Finally Headed Down Under!

[jedijill]

As @PrincessInOz knows, I've been tossing around the idea of visiting Australia for a while now and its finally time to get serious about planning. I've been picking her brain and I thought I would post a thread to get even more great input! I'll be travelling solo and flying in from Denver, Colorado. I fell in love with Australia from reading The Thorn Birds and watching The Man from Snowy River...lol, don't judge me. I do love Steve Irwin too...Can you say I'm a walking American tourist stereotype?

Rough Plan so far:

Approx dates of March 19, 2016 though April 2, 2016. I am rounding up the last few miles I need to be able to upgrade to Business on either Delta or Virgin Australia. (Any preference?)

Must dos: Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb, Koalas, Kangaroos, Penguins. I've taken Uluru off the list due to cost/time to travel there. I'll save it for another trip. I love history and nature.

Planning on spending time in Cairns for the Reef, Sydney, and Melbourne.

I know I will have to fly between cities.

Any suggestions or thoughts on what I have so far?
How are my dates for the places I want to visit?
Do you use Chip and Pin credit cards in Australia?
How long does it take to clear Immigration and customs in Sydney?

I'm so looking forward to planning this trip! I've been to Europe many times (and actually lived in Germany) so I'm very comfortable with overseas travel and travelling solo.

Thanks in advance for all your help! I'm super excited to finally start my planning.

Jill in CO

 

[mindy32]

How exciting for you!

I'm a Melbournian who loves my home so definitely recommend you do Melbourne as planned. How long are you planning in each area? I'd recommend Healesville Sanctuary which is approx an hour-an hour and a half from Melbourne's CBD, it has a great selection of Aus animals, DH's international family members had a great day there. Depending on what you are into (ie food, shopping, sport, theatre, history, etc) I'm sure I'll have lots of suggestions for Melbourne!

And to answer one of your questions more specifically- yes I think those three places are a good choice.

 

[LivingforDisney]

Delta or Virgin?
Virgin Aus are fantastic, flown with twice to US.
Crew are mostly young, friendly.
We are flying this time Delta return in December , so won't know until them to compare.
I am in Sydney, lots to see and do.
Make sure you do a walking tour of The a Rocks area, which is down at Circular Quay/ Harbour Bridge area.
There are lots of tours on the Harbour or you could just hop on a ferry and go to Manly Beach or Darling Harbour.
Also you can catch a ferry over to The zoo, where you will see koalas, kangaroos. You can't touch them, not sure if you can cuddle a koala. I haven't been to the zoo for a long time. The giraffes have a amazing area with the best view of Sydney.
If you want to feed Kangaroos, cuddle a koala, you can head out of Sydney to Featherdale Wildlife Park, it's out near where I live, though it's about 45mins , from the city, not in traffic to get there. Used to take the kids there and you buy feed and feed the Kangaroos. You could nurse a koala, think that cost money, but can't remember.
Sydney airport is awful!
Last time I came home, was a Sat and took about 2 hours to get out if the place, so crowded, lines went for miles for immigration and customs ended up just letting most people mass exist, yeh that's good for the smugglers lol.

 

[LivingforDisney]

Forgot to say . As Sydney airport has a curfew between 11pm and I think 6am, many, many flights from USA and Europe start landing at 6am , hence the quick back log of passengers.
That's why the flights leave LAX so late at night to arrive here around 6.30am

 

[PrincessInOz]

YAY Jill!! Welcome to the Anzac section of the Boards.


How exciting. You have DATES!

I think you know that Easter is late March next year. I also checked your dates against the Autumn school holidays in Australia. Depending on how you feel about have a few more tourists around, you might want to plan your destinations accordingly.

• Queensland (where Cairns is) goes on holidays from 25 March - 8 April.
• Victoria (where Melbourne and I are) goes on holidays at these same dates (25 March - 8 April).
• New South Wales (Sydney) goes on holidays from 11 April - 26 April.

If your dates are somewhat flexible, I'd like to point out that the Melbourne International Flower and Garden show is scheduled for 16 - 20 March. Melbourne also runs a Food and Wine Festival and in 2016, it will be 4 - 13 March. The Melbourne Moomba Festival will run from 11 - 14 March in 2016. The Australian Grand Prix (also Melbourne based) is slated for 3 April.


Delta and Virgin do codeshare their flights. It may come down to which carrier is flying on the day you want to travel and whether it is 'cheaper' for you to purchase via Delta or via Virgin. Based on previous comments by some of the other Anzacs on the boards, I suspect Delta may be cheaper to book through (and check if it is actually a Virgin plane that you'll be travelling on).

For internal flights. Virgin also run a Happy Hour (well.....4 hours) sale on Thursdays (our time). You might want to sign up? I think this 'happy hour' period may fall into the early hours of your Thursday morning.
http://happyhour.virginaustralia.com/
Sometimes, the Virgin price is reasonable....but if you watch Jetstar and Qantas, when they go on sale, Jetstar may be cheaper. In any event, if you are collecting air miles, then you may want to stick with Virgin if you can accrue the points from them.


Chip and Pin cards? Yes, Australia does use them. You might want to check with your bank if your cards are accepted internationally. I expect they are, but it probably doesn't hurt to check it out.

I normally plan on about 90 minutes to clear Immigration and Customs. It usually is a lot less but it can be more at the weekends or during the start/end of school holidays.

Your list of must-do's look like it could be pretty easy to tick off. It just depends on whether you want to see the kangaroos and koalas in a sanctuary/zoo environment or whether you want to see them in the wild. It's a lot easier in sanctuaries/zoos and you'll be able to see them either in Sydney or Melbourne.

The Fairy Penguins - I can definitely make that a priority. We need to plan a day down to Phillip island, or an overnight stay. Phillip Island is a nice overnight destination to get to (it'll take about 90 minutes to get to) and we could head to the Koala Sanctuary there as well as the Penguin Parade. The last time I went to the Koala Sanctuary at PI, there were kangaroos hopping away as well.

As the others have pointed out, there is Healesville Sanctuary as well. They do offer close encounters with the Australian animals (for a price) and it's a lovely setting to be in. If you wanted to, it could also be an overnight stay at the Yarra Valley. It's about an hour away and aside from spending time at HS, we could stop by the wineries. Domaine Chandon, Chateau Yering, Tarrawarra Estate, De Bortoli etc are usually the main wineries people like to go to. There are also foodie places to stop and enjoy at the Yarra Valley. Might be worth checking it out and deciding if that's something that you want to do as well.

Plus....lots of things to see and do and eat in Melbourne! And Sydney!


Ooh! Looking forward to seeing how your plan unfolds.

 

[Luisa]

I can't add much more to what the others have suggested, they're all great ideas. My airline preference is Delta over Virgin, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Virgin, I just like Delta more. If you do go to the Yarra Valley make sure you add a stop at Yarra Valley Chocolate-yummo!
With your credit/debit cards check with your bank if they have a connection with an Australian bank as international atm fees can be high, for example the bank I work for is part of a global atm alliance so Bank of America customers can use Westpac ATMs here without the extra fee and vice versa.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Nothing to add really - of course PIO has Melbourne sewn up. Our last visit to Cairns was some time ago and Zanzibar is visiting soon so will have more up to date comments but if you mention anything I think I can chip in on I will - good to see you are all systems go to visit here at last! I guess one thing if you liked Steve Irwin, while in Cairns you should probably see Hartley's Creek for the croc show which used to be very similar to the one Steve ran at the Australian Zoo.

 

[Princess Jes]

As @PrincessInOz knows, I've been tossing around the idea of visiting Australia for a while now and its finally time to get serious about planning. I've been picking her brain and I thought I would post a thread to get even more great input! I'll be travelling solo and flying in from Denver, Colorado. I fell in love with Australia from reading The Thorn Birds and watching The Man from Snowy River...lol, don't judge me. I do love Steve Irwin too...Can you say I'm a walking American tourist stereotype?

Rough Plan so far:

Approx dates of March 19, 2016 though April 2, 2016. I am rounding up the last few miles I need to be able to upgrade to Business on either Delta or Virgin Australia. (Any preference?)

Must dos: Great Barrier Reef, Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb, Koalas, Kangaroos, Penguins. I've taken Uluru off the list due to cost/time to travel there. I'll save it for another trip. I love history and nature.

Planning on spending time in Cairns for the Reef, Sydney, and Melbourne.

I know I will have to fly between cities.

Any suggestions or thoughts on what I have so far?
How are my dates for the places I want to visit?
Do you use Chip and Pin credit cards in Australia?
How long does it take to clear Immigration and customs in Sydney?

I'm so looking forward to planning this trip! I've been to Europe many times (and actually lived in Germany) so I'm very comfortable with overseas travel and travelling solo.

Thanks in advance for all your help! I'm super excited to finally start my planning.

Jill in CO

Jill, the Melbourne Zoo is wonderful and you will definitely see Aussie animals there!

one other suggestion I have is to go on a trail ride! you said you loved the man from snowy river, and I can recommend the best place for it: Pretty Sally Riding Ranch. (google or look it up on facebook) I worked there during my teen years teaching people to ride on the trail rides and having a blast!! it's right in the ranges and has some wonderful scenery and you will on occasion, spot kangaroos in the wild! its amazing and just a train ride away from the city, just over an hour I think.

if you decide to do that, i'll absolutely make sure to be there that day!!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Princess Jess the riding ranch is good to know for any future visits by my daughter and I.

 

[jedijill]

How exciting for you!

I'm a Melbournian who loves my home so definitely recommend you do Melbourne as planned. How long are you planning in each area? I'd recommend Healesville Sanctuary which is approx an hour-an hour and a half from Melbourne's CBD, it has a great selection of Aus animals, DH's international family members had a great day there. Depending on what you are into (ie food, shopping, sport, theatre, history, etc) I'm sure I'll have lots of suggestions for Melbourne!

And to answer one of your questions more specifically- yes I think those three places are a good choice.

Thanks so much! I love food, theater, history for sure. I know I'll love Australia and I'm trying to get a good sampling for this first trip!

Delta or Virgin?
Virgin Aus are fantastic, flown with twice to US.
Crew are mostly young, friendly.
We are flying this time Delta return in December , so won't know until them to compare.
I am in Sydney, lots to see and do.
Make sure you do a walking tour of The a Rocks area, which is down at Circular Quay/ Harbour Bridge area.
There are lots of tours on the Harbour or you could just hop on a ferry and go to Manly Beach or Darling Harbour.
Also you can catch a ferry over to The zoo, where you will see koalas, kangaroos. You can't touch them, not sure if you can cuddle a koala. I haven't been to the zoo for a long time. The giraffes have a amazing area with the best view of Sydney.
If you want to feed Kangaroos, cuddle a koala, you can head out of Sydney to Featherdale Wildlife Park, it's out near where I live, though it's about 45mins , from the city, not in traffic to get there. Used to take the kids there and you buy feed and feed the Kangaroos. You could nurse a koala, think that cost money, but can't remember.
Sydney airport is awful!
Last time I came home, was a Sat and took about 2 hours to get out if the place, so crowded, lines went for miles for immigration and customs ended up just letting most people mass exist, yeh that's good for the smugglers lol.

How many days would you think I should set aside to see the major sites in Sydney? I'll be doing the Bridge climb for sure as well as the Rocks, Circuilar Quay/Harbour Bridge area. I think I read about a tour of the Opera House as well that look interesting. I really want to get a good sense of Sydney.

Forgot to say . As Sydney airport has a curfew between 11pm and I think 6am, many, many flights from USA and Europe start landing at 6am , hence the quick back log of passengers.
That's why the flights leave LAX so late at night to arrive here around 6.30am

Good to know! Hmmm, maybe I can sneak a day in DL before heading down under.

YAY Jill!! Welcome to the Anzac section of the Boards.


How exciting. You have DATES!

I think you know that Easter is late March next year. I also checked your dates against the Autumn school holidays in Australia. Depending on how you feel about have a few more tourists around, you might want to plan your destinations accordingly.

• Queensland (where Cairns is) goes on holidays from 25 March - 8 April.
• Victoria (where Melbourne and I are) goes on holidays at these same dates (25 March - 8 April).
• New South Wales (Sydney) goes on holidays from 11 April - 26 April.

If your dates are somewhat flexible, I'd like to point out that the Melbourne International Flower and Garden show is scheduled for 16 - 20 March. Melbourne also runs a Food and Wine Festival and in 2016, it will be 4 - 13 March. The Melbourne Moomba Festival will run from 11 - 14 March in 2016. The Australian Grand Prix (also Melbourne based) is slated for 3 April.


Delta and Virgin do codeshare their flights. It may come down to which carrier is flying on the day you want to travel and whether it is 'cheaper' for you to purchase via Delta or via Virgin. Based on previous comments by some of the other Anzacs on the boards, I suspect Delta may be cheaper to book through (and check if it is actually a Virgin plane that you'll be travelling on).

For internal flights. Virgin also run a Happy Hour (well.....4 hours) sale on Thursdays (our time). You might want to sign up? I think this 'happy hour' period may fall into the early hours of your Thursday morning.
http://happyhour.virginaustralia.com/
Sometimes, the Virgin price is reasonable....but if you watch Jetstar and Qantas, when they go on sale, Jetstar may be cheaper. In any event, if you are collecting air miles, then you may want to stick with Virgin if you can accrue the points from them.


Chip and Pin cards? Yes, Australia does use them. You might want to check with your bank if your cards are accepted internationally. I expect they are, but it probably doesn't hurt to check it out.

I normally plan on about 90 minutes to clear Immigration and Customs. It usually is a lot less but it can be more at the weekends or during the start/end of school holidays.

Your list of must-do's look like it could be pretty easy to tick off. It just depends on whether you want to see the kangaroos and koalas in a sanctuary/zoo environment or whether you want to see them in the wild. It's a lot easier in sanctuaries/zoos and you'll be able to see them either in Sydney or Melbourne.

The Fairy Penguins - I can definitely make that a priority. We need to plan a day down to Phillip island, or an overnight stay. Phillip Island is a nice overnight destination to get to (it'll take about 90 minutes to get to) and we could head to the Koala Sanctuary there as well as the Penguin Parade. The last time I went to the Koala Sanctuary at PI, there were kangaroos hopping away as well.

As the others have pointed out, there is Healesville Sanctuary as well. They do offer close encounters with the Australian animals (for a price) and it's a lovely setting to be in. If you wanted to, it could also be an overnight stay at the Yarra Valley. It's about an hour away and aside from spending time at HS, we could stop by the wineries. Domaine Chandon, Chateau Yering, Tarrawarra Estate, De Bortoli etc are usually the main wineries people like to go to. There are also foodie places to stop and enjoy at the Yarra Valley. Might be worth checking it out and deciding if that's something that you want to do as well.

Plus....lots of things to see and do and eat in Melbourne! And Sydney!


Ooh! Looking forward to seeing how your plan unfolds.

Ooh, thanks for the heads up on the holiday schedules and the special events. I'm thinking earlier in March might be even better! What dates work best for you? Ooh, wineries! I love wine!

I can't add much more to what the others have suggested, they're all great ideas. My airline preference is Delta over Virgin, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Virgin, I just like Delta more. If you do go to the Yarra Valley make sure you add a stop at Yarra Valley Chocolate-yummo!
With your credit/debit cards check with your bank if they have a connection with an Australian bank as international atm fees can be high, for example the bank I work for is part of a global atm alliance so Bank of America customers can use Westpac ATMs here without the extra fee and vice versa.

Thanks for the info! I'm putting the Yarra Valley Chocolate on my list. I love chocolate! I know I wont' have an issue with the banks...I just don't want to get stuck without a chip and pin credit card if its needed. The US is so behind on rolling the technology out.

Nothing to add really - of course PIO has Melbourne sewn up. Our last visit to Cairns was some time ago and Zanzibar is visiting soon so will have more up to date comments but if you mention anything I think I can chip in on I will - good to see you are all systems go to visit here at last! I guess one thing if you liked Steve Irwin, while in Cairns you should probably see Hartley's Creek for the croc show which used to be very similar to the one Steve ran at the Australian Zoo.

thanks for the suggestion! I hope Zanzibar can chime in with some more info on Cairns.

Jill, the Melbourne Zoo is wonderful and you will definitely see Aussie animals there!

one other suggestion I have is to go on a trail ride! you said you loved the man from snowy river, and I can recommend the best place for it: Pretty Sally Riding Ranch. (google or look it up on facebook) I worked there during my teen years teaching people to ride on the trail rides and having a blast!! it's right in the ranges and has some wonderful scenery and you will on occasion, spot kangaroos in the wild! its amazing and just a train ride away from the city, just over an hour I think.

if you decide to do that, i'll absolutely make sure to be there that day!!

Oh, that sounds fun too! I just went horseback riding this weekend with my family.

Princess Jess the riding ranch is good to know for any future visits by my daughter and I.

I'm so sorry its taken me so long to respond to your great advice. Work got crazy and then I had family in town. Finally getting down to serious planning. I'm hoping to nail down actual dates this week and book airfare ASAP.

I'll keep you posted with plans and I"m sure I will ask more questions!

Jill in CO

 

[PrincessInOz]

How many days would you think I should set aside to see the major sites in Sydney? I'll be doing the Bridge climb for sure as well as the Rocks, Circuilar Quay/Harbour Bridge area. I think I read about a tour of the Opera House as well that look interesting. I really want to get a good sense of Sydney.

It depends on how much time you have. You could spend a week in Sydney or a couple of days. It just depends on how you want to split your time.
FWIW - My feeling is about 3 - 4 days in Sydney to cover the things you've listed, with time to spare. You might want to look at doing a harbour cruise as well.

If the tall ships appeal, let me know. I'm on their mailing list and they do regularly offer discounted cruises.
http://www.sydneytallships.com.au/

Ooh, thanks for the heads up on the holiday schedules and the special events. I'm thinking earlier in March might be even better! What dates work best for you? Ooh, wineries! I love wine!

Jill - pick the dates that suit you and I'll make it work for me. March 14th is likely to be a public holiday in Victoria; so that could be a good week to take some time off for me.
Food and Wine, Moomba fireworks, Philip Island, Yarra Valley (wineries and Chocolate), City tour, Flower and Garden. And maybe some horse riding.

 

[jedijill]

Ugh, Business/First class upgrades are gone for my dates unless I want to pay $5400. Looks like I'm sucking it up in coach. Oh well, more miles for the next trip!

Jill in CO

 

[jedijill]

Hmmmm, should I sneak in a day at DL before my flight to Oz?

Jill in CO

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hmmmm, should I sneak in a day at DL before my flight to Oz?

Jill in CO

You're on a Disney Fanatics chatroom forum. Do you really expect us to give you any other answer except "yes"??????????

 

[PrincessInOz]

Ugh, Business/First class upgrades are gone for my dates unless I want to pay $5400. Looks like I'm sucking it up in coach. Oh well, more miles for the next trip!

Jill in CO

that is a shame!

 

[jedijill]

Flights are booked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks to Delta.com, they were booked and paid for twice. Official dates are March 11-March 26, 2016. Flying from LAX to MEL and then SYD to LAX. I'll figure out how I'm getting to LA later.

Jill in CO

 

[dolphingirl47]

Checking in. Looks like you have lots of amazing stuff planned.

Corinna

 

[PrincessInOz]

Flights are booked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks to Delta.com, they were booked and paid for twice. Official dates are March 11-March 26, 2016. Flying from LAX to MEL and then SYD to LAX. I'll figure out how I'm getting to LA later.

Jill in CO

YAY! Congrats on booking......and paying twice???? ...... although......that's probably still cheaper than paying for business class!


Looking forward to seeing how you figure out all your Australian land content!
In the meantime, I better go stalk that Melbourne Food and Wine festival and see if there is anything we can sensibly catch on the 13th, depending on how tired you may or may not be after your flight.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Checking in. Looks like you have lots of amazing stuff planned.

Corinna

...lots of time for you and G to figure out if you wanna come down under at the same time as well......

 

[dolphingirl47]

...lots of time for you and G to figure out if you wanna come down under at the same time as well......

If it was 2017, I think we could be talking, but we are planning to head back to Alaska next year in May.

Corinna