^ Two questions for you, Omar.

1) I'll be staying there for 11 days, (half in Sydney, half in Cairns). How much cash would you recommend me taking? I plan on using my credit card for as many purchases as I can but cash would obviously be better for trivial things like souvenirs or taxi rides.

2) What is the typical tipping etiquette? In Europe waitstaff are not tipped so I'd think that since Australia has a heavy English influence it would be the same. What about other things like taxi drivers, hotel staff, etc.?

9/12/2012 10:38:04 AM

Just got back from Australia a couple weeks ago. I would recommend signing up for Scoopon, Groupon Australia and LivingSocial Australia. I mostly bought vouchers that I just needed to email or required no reservation (rather than having to call and book). From those sites, I was able to get a Sydney harbour cruise with open bar and lunch for $60, all you can eat Japanese dinner with a beer for around $15, Japanese teppanyaki dinner for about $19, two hours of unlimited arcade games in Galaxy World and a snack wrap and chips from Oporto for $10, and a steak dinner with a glass of wine for around $20. It will definitely save you money. To put it in perspective, a can of Coke is about $3 and a burger at a sit down restaurant can run you around $21. McDonald's meals are around $10. A six pack of beer at the bottle shop is around $20.

If you're looking for a good reef tour, try Reef Experience. They leave from Cairns. It's $175/person which includes all snorkeling/scuba gear, an intro scuba dive (about 20 minutes), glass bottom boat tour, breakfast, lunch, and cheese/crackers and wine.

9/12/2012 11:09:19 AM

^^
also, to answer those questions...I came with $400 cash and prepaid American Express cards (no foreign transaction fees) loaded with a few hundred. I ended up pulling out $600 more and also spent most of the money on the AmEx cards. Not to mention, we were there for a wedding so that was a free dinner, along with my friends taking us out a couple times and paying for things so you may need more than that. We were there for 12 days (Brisbane, Cairns, and a week in Sydney). This also doesn't include the tours I previously booked while in the states.

and...as far as taxis go, I read that you're just supposed to round up to an even dollar amount, but when I mentioned something, the cab driver just gave me all of my change back anyway. I saw some tip jars at bars, but my friends said they never tip.

9/12/2012 11:14:01 AM

^$400 American or Australian currency?

9/12/2012 2:34:53 PM

The $400 I brought was USD which got exchanged to about $AU370. The other money was Australian dollars. As everyone else has already said, your money doesnt go far. I lived there ten years ago when our dollar was strong and it was basically like getting everything half off. The other thing I wanted to mention was that while the Great Barrier Reef was awesome, I was a little disappointed with the lack of fish I saw snorkeling and scuba diving. We did manage to see a humpback whale on our way out to the reef and a sea turtle while snorkeling, but it was nothing like what I saw snorkeling in Hawaii. I would still recommend it though.

9/12/2012 4:27:43 PM

bringing money over is typically a bad idea - it's almost always cheaper to withdraw from an ATM once you are in Australia (or any country you go visit) - i never take more than ~200 with me in US wherever i go and always withdraw locally - australia is extremely cash friendly and they don't have the same rules we have in the US and a company can charge an extra 1-5% on top of the bill if you choose to use a card - they can also set minimums (gas stations do this in the US but it's technically against their card agreement)

tipping is almost non existent - i tip a few dollars if i spend over $75 typically - less than 5% for the most part

for taxis if you are solo then you sit in the front which is a bit different than most people are used to - if you have 2 or more then sitting in the back is acceptable

ncsujen07 is right about groupon / living social / cudo / etc - we use a ton of the deals and are happy most of the time - it's a lot more expensive than the US - a pint of beer is typically 8.50-11 AUD which is almost equivalent to the USD right now

i'm on a dive trip in the GBR right now and absolutely loving it - can't recommend Pro Dive enough if you are planning on making it to Cairns

9/13/2012 7:34:00 PM

Quote :

"Pretty much the only thing I agree with in your post is that Kauai is amazing."

i have to third this kauai really is spectacular

9/13/2012 8:04:34 PM

I'll be staying in Port Douglas which is about 45 mins away from Cairns (from what I've read). There are a number of different reef tour places I'm looking into right now but I'll take the recommendations into account. Thanks for the info on cash vs. card, I actually need to talk to my credit card company and figure how much of a foreign transaction fee is on it.

In terms of withdrawing from ATMs over there, wouldn't there by an additional surcharge for using foreign ATMs?

9/13/2012 10:41:00 PM

i use the chase sapphire as my primary card while over here - no transaction fees

you will incur a fee typically from both the local bank and your bank for an ATM withdrawal so check what the fees are - even with the fee the cost works out better for me to withdraw locally - find out what your max withdrawal is so you can minimize the fees as well

9/14/2012 4:27:03 AM

^^ We used a company called Wavelength in Port Douglas. It was a smaller boat and we did several different sites. Our guide was a marine biologist who led groups every day, and he was awesome at finding the coolest things to see. I wrote about it in my travel blog at http://mikeallover.travellerspoint.com/51/

I had a second entry about staying in Port Douglas too at http://mikeallover.travellerspoint.com/52/

As far as ATMs go, I was charged an international transaction fee by ING, but no ATM fees directly since I always went to a fee-free ATM (just like cash points here). I used my Capital One card primarily when I lived there since it had no foreign transaction fees.

9/14/2012 10:59:23 AM

So can someone explain why beer costs so much there? Is it difficult to make beer in Australia or something??

9/14/2012 11:14:48 AM

I'm guessing it's just expensive to drink imported/American beer, because Foster's tastes like fucking piss

9/14/2012 1:54:50 PM

Australians don't drink the fosters that we know, although fosters does own half the other brands that people do drink. Beer is more expensive because it is more location specific, each region typically drink their own beer. There are some national brands, but not as many as we have.

Canada's beer prices are expensive too. I think we just have many more cheap beer options.

FYI - light beer is Australia means light alcohol, not light calories. I think "blonde" beer refers to low carb/calories.

[Edited on September 14, 2012 at 3:13 PM. Reason : ]

9/14/2012 3:11:51 PM

It was explained to me that everything was so expensive because the rent for businesses in the city are so high...but it still doesn't explain the overpriced beer when we were out in the country in QLD. We visited a microbrewery on a food tour in Sydney and the owner was saying how ridiculous some of the regulations are to have a brewery in place. He said the US is so far ahead of Australia with regards to microbrews and homebrewing.

9/14/2012 3:28:20 PM

the main reason that it's expensive is the taxes that are imposed on alcohol - the rest of the factors mentioned apply as well for the most part

9/14/2012 6:25:40 PM

Quote :

"FYI - light beer is Australia means light alcohol, not light calories. I think "blonde" beer refers to low carb/calories."

LOL, alcohol content has more to do with calories than carbs

Low alcohol, typically means low calories. Miller 64 is 64 calories because it's 2.8% alcohol, that's 55 calories from alcohol and 9 calories from carbs.

Carbohydrates: 1 gram = 4 calories
Alcohol: 1 gram = 7 calories

Ignorance of american culture = 8g of carbs saved from drinking 2.8% MGD 64 versus a 5% Budweiser.... 32 calories, which you can burn in about 10 min. of walking or beer pong.

9/14/2012 6:58:52 PM

Any of you folks flown on Qantas before? I'm trying to figure out their baggage policy. Does anyone know if they allow a personal item like a backpack or handbag in addition to the 1-carry on? I checked their website but couldn't find anything.

9/24/2012 3:57:49 PM

qantas has the best baggage policy of any of the airlines here - you can take 2 carry-ons like the US - one small personal and one 'normal' carry-on sized luggage - the size of normal here is smaller and they will weigh it most times - has to be under 7KG

9/24/2012 7:01:42 PM

All I can say at this point is, holy crap expensive.

9/24/2012 9:06:42 PM

^^I read on the website that two carry-ons (no distinction between carry-on and personal item) and one checked bag are free for domestic flights within Australia. For international I couldn't find anything though. I called them and the person I spoke with didn't know. They sent me to someone else who said you could then another person came on and said you couldn't and they both agreed that it was at the discretion of the agents at the airport. Which helps me exactly zero.

I guess my questions should be modified to: Have any of you traveled internationally with Qantas and if so did you have a personal item in addition to a carry on?

9/24/2012 11:27:29 PM

the international rules are more liberal than the domestic ones - i always fly with a carry-on luggage bag and a messenger bag or backpack and have done LA-MEL and LA-SYD multiple times each on qantas

there isn't a distinction between personal and carry-on - they both have to abide by the 7KG limit and size restriction

9/25/2012 2:45:29 AM

^
This. Your bags should be fine. We booked our international flight with Qantas, as well as two additional domestic flights. My understanding was since we booked it altogether, we were also allowed two checked bags domestically. We didn't have two checked bags during the domestic flights, but good info to know. They are also very relaxed with security. I don't think I needed to separate my liquids and they don't make you take your shoes off.

9/25/2012 12:55:40 PM

Thanks for the info cool dudes.

at American Airlines though. The main leg of my flight is from Dallas Fort Worth to Brisbane. I had a nice connection getting into Dallas a solid 2 hours before the next ones leave each way but they cancelled those flights so now I have to wait there for 9 freaking hours between flights.

9/25/2012 4:10:24 PM

bump, heading out this Saturday.

Question for anyone who has flown Qantas though. Do you know how strict they are when it comes to dimensions of their carry on luggage? Their website lists 22inx14inx9in as their max dimensions buy my roller duffel bag I was planning on using is like 24 inches long when you include the wheels. Do you guys think they'll be anal about that? I've never seen anyone breakout a tape measure or whatever but I have seen those boxes at airports that say "Your carry on must fit in here".

11/19/2012 8:52:35 AM

international they barely care but domestic they can be bitches about it - not the size but the weight

11/22/2012 2:37:19 AM

Just got back a few days ago . Still pretty jet lagged but it was the trip of a lifetime. Got to see some kangaroos in the wild fighting each other, swim with sharks at the Great Barrier Reef, feed some wallabies, and my wife fulfilled her lifelong dream of holding a koala. And yes, I'm wearing a Cook-Out tshirt in front of the Opera House in the second picture below.











If anyone is interested, I have TONS more pictures on Facebook, feel free to add me if you want to see more: https://www.facebook.com/darius.yaghoubi

[Edited on December 6, 2012 at 2:09 PM. Reason : ]

12/6/2012 2:06:00 PM

^
Looks like it was fun!


On a separate note, does anyone have any recommendations for the best Mediterranean honeymoon destinations? Spain/France/Italy?

12/10/2012 8:24:42 PM

^Amalfi Coast in Italy.

12/11/2012 11:12:13 AM

Croatia!
I've heard excellent things about Split, although I haven't been


I absolutely love Budapest, Hungary too
you've got the river since you people seem to require drinking near water

12/11/2012 9:00:18 PM

How much do you honestly think it would cost for 2 to go to fiji for a week? in real 7 days but taking a day traveling to and from. so stay 7 travel 2.

12/12/2012 3:28:49 AM