Autralians - Info Needed

[rookie]

My friend (young twenty-something) wants to go to Australia for a month during our summer (mid-JULY to mid-AUGUST). She wants to understand what to expect for weather in the following places:

 

Sydney

Whitsunday Islands

Brisbane

Capricorn Coast

Alice Springs

Uluru

Darwin

 

 

Is it cold everywhere? Wet? Dry? Would you go to the beach? In the water? What would you wear?

 

Also, are there places tourists never think of going to but SHOULD see?

 

Thanks.

[Peela]

My friend (young twenty-something) wants to go to Australia for a month during our summer (mid-JULY to mid-AUGUST). She wants to understand what to expect for weather in the following places:

 

Sydney

Whitsunday Islands

Brisbane

Capricorn Coast

Alice Springs

Uluru

Darwin

 

 

Is it cold everywhere? Wet? Dry? Would you go to the beach? In the water? What would you wear?

 

Also, are there places tourists never think of going to but SHOULD see?

 

Thanks.

 

I dotn personally think Brisbane or Darwin are very tourist worthy, but there are places nearby both cities (inland from the Gold Coast for Brisbane, and Kakadu nature reserve for Darwin) that are definitely worth it. Sydney is a tourist worthy city.

She is arriving in the middle of our winter. In Sydney, that is fairly cold- never snowy cold, but sometimes down to almost 0 degrees celcius at night and up to the high teens during th day. ALthough, weather is so wacky nowaday,s it could be warmer too. Defintely warm jacket weather.

 

Uluru and Alice Springs can get really cold that time of year too. Cna be warm and sunny dring the day, but with a biting wind at times, and definitely cold at night, and possible rain at that time of year.

 

The Whitsundays/Capricorn coast would be beautiful and much warmer that time of year. Lovely place to be during winter here :) Swimming and sailing all possible that tme of year. Its also warmer in Brisbane.

 

For temperatures, it can all be googled.

Other touristy places are further north at Cairns, the Snowy Mountans near Canberra (snow at that time of year, most likely), and over here on the west coast- the south west coast here is beautiful, as is Coral Bay up north, where there is a world class tropical reef that comes right up to the beach.

 

Overall, if they are visiting both Sydney and Whitsundays, they will need a range of clothes- bathers and summer wear, as well as warm winter wear. Also, it will be rainy some places and times and dry others. Australia is a big country and the weather varies a lot.

[rookie]

Peela,

 

This is a very helpful reply. Thank you for your time.

 

Could you help too with how many Australian dollars she should budget for daily meals? She is just post-college so on a tight budget.

 

Also, what is the time there right now? Is it 10:30 AM?

 

How much time would you budget for Uluru? Are there things to do in the sorrounding areas?

 

Thanks,

 

rookie

[Melissa in Australia]

there are 3 different time zones in Australia. you can use your computer clock to find the exact time in different parts of the world.

I have never been to any of the places you have mentioned, so cannot advise on clothes.

I am down in Victoria. I never eat out so I can not offer any advice on that either. In fact I don't think I am any help at all

[keptwoman]

I find this site useful for world time zones http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

We have multiple time zones with a span of about 4 hours. It's helpful to remember that Australia is almost as big as the USA. This is also useful to remember when planning a trip, imagine trying to see a lot of the USA in 4 weeks! I'd aim to be sure she has enough time in each place, and perhaps cut out a couple of destinations so that she has time to see the different places properly.

 

What kind of accommodation is she using? If she is using Backpacker type places, they will have lots of suggestion for cheap eats.

I would personally aim to make breakfast herself (cereal and milk etc) and keep her own supply of snack foods. Lunch could be $5-10 based on food halls, Subway, cheap cafes etc. Cheaper restaurants would start mains at about $15, but a pub will often have a meal for $10-15. All those costs are in Aussie Dollars, right now AUD0.92 is the same as USD1.00 but there is talk about the currencies being in line by the end of the year. Dollar for dollar (yippeeeeeeeee, online shopping here I come!!)

 

Couple of things to remember:

Tipping is not usual here, at restaurants you only tip for exceptional service.

Meal portions are generally smaller here. I was quite shocked over there at the volume of food on our plates when we ate out!

[Peela]

Lol Melissa.

I live in Perth but I come from Sydney and have been to Darwin, Brisbane, Ulururu, the coast of QLD up to Cairns etc. So I guess I feel qualified.

 

Yes, it would have been 10.30 am when you wrote that- here on the west coast :) . You need to check the time zones- plenty of help online.

 

 

Well, a student could probably survive on $20 a day for food, but $30 would be nice :)

 

For Uluru, 2 days would be enough. 3 would be nice and 5 might be too much unless you are a desert lover. There are huge, vast spaces and long hours of bus driving. It is beautiful in its own way, and there should be wildflowers starting around then...but still. Uluru is an awesome big rock- nearby are the Olgas, also awesome big rocks. Depends how long she feels she wants to hang out around awesome big rocks. For me, I could spend a week or two there- most tourists, I think a couple of days is enough. Surrounding are more vast spaces of desert. But thats how you get a feeling for what Australia is- a vast country full of vast deserts, with most of the population on the skinny stretch of coastline.

[rookie]

Many thanks to you all! I hope to visit some day too. :001_smile: