lexande

What's the cheapest way to get between cities in Australia? Most journeys seem to cost at least twice as much as comparable ones in the US, UK or most of Europe. (Prices like $70 for the train Sydney-Melbourne or $55 for the bus Melbourne-Adelaide when booking both well in advance online, and far more when bought on the day.) Tiger Airways looks fairly cheap by the standards of flights, but not so cheap as to really undercut the ground transport options the way e.g. Ryanair does. I'm really looking for something equivalent to Megabus in the US/UK, or the cheap advance rail fares available in the UK and Western Europe.

ryanbryan

There isn't really anything like that in Australia - distances are too far, and car ownership is high, so most people either fly or if they do choose to travel by ground, drive themselves. Trains are generally quite slow and poor value.

As far as flights go, Tiger is certainly the cheapest, but comes with all the hidden surprises that any ultra-low cost carrier comes with.

The sample prices you mentioned sound like good deals to me for those routings, and over comparable distances (certainly in Europe, perhaps less so in the US) would represent decent value on an all-in basis.

trooper

I'm chuckling about the "comparable ones in the UK... and Europe" line..

Given the distances between some of our major centres, and more importantly perhaps the population densities.. I don't think travel here is actually terribly comparable!

(eg BNE to ADL is 2100 klm by road... Where would you be if you headed East-ish from London for that distance? St Petersburg? In most other directions one would be quite literally "all at sea"!)

What I HAVE seen in the past (when walking from the train station to the Naval Dockyard in Sydney) is the apparently vibrant trade in (well) used campervans...(VW Microbus and similar) being sold by backpackers heading home.... that seems to be - for some at least - the answer to the distance/travel cost question... but I suspect those folks are here for several months at least...

Antonio8069

Flying between OZ cities is the best option. Check this site, find a fare, then buy it directly from the airline:
http://www.airfaresflights.com.au/
Carriers like Jetstar match Tiger's lowest fares, so you will have other options!
IF you buy your domestic ticket separate from your trans-Pacific, be aware that the checked luggage rules are not the same!
ps Be sure to visit BRI, you will not be disappointed!!^

lexande

If everybody drives, do you have any advice about ridesharing websites, or even hitchhiking? I've had good experiences with both these options in other parts of the world, and am surprised they don't seem to be very common in Australia given the prices.

Well, MEL-ADL is a similar distance to BOS-WAS or LON-GLA, both of which can easily be done for $25 on Megabus (and under $5 if you're lucky and early). I took Eurolines for €34 from Paris to Bratislava, which is about 67km shorter than SYD-ADL. Obviously getting to Perth is a different matter entirely, though even there airfares seemed rather high compared to NYC-LAX flights.

DownTheRappitHole

It's a wealthy country that doesn't screw over the working class like the US does so the relatively "poor" actually have money to spend. Try your thumb or be prepared to spend "more money" than you would in the US. For a Western US resident the prices don't seem at all high.

You'll have to spend more money anyways with the current exchange

ryanbryan

No, you're right, rideshare/hitchhiking isn't particularly common. My best suggestion (given cost, rather than time, seems to be the biggest factor) would be to take overnight buses between cities to get yourself to your next destination, and to save on accommodation.

One of the biggest factors in the lack of cheap transportation options is that competition is generally pretty limited due to the relatively small population and long distances (a factor in itself), making barriers to entry pretty high, and margins pretty small.

So basically, you're not missing any secret cheap travel options. Australia is not a particularly cheap travel destination.

TrueBlueFlyer

Check out CouchSurfing.org there's always people driving between cities that are more than happy to share fuel costs.

What worked for me though when I traveled on a shoestring budget down under in 2009 was the Virgin Blue / Virgin Australia happy hour fares... of course you need to book in advance, but I was able to snag some excellent deals for day trips out of Sydney to places like Gold Coast, Melbourne, even Hobart in Tasmania.

Another option is Greyhound. Its not as bad as its namesake in the US, and is quite affordable when its on special. I did a few day trips out of Sydney to Canberra and out of Brisbane to Surfers Paradise.

Good luck!
--Russ

lexande

The Australia pages on hitchwiki.org are surprisingly sparse, but I may end up trying anyway.
Thanks for the advice; this is probably what I'll end up doing for the most part. In case anybody with the same questions comes to this thread in the future, jayride.com.au was the most promising rideshare site I saw, though it's clearly nowhere near as popular as in other parts of the world and probably won't work for me.
I've used couchsurfing for accommodation before, but I don't see where to find rideshares on the site?
I've traveled extensively on US Greyhound and didn't think it was bad at all. (I realise the two companies are totally unrelated.) The $55 MEL-ADL fare I quoted above was from Greyhound; that still seems expensive to me bug I guess I will have to deal with it.

TrueBlueFlyer

while there are some separate forums for ride-share I would recommend joining the "city" forums for both your departure and destination, and simply asking who's going where and if they can help. much planning is done ad hoc like that.

the two Greyhounds are owned by the same parent company if I'm not wrong, just run separately. I used to work for Coach USA in US, and did take Mega Bus on a few occasions on those $1 fares... nothing wrong with traveling that way, though I'd rather fly.


but yeah... in general travel in Australia or New Zealand isn't really cheap

TrueBlueFlyer

i'm wrong... the two Greyhounds are separate entities although both use the same name and logo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyhound_Australia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyhound_Lines

Enigma

Mate, seriously, you need a reality check. Let me spell it out for you:

* Australia is BIG. Very big.

* The population of Australia is TINY in comparison to the rest of the world, especially give the size of the land.

* Australia is not the UK. Not the US. Not like anywhere else you've been. Don't even think about "it seems more expensive than <xxx>" lines because you're comparing apples to oranges. Big countries have more population, more competition, more services, all which generally results in better deals for consumers. Australia doesn't.

* Cost of living in Australia is HIGH. Wages are higher. Property costs are high. Petrol is expensive. Food/drink is expensive. Given the current currency conversion from GBP to AUD you will feel this pain even more so.

In short, if you're tight for money or always whinging about prices being too high, you're gonna hate Australia. Save more before you decide to go or just accept that your wallet is gonna get hammered. Sure you can be smart about some things, but I worry that you're just going to go in with the wrong attitude and hate the place for the wrong reasons.

In terms of travel:

* Airline travel is always the best and quickest way to get around. Tiger and Jetstar are the budget airlines. Qantas and Virgin are the main players.

* Train travel is dreadful and should be avoided.

* Bus travel is possible but restrictive and they are LONG journeys.

* If you plan to travel around alot of Australia and want to explore the countryside, looking into a campervan or rental car as already suggested is a good idea. Many hostels will also have noticeboards with people trying to hook up with travellers, offering to contribute to petrol, etc. Depending on the time of year you could easily buy some tenting equipment once there and stay in campsites, of which Australia has heaps, some of which are free. If, however, you want to focus on major cities, airline travel will probably be a lot less stressful and take up a lot less time (Melbourne to Sydney along the coast can be a lovely drive along the coast though!)

Australia is an amazing country (I'm biased though) so go in with the right expectations and you'll leave with life-long memories.

tom911

What's hurting you this year is the exchange rate. The U.S. dollar has been doing very poorly in Australia. I cancelled a trip this year when an Australian dollar cost $1.09, and even now it's only dropped to $1.02. It's hard to be a leisure traveler with that type of surcharge on everything you eat, drink, all transit, hotels, and activities.

Compare that to last year's trip when an Australian dollar was at 82 cents. Basically, you're paying high prices because the U.S. dollar is weak and the Australian dollar is strong. I have traveled to Australia every year since about 1995, and the exchange rate has me going to other destinations now. I'm not expecting any change in 2012.

trooper

It's a new (and pleasant!) experience for us... I remember travelling to the US in the early 2000's when the Aussie $ was worth 49 cents US... Ouch!

The folks who get angriest are I think are the ones who see a certain exchange rate as "right".... forgetting such things ARE changeable.....

MSPeconomist

My impression is that Australia has a lot of hostels and backpacker hotels. One sees a lot of people, especially young people, doing budget travel.

Before driving, camping, or hiking, be sure you know what you are doing in terms of dangerous wildlife, climate, distances, gas availability, mechanical reliability of the vehicle and equipment such as extra tires, extra gas, water, etc. Australia is very hot and unpopulated in some areas. Be prepared.