good to plan early, buy ticket early more discount n much cheaper

2 nights in melbourne is pretty short.. if u want to go great ocean road, i suggest spending 2-3 nights there, maybe drive through grampians as well.

wats in grampians?
actually wat is so great about GOC other than the 8 remain apostles and the magnificent cliff-ocean view? considering it takes whole day to tour? Seems a bit overrated? Btw heard that timing is important considering that sometimes it's covered wif fog.. and thus no view

This post has been edited by D-Tourist: Oct 14 2008, 01:18 PM

worked in australia for a few months, been to Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney...but most of the time based in Sydney.


@Sydney:
Some city transports, get a map. Buses are pretty much on time. I usually walk around the city, because I stayed around there.

-Chinatown , or Haymarket district.
You can reach it from Trams (refer maps) or google earth, stops at Haymarket. It's a 200m stretch of road. There visually isn't much to see but restaurants, abalone shops, some small chinese groceries.
There is however a food court (if u can find it - Forget the name), along the stretch of road, that sells quite cheap and BIG portions of chinese delicacies (wanton, etc...). Cheap and good on the tummy.

What you might be interested resides inside Haymarket building.

Tee-shirts, souvenirs, hats, koala/kangaroo/sheeps...etc. Do check on shirt quality before u get them. Haggling and bargaining is a MUST. Remember there is lotsa shops. You might spend 3 hours easily there.
There is a market next to it...if you're early , get some fresh fruits and chew on it....seriously not to miss.


-Darling Harbour
Harbour view...i can't remember what I did there...some cycling, some restaurants...but mostly the things are expensive here.

-King Cross Rock Area - Are you referring to "the Rock"?.
It's situated near Circular Quay. Walking distance. They have a sorta evening "pasar" malam every Thursday or Tuesday...i forgot...where, some display of arts and stuff on the road. There is alot of "ang mou" shops here, pubs, bars...and some shopping souvenir shops.
The quality of the tee-shirts, towels, ...are comparitively higher than Haymarket....likewise the price. Worth to spend time there. Bargain is encouraged.

-Sydney Opera
For me...nothing much, unless I really am going in for some concert, but usually the broadway theatre at King's Road or ...near QVB would suffice.

-Sydney Harbour Cruise
Fairly a trip . Enjoyable and relaxing...won't be the Macau sorta feeling.
Don't take this in the afternoon. Do it evening or morning....much better.

-Blue Mountain
3 sisters...that's what you want to see. Cable car views in the valley...etc..
I'm not much of a environment person, so scenary did not post much interest to me, unless you like taking landscapes.

-Scenic Cableway- blue mountain same
-Katoomba - not sure...
-Featherdale Wildlife Park- If ausssie animals are something you wish to experience...this is a great place to go. Not sure the entrance price.


You miss quite some areas...probably I more city folked, and did not spend much time at all outdoor.

a) Museums
b) QVB ( there is a Malaysian House restaurant, if you can find it...sells superb laksas and curry )/ Grace Bros' shopping
c) shopping "mid valley" size at Paramatta
There are couple of nice restaurants outskirt, which you could try. Great calamaris, trouts and snappers. Fresh too...Don't go on lobsters and prawns and etc...not really worth it.

The weather changes pretty quickly when dusk comes.
Rain is mostly just small drizzles.
I would get a cap, a sweater....however for Melbourne, you should get a water resistant jacket/wind breaker, jeans and boot...it usually rains alot there, and it far much colder than Sydney.
As always....please alert always. Sydney and Melbourne aren't crime free...UNLESS you are in Adelaide...that's OK. hahahaha....

So, enjoy the trip, do some adventure facts finding and don't get pickpocket or conned.

thanks for the detailed explanations... much appreciated.

Melbourne 3d2n might not be enough if you're planning to go to those places you mentioned.

Yarra Valley, Puffing Billy Steam Train, Koala Conservation (Heallesville Sanctuary?), Tesselar Tulip Festival are nearby so probably you can make go there at the same time. The Tesselar Tulip festival is only from mid Sept - early Oct. If you are here sometime in November, there's the Warrantina lavendar farm in the neighbouring area.

Personally, I wouldn't recomend going to Chaddy unless if you're in the neighbouring area. I think the Malaysian shopping complexes are bigger and better. If you want to shop, Melbourne city would be enough, there's Myer and David Jones there, and a factory outlet (DFO) beside the Southern Cross station.

Also, Melbourne weather this winter/spring very extreme! It can be extremely cold this week, and then hot the week after.

This post has been edited by sinichi_v: Oct 18 2008, 05:21 PM

repost:
wats in grampians?
actually wat is so great about GOC other than the 8 remain apostles and the magnificent cliff-ocean view? considering it takes whole day to tour? Seems a bit overrated? Btw heard that timing is important considering that sometimes it's covered wif fog.. and thus no view

grampians you can go there to climb the rocks, see some wildlife, waterfalls, bush walks etc.
for goc, there's also the london bridge (collapsed already), forest walks, waterfall etc. can google for more information. the reason why it is a whole day tour is because it takes about 5 hours to get to 12 apostles?? most tours use the shortcut on the way back so that will be about 3-4 hrs drive.
yes, it is better not to go to goc when it's raining / cloudy. you won't be able to see much of the 12 apostles when there's fog. also, if it's cloudy, it will be a little dark when you reach the 12 apostles?

Spent 10 days in Sydney alone. roamed the whole city. i can comment on this place. I managed to visit all the attractions in 3 days.

Notes: It is better to get a place to stay in middle of Sydney city. Cos this will save u a lot in transportation. Public transport in Sydney is not cheap, but very efficient. I stayed in World Tower, so all place of interests are within walking distance except Katoomba/blue mountain...lol.

You do not need to buy a map. you can get it in hotels/tourist office(free).

what finkl1 mentioned, Sydney aren't safe to roam during the night. My friends were followed when they walk around the city at night. So be careful, go in group.

It is quite hard to get internet access in sydney. If you wish to surf, there is a CC in World Square. they charged $1 per hour from 8pm-10pm. that is the cheapest.hehe..

Shop closed early from monday-wednesday. Not much activity after 9pm except bars.



Place of interest:

1st day:
Morning
Paddy's market - the best place to shop for souvenir, bargain bargain.. but i'm suck in bargaining.. just to remind. haymarket open from friday - sunday only. there is a wet market, you can get the freshest and cheapest vege and fruits here. Cherry is a must buy. you must be careful again as the wet market are run by chinese so try not get cheated.. chinese is way to cunning. hahaha..

After shopping and if you feel hungry, go up to the top floor for food. i recommend to try the indian curry(very special) and chinese mixed rice(cheap).

Chinatown - nothing much, there is a shop selling mustard ball.. u will notice the shop cos lots of ppl will be 'Q'ing.

Afternoon
Darling harbour - during the day, you can visit Maritime Museum, free access to get some history class. good place to snap picture. IMAX theatre, nature park, sydney aquarium are located here. Want to look for food? there is a shopping centre, look for fast food or kebabs. I've been wondering why Australians like kebabs a lot, you can see a lot of kebab shops here. I'm surprised to see our finger lickin' good restaurant here.

After filling up tummy, walk down to Star City Hotel & Casino, yes casino,hehe... play few round and test your luck..

Night:
Won some Aussie dollar, so what next?

there are a lot of fine restaurants here. I dined at I'm Angus, will give it a 3/5. You will get a full bay-view here, very nice and romantic .

thats it for the 1st day. you've covered the west and south side of Sydney.

2nd day:

We will go east and north of sydney. Our checkpoint will be Hyde park,St Mary's Cathedral, botanical garden,opera house, harbour bridge, The Rock, Queen Victoria Building, St Andrew Anglican Cathedral.

Hyde Park - The biggest park in sydney city, it is way better than KLCC park. nothing much here, few memorial site and landmarks.

St Mary's Catholic Church - very old Church. It is the place for this year's youth day where the pope attended the ceremony. I missed that, just 1 month away...haiz.. after St Mary's , lots of government building.

Royal botanical garden - no information.

opera house - actually there is nothing much to see. but it is a good site to take some scenery pictures. Wait for the sunset, view is at its best this time. If you have time wait till around 6pm, the pillars of harbour bridge will be projected with image.

The ROCK - nothing much, worth visiting only if you wish to have a drink with australians.

Harbour bridge - did not climb that, my apartment have a better view of the whole sydney city.
Amp tower - didn't visit. same reason as above.

Move on, walk along george street. The area along Queen Victoria Building, is the Shopping area, higher class 'bukit bintang area'. There are 2 famous chocolate shop here, darrel lea and Haigh's.

well, thats another day...

basically, in this 2 days, I've almost covered the whole city center. there is a smaller exotic place to visit. King Cross, heard a lot from my Aussie's friend. Sydney's red light district, well we went there just to see the difference of Aussie's chow kit compared to malaysia. Once again, sydney is not crime free city, and you are going to a place run by gangsta. So think twice k,? the possibility of getting in trouble in King Cross is much higher. We had a big time in this place, scared the hell out of us. Lucky i'm back in pieces. If you think you want to go, remember the golden rule, go in groups, and don't try to talk or nego to/with bouncers if you don;t wish to enter their club.


So the next day, 3rd day:

katoomba,Blue mountain, and featherdale park, - I paid around A$70 for a 1 day tour.. i forgot the name of that company. superb service. very very nice tour guide. Wear a comfortable shoe and prepare to walk quite some distance. If you like wine, do get few bottle of 3 sisters wine. you cant get it outside of 3 sisters hill, not even in katoomba.

featherdale - australian zoo, get to see all australian animals. thats all..


well, like finkl1, I'm also a city folk. I also think that places like Coles supermarket is worth to visit, you will get to experience aussie's lifestyle.

plan your trip well.. good luck

thanks a lot guys...!!! that was very informative. Looks like i may haf to change my plan to 3n sydney and 3n melbourne considering the long list of places. hehehe!!!


Anything else which are:

must eat (good food / titbits)?

must buy (good souvenirs / cheap stuff) - eg what brands are cheaper in Australia compared with Malaysia?

must drink (good drinks)?

must see/experience?

if u are go sydney and melb buy some krispy kreme donuts hehe
drink? wine and beers haha

if u really have alot of time u can travel out of sydney to hand feed sharks and rays -> http://www.ozsharkandray.com.au/

mostly food are steaks, but if u are in Chowdar Bay there is 1 restaurant next to the sea which is taste superb but exp haha but nice view

hmm if u want instead of visiting coles go for woolies more varieties to buy and see, cheap cloths erm u can try Kmart and BigW
recommand u go queen victoria shopping mall like enferno said is highclass and worth having a window shopping its own by Malaysian who owns Garden city.Besides below its a train station and on top is sydney tower haha

Repost:

Any recommend farm to experience on hand plucking and tasting of spring fruits? Btw what r the fruits in season in Oct & Nov other than cherries.

i dunno whether the period u going there got sales or not. But then i bought FCUK shirts which the design dun have back in M'sia and it's cheaper by let's say hmm,rm60+ lor..coz i bought i think around AUD30.

Btw, the food there must tryyyyyyyy!!!
but then i lazy list down again ler..check out the other thread on melbourne 1 ler..
i also upload a pic

Some more questions:-

1) how much is average domestic flights btw Sydney-Melbourne?

2) Are there any caravan / mobile home for rental in Melbourne area considering much of Melbourne attractions requires travelling, so if there is such mobile home, it would be more interesting and cost-effective?

it is not so convenient and safe for self driving.. you need to know the road well..

must drink - aussie milk(no melamine and taste way better than local brand),wine and beers - cheap.. local recommend Toohey's.. heineken is too plain.. haha. I'm addicted to lemonade drink, i forgot the brand though. you can easily find it.

titbits - chocolates- cadbury is cheap there, buy in coles or woolie. Must try: Nougat(melbourne cheaper)

food -just try everything from fast food to restaurant.

lemonade drink....must be solo or lift

sydney to melb 80 to 200bucks depending on the day u go, wed, frid ,sat and sunday are peak days much more expensive

go for virgin blue or jetstar to see the price and date to book, play safe dont pick the last flight because most of the time they will cancel the flight and push u all to the 5am flight the next day and try not go for quantas if cheap also dont go for it, currently alot things happen to quantas planes here n there got holes happen quit a number of times in 2 weeks

fast food if u eat beef then would be cheaper bigmac and double cheese burger is about 6 to 7 bucks, chicken meals like kfc, mcd, red roosters their meal from 8bucks to 20bucks, btw if u wan bring ur own chili or tomato they wont provide u those stuff

hahaha i miss solo and lift.

another must do in melbourne is just relax and have coffee. i recommend going to docklands or port melbourne to have coffee near the water. dunno if your into this kinda thing. or even have the time though. also port melbourne got good fish and chips.

go there and eat mc'D? lame or not ar? xD

melbourne got lots of nice food ler..if u lazy search, go lygon street there got plenty..left and right also food xD
eat the greek food at Stalactite but can't remember which street xD
alamak i also forgot the street names and food that i took ler..gotta refer back to the other topic xD

haha i just suggest eat fast food if on budget ma hehe
quit alot of food around so just close eye and pick 1 and eat haha
any suggestions on sydney some good and famous 1??
i always just pick any near by or passing by go in eat