Visit Australia

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Visit Australia: Essential Travel Info

When to Go:
We’ve been to Australia in late Spring (November) and Summer (December and January). This is when the Southern and Eastern Australia are at their best. Northern Australia is very hot in mid-Summer, better visited in early spring (September-October) or late fall (April-May).

How to Get There:
There are direct flights from US west coast cities (Los Angeles and San Francisco) to Sydney and Melbourne. The flight time is typically 14hrs. Coming from Europe you will likely have to transit through Dubai, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur taking two long-haul flights with at least 22 hours of actual flying time.

Costs:
Overall Rating: Australia is expensive. It’s expensive to get there and expensive to be there.
Accommodation: I found a fairly reasonably-priced apartment through . On our most recent visit we stayed at a friend’s home. If you can, tap into the expat community and see if you can find anyone offering a sublet while they are traveling – that is how we found the house where we stayed.
Food: The only way we were able to keep our budget in check in Sydney was to eat in and pack lunches. We did have a fun weekly dinner out at a neighborhood bar/restaurant where they did 2-for-1 pizza specials (and the pizza was very tasty too).

Transport:
The public transport networks in Sydney and Melbourne are excellent. Stop at a tourist office and pick up multi-day tourist passes for the best pricing.
Entertainment: This is one area where your wallet gets a break in Australia. One of the reasons to visit is the great, vast outdoors, including many beautiful, free beaches in the Sydney area. Museums typically offer family discounts or are, like the Maritime Museum in Sydney, free to enter.

For Families:
I can’t comment on family hotel rooms but restaurants have high chairs and changing tables, streets and buses are stroller-friendly and there were playgrounds at many of the parks and beaches we visited in Sydney. Supermarkets stock all the necessary baby care and feeding products.

Recommended guidebook:

Visit Australia: Our experiences

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