Australia travel information

The idea of visiting Australia came up when I saw a cheap air ticket in Scoot airways!! The price was about ₹ 27K and on top of it I could also redeem the miles from Singapore Airlines. Scoot is a budget airline which only gives a random seat and allows to carry 7kg of hand baggage. I was travelling with family and had to add check in bags. Since it was a long flight, meals had to be booked. All these jacked up the price but it was still lower than full fledged airlines. On the brighter side, during our return flight we were moved to Singapore Airlines flight!! That was like upgrading from dormitory to five star hotel!!!!

 

Australia is not new to Indias. Most of us know a bit about Australia because of cricket. Australia is also one of the favourite country for Indians to travel, work and stay. This post explains some information based on our experience in Australia.

Places to see

Most people travelling to Australia visit Melbourne, Sydney and Gold Coast. But I was more interested in experiencing nature than cities or amusement parks. I wanted to cover Great ocean road, Uluru and Great barrier reef. But all those places were in different directions and Australia is a big country. The money and time I had was not enough to cover all those places. Since great ocean road was near Melbourne, there was no difficulty in covering it. I had to chose between Uluru and great barrier reef. I had been to many coral islands and hence I decided to cover Uluru. In that way, I thought that we could also get a feel of Australian desert.

The itinerary we followed was:

• Bengaluru to Melbourne. Brief visit to Melbourne city and proceed to Great ocean drive.
• Fly to Uluru. Visit Uluru and surrounding areas.
• Uluru to Sydney. Visit Sydney city and surrounding areas.
• Sydney to Bengaluru.

 

Visa

It was not difficult to get tourist visa. I have written my experience here. Immigration was super quick with very few questions asked. Australian authorities don’t stamp on the passport. But customs was extensive like in New Zealand (as we carried food items) but at the end they allowed us to take all items. It is ok as long as you don’t bring fruits, vegetables and meat.

Travelling between cities

Due to large distance between cities in Australia, the only practical way was to travel on air. For example, Melbourne to Uluru is 2300 km and Uluru to Sydney is 2800 km.

Local transport

We used rental cars extensively as we were four of us. It was very convenient and economical. In Sydney and Uluru, I rented the car from airport to airport. But in Melbourne, we were reaching late at 9:30 in the night and the hotel had free shuttle, I rented the car on the next day from a location near the hotel. At all places I was upgraded and provided with SUV.

 

Like in India, driving in Australia is on the left side of the road. Driving is also very easy as people follow the rules most of the time and roads are in very good condition. Indian driving license is accepted as long as it is in English. Fuel price is almost equal to India. The difference is that there is no one to fill the fuel for you. You need to fill it yourself and pay the money at the counter. Very simple.

 

One point to note is that Australia has toll roads. In our case, some roads around Sydney and Melbourne had few toll roads. Hertz has a very bad policy when it comes to toll charges. They charge exorbitant rates and hence I avoided all toll roads (it is an option in Google maps). 

Food

Since my family wanted to have Indian food, we cooked ourselves during the trip. We stayed in apartments or in hotels with community kitchen. The only place where we ate outside as at Saravanaa Bhavan in Melbourne. Like in many developed countries, tap water is drinkable.

Currency

Australian Dollar is the official currency. 1 AUD ~-= 50 ₹. Credit card is accepted almost everywhere. The only place where I paid in cash was in a parking counter and in an Ice cream van. No need to carry loads of cash.

Connectivity

Since we were reaching Melbourne at 9:30 in the night, I did not wanted to search for pre paid SIM card. Airtel had a decent plan of ₹ 1,499 for 10 days. Worked nicely. Wi-Fi was available in most hotels. Exception was Uluru and a farm house in great ocean road.

Expenses

Australia has a high standard of living and hence expenses can be quite high for a person coming from India. Few things helped us to control the expense per person.

• Travelling as group of four.
• Cheaper air tickets.
• Staying in apartment and self cooking.
• Rental car. Skipping toll roads.