dlwfarm

I heard of a tour or group that has a bus that you travel with, and it travels around australia and they set up tents for you to sleep in, cook the food, and drive the buses. You just go along and visit the sites. Does anyone know of what these are called? We are looking for a cheaper way to see australia without having to fly all over. First time we will visit and we have 2-3 weeks.
Thanks, darwin

cpx

I dont think flying around in Australia is very expensive. even renting car
and driving around is easy too. distances are far and you certainly dont
want to drive or travel by bus for long distances.

If you choose to drive around on your own, they have enough tourist
information centers all over the place to help you find the places to
see and things to do.

For overall planning, you will get great help here from FTers.

number_6

Maybe you want something like http://www.waywardbus.com.au/

Be aware that most of these buses are month-long parties where no-one sobers up. Or so it seems. Aussies do party hard and buses seem to promote that.

Globaliser

There are lots of operators who do this sort of trip - and you'll find them at different levels of comfort, too, from the most basic tours catering to the backpacker on a shoestring budget to tours which have a higher standard even though they're still camping tours. Even the biggest tour operators offer this sort of trip - see AAT Kings and APT.

But my guess is that if you use these tours as a means of transport from one place to another, they are going to cost you a great deal more than flying. Use the tours to see the bits of the country you want to see in detail, but fly from place to place.

Flying within Australia is now pretty inexpensive, at least if you are not trying to book at the last minute. The big established airline is, of course, Qantas (which has its own FT board). The other two nationwide airlines are Virgin Blue and JetStar, which both operate on a low-fare airline model; but Virgin Blue seems to be a higher quality experience than JetStar (which is a Qantas subsidiary).

tom911

I've done Wayward Bus, Oz Experience, and used a bus pass with Greyhound. While I would not do Oz Experience again (not a lot of versatility, and they do cater to a younger market), Wayward Bus did offer an excellent 3 day trip Melbourne-Adelaide with plenty of stops along the way. You had the choice of hostels or hotels, as the overnight stops had both. They used small Toyota buses (more like a big van).

The Greyhound pass was very flexible, with up to 4-5 buses a day on some routes, and ability to change dates (you had to call and reserve a seat). I did this from Cairns down to Sydney once, and did make changes along the way. Look at the different types of passes offered, as they vary depending where you want to go.
http://www.greyhound.com.au/bookings...g_buspass.aspx

Kiwi Flyer

Australia is big. Unless you want to spend the whole 3 weeks being driven around I'd suggest picking a few destinations and flying between them.

hobarthoney

We are a big country so I would not drive!! Seriously our roads between major capitals are good but not great and with the coast of petrol at the moment it would be a better option to fly!!

Both Jet Star and Virgin Blue offer very cheap fares and in some cases the tickets are so cheap it would be cheaper to fly rather than drive.

If I had 2-3 weeks in Australia I would fly for sure! Let me know what interests you about Australia. I and I am sure other FTers would be happy to help with ideas for an itinerary.

bensyd

Your a tourist attraction as well???

I would suggest flying it will work out cheaper than driving all though you will miss all those fun places in between that make the trip memorable, 2-3 weeks just isn't long enough.

Australia is a continent, would you consider driving accross Europe/Africa/North America in 2-3 weeks for a holiday?

hobarthoney

Well the ladies think I am

dlwfarm

thanks so much for all the info!!
Darwin