How Should I Travel Around Australia?  

Our traveling experience in this vast country tells us that the best way to travel around Australia is determined by the time you have and how much you want to see.  Prioritize the places you want to visit during your vacation here and then decide on how you want to travel.

Domestic Airlines. Most people, even the locals, travel around Australia on domestic airlines unless they have plenty of time to spare.  Qantas and budget lines Virgin Blue, Jetstar and more recently Tiger Airlines are the major airlines and offer flights out of most capital cities.  Present competitive domestic flight prices reflect the travel industry’s need to keep people flying during the Global Financial Crisis.  Jetstar and Virgin Blue offer online weekly specials but advanced bookings are generally more reliably cheaper.

RV’s are called Campervans in Australia.  The most popular campervans hired in Australia are from Maui and Britz.  They are nowhere near the size or quality of RV’s at home but because they are make accommodation affordable and allow a degree of flexibility during our Australian travels we use them.  We make sure that we book in advance and we always discuss the roads we plan to travel as some vans are limited to sealed roads.

Rail Travel. Only for those who want to savor some of Australia’s scenery while someone else does the driving, this travel is cheaper than airfares but takes much longer. Many Aussies use suburban trains but fly to other states. Two exceptions are the Ghan train journey from Adelaide to Darwin and the Indian Pacific from Sydney to Perth.  We joined the latter in Adelaide and loved this train trip across the Nullabor Plain to Perth.

Bus travel. Often called coach travel, this is a cheap way to travel around Australia especially of you use passes.  Greyhound Pioneer and McCafferty’s are the major bus companies.  Although the comparatively inexpensive costs are appealing, we think this mode of transport is for the really young unless it takes you along a limited part of your journey.

Hire Cars.  We are reluctant hire car users.  We have been ‘burned’ and are fastidious with pre-inspection and discussion about the conditions of the rental.  We take photos of any vehicle before taking delivery and get clear agreement on the condition of the car.  Hiring cars is relatively inexpensive but we check the extent of the free km offers and where the car can be driven. It’s no use hiring a car if it can’t take you to your destination.

Select one or a combination of these modes of travel in what for many including us can be a vacation of a life time!

 

 

 

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