Australia Travel Information

Australia
Australia's biggest attraction is its natural beauty. The landscape varies from endless sunbaked horizons to dense tropical rainforest to chilly southern beaches. Scattered along the coasts, its cities blend a European enthusiasm for art and food with a laid-back love of sport and the outdoors. Visitors expecting to see an opera in Sydney one night and meet Crocodile Dundee the next will have to re-think their grasp of geography in this huge country. It is this sheer vastness that gives Australia - and its diverse population - much of its character. Full country name: Commonwealth of Australia
Area: 7.68 million sq km
Population: 19.5 million
People: 92% Caucasian, 7% Asian, 1% Aboriginal
Language: English
Religion: 75% Christian, 1% Muslim, 1% Buddhist, 0.5% Jewish
Government: independent member of the Commonwealth of Nations
Head of State: Governor General Michael Jeffery
Head of Government: Prime Minister John Howard

GDP: US$418 billion
GDP per capita: US$22,000
Annual Growth: 4%
Inflation: 2%
Major Industries: Minerals, oil, coal, gold, wool, cereals, meat, tourism
Major Trading Partners: Japan, ASEAN countries, South Korea, China, New Zealand, USA, EU
Facts for the Traveler
Visas: Every nationality except New Zealanders need visas. Tourist visas and Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) visas are valid for three months. ETAs are just under US$11; standard visas cost US$35. Longer-term visas can be applied for.
Health risks: Sunburn, Heat Exhaustion
Time Zone: GMT/UTC +10 (Eastern Standard Time), GMT/UTC +9.5 (Central Time), GMT/UTC +8 (Western Time)
Dialling Code: 61
Electricity: 220-240V
Weights & measures: Metric

When to Go
Any time is a good time to be in Australia. Summer (December to February) can get uncomfortably hot but it's great beach weather. Up north, the summer wet season, is very, very humid and the sea is swarming with box jellyfish. Winter (June to August) offers skiing in NSW and Victoria. In spring and autumn the weather is mild.

Events

Christmas is part of the long summer school vacation and during December and January you can be forgiven for thinking that half of Australia is on holiday. This is when accommodation is almost always booked out.

Australia's arts festivals attract culture vultures from all over Australia to see mainstream and fringe drama, dance, music and visual arts. The huge Festival of Sydney, which takes up most of January, is the umbrella for a number of events from open air concerts, to street theatre and fireworks. The Adelaide Arts Festival takes place at the beginning of March in even-numbered years. In odd-numbered years, Womadelaide, Adelaide's outdoor festival of world music and dance, takes care of February. Melbourne has a Comedy Festival in April, the world's biggest Writers' Festival in September and the fabulous Melbourne International Festival in October. A couple of festivals to celebrate Aboriginal arts and culture include the Stompen Ground Festival, which is held in Broome in October and the Barunga Wugularr Sports & Cultural Festival, held near Katherine in June.

Sporty fun includes Darwin's Beer Can Regatta in August, when a series of boat races are held for craft constructed entirely of beer cans; Alice Spings holds the Henley-on-Todd, a boat race 'run' on a dry river bed. More mainstream events include the Sydney to Hobart yacht race (from Boxing Day); the Australian Open tennis championship (Melbourne in January); the Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne in March); Australian Rules Football (around the country from March to September); and the country-stopping Melbourne Cup on the first Tuesday in November.

Gay festivals include Sydney's massive, outlandish Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, in February/March, and Melbourne's January/February Midsumma Festival.

Currency: Australian Dollar

Meals

Budget: A$5-10
Mid-range: A$10-25
High: A$25+


Lodging


Budget: A$10-30
Mid-range: A$30-100
High: A$100+
If you're coming from Europe or the USA, Australia is going to look pretty cheap. Food, in particular, is great value. Accommodation is also reasonably priced, and if you're staying in hostels or on-site caravans (trailers) or camping, and mostly making your own meals you could conceivably get by on about AUD35 to AUD45 a day. Travel will be your biggest expense - distances are huge - so if you're moving around a bit, eating out once or twice a day and staying in budget hotels, plan for around AUD85 a day. If you're only staying for a couple of weeks and plan to take a few internal flights, you'll be looking at more like AUD170 a day.

Credit cards (particularly Visa and MasterCard) are widely accepted (and pretty much compulsory if you're going to rent a car), and ATMs all over the country accept credit and Cirrus cards.

Tipping is gaining a foothold in Australia, particularly in cafes and restaurants in the bigger cities, and a tip 10-15% is usual. However, you won't cause offense if you don't tip. Taxi drivers are always grateful if you leave the change.

Attractions

Canberra
Canberra is a picturesque 20th-century concoction on the banks of Lake Burley Griffin that has struggled to establish itself as the focus of Australia's national identity. It has often been perceived as a 'fat cat' town of politicians and bureaucrats living off the rest of the country.

As Australia's capital, Canberra pulls out the big guns when it comes to sightseeing. Souped-up national versions of art galleries, war memorials and libraries come extra-large and with lashings of grandiose gravitas. The city's impressive sights are ringed around its focal lake.

Adelaide
When the early colonists arrived and began building Adelaide they used stone. What they had in mind was to build a solid, dignified city. It was to be a civilised and calm place, with a manner that no other state capital in the country could match.

The 'city of churches' has a superb setting, with a centre ringed by green parklands and a backdrop of hills. Bouncing between its musuems, fine galleries, metropolitan beaches and historic houses will keep you busy, and then there's daytrips into the Mt Lofty Ranges.

Brisbane
Brisbane has shucked its reputation as a backwater and emerged as one of the country's most progressive centres. It has several interesting districts, a good street cafe scene, a great riverside park, a busy cultural calendar and a thriving nightlife.

Brisbane is known for its showiness - think artificial beaches and tourist arcades - but it also has gracious architecture and tranquil parks. Its galleries and musuems are legendary, and if you need a break from the built environment it's refreshingly close to bushland and wildlife.

Cairns
Cairns is the tourist 'capital' of the Far North and one of Australia's top travellers' destinations. Not long ago, it was just a sleepy tropical backwater. Unfortunately, much of its allure and tropical languor has vanished amid the rapid growth of tourist infrastructure, but it is still one of the best bases for exploring the riches of tropical Queensland. From Cairns, you can arrange trips to the Great Barrier Reef, Green Island and Fitzroy Island, the beautiful Atherton Tableland, the market town of Kuranda, the string of enchanting beaches stretching 50km (30mi) north to Port Douglas, and the spectacular rainforest and coastal scenery of Cape Tribulation and the Daintree River.

Darwin
The 'capital' of northern Australia is closer to Jakarta than it is to Sydney, and closer to Singapore than it is to Melbourne, so it should come as no surprise that it looks outward to Asia as much as it looks inland to the rest of Australia.

When Cyclone Tracy levelled Darwin in 1974, she took with her a lot of its streetscapes, but there are still a few colonial buildings to give a feel for what went before. The city's musuems focus on everything from pearling to crocodiles to the night Tracy came to town.

Great Barrier Reef
One of Australia's greatest assets is the magnificent reef that runs along virtually the entire coast of Queensland. Considered one of the world's natural wonders, it is the most extensive reef system and the biggest structure made by living organisms on earth.

Great Ocean Road
This route along the south-western coast of Victoria is one of the most spectacular coastal drives in the world. It winds around ragged cliffs, windswept beaches and tall bluffs, passing through lush rainforest and towering eucalypts.

Hobart
Hobart is Australia's southernmost capital city. The fact that it is also the smallest is the key to its particular charm. A riverside city with a busy harbour, its mountain backdrop offers fine views over the beautiful Georgian buildings, numerous parks and compact suburbs below.

Many say that Hobart's history as a demonically harsh penal colony and the site of some of Australia's worst massacres of indigenous people lingers in the form of melancholy ghosts, lending an eerie chill to the idyllically peaceful honey-stoned colonial buildings and Irish-looking landscapes. Melbourne
Melbourne is dubbed marvellous for a reason. Healthy hedonism masquerades as high art: Melburnians are equally passionate about football and ballet, nuts for fashion, munchy for restaurants, ravenous for music and hot for theatre. It's a smorgasbord of a city that invites you to take a bite.

Melbourne's easy-going pace is perfect for enjoying its gracious Victorian architecture, its green wealth of parks and gardens, and its many cultural highlights. Most of the city's main sights are just a short walk or tram-hop apart, with plenty of latte pick-me-up opportunities on the way. Perth
Perth is a vibrant and modern city sitting between the cerulean Indian Ocean and the ancient Darling Ranges. It claims to be the sunniest state capital in Australia, though more striking is its isolation from the rest of the country - Perth is over 4400kms (2750mi) from Sydney by road.

Desert the cluttered rectangle of the city centre and go looking for the beauty that makes visitors fall for Perth: Indian Ocean beaches, hillside hideaways, romantic Fremantle, cosmopolitan Subiaco and the select, comfortable suburbs which fringe the Swan River. Sydney
Sydney is Australia's oldest city, the economic powerhouse of the nation and the country's capital in everything but name. It's blessed with sun-drenched natural attractions, dizzy skyscrapers, delicious and daring restaurants, superb shopping and friendly folk.

Sydney Harbour's sandstone headlands, dramatic cliffs and stunning beaches define the city. But whichever way you look, from the white sails of the harbour to the arc of The Coathanger to the toned flesh on Bondi, Sydney is serious eye-candy. Uluru
Uluru is a site of deep cultural significance to the Anangu Aboriginals and the most famous icon of the Australian outback. The 3.6km (2.2mi) long rock rises a towering 348m (1141ft) from the pancake-flat surrounding scrub. It is especially impressive at dawn and sunset when the red rock spectacularly changes hue.

Off the Beaten Track
Alice Springs
'The Alice' is a pleasant modern town, smack in the middle of Australia and built on the banks of the usually-dry Todd River. At first appearance it's so civilised that it can be a real disappointment to those expecting saloons on every corner and colourful bush characters, but stick around and explore the area and you'll begin to appreciate the flavour of this desert community. The town was founded as a staging point for the overland telegraph line in 1870, although its growth has occurred only in the last 30 years. The road south to Adelaide was only fully sealed in 1987.

Barossa Valley
The Barossa Valley is arguably the best-known wine-producing region in Australia. It's a beautiful, well-tended area with over 50 wineries, most of which encourage casual visits for tasting and cellar sales. To fully appreciate the area, get off the main road and take the narrow backroads between settlements.

The gently sloping valley was settled in 1842 by German settlers fleeing religious persecution in Prussia and Silesia, and its distinct Germanic flavour remains.

The central town is Tanunda. Adelaide is just over an hour's drive to the south-west. Note that the least scenic time to visit is between July and October, because the vines are heavily pruned during the winter months. The busiest months are from March to May when the grapes are harvested.

There are several other wine-growing regions in the state, notably the south-eastern corner around Penola, Coonawarra and Padthaway; in the Clare Valley, north of the Barossa; and around McLaren Vale on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Broome
This old pearling town's languorous pace, cosmopolitan atmosphere and easy-going tropical charm have made it a popular travellers' centre and a favoured spot for alternative lifestylers and urban burnouts. Broome has a distinctly Asian feel, partly because of its history as a pearling centre and partly because Perth, the state capital, is twice as far away as Indonesia. Nearby Cable Beach is now one of the most famous beaches in Australia, and the upmarket tourism promoted here has saved the town from the crasser Australiana flotsam that swamps most WA tourist towns. The major attractions in Broome are the small Chinatown, the 80-year-old open-air Sun Pictures Cinema, the Japanese cemetery, and the dinosaur footprints at Gantheaume Point. Broome is also popular with bird-watchers, with the Broome Bird Observatory on Roebuck Bay rating as one of Australia's top non-breeding grounds for migrant Arctic waders. Swimmers should beware of stinging jellyfish in the water between November and March.

Flinders Ranges
Rising from the northern end of Spencer Gulf, in the east of South Australia, and running north for 800km (500mi), the Flinders Ranges are, to many seasoned travellers, the epitome of outback Australia. It's a superb area for bushwalks, wildlife and taking in the ever-changing colours of the outback. In the far north, the mountains are hemmed in by sand ridges and barren salt lakes. The best-known feature of the range is the huge natural basin known as Wilpena Pound, which is ringed by 1000m (3280ft) high cliffs. Other attractions include Alligator Gorge in Mt Remarkable National Park, Brachina Gorge, and the ironstone capped ridge known as the Great Wall of China. Winter is probably the most pleasant time to visit, but the ranges are greenest and carpeted in wildflowers in spring. The most convenient towns are Quorn and Hawker.

Freycinet Peninsula
On Tasmania's beautiful east coast, the peninsula is part of the Freycinet National Park and features secluded beaches and coves, rare plant, bird and animal life and excellent bushwalks. A particularly popular walk is the return trek to Wineglass Bay. The park has several camp sites and lodges.

Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park is one of the natural marvels of Australia. It encompasses a variety of superb landscapes, swarms with wildlife and has some of Australia's best Aboriginal rock art. This vast reserve is on the World Heritage list both for its natural and cultural importance.

Snowy Mountains
The Snowy Mountains are the highest section of Australia's Great Dividing Range. Kosciusko National Park covers most of the mountains and includes all of the state's ski resorts, rugged alpine scenery, caves, glacial lakes and forests. Although renowned as a winter playground, the park is also popular with bushwalkers in summer.

The ski resorts include Thredbo, Perisher Valley, Smiggins Hole and Mt Blue Cow. Mt Kosciusko is the highest peak at 2228m (7308ft). The main town in the region is Jindabyne, situated just outside the park boundary on the edge of a beautiful lake.

The Kimberley
The rugged Kimberley is one of Australia's last frontiers. A little-travelled and very remote area of great rivers, oases and magnificent scenery. It's the quintessential Australian landscape of red earth, rock, gumtrees, crocodiles, wallabies and blue skies. Attractions include the spectacular gorges on the Fitzroy River and Bungle Bungle (Purnululu) National Park.

Halls Creek is the largest town in the Kimberley. Derby, 220km (136mi) away at the mouth of the Fitzroy River, is a useful base for excursions into the area. The most popular time to visit is between April and September. Although the Wet (the rainy season in the north) offers ethereal thunderstorms and a magic carpet of wildflowers, rains make many roads impassable.

source: lonelyplanet.com