Cheap Australia holiday tips

Australia's reputation as an advanced and friendly holiday nation was cemented in 2000 through its spectacular presentation of the Olympic Games.

The land "down under" offers a smorgasbord of natural wonders, whether it be the lush rivers and forests of its south, the winter ski fields of its alps, the dry desolation of its Outback interior, the tropical wonders of its north, its fringe of white sandy beaches, or the awesome Great Barrier Reef that snakes along Australia's eastern coastline.

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The best known Australian city, Sydney, is arguably the most beautiful in the world, but holiday travellers can choose to visit several unique state capitals or travel through any number of coastal and rural towns.

The country is immense and foreigners should recognise this in their budget holiday planning: Australian travel is expensive because everything is far away.

The Commonwealth of Australia covers 7,682,300 square kilometres and is populated by 22 million people.

About nine out of ten Australians are of European descent. Just over 4% are Asian and 2-3% are of Aboriginal descent. English is spoken by just about everybody and few have a second language.

Australia is about 4,000 kilometres from east to west and 3,200 kilometres from north to south.

The Australian interior is mostly dry, hot, flat and sparsely populated, a vast majority of Australia's population living on the fertile eastern seaboard or the south-west pocket.

All tourists except New Zealanders need a travel visa which is usually of three months duration.

Australia has very few health risks as long as you know how to protect yourself from the sun. Some people from the northern hemisphere have trouble adapting to Australia's stifling heat if their holiday travel is between December and March.

The heat is dry to humid in the south of Australia during summer, providing endless beach or watersport opportunities.

Travel in the far north is very humid and rainy during the Australian summer and although the vegetation is lush, the seas are sometimes infested with jellyfish that sting. Crocodiles can also get a bit snappy in the northern rivers and coastal seas.

Winter in most southern states is similar to summer in many European countries, although Melbourne and Hobart can be particularly chilly. The best time to holiday in Queensland or the far north is from May to September.

Travel through the mountain areas provides some great winter skiing in the Australian states of Victoria and NSW.

Winter is also footy season in Australia and if you want to be more readily accepted by Australians, it makes sense to simply concede that "Aussie Rules" is the best football code on earth.

Australia has a disproportionate number of champion international sports teams and individuals per capita, the constant good weather being a possible explanation.

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The Australian music scene is also successful on the world stage with commercial artists including the Bee Gees, INXS, Midnight Oil, Kylie Minogue, AC/DC and silverchair, and famous actors including Mel Gibson and Nicole Kidman.

Its currency exchange rate has risen strongly over the past few years but Australia is still a fairly cheap holiday destination for Europeans and Americans.

Budget travellers would be lucky to survive comfortably during their Australian holiday on US$40 a day for food, accommodation and travel. Food isn't as cheap as it used to be in Australia but the quality remains excellent.

A more realistic holiday budget would be between US$60 and US$80 a day, assuming you pay for a cheap hotel room.

Holiday accommodation and fuel costs in particular are higher if you travel through regional areas away from the major Australian cities.

Domestic flights are reasonably priced but it's well worth checking the internet for cheap travel fares or discount price wars which occasionally flare between the few competing airlines (mostly Qantas and Virgin Blue).

Foreign currency, traveller's cheques and credit cards are all reliable as the Australian banking network is sophisticated.

Tipping is not expected in most places and if you don't tip in a ritzy restaurant, it usually won't raise an eyebrow. Australian taxi drivers will appreciate your leaving the change but even that's not necessary.

Australia has a huge number of spectacular natural features and isolated adventure holiday regions, but you usually have to travel a long distance to enjoy them.

In both 2005 and 2006, a survey by Lonely Planet rated Australia as the favourite destination in the world for travellers, both in terms of where they'd like to have a holiday and the best holiday destination they've ever visited.

Sydney
...is best known for its Opera House and harbour bridge, as well as the magnificent landscape of hills, coves and bays into which the city and much of suburbia are built.

Tourists can pay to walk atop the main arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. In late 2006 a new route was opened which allows tourists to walk through the heart of this engineering marvel amid its giant rivets and girders before reaching the top of the bridge, 134 metres above the harbour waters. The BridgeClimb Sydney service provides escorts for the climb to the top of the bridge span, for which stringent safety cords and clothing are required, and the off-season adult price is AUS$169 on weekends or at twilight.

Tourists can buy a one hour tour of the Sydney Opera House costing AUS$23, available every 30 minutes from 9am to 5pm and taking in various sections of the building including its theatres and halls. The Opera House is home to The Sydney Symphony, The Australian Ballet, Opera Australia and the Sydney Theatre Company, making it one of the busiest performing arts centres in the world with about 2,400 events presented each year.

Of course, Sydney is also well known for its staging of the 2000 Olympic Games, a thrilling and successful event that highlighted the newfound cultural sophistication of modern Australia.

There are various walkways around the edges of Sydney Harbour, one of the world's great waterways, and this is a fantastic way to see plenty of the city's natural and man-made wonders.

Launched in 2005, the Harbour Circle Walk is a 26 kilometre circuit around the western half of Sydney Harbour, covering The Rocks, the harbour bridge, Gladesville Bridge and returning to the city via Anzac Bridge. Walk maps and notes can be downloaded here.

A ferry trip across Sydney Harbour is also considered a must-do for treavellers while in Sydney.

Sydney is the capital of New South Wales (NSW), the oldest settlement in Australia and the country's major financial centre.

The city has a unique cosmopolitan character that emphasises money and fun. It has a prominent gay community that celebrates a major annual mardi gras, and its beaches are fantastic.

The state of NSW has a magical coastline and tourists exploring the interior will love the Blue Mountains and the Snowy Mountains for holiday hiking, skiing or just admiring.

Sydney was ranked the world's top city in 2007 in an annual international tourist poll by the US-based Conde Nast Traveler magazine. Sydney scored 87.7, beating Florence (86.8), San Francisco (85.9) and Bangkok (85.8). Readers commented on Sydney's "ambience and friendliness".

Melbourne
... is Australia's second largest city and capital of the State of Victoria. Melbourne is regarded by many to have a more avant garde cultural ambience than Sydney.

It certainly has more classical architecture.

However, the muddy Yarra River can't match Sydney's Port Jackson as an aquatic centrepiece and most Melburnians would concede that Sydney has a better climate... i.e. winter in Melbourne is cold.

Like most Australian cities, Melbourne is cosmopolitan and has exquisite shops, restaurants, cafes and nightlife, as well as a strong international sporting calendar.

Melbourne is also the home of Australian Rules Football and the place is mad about footy.

Major features to see during a walking tour of the central city include the enormous Melbourne Cricket Ground, Federation Square, Southbank, the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre (undergoing a massive refurbishment due for completion in 2009), Telstra Dome and the revitalised Docklands area.

For more intimate shops, art galleries, music, fashion, cafes and restaurants, check out small inner city alleys and arcades such as Degraves St, Flinders Lane, Centre Place, Royal Arcade, Block Arcade, Tattersalls Lane and Collins St.

Brisbane
... is the capital of Queensland and over the past few decades has evolved into a sophisticated city with plenty of cultural events, a buzzing cafe scene and fairly good nightlife.

The city is usually a stopover for tourists whose holiday travel takes them deeper into Queensland to enjoy many of Australia's most spectacular features, including the Great Barrier Reef.

More Australians migrate to Queensland than to any other state, and they do so because they recognise paradise when they see it.

The climate in Queensland is mostly subtropical with very heavy summer rains in the north.

Adelaide
... is the capital of the state of South Australia and for many years was best known as a staid and conservative city with more churches per capita than anywhere else in Australia.

The colonial architecture is built largely with stone and the city has a dignified grace.

Adelaide's metropolis is largely enclosed by the Gulf of St Vincent on one side and a mountain range on the other.

Popular excursions from Adelaide take in the internationally-acclaimed nearby wine regions.

Wine growing districts are dotted around South Australia and autumn is the most picturesque time for holiday travel through the state.

The Flinders Range is an 800 kilometre chain of mountains which offer a fantastic region to hike through authentic Australian Outback, but it's best to avoid the oppressive summer heat.

Perth
... is the most isolated capital city in the world but you sometimes must travel a long way to find nirvana.

The capital of Western Australia is built on the edge of two large rivers which, coupled with some of the best beaches in the world, make Perth an aquatic playground.

Away from the hundreds of kilometres of water frontage, Perth's urban landscape is very flat apart from a hill escarpment to the east. A large proportion of the local population is relatively wealthy thanks to the vast resource treasures of the West Australian hinterland.

The city has an international reputation for its cleanliness and safety, although this is regarded by some tourists as a reflection of its staid, conservative attitude and unimpressive nightlife. Perth has been tagged Dullsville by the local media.

The locals are very friendly and helpful, and the city has a good public transport system by international standards. Perth has regulated shopping hours so most shops close after 6pm and on weekends, although small supermarkets are open all week and usually till 9pm.

Compared with other Australian cities like Sydney and Melbourne, Perth is quiet and almost like a very big country town. Tourists from the eastern states of Australia often prefer to holiday away from Perth in country locations such as Margaret River and Broome.

A travel survey of 27,000 readers published in September 2005 by Britain's Guardian and Observer newspapers voted Perth the "favourite overseas city" based on travel satisfaction criteria, beating all other cities including Paris, New York and Hong Kong.

The most popular tourist holiday spots are Rottnest Island about 20 kilometres off the coast, the heritage port city of Fremantle, and the wine-drenched Swan Valley just east of Perth.

The weather is glorious year round, perhaps a little too hot in February and March, and the port city of Fremantle is well worth visiting, if only for its streetside cafe scene.

Western Australia occupies the western half of the continent and is immense, yet has just two million inhabitants - about 1.3 million living in Perth.

The south-west of the state has lush farmland, tall forests, jagged coastlines and friendly towns both inland and on the coast.

The north-west is largely dry, flat and scrubby but there are numerous holiday attractions for tourists who can handle the hot and often sticky 24 hour climate.

Broome is a mecca for tourists seeking a warm, lazy, subtropical holiday hideaway with palm trees, great fishing and awesome beaches, although stinging jellyfish can be a problem between November and March.

Also in the north of WA, Ningaloo is one of only two coral reefs in the world that are formed on the western side of a continent. The reef is protected within the Ningaloo Marine Park which stretches 260 kilometres from Bundegi Beach near the town of Exmouth to Amherst Point south of Coral Bay. Exmouth provides an ideal base from which to explore the fishing, diving and snorkeling delights of Ningaloo Reef, as well as the Cape Range National Park about a half hour drive south of the town. The peak holiday season for this region is April through to the end of October, July being the busiest month of the year. Exmouth provides lodges, resorts, hotels, chalets, backpacker hostels and campsites to fit the budget of most travellers.

Note: The historic port city of Fremantle near Perth will host the 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships. The two week competition is expected to draw about 5000 visitors and will be Fremantle's biggest sailing event since the America's Cup in 1987.

Darwin
... is the capital of the Northern Territory, is closer to Indonesia than any other Australian city, and has a tropical languor to be expected with such proximity to Asia.

This cosmopolitan city has a subtropical climate with a very wet monsoonal summer, when natural obstacles can include mosquitoes, crocodiles and the risk of a cyclone every few years.

The maximum temperature during winter in Darwin averages 30 degrees Celsius.

Locals enjoy quite a few drinks to cool off in the hot climate.

A must-see in Darwin during the winter months is the weekly Mindil Beach Sunset Markets offering hundreds of craft, service and food stalls.

Tourists can cruise the nearby Adelaide River and watch jumping crocodiles, as well as wild pigs and buffalo on the river banks. Nearby Litchfield National Park attracts about 250,000 visitors each year and its main attractions are spring-fed waterfalls and holes at Buley Rockhole, Wangi Falls, Sandy Creek, Tolmer Falls and Florence Falls.

Aborigines retain extensive land rights in the Northern Territory and a must-see during your holiday travel is Kakadu National Park.

Hobart
... is the capital of the island state of Tasmania and is a charming, small city built on the edge of the Derwent River.

Boasting a mountain backdrop and Georgian architecture, Hobart has a constantly relaxed atmosphere and a climate reminiscent of Europe.

Tasmania was traditionally a conservative stronghold but has developed a progressive alternative body politic with a thriving arts and crafts community.

The restaurants and cafes of Hobart are superb and the island of Tasmania itself is a stunningly beautiful holiday backwater of ecological and geographic wonders.

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