What is a best way to tour round in Australia?

Question

We are planning to tour round in Australia next May.
Starting off from Sydney - Brisbane - Cairns - Darwin - Alice Springs - Ayres Rock - Broome - Perth - Adelaide - Melbourne - Canberra - Sydney.
Does anyone know what is a best public transport to use Domestic Flight or Train?

Answer 1

if you have enough time hire a camper van then you go at your own pace & see what you want to see it will take from 2 month's whenever that way depending how long you have but the more tine you have the better

Answer 2

If you've got the time that it takes to get around by train, you should consider getting a car and driving yourself around because public transport in Oz is not that great. You can get trains to major cities but you won't be able to explore too much further once you get there unless you're keen to go on organised tours. You could hire a car in certain places and fly between the rest or buy a cheap car when you get there then sell it when you leave. Driving in Oz is easy but the only real problem is the large distances between places.

If you want to fly, the domestic airlines are Qantas, Virgin Blue and JetStar (in order from most to least expensive). Connections to the major cities are good (eg flights between Sydney and Melbourne every half hour) but with places like Broome you may find that there is only one or two flights a day.

If you don't have to, don't start and end in the same place as you'll save time say if, with your international flights, you fly into Brisbane and fly out of Sydney.

In the order you're talking about, I think the best would be fly from to Brisbane, fly from Brisbane to Cairns (2hrs or 12hrs by road/train), fly to Darwin, fly to Alice Springs, road/train to Uluru (we don't call it Ayers Rock anymore), fly to Broome, road/train to Perth, fly to Adelaide, drive to Melbourne (this is an excellent drive!), drive to Canberra and then drive to Sydney.

Answer 3

I would say that flights are best.

They have regular flights between the cities/places that you have mentioned, and are not that expensive. Don't forget that the distances between places are MASSIVE, especially if you are used to travelling around the UK or Europe, so going by train will eat up more of your holiday time.

I don't think you will have much choice with the desert bits (from Cairns to Perth), but you could use land transport (coach or train) for the Melbourne - Canberra - Sydney bits.

Answer 4

wow you sure have some time and money......im jealous thats one hell of a tour! persoanlly id fly to most major destinations and look at the thing i want to see in that area otherwise your going to spend so long on the road ie; 11hours sydney to brisbane - about 16 hours brisbane to cairns, 6-7 days to perth etc etc........but wow im so jealous, ENJOY!

Answer 5

coach is the best way, train is v. pricey thru the middle!
I recomend OZ experience if you have never been to oz b4. its a hop-on hop-off coach system which travel around oz you can buy your tickets b4 you leave, i know that you will be able to get your planned trip through them.
the guides are really helpfully, and if you see somewhere you like they will drop you off and you hope back on when the next bus comes by. they run pretty much everyday.
hard to explain but please check it out, i did it and loved it lots of freedom plus lots of help.

Answer 6

Use the plane. We did three weeks there and only did half those cities.

I envy you. Australia is so beautiful. I loved Cairnes

Answer 7

Flights are quicker but at least with a train you get to see some scenery. Why not a bit of each?

Answer 8

Flights across the deserts, train or bus locally. You really don't want to be sitting on a sweaty train or bus for twelve hours or more!

Answer 9

i'd suggest going to summer bay then on to ramsay street, round the corner to heartbreak high. top your trip off with a visit to wentworth detention centre, say hello to the freak for me. this takes in most of australia. hope this helps

Answer 10

Greyhound.

(According to my mate who did the whole backpack thing last year.)

If you have the money to weave in some flights here and there you will get to spend more time there rather than just getting there.

I guess it comes down to finances. (Don't forget there's plenty to spend money on when you get there so don't blow the budget just on the transport!)