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I want to visit Australia. Where should I go? And when? I have less than a week to waste. Also, any hostels or insider strategies to minimize expenses? We want to check out the bars, outdoor scene, single scene. At least one big city (Melbourne vs Sydney vs ??). I think the biggest question is what time of year.
It'll be me and a buddy of mine. We're both Americans. I'm an Asian American male from the American South (with a southern accent). My friend has a Creole (African/French in Louisiana) mixed heritage. I don't expect negative issues for either of us in this regard, but any special insights would be appreciated!
I want to visit Australia. Where should I go? And when? I have less than a week to waste.
A week really isn't worth the hassle.
You'll lose 2 days flying and probably one day with jetlag. You do realise Australia is as large as the mainland US? Realistically you can see a single city and not much else. Let's say you have 7 days (Sunday to Sunday). You leave LA on Sunday night and arrive on TUESDAY morning. Assuming you're in economy you'll be looking for the nearest bed and won't stray far from your hotel on the first day. It's now Wednesday, you can do a bit of sightseeing around Sydney on Tuesday. On Thursday you can go up to the Blue Mountains (90 minutes from Sydney) and spend the night there arriving back on Friday afternoon. That will give you Friday and Saturday night to sample the nightlife, before flying back on Sunday lunchtime and arriving back in the US on Sunday monrning. I really wouldn't attempt to do more than that in such a short time period.
Where you want to visit will depend on when you want to visit. For Sydney, the weather is sufficiently mild year round that you could come anytime, although around this time of year is usually the best, IMO, as the weather is warming up but it's not hot (usually). For somewhere like Melbourne, the winters can be a bit of a pain if you're a tourist, and it can get reasonably cold there, although still warm by North American standards. If you go to somewhere in the North then you want to be there in the winter, as the summers are hot, humid and wet and the marine stingers make swimming impossible.
As for when and where, it depends entirely on your preference but the best time to visit the country is undoubtedly spring or autumn. Winters here are very mild, and by world standards, are not actually THAT cold. However, they are generally consistently wet and you won't be able to do as much as you would in spring or summer for example. Summers as you probably know can be very hot, so it's preferable you visit maybe before this time unless you love scorching heat and plan on spending a lot of time at the beach. Autumn is mild so you could also visit then, although depending on where you go it could be a little damp.
A week certainly isn't enough to see the entire country, you wouldn't even be able to explore a portion of the East Coast where all the major tourist attractions are during this time. Probably only a single city would be suitable as the above poster mentioned, such as Sydney or Melbourne. Queensland is great, but you probably wouldn't be able to pack everything into the time frame of a single week there, as there are a lot of places worth a visit (Gold Coast, Brisbane, Cairns, Whitsunday Islands, the reef etc) and it occupies the entire north-east portion of the country. It can be very humid here in summer although it's a lot more mild in the south east regions: Gold Coast and Brisbane, though both cities still recieve heavy rain fall in summer making it quite sultry (referred to by residents as the "summer blues"). Personally I would avoid the west coast around this time of the year (Western Australia), as it can be very hot.
If you are going to visit for a week, you should decide where you want to go the most and what you want to be doing. As far as Sydney goes, the cheapest way to eat is to eat at pubs. There are some great ones in the CBD Sydney also has some great markets worth checking out and it has a great, strong Asian community, in and around Chinatown, in the suburb of Haymarket.
I want to visit Australia. Where should I go? And when? I have less than a week to waste. Also, any hostels or insider strategies to minimize expenses? We want to check out the bars, outdoor scene, single scene. At least one big city (Melbourne vs Sydney vs ??). I think the biggest question is what time of year.
It'll be me and a buddy of mine. We're both Americans. I'm an Asian American male from the American South (with a southern accent). My friend has a Creole (African/French in Louisiana) mixed heritage. I don't expect negative issues for either of us in this regard, but any special insights would be appreciated!
Thanks! Sorry for such a broad question...
Have you done an advanced search on CD.. This has been covered sev times. Read through those threads and have specific questions.
Oz is the same size as the US.. So you are asking a broad question.
One week. Just one city.
And people won't care about the color of your skin... Lots of non white tourists come to Oz, no worries
Thanks for the insight guys! I did a general search on CD, and only found a military thread focused on Cairns in 2012; others that came up in the search had nothing to do with tourism/American tourists, but more with relocation (Which isn't necessarily the same thing). I will try an advanced search.
I wasn't expecting to see everything in Australia. I figured to hopefully find a region or area with both a nightlife and outdoor things to do (preferably a beach), maybe visit two or three cities/towns in the same area.
Thanks for the insight guys! I did a general search on CD, and only found a military thread focused on Cairns in 2012; others that came up in the search had nothing to do with tourism/American tourists, but more with relocation (Which isn't necessarily the same thing). I will try an advanced search.
I wasn't expecting to see everything in Australia. I figured to hopefully find a region or area with both a nightlife and outdoor things to do (preferably a beach), maybe visit two or three cities/towns in the same area.
Thanks again and keep the advice coming!
In a week? Its a long flight from the states and with jetlag... from LA to Syd alone is 14-15 hours....
there are several threads on Oz.. just search using keywords of the cities you want to check out..
Obviously at least Sydney..
from Sydney you get a city, a beach and the blue mountains are not that far away.
If someone from that far away were to tell you they had 1 week to visit the US where would you tell them to go?
Me too. I prefer living in Melbourne but for a first-time visitor Sydney just encapsulates the tourist idea of Australia. I assume that you can only visit for a week due to time constraints? If there's a way I'd come here for at least two weeks, but if you really can only do one week, you'd really just have enough time to see Sydney and a day trip or two out, I'd recommend the Blue Mountains. If you want to go swimming in the beach, the warmer months are better but on a sunny day swimming in the beach in winter isn't such a crazy idea (water temps actually don't vary much throughout the year here). I'm sure you'll want to hit all the usual attractions, like the Opera House, perhaps climb the bridge, Circular Quay, taking the ferry (particularly beautiful at night), Bondi beach.etc. As for accommodation, there are really cheap digs in King's Cross (I'm talking $12 a night) but you really get what you pay for. I would recommend a place in the CBD like Sydney Central YHA or any of the other reputable hostels. They're large, clean, with all the facilities you could want. Expect to pay at least $30 a night though.
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