Australia east-coast/Ayer's rock

"Hallvard Tangeraas" wrote in message
m...
I'll be coming from Singapore to Australia, and I have the following
options when it comes to where I can land:

-Brisbane
-Sydney
-Melbourne
-Adelaide
-Perth

I plan to travel in Australia for around 2 months and decided to forget
about the west-coast/norther Australia and instead concentrate on
travelling across all of the east-coast as well as going to Ayer's rock
in the middle of the country, and then moving on to New Zealand. I'll be
flying with the Star Alliance group which means I'll probably use
Singapore Airlines to get to Australia, then leave with Air New Zealand
going to New Zealand (preferrably Quenstown).

Since the plane from Singapore doesn't land in neither Darwin or Alice
springs I realize there's going to be some additional travelling for me.
My question is: what'll be the best/most economical/least time-wasting
route for me do do this?

I've never been to Australia before and feel pretty clueless here, but
my idea is that I fly in to Adelaide from Singapore, stay there for a
couple of days, take a bus up to the Ayer's rock area, stay there for a
a few days, take the bus back to Adelaide again, then continue up along
the east coast (Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns). I then
take a flight to New Zealand from Cairns.


This doesnt seem like a specially good route to me as you'll
be doubling back several thousand kms

Last time I did this trip I flew in to Sydney, made my way up
the coast to Townsville (didnt get as a fars as Cairns) cut
across to the Alice, down to Uluru then back to Alice and
on to Adelaide by The Ghan

From Adelaide I drove along the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne
(This is a Do Not Miss Drive) and flew out from there.


Is this a good route, or are there better ways to see these places? What
kind of costs are we talking about when travelling such a distance as
from Adelaide to the Ayer's rock area?

It depends on how you do it, the bus is cheapest but if
you've plenty of time and a tight budget get a coach pass
but dont forget Adelaide - Alice Springs is a LONG journey

The bus leaves Adelaide at 1800 and gets into Alice Springs
at 14.30 the next day !

That said the Greyhound Australia country roads pass
would let you journey from Sydney to Melbourne , Adelaide,
Uluru , Alice Springs and finish up in Cairns for
AUD 732 including a side trip to Kings Canyon

And is Alice Springs a place
worth visiting, or is it better skipping and just going directly to
Ayer's rock? I understand there's a multitude of accomodation choices
close to the rock (also budget I hope).


There are damm few choices close to the rock and none of those
is even close to what I'd called budget. The cheapest is the Outback Pioneer
Hotel budget room at around AUD 210 per night !

You might do better to join one of the organise camping tours of the red
centre

Keith

On Mon, 06 Oct 2003 21:00:46 +0100, Keith Willshaw wrote:

is even close to what I'd called budget. The cheapest is the Outback
Pioneer Hotel budget room at around AUD 210 per night !

There's a YHA at $29 a night, which is still daylight robbery for a 20
person share room.

Jason

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