Australia budget

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Hi. We want to go to Australia but not sure of how much to save. We're a family of 4 (children under 6) and we want to go to the following cities in 3 weeks:

1. Sydney: + a zoo, bridge walk, blue mountains, general sightseeing.

Go on train towards...

2.Townsville/great barrier reef, possibly stay on an island for a night e.g whitsunday (is that possible?)

The get a car to go cairns (with a stop off a couple of places to stay on way.

1. Cairns/ faint tee/ kuranda

How would you get back to Sydney -- does it have to be a flight??

I wouldn't take kids that age on a holiday of a lifetime that distance, and that expense when they probably won't remember much if it, I seriously doubt at under 6 they will remember it for a lifetime. If you had rellies there and it was a visit to Oz every few years fair enough, but a one off? No chance. The journey there and back is horrendous in itself, everywhere is a very long way from everywhere else, we went in our forties and flew business class for our "holiday of a lifetime" and I came home and still felt that all I did for the weeks we were there was travel. We spent 10k for two of us, although admittedly the flights were 6k, but we stayed with family and friends for most of the trip so no hotels. Not sure what sort of family hotel you will get for £50 a night, Australia is not cheap.

I would save long and slow and take them at 12 for that holiday of a lifetime.

Went ages ago pre kids so my experience is pre history but if you're going to Townsville then I'd get a boat over to Magnetic Island which is beautiful with great beaches, nature trails etc. Probably the most memorable place we stayed!

Just to add my tuppence worth in...

• Australia is big! Driving and trains are tedious and slow. Fly between cities!
• Accomodation is expensive. I've been away a few times recently and paid on average $200/night for apartments through the Stayz website. And that wasn't in major cities or during peak times. Or anywhere remotely exotic!
• Eating out is expensive too. I think grocery stores aren't too dissimilar to UK prices but restaurants are more expensive.
• You don't get cheapo domestic flights like you do in the UK

Don't bother with Townsville. If you want to do the Whitsundays then fly from Sydney straight up Hamilton Island, stay there and then do a day trip on a boat round the other islands if you like.

Agree the train is not a good use of your time. It's the sheer size of the place. You spend hours and hours going through countryside that looks exactly the same. As you're sticking to the coast, it will just be sugar beet or green scrub, depending on where you are.

Wrt to the bridge climb in Sydney, it's amazing but not sure that you can take kids. You can go up the stone pillars at the side ( they're called "pylons") for $15 or so and get a good view.

Also second everyone who says it's expensive here. Allow $200 a night for accommodation at least.

Sydney zoo is amazing! You buy a ticket which includes the ferry and a cable car. So worth it. We splurged and ate at the nice ready rant there and I sipped champagne looking at the harbour bridge.

I think you'd be hard pressed to get accommodation for 50 pounds a night. We are going camping (with our own tent ) and it's close to 30.
Hiring a camper can and driving from sydney up North would be fun.

Food is expensive here.

Breakfast for us 4 is about $50. Dinner closer to$100.

I would speak to Trailfinders. They can plan your whole itinerary with you and have loads of experience of the best things to do and they will price it all up for you. As they can get really good hotel and flight deals it can actually be cheaper than doing it yourself but even if you don't get them to book it for you (and I would strongly recommend you do), they would still be able to give you a much more accurate idea of cost than people here guessing. Sounds like a wonderful trip though!

This is all great. I've had a little think and i think the previous poster who mentioned about my young kids not remembering anything is right. We're not well off and need to save hard. It would be pointless to go unless they can remember. So we're going to wait a bit but I'll definitely be referring back to this post. I've research a little already but some of these suggestions are priceless. Thank you! We'll get to oz one day