly in to Melbourne or Sydney to spend a few days, and then hop up to T'ville. Their weather is great then.

As you've no doubt heard, Oz is huge (size of the USA) but very lightly populated outside of the major cities. There's no such thing here as a national Interstate System such as we know it, and travel at night is ill advised as a Wallaby or Kanga will seriously whack up the rental. The roads are not intended for the high cruising speeds we're accustomed to, and so travel by bus - if available - is going to be slow. Trains are also not especially fast and expensive. And after all, time will be your limiting factor in enjoying your stay here. Best to suck it up and plan on doing some air travel. That will obviously be needed to get you to T'ville, in any event. Virgin Blue and Jetstar are your two domestic low-cost carriers.

The Lonely Planet guide for Oz has been our best single reference; consider buying a relatively new but used one from Amazon. Cheap as chips. And since you'll have to fly into one of the main cities anyway, before going on to T'ville, that few day stopover I mentioned earlier would be very helpful to you physically. We've done the trip several times from the USA east coast and, altogether, it was a 30 hr. sojourn. And since you're headed for QLD anyway, we'd highly recommend your 'city stop' be Brisbane. That's been our base of operations and its public transport system is wonderful, affordable and easy to use. Better than Melbourne or Sydney, we found. Just pick up a Go card for each family member at your first rail or bus station and Bob's your Uncle.

The bad news? Prices of things here are relatively high (as an American would see them) when the $A is in its normal $.65-.70 USD range. It's currently at $1.07 USD which makes everything painful. So when your daughter skypes you and says you need to send more money... <g>

Jack
jack_patricia at yahoo dot com if you want to 'talk' further
http://www.recreationalflying.net/ if you'd like to prearrange a drop-in at one of the aerodromes in near T'ville and also to find RV pilots in Oz. Good folks

Rental Car

For Townsville, I would actually recommend a rental car as the distances are so great but on the flip-side, with a 3 week vacation....

you can drive up to the tablelands (great scenics - 4 hours or so IIRC), stay in Cairns, hit Green Island (part of barrier reef), go to Mareeba and other locations. Do a Army DUKW (Duck) tour. Hit the markets and buy some Aboriginal artwork etc

As for night driving, just stay below 62 MPH (100 KM/H) or risk massive fines (especially with the bad USD) or hitting a roo

Some more information

Thought I'd put in my 2c worth

As with most places you need to be aware of the various climatic conditions depending on the latitude. If it is Townsville (and any other place in the tropical North) you need to be aware that there tends to be 2 main types of weather. It is always hot (average temp of aprox 30 deg C) In the middle of the year (June July) it is dry at the beginning of the year (Jan Feb) it is wet, with the added possibility of the odd Cyclone.

If you head south e.g. Sydney or even further south to Melbourne you will get a set of 4 seasons. Of course remember that you are in the sth hemisphere so the dates will be opposite to the ones you are use to. Winter is no where as severe as the U.S. A freezing day here is probably a minor inconvenience to you.

Getting around the place can be problematic. We don?t have massive interstate highways, there is not the population to support multi lane roads between every capital city. We are not a 3rd world country so the roads are good, and easily driven. However the main cities are a fair distance apart.

Sydney is about 700km from Brisbane. Adelaide (where I live) is about 1000km from Sydney. So car or bus travel will take a long time, but it is the best way to see the country. It is also very important that we drive on the left side of the road. May sound silly to mention it but we have an awful lot of tourists that mange to kill themselves and some other poor person by forgetting and driving on the wrong side of the road.

Air travel is the best way to get around if you don't want to spend a long time travelling. Virgin and Jetstar are the cheapest if you book ahead. The further ahead the cheaper they are. So have a look at their web sites and view the prices. Also carefully read their conditions, because being budget airlines they tend to be very inflexible about changing flights and people arriving after their designated check in times. Qantas is the other national airline and give excellent service although they can be a bit more expensive. Hiring cars from the airport is of course very easy and if you choose a smaller car, very cost effective.

If you are thinking about having a look at the "outback" then go right ahead, its fantastic, but be prepared. It is very big (huge understatement) but remember in summer you can be looking at shade temps of 50 deg C and bone dry, up north it can also be dam hot, humid and very muddy when the monsoon rains hit. So spring and late autumn are the best time to go. This part of Australia is also sparsely populated. We have a total population of 22 million with most of them precipitated around the edge of the continent, close to the sea.

Hope that has been some help. If you decide to come further come on down to Adelaide (South Australia) and see some really nice country. I will be happy to show you around. Of course I am a bit parochial.

Cheers

Jim

ANOTHER 2c

G'day Larry,

Usually the wet season starts in November and lasts till end March, coinciding with the cyclone (hurricane) season. Last year the 'big wet' started early and was relentless. You may be lucky this year and the season may start late, or be relatively mild if El-Nino re-establishes.

The road between Brisbane and Townsville was often flooded this season, so repairs may be ongoing for some time yet. Alternative routes are much longer and through more sparsely populated regions. Brisbane to Townsville is 920 road miles. Townsville to Cairns is about 240 road miles.

Given that you have only 3 weeks, I recommend that you concentrate on the Townsville - Cairns regions, following the advice of your daughter's host family for places of interest to you.

Also, I suggest using a travel agent in the USA to book air travel, and rental car if needed. Qantas supposedly is 'full service'. Jetstar is the low cost carrier owned by Q. Q's cabin service can be variable but usually helpful. Jetstar can be very inflexible. Virgin Australia seem a good option. Have the agent compare prices for you, and fly Q internally (and Q, or Q code share, internationally) if the $ delta is not too onerous. Often travel agents can book air travel and rental cheaper than trying yourself on the internet. Although the internet should provide good options for accommodation.

In the past you could fly West Coast US to Cairns then Brisbane, or reverse, which may still be another option.

Eventually, I expect some one from Far North Queensland will provide more and better advice. In the meantime, tomorrow we are off to Sweden (also to visit a daughter at university, in Uppsala) via Italy and the UK. So any further advice from me will have to wait until we return in mid June to resume prep for first flight - the aircraft is ready, but I need a little more preparation.

Out of your way, but if you decide to travel via Sydney, we are about 100 miles north on the coast, and you would be welcome here. And we could return some of the hospitality we have enjoyed over the years in the US.

Regards,

Bob & Shaun Redman

I'd suggest getting a car with an automatic transmission. I was on the "wrong" side of the road, shifting with my left hand when I encountered a roundabout. All in the first 2 miles after getting the vehicle. I had major brain freeze for a minute.
Also, if walking around you must remember to look both ways, the "other way", or you risk stepping out into the path of a vehicle.
H

Howie said:

I'd suggest getting a car with an automatic transmission. I was on the "wrong" side of the road, shifting with my left hand when I encountered a roundabout. All in the first 2 miles after getting the vehicle. I had major brain freeze for a minute.
Also, if walking around you must remember to look both ways, the "other way", or you risk stepping out into the path of a vehicle.
H

Click to expand...

What you have to realise Howie is that the Aussie's, the Brits, The Japanese and some other countries all drive on the correct side of the road!

Seriously though, when driving in countries where they drive "cack handed" or, on the opposite side of the road, the main problem occurs when you first start off after a tank stop or first thing in the morning, the times when your brain is not fully engaged. Normally driving is an automatic thing. When driving in Australia or the UK your gonna have to keep those automatic instincts surpressed and your higher brain focused on the task.

Personally for me, I have a problem when returning to Europe after taking the car to the UK and I have lived in mainland Europe for over ten years now.

I was in Oz in 2003 for three weeks. I am looking forward to going again soon and seeing more of that wonderful country and enjoying some pommie Strine banter.

A second 2c

Hi again Larry

I have had some experience with night-time wild life out in the "sticks". So seeing some of the other respondents have mentioned the problem with Roos at night I thought I would chime in again. Their advise is absolutely correct, try not to drive at dusk or dawn as this is when they are most active. They have this really annoying habit of dashing across the road in pairs. You will suddenly see one zip across just in front of you and for a split second you will think you have been lucky and that is when you hit the second kangaroo that was following the first one! At speed they can do a lot of damage. They are strong lumps of muscle and bone so the front of the car does not like it when you hit them. (Also the male Red Kangaroo can stand 6'tall when fully grown. A sizable "lump" of animal)

If you are driving at night try and scan both sides of the road, you often won't see the shapes of the animal but you will generally see their two eyes reflecting in the car headlights. However if one jumps out and you are going to hit it do not try to miss it by swerving, many people have caused a serious accident this way. Either by having a head on with another car or loosing control at high speed and thus leaving the road hitting a tree etc. If it bounces out in front of you just keep straight, brake hard (but not so hard as to loose control) and hit it square on. A dented front end or damaged radiator is better than an uncontrolled off road excursion.

Emu and Wombats are much less problematic. Emu are more easily frightened by cars and tend to stay off the road, and wombats are quite uncommon. Though I did once see a friends car years ago which had most of the front end and its wheels removed when he hit a wombat at high speed. Mind you that was well before the police used radar guns, so he was moving fast!

Kangaroos and sheep for that matter are a hazard on many farm and country airstrips. I met a bloke once who had the nose wheel of his 172 neatly removed by a Kangaroo that dashed across in front of him while he was landing. Needless to say that the resulting noises of prop and nose meeting the ground ruined his day! Most of the guys I know who fly into a country strip will often do a low pass first to make sure it is clear of wild life and stock before they land. This is especially true at dusk.

Don't get the wrong impression, Australia is not a dangerous place where hordes of marauding suicidal Kangaroos are out to get the unsuspecting overseas visitor. It is really a safe and friendly place as I am sure you will discover when you get down here. As I said before if you are ever "down south" I would be happy to show you about.

Cheers

Jim


p.s. I find he driving on the wrong side of the road thing is worst when you are on an unsealed or narrow road that does not have line markings. Without the lines a person naturally tends, without thinking, to drift onto the side of the road they are use to. I did it twice when I was in Hawaii a few Months back and I managed to scare the living daylights out of myself on both occasions!

Hi Larry,

Let me get this straight for you.
All you need to do is lookout for ,

1) Cars on the wrong side of the road.
2) Kangaroos / Wallaby / Wombat / Dingo
3) Emu
4) Heat
5) Cyclone
6) Redback spider
7) Snakes
8) Jelly fish / Sharks

Australia is great place.
If you get down to Brisbane, PM me and we can catch up.

Larry
Ever since Steve Irwin everyone seems to delight in over emphasising the "dangerous" existence here.
Total rubbish.
It seems some want to give the impression we should all get a VC (= Congressional Medal of Honour) for just going outside the front door!
We all just live normal lives, just like folk in US and Canada, who have Cougars and Bears and Rattlesnakes and enormous deadly spiders in certain areas, and don't hide inside all the time trembling.
Just come and forget the nonsense.
I had a friend from Sweden ask me if there was danger in Melbourne from Crocodiles! A bit like asking someone in Washington if any danger from Aligators.
The Kangaroo issue with cars is just something to be aware of.
John

I am jealous my wife and I have wanted to visit Australia for a long time!! We will make it over there hopefully soon.
Have fun!

Australia is indeed safe. I was only giving some advice if country driving was going to be the way a visitor gets around our very beautiful country.

Please come and enjoy it. There is not a state that doesn?t have some "top spots". We all have amazing beaches. From the white tropical sands in the north where rainforest can grow right down to the edge of the sand and the brilliant blue waters. To the south where the sand stretches for miles in an unbroken ribbon in places like the Coorong. Their are fantastic Islands (and being a South Australian..a Crow Eater) Kangaroo Island is one of the best, with one truly beautiful site after another making it one of the best places have ever been. I am sure that the Western Australians (Sandgropers) may make an arguement for Rotnest Island.

Our cities are as modern and cosmopolitan as anywhere else. Go to the Opera House in Sydney to listen to a Bach Concerto, and visit Adelaide or Melbourne to wander the Art Galleries, have a quiet short black or Cappuccino alfresco in any one of a thousand cafe's. Or choose to eat at a restaurant with a Michelin star rating or grab some Fish n Chips from the local chip shop and sit on the beach and "get em into ya" while you watch the sun set.

Our abundance of climates makes us spoilt for choice when it comes time to eat and drink. Our seafood is brilliant. In Queensland a visitor needs to order some Morton Bay Bugs. Not a "bug" but a beautifully sweet small crustacean. Or here in S.A. ask for King George Whiting, about the best table fish I know.

The hunter Valley in N.S.W. and the Barossa Valley in S.A. makes wine buffs faint from choice.

The Red Centre of our land is harsh, especially in Summer, but there you can literally find yourself totally alone, with the only sound being the wind. You can stand at night in a place where there is no light pollution and see with vivid detail a billion stars as the sweep of the milky way arcs overhead, and the Southern Cross blazes in the night sky.

Or you can stand in the front bar of an Outback pub and wash the dust out of your throat with a couple of "Coldies" and listen to the far out yarns from some of the locals.(and be careful because we do love to pull the leg)

So please don't let me put you off coming and visiting. We are very proud and privileged to be Ozzies, and we love to share that with others. I am also very certain that you won't lack for contacts from the Australian RVer's.

Cheers

Jim

Jim
I second the King George Whiting - freshly caught whiting is a magnificent feast.
John

Thanks to all who posted and PM'd

I will be in touch as we get closer.

thanks again,

LarryT

Townsville, Queensland.

As I sit here watching Kate and Williams wedding I realise that the Queen is next to God....and we do call Queensland God's Country. After you have been here you will understand why

I have a mate with a Fork Tailed Dr Killer in Townsville. Strangely enough he is actually a Doctor and whats more a professor at James Cook Uni.

He may be worth catching up with!

Hope to see you down here.

DB