I know it sounds like an understatement... and slightly obvious... but Australia is BIG! Therefore, trying to plan a trip to cover all the sights you want to see and in a short amount of time can be challenging. I've by no means done it perfectly, but here's how we've hopefully managed to squeeze in nearly 3000 miles within 18 days on a minimal budget.
Why only 18 days?
While I'd love to go for longer, budget and home restrictions gave us a maximum time of 3 weeks away. 3 of these days are taken up on flights (essentially 2 days outward travel and 1 day return), reducing the actual days in Australia to 18. Remember to add on these days for flights- we're even 'losing' a day during the trip for internal flights.
What do you really want to see?
There is so much to do in Australia that you really need to consider what you want to see. The main thing that drew me to Australia was Ayers Rock due to the history, culture and the activities they have there. We could have missed this and focused on the East Coast, but while the flight time from Melbourne to the Red Centre is essentially the same as the UK to Spain, I knew I would be disappointed to go all that way and miss out on something I really wanted to see. Therefore, compromises may be needed- we've sacrificed spending nights in places on the East Coast to make up for the time (and budget!) needed to go to Uluru.
The other things that we really wanted to do was The Great Barrier Reef, The Whitsundays, Fraser Island, Australia Zoo and the Blue Mountains so we made sure to spend long enough in each of these destinations to accommodate this.
When to go and packing issues
Whenever anyone thinks of Australia, I'm sure images of sun-soaked beaches come to mind and blistering summer heat. However, what if your schedule only allows you to go in winter? Apparently the shoulder seasons are a perfect time to visit too, but what about the months of May and June- in other words, the start of winter? While, I'm hoping Australian winters aren't as cold or blustery as UK winters, the weather does still look fairly reasonable with Cairns forecast to be about 27 degrees celsius- thunderstorms aside. Even Brisbane looks fairly reasonable at about 21 degrees. However, due to the long drawn out winter we've had, I've forgotten what 21 degrees feels like? Is it shorts weather? Jumpers? Coats, hats and scarves? Ok... it's definitely not that!
I think my aim to pack minimally may be tested when I need to pack clothes to cover a range of temperatures- layers, I think, may be my friend.
Accommodation
I will be popping my hostel virginity on this trip- I've never done backpacking before, and my budget won't stretch to hotels on this trip, however I'm not sure I'm quite ready to experience a 10 dorm bunk room. I know, that's high maintenance but I'm trying to go between backpacker and flashpacker on this trip- and accommodation is definitely in the flashpacker category. I'm prepared to share a bathroom but would prefer my own space to sleep. We're giving dorm rooms a go- on our last city stop- so at least if I hate it, I know it's only for 2 nights and then I'll get my bed back...
OMG... It's expensive
Even hostel dorm rooms are expensive compared to South East Asia, especially private rooms, so therefore I'm willing to compromise on other aspects of the trip. Mainly daily budgets. While trips such as the Great Barrier Reef, the Whitsundays and Fraser Island are expensive, reducing the overall trip duration and finding free things to do is something I'm prepared to do. We're looking to go to the Blue Mountains in Sydney but rather than do an organised tour costing approximately $100 dollars each, we're prepared to do it ourselves by taking the train at about a tenth of the cost.
Another way we're hoping to budget is to do a lot of cooking ourselves in the hostels. We're even planning on overcooking and using leftovers for lunch the next day... if we don't scoff it all for dinner...
DIY
While the easiest and least hassle option would have been to do an organised tour- I was intrigued by a tour run by Ultimate Travel- we could at least tailor our trip to what we wanted to do and search around for different prices for trips and accommodation which has hopefully saved a bit of money.
These are just a few random thoughts, worries and issues that have arisen during the extensive planning process. Hopefully our hours or research, planning and comparing tours and prices will ensure our trip runs smoothly.
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