# Key Post: Australia



## sueellen (8 Jan 2003)

Hi there,
I'm thinking for a cheap flight to Australia in the month of Febuary, anyone out there got any tips or advice?
Cheers.


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## rheinie (9 Jan 2003)

*flights to australia*

I think [broken link removed] is good starting point enjoy the trip

_Edited by ClubMan to fix link._


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## N0elC (10 Jan 2003)

*Re: flights to australia*

Gohop are very good.

For comparison's purposes, try either Expedia or Opodo.


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## rheinie (12 Jan 2003)

*flights to australia*

Thanks Clubman for the edit I know this has asked here before but how do you "create a link" .


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## Marion (12 Jan 2003)

*Re: Flights to Australia*

Hi rheinie

Just type or paste the full address. The upgrading of ezboard has made this task easier than previously

This would link to AAM


http://www.askaboutmoney.com

[It has not linking in the above example because it is an illustration and I have stopped it from converting to a link]


Marion :hat


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## ClubMan (13 Jan 2003)

*Re: Flights to Australia*

To make links you can 

- type in the URL directly as above and have it converted automatically to a link

- use the  or 

- use .


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## ClubMan (23 Jan 2003)

*Flight*

Hi there, me again...

Got a flight from www.ebookers.com
via London.

£806 sterling + tax - with Virgin Atlantic, from London Heathrow.

(There was a flight with united airlines via San Francisco for £752 sterling, but it added an extra 9 hrs flying time to the journey.  Flying via Kuala Lumpar with this one)

A good deal considering it is the Aussie high season right now.

On another note...  
www.flybmi.com do direct flights to London Heathrow for £65 sterling return from Belfast City Airport (the closest airport to me)

Thanks for the help!

_Edited by ClubMan to fix links._


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## Bob (23 Jan 2003)

*Flight to Heathrow*

Just did a quick comparison with Aer Lingus.

Flight to Heathrow costs - €108

Which is rougly £70 sterling. 

No major difference


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## rooby (27 Jan 2003)

*Flight*

I flew with Emirates Airlines last year to Aussie... for $670. Excellent Airline..

Try www.emirates.com


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## Sludge (19 Apr 2003)

*Australia's nicest city.*

Bob, How did the holiday go?  Any suggestions. I am thinking of heading there for a month early next year. Did you stay in hotel etc.


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## jane (25 Jul 2004)

*Flights*

[broken link removed]


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## MichaelL (24 Aug 2004)

*Holiday in Australia suggestion*

My wifes 30th next year, November, she has always wanted to go to OZ.

Any one have any suggestions of itineraries or recommendations of where to go what to see etc?


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## sueellen (26 Dec 2004)

*Re: >>Flights to Australia.*

*Some other posts*

*sinead76
Registered User
Australia via Thailand*

I'm planning a trip to Oz with friend next year and would like to spend a day or 2 in thailand on the way over. Does anyone know how i would go about booking this sort of thing online? 

*Dunners
Oz via Thailand*

hi there

I did this and found Sayit Travel (Cork and Temple Bar) to be excellent for round-the-world fares
www.sayit.ie/
Most travel agents will give you a decent quote - trailfinders were ok as well, but I found them a little more expensive.
I would highly recommend spending more than a couple of days (if you can) - few days in Bangkok, few days hiking in Chiang-Mai and of course a few days of bliss on the islands (Ko Chang/Ko Samui/Ko Pha-Ngang etc etc)

oh it brings it all back.... 

*sinead76
Registered User
Thailand*

My holiday in itself is a tour around australia i don't really want to spend any more than 1-2 days in thailand, so i'm just going to bangkok for now, would love to go to ko samui some other time though. What airline did you fly with? Ideally we want to fly to bangkok, on to perth, from perth to cairns, drive down the coast and fly home from sydney. Although where we're going to fit ayers rock in there is anyones guess??? 

*piggy
Very frequent poster
Re: Thailand*

Have you checked out  Sinead? I always find them good for this sort of thing.

Booked my year in Oz and my last holiday to Brazil with them. 

I have no affiliation with Trailfinders. 

*mudahawn
Registered User
Re: Thailand*

Sinead, ask www.jeeves.co.uk/ will give you a list of airlines. try them all for ex london. book Ireland to london on aerlingus .com. allow 3 hours to change planes. book hotels on sites such as asiarooms.com or latestays.com. taxi to bkk from airport should cost about 400 or 500 baht ,less than e10.00. sukumvit road area is central. 

*EvilDoctorK
Re: Thailand*

I would second all the recommendations to go to a decent travel agent... Booking flights online for long haul fares such as this agencies usually have better deals (e.g. the current lowest "published" fare from Dublin-Sydney is €1250 ... but I'm sure a decent agent could get you flights for less than that)... also booking stopovers can be tricky online - many booking engines won't easily price these tickets.

Trailfinders is certainly worth trying - also (if in Dublin) [broken link removed] on Pearse St. & Australia Travel Centreon Abbey St. (to name but a few) 

*Dunners
Oz via Thailand*

As part of the overall package, you're allowed a certain number of flights (up to a max no. of miles), so this should easily get you to all the places you need to go in Oz.
For most of the trip, we flew with Qantas and they were fine (nothing hectic, and not a whole lot of legroom)

Alternatively, many people have recommended Virgin Blue for cheap and reliable internal flights whilst travelling through Australia. 

*decbuck
Registered User
Re: Oz via Thailand*

I did not go to Oz, but flew to thailand, hong kong and dubai with emirates for 750 euro. www.emirates.com/. I know they fly to Sydney and Brisbane. Might be worth a look. Believe it or not the flight got cheaper when we added in the hong kong leg of the trip.

Downside is they only fly from london or manchester so you'll a cheapo ryanair flight to one of these places.  

http://www.emirates.com/


*oz and nz spring 05
Australia airline*

could anybody offer information on the best airline to travel with to Australia and New Zealand. We hope to make the trip for about 8 weeks in Feb and March 05. Any good stops recommended. We are nature and wildlife lovers. thanks willow 

*EvilDoctorK
Choose where you'd like to stop first*

Given you're going for 8 weeks and like nature/wildlife and would like to stop en-route I'd say have a think about where you'd like to stop first before choosing airline as your choice of airline will largely dictate where you can stop.

A few thoughts on places you might stopover

Singapore - Beyond the shopping/nice airport&airline it's a fairly dull place.. certainly not a nature/wildlife stopover.

Malaysia - mightn't be a bad option - I've never spent much time there so can't really advise on parks etc.

Thailand - you'd have to go a fair distance from Bangkok to get nature/wildlife -Certainly a great place to visit but maybe not good for a short stopover.

Hong Kong - Don't think you'll find much in the way of wildlife/nature in the vicinity of HK - definitely a city desintation.

USA - California has some pretty cool national parks.. maybe you could visit these on a stopover given the pretty good transport links in the US you could probalby easily combine them with a stopover in SFO/LA

South Africa - A bit out of the way sure but you can certainly get airfares that allow travel via South Africa and the journey isn't that much longer really maybe only 2/3 extra hours in total or something - some excellent wildlife / national parks not very far from Johannesburg. 

Other places that spring to mine that you can plausibly stopover en route would be Japan, Korea & Dubai - not sure what they'd be like for nature etc.

I guess the best option of all would be to get a fairly flexible ticket that allowed you to stop in 2 different places one on the way out and one on the way back ... I know BA/Qantas have fares that allow this type of thing and you could stop at any of the above mentioned places with these fares... ask any decent travel agent. It would probably be a bit cheaper to fly with some of the Asian Airlines like Thai / Malaysian but you'd be very restricted in terms of route/stopovers then.... essentially you pay your money and you takes your choice ! 

*Tall Chapy
Frequent poster
Re: Choose where you'd like to stop first*

Evildoctors description of Singapore is correct.
Some places to in OZ
- Katherine Gorge
- Kakadu National Park
- Fraser Island
- Northern Queensland's Rainforests

Airlines
Both Singapore and Air New Zealand have 34" pitch between seats. the last time I looked which is probably the top of my list, then again if you are not a tall chapy/person it may not matter....As for deals just shop around and keep shopping around... 

*Bill
Airlines*

Malaysian Airlines are consistently cheapest on the SE Asia/Australia route. Also its a great place to visit as you're into nature. You'll need to take a few days off in country but they throw in cheap deals on internal flights. Langkawi Island is my recommendation. Unspoilt and lots of rich nature spots to visit.

*yp
australia*

im going to australia at the end of next month.I want to stop off in bangkok on the way. i went into my travel agent ,the lowest they priced me was 1100.i tried ebookers etc.. but they are all rougly the same price.Any ideas on getting it cheaper ,i was looking for it be under 1000 euro .thanks

*yp
trip*

also should have said that i intend to from bangkok to sydney 

*EvilDoctorK
Flights*

Overall 1100 isnt' too bad (especially if it's 1100 incl. tax) Are you flexible on dates ? Do you have to stop in Bangkok.

Stopping Bangkok will limit you to BA/Qantas and Thai Airways ... Thai may have decent fares but BA/Qantas are a bit more expensive (though you may get cheap/free internal flights in Oz depending on the fare you buy which might offset a bit)

If you are flexible on dates and aren't tied to stopping over in Bangkok there are fares of 850-900+tax that it may be possible to get

I don't know what travel agent you went to but if you haven't already it would probably be worth going to a travel agent that is more specialised in Long Haul fares - like Trailfinders, Australia Travel Centre, USIT , SAYIT and others.

Might also be worth checking UK sites ... if you could get a well priced flight from Manchester or London ... you could add on a separate ticket to there for little enough - maybe a useful saving. 

*fatherdougalmaguire
Very frequent poster
Re: Flights*

Get RTE/TV3/TNG to sponsor you doing a Michael Palin thing  

*sueellen
Moderator
Re: australia*

www.opodo.co.uk
www.expedia.com

*zag
Administrator
Re: australia*

 Have a look at www.australia.ie/ - €935 with a stopover in Singapore on their homepage.

Also, give some of the airlines a call direct and see if they have any offers - some of the agents may be too driven by commission to mention some of the offers. Think of other airlines - KLM, Lufthansa, Asian airlines too . . .

There is plenty of value out there with a bit of searching.

z 

*SalParadise
australia*

Cathay Pacific, Malaysian and Emirates all have rates at the moment starting at 825-879 plus tax, all good airlines.
Malaysia via Frankfurt will also give u a free internal in Malaysia - this could be more interesting than BKK especially if u ventured to Borneo. With Emirates u cld stop in Dubai or Singapore and taxes will be lower. 
If you're still keen on BKK than ur cheapest will be China Airlines (not Air China).
Finally both QF and BA prices increase in October - last year the excuse was the Rugby this year there is none - as a result availability for cheaper dates in September may be tight.
Good Luck


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## sueellen (27 Dec 2004)

*Re: >>Australia.*

*Some other posts*

*carmel
Wedding in Oz*

My partner and I would like to marry in Oz next year.
Any suggestions? 

*Dunners
Wedding in Oz*

Carmel, I would highly recommend the Whitsunday Islands - an absolutely beautiful, unspoilt location but within a short flight of other major attractions (I'm assuming that you/your visitors will want to stay around for a while after the wedding??). Plenty to do and see, between 3-day sails around those fabulous islands, trips to the nearby Frasier Island, diving off the Great Barrier Reef.... - I could go on forever!!)

This also is a handy location for a fab honeymoon in New Zealand or Fiji (can't recommend either location enough!!)


*Tall Chapy
Frequent poster
Whitsunday Island*

I would second Dunners recommendation. I assume it will be a civil wedding.
Best dates are August and September.Might stretch to early October or July
1st Choice Hayman Island
2nd Choice Hamilton Island

The only real must do for the Whitsunday Island is a trip to Whitehaven Beach. If you can get married on this beach do so...The sand on this beach is as pure as flour..

Then charter a boat and cruise up the Great Barrier Reef..If only I had the money.


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## N0elC (17 Feb 2005)

*Re: >>Australia.*

Where did you stay on Hamilton Island tall chappy ?

Am looking for a bit of a party place for three blokes.


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## mollser (22 Feb 2005)

*Re: >>Australia.*

Hamilton Isl aint a place for 3 blokes to go partying Noel, think more honeymoon... Definitely worth a day trip though.

However, Whitsunday trips leave from Airlie Beach, do a 2/3 day / night cruise around the Whitsunday's, sleeping on the boat, (great for parties, I can recommend the Anaconda III). Airlie Beach is quite possibly the liveliest spot in Australia itself, so stay another few nights there.


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## N0elC (22 Feb 2005)

*Re: >>Australia.*

What's the diving like around there, do you know ?


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## sinead76 (22 Feb 2005)

*Airlie beach*

Where is this Airlie Beach exactly?  I'm going to Sydney in August


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## mollser (23 Feb 2005)

*Australia*

Well, it is on the Great Barrier Reef, and most boat trips take you out to the outer reef, where the diving is at its best. So I guess its pretty good. Was a snorkeller myself, and that was excellent. I think there are plenty of shipwrecks as well to explore. 

Airlie Beach is about 2/3rds of the way to Cairns from Sydney, not a drive i'm afraid (prob about 20+ hr drive from Sydney, but pretty reasonable flights can be had from www.virginblue.com.au or www.quantas.com 

It is the main gateway to the Whitsundays, and a complete 24 hour party town. Great place   There is no beach by Aussie standards there though, more of a harbour. Plenty of beaches on whitsundays though.


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## sinead76 (28 Feb 2005)

*oz*

Pity that!  
Will only be spending 6 days on the west coast so probably staying in Sydney for that time, unfortunately.
But I'm planning my next trip already!


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