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How to get around Australia

There are many different way to get around Australia, from camper vans to rental cars to flights, below is a selection of transport options that you can book online to be waiting for you on arrival in Australia...

Around Australia by camper van

Australia is the perfect country to travel with a camper van! Wide open roads, countless beautiful spots to pull over and camp, the freedom to go where and when you want, it is no wonder so many Aussies on retirement buy themselves a mobile home and spend years going around the country.
Nothing beats finding your own camping spot in the wild, having a cold beer admiring a wildly coloured outback sunset and a dinner cooked on the campfire under the magnificent starry skies.

budget camper vans budget campers cheap camper vans

Where ever you travel in Australia you will always see the artistically painted Wicked campervans, over the years backpackers and budget travellers have found that they are the best value for money.
Click here to find out more about their unbeatable prices and their many conveniently located depots.

budget camper van hire

Campervan Rental - Wicked Campers

 

Apollo Camper

 

budget camper vans budget campervan hire


If the above designs are too wild and wicked for you or you need more luxuries on board then you can also check availability and book your camper vanonline to have it waiting for you on arrival with Discovery Campervans Australia, they have a huge range of Maui, Britz, Backpacker and Kea campervans for hire in Australia. Simply type in your pickup location and dates and they will give you an overview of all available campervans and their prices to make sure you get the best deal on campervan hire anywhere !

cheap campervans

 

Around Australia by rental car

There is a choice of car rental companies where you can book your car or campervan online to be assured of a car on your arrival, most offer one way rentals between major cities. Nothing beats the freedom of having your own car and stopping when and where you want.

 

RentNewCars.com.au is an Australian company that exclusively distributes Europcar & Thrifty's Australian fleet of 16,000 new vehicles and offers access to over 200 locations around Australia via the RentNewCars web site. They also guarantee that through their True Quotes™ Promises that your final corrected payment will be the same as what they quoted - and if they are wrong then they will refund you DOUBLE the difference to your credit card.

australia car rental

Around Australia by plane

Australia is a huge country and a lot of people do not realize how huge until they start driving it. If you're on a three week holiday and want to see a few different corners of the country then you don't have the time to do it on the road like the backpackers that come for a year, and you will no doubt catch a few flights. You miss the scenery along the way but it is a good way to get across this ginormous continent fast and comfortable.

Flight Centre guarantees they have the cheapest flights,
and if you can find a cheaper flight elsewhere they will beat it!

Flight Centre - Australia's #1 Travel Agency

Webjet is a great place to shop if you need cheap flights, type in your date and destination and they will give you all available airlines and prices on that day to compare and make sure you got the best deal !


click here

 

Airfare.com.au is another good place to start looking for both cheap airfares to Australia and budget domestic airfares within Australia. Browse and book online.

BYO Kids ...Your Family Travel Gurus

Airfares Flights Australia

Firstclass.com.au is another good place to look for just about anything to do with airfares and holidays, both in Australia and internationally.

Cheap flights in and to Australia

Priority Pass - Airport Lounge Access

Airport Parking

Around Australia by tour-bus

on border of queensland and northern territory
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
Halfway between Cairns and Darwin in the Gulf of Carpenteria

Instead of traveling from A to B on some boring coach or plane and then booking a tour again on arrival, why not combine them! There are many tours that will take you on one-way trips around Australia, stopping regularly to enjoy the sights, spend the nights camping in the bush under magnificent starry skies or outback pubs, make friends along the way and actually enjoy getting from A to B !

Adelaide to Melbourne - in 3days / 2 nights you'll get from Adelaide to Melbourne and see Mt. Gambier, the Grampians, the Great Ocean Road, Geelong, Ballarat and get dropped off at Melbourne airport or city. More info....
For the wine lovers there is another trip that takes a slightly different route and takes in the Coonawarra wine region. More info....

Byron Bay to Surfers Paradise:

Pioneering Spirit

pioneering spirit from sydney to byron bay bus trip

BYRON BAY TO SURFERS PARADISE - DAY TOUR - $48
We depart Byron Bay 9.30am except Wednesday and Saturday.
The Pioneering Spirit has been operating with Ivan as the proprietor for 10 years. The tour costs $48 and includes:
Entry to National parks, Wine tasting, Morning tea and lunch (vegetarians catered for), Swimming in pristine river pools,
Bush walk at Natural Arch (Springbrook National Park) and FREE return to Byron Bay any time the tour returns. More info....

Phone 02 - 66857721
Mobile 0412 - 048333

Adelaide to Alice Springs:

on the way from adelaide, south australia, to alice springs, northern territory
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
A rare event, rain in the desert and a boggedGroovy Grape bus between William Creek and Coober Pedy

Groovy Grape does a great ten day trip from Adelaide to Alice Springs that includes the Flinders Ranges, William Creek, Coober Pedy, Ayers Rock, the Olgas and Kings Canyon. Contact via email

on the way from adelaide, south australia, to alice springs, northern territory
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.
The Cool Croc bus on the Queensland/Northern Territory border

More long distance one-way bus trips...

Around Australia by horse

horse riding in australia

Havehorsewilltravel.com.au is a great Australian BYO Horse Travel Website to find out the latest on where to stop, where to stay, trails to ride and events to attend. Whether you want to cover some miles, or just get away for a holiday with your horse.

Don't have your own horse? Click here for a selection of shorter horse rides....

Around Australia by ship

spirit of tasmania

Spirit of Tasmania have now doubled the ships, doubled the crossings and doubled the convenience! With two ships you are able to sail to or from Tassie overnight - every night!
Spirit of Tasmania I and II give you all the fun, excitement and romance of sea travel, so crossing Bass Strait will be one of the highlights of your trip. Feel your holiday start the moment you step on board as you sit back, relax and watch the waves roll by, or take advantage of all the great facilities on board.

What's more, you can take your standard-sized car across Bass Strait for only $61.- each way.
Just think of the freedom you will have - and the money you will save - by taking your own car on holiday with you. You can tour Tasmania or the mainland at your own pace, discovering your own secret corners along the way. It also makes packing easy, as you can take as much as you like: just load up your car with extra suitcases, fishing rods, golf clubs - you name it! More info...

Around Australia by motorbike

motorbike around australia
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld

Australia is a perfect country for motorbikes with its long, wide open roads and beautiful scenery. Dependent on what you want to see you'll have to choose your type of bike, the Harley pictured above may look cool but is not very suitable for exploring the more remote regions. Also you'll have to decide whether to buy or rent or join a tour. Bikeroundoz.com is a good place to start planning your adventure.

 


Photo by Cape York Motorcucle Adventures

For a really remote adventure try Cape York, one of the world's last remaining wilderness areas. See the Cape York Motorcylce Adventures website for more info...

Around Australia with a caravan

Traveling with a caravan? Check out www.froggyswebs.com for some info and photos on caravanning

Around Australia by bicycle

This mode of traveling only appeals to a few, due to the enormous distances and the fact that Australian roads and drivers are not very bike-friendly. In outback areas you may find that sometimes there is more than 200 km. between road houses, temperatures are in the high thirties, cattle stations are unfenced and scrub bulls can be unpredictable and a fair bit of (head) wind can blow a well. On the east coast distances between towns are smaller but there are more cars and trucks to dodge. Nevertheless when you travel around Australia you are bound to see cyclists in the most remote areas battling on through heat and distance. Enough seem to do it to make it worthwile for Lonely Planet to publish a special travel guide for cyclists;

 

Around Australia by camel

camel safari outback australia
Photo courtesy of Austcamel.com.au

A few years ago a friend of mine was going around Oz and in Adelaide met a couple who was going around the country on camels. He decided to team up with them for the Nullarbor leg. By car this is a lenghty drive but on the camels it took them THREE MONTHS to get from Adelaide to Norseman!

This would be a bit too much for most people but you'll be pleased to know there are four day desert tours on camels that you can book online. More info....

Hitch-hiking around Australia

hitch hiking australia
Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.

In the early 1990s hitch-hiking around Australia lost popularity when throughout 1992 and 1993 police kept finding bodies of European tourists in the Belanglo State Forest near Berrima, New South Wales. A total of seven bodies was dug up and Ivan Milat was arrested and charged with their murders and was locked away for probably the remainder of his life. After this the tradition of hitch-hiking has never recovered again, and it might even be illegal now, we'll do some research into this and let you know.

Around Australia by cargo ship

From Cairns you can go up the eastcoast to the top of Cape York and back on a cargo ship that supplies remote coastal communities, it departs once a week and takes about two days for each journey, can also be done as a one-way when you fly the other way. Popular with four wheel drivers that only drive the rough 1000 kms to the top once and then put the truck on the ship for the return journey. Sea Swift’s flagship vessel, the MV Trinity Bay, carries up to thirty eight passengers per week on it's voyage from Cairns to Cape York, including stops at Horn Island, Thursday Island and Bamaga. More info....

Around Australia by kayak

American Eric Stiller and Aussie Tony Brown attempted for three months to kayak the 10,000 miles around Australia in a 17-foot-long kayak. Their plan was to just' Keep Australia on your left' , which is also the title of the book they wrote on their experiences. When later interviewed Eric Stiller said: "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Around Australia by mail-plane

From Cairns you can join the postie in his plane for an awesome flight all over the remote Cape York peninsula. More info....

Around Australia by train


Photo by Rob Lapaer of Rainforest Hideaway B&B, Cape Tribulation, N.Qld.

Though trains are not the favourite mode of transport of the Aussies you can get around most of the country by train and now, after more than a hundred years of talking about it, they have even built a railway to Darwin! See our page on rail journeys for more info...

Around Australia by yacht

Hang around a sailing club and check the notice board or talk to the locals, often sailing boats will take on crew to help out with work and expenses, one such place is Cairns where many cruising yachts leave around May to get to Darwin in time for the June Darwin to Ambon race.

Around Australia on foot

This would not appeal to many people, especially those who can't convince their boss to give them at least a year's holidays but this is what Deborah De Williams is doing now ( march 2004), she is walking in a clockwise direction along Australia's National Highway 1 and returning to Melbourne on Friday 15th October 2004.
During her ‘Journey for Kids’ Deborah is raising money for Kids Help Line, Australia’s only 24 hour, free, confidential and anonymous telephone and online counselling. For more information click here.
Newsflash April 2004: after Deborah had battled cyclones and floods some youngsters in Halls Creek stole, amongst other things, her walkingshoes!

If you'd like to explore Sydney on foot see Walksydneystreets.net , the website of 90 year old Alan Waddell who has walked 2000 kms thorugh every street of 135 Sydney suburbs.


If this mode of transport appeals to you this might be the travel guide for you;

Maps of Australia

One thing that will help you find your way around Australia is a good map, you can buy your maps of Australia online at Ausmaps.com

 

 

You know any good ways to get around Australia? Then tell us!

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