11.4.1 A Trip description
Description
This article is from the soc.culture.australian FAQ, by Stephen Wales with numerous contributions by others.
11.4.1 A Trip description
I returned from Oz about three four months ago. I had an 11 month
stint down there. I was working in Sydney and Brisbane. I went on a
whirl wind tour of Australia which included. Sydney -> Alice Springs
-> Darwin -> Cairns -> Sydney. All this was done in 2 and 1/2 weeks.
I would not go into the outback or the rainforest, etc. without some
sort of guide but Australia is reasonably civilized. Your main enemy
is not going to be people but the harsh environment.
I do not recommend that you try and see Australia in 2 and 1/2 weeks
like I did. The reason that I did that is because I was trying to fit
it into my regular holidays. What I did in that time was well filled
but it would nice to have the luxury of time to contemplate what you
want to do and where you want to go. I was in Alice Springs for about
5 days and that was about 2 days too long. It's the middle of the
desert and the key landmarks there are Ayer's Rock, the Olgas, and
King's Canyon. I definitely recommend seeing Alice Springs. The rock
is spectacular. I went on an AAT Kings tour but if I was to do it
again, I would either go on a younger or more adventure based tour
(AAT Kings is for the blue rinse set :->). Or else organise
transportation to the major places and just hike around (that would be
far cheaper than taking a tour and I don't think that you miss much by
skipping a tour.) In the desert it is very important that you carry
lots of water. It is very easy to get dehydrated. Also, I would
recommend going to Alice in the Winter (which is the same time as
North American summer) if at all possible.
In Darwin, I went on a 5 day tour of Kakadu with an adventure
back-packing company called Backpacker's Australia (or something like
that. There's another tour which is shorter but similar by Saratoga
Safaris (there is more of an emphasis on wildlife on this one. It is
run by an ex-zoologist). I organised my travel out of Darwin through
Top End Travel. They are excellent! I was in Darwin during the dry
season (which is the same as the North American summer)
Cairns, I found, to be very touristy. There's a million things to do
but they all cost money. Definitely get out on the reef. There's
tons of cruises out to the reef to suit any type of lifestyle. You
can snorkel or dive and there are tons of certification courses
available if you are interested in getting certified. (I couldn't
because of my asthma)
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