...in August.






I've not been to many countries, so this is a happy day.

Stallone convention?

Holiday or work? Are you just going to Sydney or elsewhere?

Going for a 2 week holiday. No, not a Stallone convention. That pilgrimage will happen in November when I do the First Blood trip. But that's another thing. Now we're going to Sydney. My wife's brother is studying there, so we are visiting him while also taking it as a holiday. We will most likely travel around to other places too. My list is as follows:

Sydney or nearby
Climb the harbour bridge
Coastal walk from Bondi to Coogee
Blue Mountains
Bare Island to see the wartime fortress used in M:I-2
North Head cliffs to stand where Thandie Newton stood in M:I-2

Others
Great Ocean Road, Victoria
Great Barrier Reef (probably not going to happen)

I'm not sure of what else to see or do. Perhaps some of the Aussies on here can give suggestions.

A visit to Taronga Zoo or the Australian Museum?

I live in Melbourne so I can let you know places to go in Melbourne and in the state of Victoria.

You already have the Great Ocean Road on your list and that’s highly recommended.

- Great Ocean Road – check out the 12 Apostles, London Bridge, Loch Ard Gorge do a helicopter ride over the 12 apostles. On the way check out beaches at Torquay and Lorne as well as Belle’s Beach (Point Break).
- Melbourne City (central area) – I find Melbourne CBD to be nicer and and easuer to get around than Sydney CBD. That said – Sydney has the harbour itself, the bridge, opera house and nearby beaches which are prettier and better tourist places.
o Check out – Crown Casino (quite huge – gambling, restaurants, bars n clubs, high end shops)
o Soutbank area – restaurants, bars, street acts etc along the yarra river, Melbourne Aquarium, river cruises
o Melbourne city laneways – full of hidden gems, cafes etc
o Trams – for transport or dine on a tram car restaurant which also takes in the sites as you dine
o Eureka Tower and/or Rialto tower observation decks
- ACMI – Australian Centre for the Moving Image – Film museum worth visiting – central Melbourne
- Melbourne Museum in Carlton
- Sports
o National Sports Museum, MCG, Rod Laver Arena next door where Australian Open is played, Albert Park Lake where the F1 GP is held each year
o Watch an AFL match at the MCG or Etihad Stadium
- Shopping
o Plenty in the Melb CBD – Melbourne Central, Emporium, Myer, GPO, general street shops
o Chapel St, South Yarra
o Richmond (factory outlets)
o Queen Victoria Market (North Melbourne)
- Popular Areas just out of Melbourne/cuisines
o St Kilda (beach, restaurants, cafes, bars, backpacker/hipster area
o South Yarra (shopping, cafes, bars, restaurants)
o Carlton (Little Italy)
o Richmond (Asian) + Chinatown in Melb CBD
o Brunswick St Fitzroy (hipster, restaurants, cafes, grungy, bars n pubs)
- Zoos
o Melbourne Zoo – all types of animals
o Werribee Open Range Zoo (30 mins out of Melb CBD) – more of an African type open range
o Healesville Sanctuary (1hr out of Melb) – Australian animals only – Koalas, Kangaroos, Crocs, platypuses etc
- Yarra Valley Wine Country (1hr EAST out of Melbourne) – beautiful place - plenty of great wineries
o Go for a hot air balloon ride – 5/6am each morning – well worth it
- Macedon Ranges – (1hr NWest out of Melbourne)
o Hanging Rock (from Picnic at Hanging Rock film)
o Daylesford area (if you and the missus are into hot springs/massages etc)
o Ned Kelly country
- Ballarat (Gold Rush)
o Not far from the Macedon ranges
o Sovereign Hill (replica Gold Rush town where the Eureka Stockade and Gold Rush occurred in the 1850s – at the time the largest Gold Rush in the world) – go down the mines or pan for gold
- Snowfields (plenty of snow in August/Sep) – Mt Buller or Mt Hotham – 3 hours out of Melbourne
- Philip Island (1.5 hours south of Melb)
o Penguins! (come out on the beach at night)
o Philip Island race track (MOTOGP) and museum
- VIC High Country (few hours out of Melb)
o Go horseback riding on the beach – much like in The Man from Snowy River. You can also do this type of thing on the Great Ocean Road, Mornington Peninsular et
o Hiking, camping etc
- Old Melbourne Gaol
o Ghost tours
o Ned Kelly
- Melbourne Film Festival on in the first half of the month


Not sure what type of things you and the wife are into so had to go fairly general. There are plenty more things to do but if you let me know what you guys are looking to do I could give you more info.

As for Sydney – there are plenty of touristy things to do around the Harbour and nearby beaches. Im there often on business but its been a while since playing the tourist. The Harbour Bridge climb is certainly worth doing.

Only downside is August is winter in Oz so it will be cool – and not beach weather.

Hope this helps.

Wow! Gez, that will keep me busy for a year!

The plan was to go and visit other cities from Sydney, but looking at the map and checking Bing Directions, it says that Sydney is 8hrs away from Melbourne by car, and we were planning to do an RV trip to other places, but 8hrs seems a lot. Not sure. It may still happen.

The Melbourne Film Festival sounds great. We are going from 16th-30th, so I guess that will be off the agenda. My wife's parents are also going, and they don't speak a word of English, so the attractions will not be things that I would do if I went by myself (but I still plan to get a few of those in). The 12 Apostles are the reason why the Great Ocean Road is on my list, actually. Apparently it's on those things you just must see in Australia, and it looks wonderful in images I've sourced online. The helicopter ride over them seems amazing - will that still happen in the down season?

I think mainly my wife wants to see kangaroos, koala bears and penguins. But I don't really want to see these in a zoo. I think that's kind of a lazy way to see animals. I would rather see them in their own habitat.



This sounds cool. Not sure what it is, but I am sure I can enjoy this.

Sovereign Hill sounds like fun too. But I am sure we won't have too much time in Melbourne.

Thanks for your suggestions, though. Much appreciated.

We will most likely visit Taronga Zoo. Hopefully I can find another attraction while they do this. The Australian Museum is one of those places that I imagine all the Chinese will flock to just because it's "one of the places you must visit" (as stated on every tourist leaflet, I imagine), but really, I fucking hate museums. They are boring and they waste most of the day going around them, and then I'm tired. People take photos of items that mean absolutely nothing to them. They have no interest in Australian history, yet they go around them walking so slowly out of respect of the curators. Yeah, so, museums are off the agenda for me.

heh no worries. I thought better to give you a bigger list and see how you go from there.

Yes Syd-Melb is about an 8-9 hour drive. So its a fair drive. If you do end up coming to Melbourne (you have to if you want to go to the Great Ocean Road) then you are best to fly over (1-1.5hr flight). You should be able to get cheap tickets too - try cheap airlines like Jetstar or Tiger - or see if Virgin have any cheap flights). Its one of the busiest flight routes in the world so getting a flight at short notice is usually easy.

If you do come down to Melbourne - lets say for 4 days - definitely do the GOR. You'll need a full day but if you want to break it up and stay overnight - stay in Lorne or Port Campbell.

Then you have a couple of days in and around Melbourne.

In terms of the animals - I'd recommend Phillip Island - 1.5hrs out of Melbourne as they have torus of parks and forest areas where you see the animals without specifically going to a zoo (plus you can get up close to them in some places). Then in the evening - go to the beach and watch the penguins venture out. The Penguins are the big attraction and yes plenty of Asian tourists there each night so the inlaws will love it.

The 12 Apostles are great and yes helicopter rides still happen in winter. Hopefully the weather is nice or atleast sunny. The drive itself on windy roads is enjoyable and so to the stopover beach towns.

Skip the museums.

Phillip Island, helicopter ride, and skip the museums. Got it.

I wonder if you could help me with something else..

We booked a Quantus flight. Have you ever flown with them before? I know they had some financial difficulty a few years back. Do you know of leg room, space and service?

My wife wanted to book Air Asia, but I know to steer clear of them as they are the worst airline on the planet. But I'd never tried Quantus before, but I have a feeling they are a big, respectable airline, no?

What dates are you gonna be there?

Qantas is not what it once was but its a solid airline. I've flown Qantas to Europe in 2005 and it was good though not as modern or comfortable as say an Emirates or Singapore Airlines. Its on par with British Airways and United Airlines. They are much much better than Air Asia.

Ask for exit aisle seats for the extra leg room. They may upgrade you.

From 17th to the 30th August.

In my world, British Airways is the elite, so if Qantus is on a par with them, that's fine by me.

What's Revolver?

I'd be up for meeting you guys.

Gamaur We'll have to take Algren there!!

Yeah would be good to catch up for a few beers if Algren makes it here.

Are you heading over Lecter?



You'll be happy with Qantas then. I think it depends on the actual plane you fly on as the one I was on on the way to Europe was better than the one coming back. Still you'll be fine.

I havent been in a few years, but Ive been twice. Sydney is awesome. The bridge climb is cool assuming you have nice weather.

Kings Cross on Thursday Nights

Darling Harbor >

Star City Casino >

Coastal walk is cool if you like walking. Bondi beach is WAY nicer than Coogee IMO. Manly Beach & Ferry Ride were cool too.

Paddys market is cool if you get bored.

Opera house is cool if they have the light shot going on.

Blue mountains were lame, but Im not a nature guy. They looked the same as the google pics, sooo yeah.

Botantical gardens are cool but the spiders are HUGE!!! Like dog sized!

Meriton Hotel in Bondi Junction is where I stayed last. Great place in a great Sydney suburb. Movie theaters are awesome there, too.

If you can, def. try and get up to Queensland and go diving. We went to hamilton island for a week with diving and all that jazz. Great time.

Where is he studying? My younger brother studied at U-Syd. BEAUTIFUL campus. Worth a walk through for it alone.

Sydney is all about downtown and bondi Beach. I have been to many many beaches all over the world and overall Bondi is my fave. Over Thaiti, Vietnam, Portgual, Nantucket - Bondi is my fave. I know it isnt summer so that sucks, but in February...warm, golden sand, warm water, great waves, plenty of shops/restaurants with walking distance, HUGE beach so despite enormous crowds, plenty of space, everybodys super relaxed, just a great vibe.

I'd kill to live there. Though alcohol is crazy expensive. Make sure to take advantage of the tax free part in the airport!!

Great post, thanks. The botanical gardens seem appealing just to see the dog-sizes spiders. I am not sure where he's studying, but it's one of the lesser universities in Sydney, I think.

I'm not really a beach guy, but I will go to Bondi obviously, just because it's one of the most, if not the most famous beach in the world.

I'd to Sydney just to step inside the Sydney Opera House (Joan Sutherland Theatre). To visit the place where she had her last performance would be an awe-inspiring moment.

IIRC the spiders were somewhat a seasonal thing. The gardens are cool though. Where will you be staying?

Staying with my wife's brother in some flat. In Sydney somewhere.

So I'll be taking around AU$1,000 for 2 weeks. Is that enough would you say? My wife has her credit card too, but I really do not want to use it because I am against credit cards, so it AU$1k enough for 2 weeks in Australia?

Darn it. I really thought that would be enough. Ok perhaps I'll increase it.

Double it at minimum. Oz isn't all that cheap.