Have never done an escorted tour, as its not really our thing, but done DIY and it was much easier than you would think. Flights are easy - its so easy (well we found it) flying internally and cheap. Plus it gives you freedom to stay longer in some places that you are interested in. We went to WA and then on to Queensland and down to Sydney before going to NZ. We did book our plane and some hotels and a campervan through a specialist travel agent, as he got us some good deals. We did speak to some people on escorted tours - and it seemed a bit fraught with 2 hours in some places and then moving on. I guess it is just down to personal preference.

A good alternative to an escorted tour or a totally DIY trip is to work out where you want to go, dates etc. and let a travel firm arrange everything for you. You will be on your own so can plan to spend as long or as little time as you want in each place. I believe Travelbag and Trailfinders have been recommended on HT.
I went to Australia in 2005 with a friend and we worked out an itinerary and handed it over to a travel firm who made all the bookings for us. We did a couple of short escorted tours during our trip but mostly we were on our own.
It depends a lot on how long you can stay, if you only want to visit a couple of places then it's easy to book flights and hotels on your own but if you are there for longer it may get a bit complicated if you are taking lots of flights and using many different hotels, it's not impossible though.

Thanks so much for you replies so far.

Judith, you said you did a few short escourted tours withinn your main trip - what do you mean? How did you do this?

sue

HI Sue

The first suggestion would be take your trip in April or early May
This time of year is wet in the north theres floods up there now and it is cyclone time in the north from mid Dec. to mid March
In the south at this time we are getting hot days like 46 C and bush fires so that could wreck you tour in the centre it would also be very hot so April May is alot cooler time
The tour you have looked at does some of the best places to see the company I have never heard of them out here.
2 companys I see lot around over hear are and are very good
http://www.aatkings.com
http://www.aptouring.com.au
These companys do day tours from the main citys and longer tours
If I can help you I will just ask

Hi Sue
The two tour companies that Chubby mentioned are the ones we used.

Our travel company in the UK booked all of the tours for us as part of the itinerary that we gave them.
We flew into Alice Springs from where we joined a 4day(I think) tour to Uluru(Ayers Rock) with AATKings. We were picked up at the airport, taken to the hotel then given a tour of Alice. The next day we had an early start by coach to Uluru where we had a couple of nights in a hotel, the first afternoon there we were taken to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas)where you could either do a hike or just wander around, we stayed to watch the sun go down with a glass of wine in our hands (provided by AATKings). The following day we went out to Uluru at dawn to watch the sun come up after which you could choose to either do a walk round the base or climb the rock. We did the Sounds of Silence Dinner one night ( expensive but enjoyable) On the final day we had an early start for our drive back to Alice Springs stopping at Kings Canyon on the way back.
There are lots of different combinations of tours with AATKings (Or APT) you don't have to fly to Alice Springs as there is a small airport at the Ayers rock resort. You can choose to stay in different classes of hotels. We could have done all of this on our own, hiring a car etc. making hotel bookings etc. but we priced it all up and found the Kings price reasonable (not cheap though) and we were well satisfied. The tour was well orgaized and ran smoothly.
We used ATP when we were in Darwin, we were picked up at the airport taken to a down town hotel and we started a five day program where we visited Lichfield National Park, Katherine Gorge and Kakadu (including a one night stay in Kakadu) again very well organized.

We also did a four day 4WD bush tour out of Adelaide, mostly off road up to Coober Pedy with a company called Banksia Adventures. This was quite expensive as there were only the three of us on the tour plus our guide/driver, but a superb tour.

AAT Kings have a UK office and you can usually pick up a brochure at Thomas Cooks or order a brochure from the AATkings web site. If you decide to put the arrangments for your holidays in the hands of a UK travel company they will be able to book tours for you with any of the Australian companies mentioned.

If you need any more info, just ask

Judith

Sue

A major factor in a holiday to Australia is the amount of time you have. If you only have a couple of weeks there then you will be more limited to what you can see. Most people want to have a few days in Sidney, visit the Red Centre ( Uluru etc) and probably the great Barrier Reef. You could easily do this in two weeks.If you want to visit the West Coast then you probably need more time.How long are you planning to stay and do you want stopovers both going out and coming back or just one way? as this of course adds days to the trip.
If you have never been to Asia before then I would say Singapore is the best stopover place, much more orderly and clean than other major Asian cities. Wherever you want a stop over dictates the airline that you can use which may not always be the cheapest.
Just let us know how long you have for the holiday and a bit more about what you want to see whilst there and I'm sure you will get lots of help as I know there are lots of Australia fans on HT (Including myself)

Judith

Judith

Thanks so much for your reply.

We are planning to go for 3 / 4 weeks.

We have not fully planned where we would like to go yet, but our first thoughts are:-

Stopover on the way in Singapore - have you done this - hotel suggestion etc please? thought we would not have a stopover on the return.

Then onwards, don't know where first, but will include :-

Maybe 2 / 3 days Alice Springs / Ayres Rock
Maybe 5 days Cairns - Great Barrier Reef
Maybe 5 Days Sydney
Maybe Adelaide or Melbourne or both
Maybe fit in a train journey.

I know this is all ifs and buts, still got to decide what to do, may never get that far again.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Who did your travel arrangements here in the UK? Did you find it cheaper than going on an organised tour - or is that not your thing?

Many thanks.

Sue

Hi Sue

When I went to Australia the first time it was part of a Round The World trip so we just had a few days in Sydney before moving on to New Zealand. We flew the first parts of our journey with Singapore Airlines, they are a 5* airline and usually provide excellent service. If you chose to fly with Singapore they also run what is called the Singapore Stopover Program where they arrange a hotel, transfers to and from the airport, free use of their hopon-hopoff bus and discount vouchers to various places of interest. We took advantage of this program. I had been to Singapore a few times so really can't remember which hotel I stayed in on this visit, I think it was the Furama City Center which was a good medium class hotel. The airline uses a variety of hotels from 3* to 5* which are usually pretty good though Singapore hotels can be a bit pricey.
When you fly to Australia the airlines usually allow you to arrive in one city and depart from another, so you won't have to backtrack if you don't want to.
If I was planning an itinerary visiting the places you mention I would probably fly from Singapore to Melbourne then have a couple of days there to sightsee, then I would probably take a tour down the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide, one that calls in at Kangaroo Island. Or fly to Adelaide spend two to three days there and taking a couple of tours out before flying up to Alice Springs. I would spend at least three to four nights up there so you could spend two days at Ayers Rock alternatively fly to Ayers Rock resort and miss out the first day in Alice Springs. Without a car you will have to book tours in the area and there are lots to choose from. I'm not sure of where all the flights go to from Alice Springs but if possible I would then fly to Cairns spend maybe five days there doing a bit of relaxing, sighteeing and of course take a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. Finally I would fly down to Sydney to spend a few days sighteeing before flying back to the UK.
My second trip to Australia I flew with Malaysia Airlines again a very good airline and had stopovers in Kuala Lumpur and Penang. But I think that Singapore would be a good stopover for you.
Not a lot of people visiting Australia include Adelaide in their holiday but I really liked the area.
If you want to take the train you can take the Ghan from Adelaide to Alice Springs and there are trains from Cairns down to Brisbane then Sydney but it takes a long time and quite a bit of the journey is overnight so you don't see an awful lot. I think flying from city to city is easiest as distances are so huge .
My friend belongs to a travel club in the UK, I don't know the name, it's one where you have to pay a yearly fee and they made all the bookings for us but I'm sure someone like Trailfinders or a good travel agent could do the same. Organised tours can be good but they don't always go to the places you want to see and you don't always get very long to look around at stops. Often you only have one night somewhere then off the next day to somewhere else so it can be very tiring. With DIY or Independent touring you can chose to stay where and when and for how long. But don't be put off from taking an organized tour if you feel it fits the bill.
I'm sure you will get a lot more tips and info, from other HT members. I will be interested to hear what you finally decide on doing.

Judith

Hi Sue

You have been given some good advice so far on Australia but do you think 1 or 2 day in Melbourne or Sydney before you start this trip to get over jet lag would be good idear
The train that goes from Adelaide to Alice Springs is called The Ghan It also goes up to Darwin it will give you look at the out back area of Australia but do book a sleeper carrage to long in a seat and you get the back packers and others that want to do it on the cheap with you if you get what I am saying
The areas between places over here are long way tha best is to fly and the cheapest

We went with titan the best of australia and it was the most amazing holiday we have ever had....it wasnt like an escorted holiday really because the only time you was really traveling on a coach was from melbourne to adelaide for 2 days...
that trip gives you 5 nights in cairns with plenty of free time....4 nights in sydney at a beatiful hotel in darling harbour
3 nights in adelaide after the city tour and lunch stop they take you to cleland wildlife park with its kangroos and koalas an amazing place.....on the other caught the tram from centre to the beach at glenelg....beatiful....
To me i didnt really enjoy the Red centre and alice springs and 1 night in alice and 2 at the ayres rock resort was enough for me...i enjoyed seeing Urluru (ayres rock) but the flies (dont like bugs) really got on my nerves.so glad to get on the plane and get to cairns.
Titan do stop in lovely hotels the one at ayres rock resort is really nice and expensive...we didnt eat in the hotels found them expensive but nice to stop in...
we went april 2007 and paided £2780 i think the same trip now costs nearly £3500 but its worth it....if you really want to see Ausralia
if you want to ask any other questions please get in touch...

Hi everyone, such a lot to think about.

My husband thought he would like a less structured holiday, do more local things, get on local buses / trains, rather than organised.

I have had a look on the internet on the trip advisor site - just putting in things like 'What to do in Melbourne / Adelaide etc'. there seems to be lots of things, like hop on a bus to ......wherever or on a train.

In Melbourne you can get a train or coach that takes you along a bit of the Ocean Road, which sounds good.

Had anyone any knowledge of this?

Also, I have come across a company that organises day trips called Viator, which offers what seems like good day trips from all cities. Has anyone used this company?

Also, what do we organise here before we go, obviously we would organised all flights and hotels, but what do day trip wise, now or when we get there - any tips would help?

thanks.

Sue

Well as you said you will need to organise your flights and hotels before you go. As for day trips you can book them when you get there. Most hotels have a tour desk and will book things for you. When I was in Cairns staff at our hotel booked the trip up to Karunda for us. We booked a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef by going to the office on the harbour and booking a trip for the following day. In most of the cities that I visited on my last trip down under the only trips we booked from the UK were the ones that were for one or more over nights. We had done a lot of research before the holiday and knew pretty much what we wanted to see but left it till we got to there to either get a tour or do trips by taking local public transportation. Sydney is very easy to get around you can catch the train, local bus, monorail or of course a harbour ferry without booking. On my first trip there we didn't book anything just decided were we were going each morning and took public transportation or walked. Did the same in Cairns and Brisbane.
You can catch the train from Melbourne to Adelaide but I don't think it goes along the coast. I know there are one day bus trips out from Melbourne to The 12 Apostles (Great Ocean Road) and I expect there are loads of companies that do this tour, though I don't know whether you can get a local bus.
For Melbourne check out the following sites http://www.visitmelbourne.com and http://www.hellomelbourne.co.au For Sydney http://www.sydney-australia.biz/ and http://www.Sydney.com/au you may get some more ideas.
If you are planning to go to Uluru (Ayers Rock) I would book that tour before you go. There is no public transportation as such in the area and without a car you would have to book a tour out to the Rock and even if you flew in to Ayers Rock avoiding Alice Springs I think a package for 2-3days with AATKings or ATP would work out cheaper than doing everything individually.
Sorry, I haven't heard of Viator, but you have plenty of time to compare their product with other companies.

Hi Judith

Have just rang Trailfinders and they are putting an itinerary together for us, not set in stone - we can change anything we like, as follows:-

Fly London - Singapore
Picked up at airport taken to hotel for two nights.
Includes and half day tour.
Taken back to airport for flight to Melbourne.

Fly Singapore - Melbourne
Have to make our own way to hotel, by taxi, I presume? Hotel accommodation for 4 nights.
No trips organised here - thought we could just see whats about.

Fly Melbourne - Adelaide
Hotel accommodation for 4 nights - same details as above.

Fly Adelaide to Alice Springs
1 night accommodation here with tour organised
then onto to Ayres Rock for 2 nights with tours organised here as well
Thought we would have everything organised here because of the location.

Fly Ayres Rock to Cairns
5 nights accommodation in the Palm Cove area.
2 day trips organised here - one Great Barriers Reef and the other one the Kuranda railway
Thought we would have these pre-arranged incase its busy and we cannot do them.
The rest of the stay will be wait and see.

Fly Cairns to Sydney
Hotel accommodation for 5 nights in the Darling Harbour area.
No trips organised - thought it would be easy to do ourselves.

Sydney - London - no stopover on the way home.

They are coming back to me with the details.

Your opinions would be appreciated regarding the above.

Sue

Hi Sue

Sounds great pretty much what I would have chosen. Your Alice Springs/Ayers Rock tour sounds like the one we took. One thing I would say is not to take the most expensive hotel in Ayers Rock. We stayed in The Desert Gardens Hotel, it's probably 4* (Sails in the Desert is 5*) it was very nice but we spent so little time there we were glad we hadn't paid extra for the more luxurius 5*. In fact I think if I was to visit there again I might even plump for the cheaper Outback Pioneer (though not the budget rooms as they have bunk beds).
I think it's good you have given yourselves some time to chill out in most of the places you are visiting, it can get very tiring after a lot of early starts and long days in extreme heat.
One other thing will you have room to squeeze me into one of your cases?


Judith

Hi
We went to oz(DIY) last christmas and based our trip on the titan "Christmas & New Year Down Under "
we ended up booking through http://www.freedomaustralia.co.uk/index.asp it was easy, we told them what we wanted to do and they booked everything for us, transfers, tours etc it went like clockwork and came out a lot cheaper than titan
our basic hol :
2nts Hong kong
6nts Mel (tours of ocean road + phillip island, xmas dinner on tramcar)
2nts Ayers Rock(sounds of silence dinner + s/set -s/rise tours
6nts sydney (tour blue moutains NYE harbour cruise +sydney smart cards)
5nts port Douglas (tour GBR +kuranda )
2 nts singapore
give them a call "first class "

"have a great time" we did!!

ps i would agree with Judith regarding hotels at Ayers rock
HTH
Edd