Visiting Oz in October

[SSH]

Hey, you aussie AGSers, I will be doing a camper-van tour of Aus starting and ending in Sydney come October, so any suggestions as to must-see and must-do things are welcome. Bear in mind, though that my  wife and daughters will be coming too.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Drive by Ben's house and egg it!  It's fun for the whole family!

[Calin Leafshade]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNT7uZf7lew

[Domino]

Of course you have to meet the Wizard.  

[Wonkyth]

Depending on how far you mind driving, you should try and see some of the "Big" things, the Big merino and the Big potato(looks like a turd) are my favorites.
Ryan: Ben's house might be a little out of the way, as I'm pretty sure he's a Perthan.

Basically, if you want to see "unique" things, then you'll have to stay near one of the capitals, but I would also suggest going to some place a little more off the beaten track, as you're less likely to be fed tourist-mush instead of nice sights.
Make sure you take the time to test some of the best beaches on the planet. 

[magintz]

The Queen Victoria Building in Sydney is nice. Victorian building with wrought iron and stained glass... very grand. Also, the maritime museum is free and worth a ganders on a gloomy day. The Rocks are also fantastic to wander round; small, quaint shops and pretty buildings again.

[Wonkyth]

Queen Victoria Building Meh.

[ThreeOhFour]

Ryan: Ben's house might be a little out of the way, as I'm pretty sure he's a Perthan.

Western Australian, but even more out of the way than Perth

[Wonkyth]

Meh, west of Adelaide is Perth.

[Stupot]

If you happen to pass through Brisbane you should swing by Yahtzee and Co's Mana Bar.  It looks like fun.

[Wonkyth]

Yeah, a good idea!
Pity he chose Brispain, nothing interesting about Brisbane except itsself.

[Jared]

Personally I vouch for Powerhouse Museum and Maritime Museum in Sydney - though the latter only if you're into that kind of thing. I'm not sure if it's still the case but last time I was there they had a ddestroyer and a sumbarine constantly moored there.

Macquarie Street into Martin Place I've always thought was the best place of Sydney for a walk, with an added nerd bonus that it's featured in the matrix (Lady in the Red Dress scene... so funny to see US naval sailors in dress uniform going down a street so unmistakably Aussie to my eyes..) And I've always liked the ferries to get around the harbour, plus Taronga Zoo.

So... basically even though I live here I just like the standard tourist crap. 

[xenogia]

Hey SSH, if you come to Melbourne I'm more than happy to show you around our beloved city. 

[[Cameron]]

I'm about an hour south of melbourne. And boy, you really should... avoid it. Not much goes on. Unless you like knife crime?

[Jared]

Having been to Melbourne once I can say that it has much better traffic than Sydney, I'd say is probably more pedestrian friendly, and there's seems to be brilliant Italian food on every block. That said, I was with my parents and they were there to buy marble tiles and look at houses so I didn't get to see any landmarks or anything interesting at all. (Aside from the Rippon Lea mansion, I believe that was the name anyway)

[Wonkyth]

Sydney does tons of Asian food, though.

[SSH]

I currently live in Beijing, so "Asian food" isn't really a selling point 

[Wonkyth]

 

[Layabout]

If you happen to pass through Brisbane you should swing by Yahtzee and Co's Mana Bar.  It looks like fun.

Every second Tuesday is trivia night hosted by Yahtzee. But get there early, it gets busy early on.

That said, it's not a family friendly bar.

The Sunshine Coast (just north of Brisbane) has great beaches, and are far less chavvy than the Gold Coast. Noosa is a good spot to stay for a few days. They have excellent beaches, nice walks, great cafe's etc. October would be an ideal time as it wouldn't be too roasting hot (maybe 27 degrees). It's a good stop off point to head towards the whitsundays and Barrier Reef.

Where you go and how much you do really depends on the amount of time you have.

Brisbane City itself in my opinion doesn't offer too much. It's a city, and not a terribly interesting one at that.

[SSH]

So, we've planned what todo and we're going to hire a campervan and drive down slowly from Sydney to Melbourne and up the Great Ocean Road a bit then take a flight back from Melbourne to Sydney. So no Brisbane, sorry, Yahtzee.

However, it looks like there's  choice coming back from Mel to Syd of Jetstar or Tiger airways. Any Aussies offer any advice? My guess is like they are like Easyjet and Ryanair equivalents, but which is WORSE?