Australia is expensive, intercontinental flight costs a lot, travel costs, overnight stays cost, it costs to rent a car and it costs to eat out. It costs everything 😀!
With this I don’t want to scare anyone, but we have to deal with reality, having said that it is also true that if you want you can not spend a fortune by living an unforgettable experience anyway. For example, despite being on our honeymoon, we have sometimes opted for cheaper solutions such as hostels or lodges booked on Airbnb, so we could cook in the evening and have breakfast in the morning at home, saving a little money. In any case, the cost of accommodation depends greatly on the period in which you decide to leave. We were there during the summer (a time when children are at home from school and even Australians go on vacation) and in Sydney we went to New Year, so it’s normal to have found in some cases very high prices.
DOCUMENTS REQUIRED TO ENTER IN AUSTRALIA
To enter Australia you need to apply online to get a visa . In this post I will only talk about visa for tourism purposes because it is the one experienced by us in the first person, if you need information on other visas, I refer you to the website of the Australian tourism authority where you can find all the visas explained one by one.
Back to us, if you have a passport from a European Union country to obtain a 3-month tourist visa, you will have to apply on the official eVisitor visa website (subclass 651) . After making an online request, you will receive permission to enter Australia directly in your e-mail box, so make sure you have correctly entered the e-mail address, otherwise you will not be able to retrieve it.
DISPLACEMENT IN AUSTRALIA
AIR : in Australia everything is immensely large and far away, initially I could not believe that I had to take all those planes to move from city to city. Then I understood. I realized that for example between Melbourne and Sydney that, on Google Maps seem so close, in reality there are 900 km of distance (about 8 hours of car), so here the plane wins easy both for convenience and for speed , especially if you have limited time.
CAR : we rented it with Hertz to travel 7 days in the Northern Territory (Darwin, Litchfield National Park and Kakadu National Park) and to make a splendid ride on the road from Adelaide to Melbourne along the entire Great Ocean Road.
FERRY : To reach Kangaroo Island we took a ferry whose journey takes about 45 minutes. Tip: if you suffer from seasickness, equip yourself with anti-vomit tablets and sit in the back of the ship.
Quantas
WHERE TO STAY IN AUSTRALIA
Australia is a country suitable for all types of travelers, you will always find beautiful hotels and resorts for those who want to live a 5-star holiday, as well as more basic solutions for those traveling low cost. We have tried mid-range hotels, campsites (accommodation in bungalows), swag (go and see on Google what they are 😀), hostels and apartments. We had a good time almost everywhere and for this reason you will find a list of solutions that we can recommend:
- Perth: Hotel Pension
- Darwin 1: Palm City Resort
- Litchfield National Park: Litchfield Tourist Park
- Kakadu National Park (Cooinda): Cooinda Lodge Kakadu
- Kakadu National Park (Jabiru): Mercure Kakadu Crocodile
- Darwin 2: Vibe Hotel Darwin Waterfront
- Alice Springs: Chifley Alice Springs Resort
- Outback: under the stars, with swag
- Adelaide: Adelaide Central YHA
- Kangaroo Island: Central Backpackers
- Mount Gambier: The Barn Accommodation
- Great Ocean Road (Port Campbell): Best Western Great Ocean Road Motor Inn
- Melbourne: apartment with Airbnb
- Phillip Island: apartment with Airbnb – Aloha HA
- Melbourne Airport: Ibis Budget Melbourne Airport
- Sydney: apartment with Airbnb
- Airlie Beach: Waterview Airlie Beach (apartment)
- Brisbane: Meriton Serviced Apartments
- Melbourne Airbnb
RENT A CAR IN AUSTRALIA
To be able to drive in Australia it is necessary to have an international driving license , to be requested at the Civil Motorization for time (count about 2 weeks to get it), you can apply for both versions of the International Driving License because you accept both, basically the difference lies in the duration , the “Geneva Convention 1949” version has a duration of one year while the “Vienna Convention of 1968” version lasts three.
Driving in Australia is on the right, this may initially destabilize you a little, but in reality the roads are so big and there are so few cars around that you won’t even notice! We have rented a 4 × 4 in the Northern Territory and a Nissan X-Trail for the road on the Great Ocean Road and we relied on Hertz , with whom we never had any problems. If you drive in areas that are not as popular as the Outback, I suggest you run out of petrol every time you meet a distributor because you might not meet more for the next 200 km !!! In general, respect the speed limits and do not drink before driving, the penalties are very high and severe in these cases.