In Sydney/Australia November 19th for 10 days! What's going on Down Under?

[moonshadow]

Does this help?

This lists the Schoolies hotspots

Schoolies Location Information (http://www.schoolies.com/2009/about/location-information.asp - broken link)

Anybody NOT on Schoolies that is hanging around Schoolies areas and socializing is called a Toolie. Not something you'd want to be a part of I'm thinking.

Being older and having had the misfortune to book holidays in Schoolies hot spots in the past if you're not wanting to spend your time watching drunk kids trawl up and down the main drag and come back to their apartment besides yours at 4am and continue with their festivities I'd say give any Schoolies hotspot a WIDE BERTH. (although last time my then 12 month old adorable neice did exact some revenge by waking EVERYONE in a 4 mile radius each morning at 6am! )

The good thing is looking at your dates you might just luck into the early Schoolies festivities where things are a little quieter.

You maybe want to consider doing your beach trip in the first 5 days of your stay or maybe even making it 3 days to enjoy somewhere coastal, remembering that population swells in coastal places on weekends and then spend the rest of your time in the cities where the Schoolies are not.

I personally love The Gold Coast but I'd NEVER stay in Surfer's anyway and always spend my time down the south end of the coast at Currumbin. It is still lovely, close to what I want AND away from the city itself.



Oh and if you're leaning away from Oz, then yes, Queenstown in NZ is just magical and has everything you could possibly want and then some BUT I'm not sure if they have Schoolies or not.

[Jonotastic]

I'll put in my 2 cents one more time, but you can take it from there. If you want to party, stay in Surfers Paradise. I traveled the East Coast of Australia and the North Island of New Zealand. Surfers Paradise is the best beach town to party. I lived in Burleigh Waters, which is a part of the Gold Coast. Currumbin, Tugun, Palm Beach, Coolangatta are residential, laid back, slow pace areas and you better rent a car if you stay there. I used to take my dogs all the time to Palm Beach. One of my friends lived in Tugun and I also used to surf and boogie board in Coolangatta. If you are a local who just wants to hang out with friends and hit the beach, these areas are good, especially Coolangatta, but it's not the kind of place where you will easily meet people, specifically young people (under 30) as a tourist. I won't try to convince you anymore, but I know how long the flight is from US to Australia, I've done it many times, which is why I'm pushing this so much. If you choose Sydney, ask locals around your age, where is the best beach town to party and hang out besides Bondi Beach or Manly Beach...I'm very confident they will give you the same recommendation as me.

[Atlantasfinest]

Thanks guys...looks like we are going to avoid the Gold Coast and save that for the next trip another time. We'll probably end up either checking out Melbourne or taking a short trip outside of Sydney on some of those suggested road trips. I'm sure we'll meet some people there so we can just be a bit spontaneous when planning the side trip from Sydney. Thanks again...you guys are the best!