Thanks to Califrau, we had a fantastic time in California last year, now we're off to Australia, so come and gve me some tips please

[whyarefamiliessodifficult]

title says it all, really.

Califrau gave me some excellent help last year in planning our holiday, and we had a great time.

We are going to Australia this year, and, not ones to take the easy route, we are staying in 3 different places.

So, a bit of background: it will be me, dh, my stepchildren (19 and 17), dd1 (4, and has ASD) and dd2 (2).

so we need a holiday that suits adults, teenagers and toddlers, and disabled. We also have dietary requirements (gluten and dairy free) so hints on shopping and brands would be gratefully received!

So, we are going in August, and so far have planned as follows:

Fly to Melbourne, stay 4-5 days.

Then fly to Sunshine Coast, and stay a week or so.

Then fly down to Sydney for a long weekend, before flying back to London.

We really need to stay in self catering places, due to the dietary issues, and ASD. So, thoughts on somewhere nice in Melbourne and Sydney would be great. We have found this place in Queensland - anyone been there? Any info would be useful.

I've seen the gold Coast thread, and have been noting ideas, but likewise ideas on what we could do in Melbourne and Sydney would be great.

lastly, any tips on supermarkets/food shops? Will I be able to get gluten/dairy free stuff in regular supermarkets, or would I have to go to health food shops (and in both cases, which ones to go for?)

Thanks

god, i am so hopeless at namechanging

as you were

I can only really help you with Sydney, I'm afraid.

If you can find babysitting for the little ones, it's well worth doing the Bridge climb. It'll be pleasantly cool in August so you won't be climbing in the blistering heat.

My local Woolworths (not connected to the collapsed British chain) is fairly small but has a gluten-free section. The range of food available is much wider here than in the UK even in midwinter, so even if you couldn't get to a supermarket there would still be lots of options along the salad/veggie stir-fry (does rice have gluten in it?)/fruit salad lines. Most of the health food shops are independently owned and in the errr, more socio-economically advantaged suburbs so I can't recommend a chain.

When we were living in Asia and coming back to Australia for visits, we always used The Apartment Service to find self-catering accommodation.

Now this is in my threads I'm on, I'll keep an eye on it. Happy to let you know if you are considering booking a place that's in the middle of a red light district or miles away from anywhere.

When we first moved to Melbourne we stayed at Darling Towers Serviced apartments on Murphy Street in South Yarra. Close to the station and a short ride into the CBD.

When you say 'disabled' not sure what facilities you would need to accommodate this and whether these apartments would be suitable.

Have a great time v

ooh, thanks Cali

ninedragons - is the woolworths the same company as the South African Woolworths? We used to love shopping at woolworths in Durban. Good to know that gluten free readily available. Rice is fine, and I suspect dd1 will be having her usual curry, whatever the weather

I would love to do the bridge climb - might be able to persuade my dss to do it with me while dh has the girls (babysitting difficult as dd1 is autistic)

any thoughts on things to do with littlies in Sydney? my stepchildren will be happy with the big tourist stuff (bridge, opera house etc) butnot sure that will impress a 2 year old much although they would like the harbour tour (boat obsession)

Thanks for the links on accomaodation, ninedragons and SueW, will go have a look now (dd1 not physically disabled, but ease of getting to/from essential as if she gets distressed then she can be difficult)

sunshine coast - go to Noosa or Noosaville. Avoid the southern end of the sunshine coast, it's horrible and over developed (I'm thinking of maloolaba). Noosa has a great beach and noce shops/restaurants to keep the older kids happy. It struck me on the sunshine coast how little there was to do elsewhere.

Also regarding the sunshine coast, Australia Zoo is great but so is Eumundi Market. It's one of the best markets in Australia but really won't suit your 2.5 year old. Hire a car from Noosa and drive there with the older kids instead.

The area around Australia zoo is worth a look (the galsshouse mountains).

I think there are apartments in Noosaville called Sunset Cove that we stayed in and are excellent, though you need to take a bus or car or boat to get into Noosa itself. We ate at the yacht club most nights (which was nearby).

I wasn't impressed with Melbourne. t that time of year it might be ropey weatherwise as well. I honestly don't think there's enough there to keep the family occupied.

Instead I would head to Fraser Island (if your LO is up to bumpy four wheel driving - mine was(surprisingly, she fell asleep)) or better still head to Port Douglas (north of Cairns) and take turns to go to the outer barrier reef with the older kids. The journey is very rough and you need to take the sickness tablets on offer (the strong ones). IT's no fun for younger kids but the older ones will love it.

And don't be fooled into going to one of these "family friendly" pontoons - waste of time and money when your LO is throwing up en route and you can't get into the water when you get there.

Have just done sydney and melbourne over xmas
we stayed in melbourne at the langham was fantastic and a great location on the river
we then went down the great ocean road which is a fantastic scenic drive and stayed at this place which again was lovely. It is very close to apollo bay which is a lovely seaside resort with a hippy vibe. You can easily do it in a couple of days and we did a rainforest walk, waterfall walk etc
In sydney we stayed at the watson's bay hotel which is a bit out of the centre but you can get the ferry in which is lovely. We did the zoo, the maritime museum and the powerhouse museum which were all excellent and very good value. The watson's bay hotel is right on the beach and has a casual bar eating place and then the famous Doyle's on the beach restaurant.
Have fun we had the most perfect holiday

Was just going to suggest Taronga Zoo but belgianbun beat me to it.

Buy the Sydney Morning Herald on Friday when you're in Melbourne (easily available at city newsagents) and the GC (not so sure how widely available it is there, sorry). It has the Metro guide lift-out section in it - it's basically Time Out.

I have a feeling that the Festival of the Winds is usually around that sort of time. It's a giant kite festival on Bondi Beach.

Aquariums in both Sydney and Melbourne are good.

Ds loved the Melbourne trams and could have basically spent the whole holiday on them. He wanted to leave the zoo after a couple of hours so he could get the tram again. he was 3 at the time.

We stayed at Punt Hill Little Bourke in Melbourne - not sure if they do any apartment big enough for your brood - but excellent location for a Coles which does heaps of gluten free and dairy free food (which we needed) and also close the all the china town restaurants. A local chinese and thai both did excellent and reasonable gluten free menus.

The museum was also another Melbourne favourite. The older ones might like to see an Imax film whilst you look at other stuff.

sorry meant to say the room we had at watson's bay in sydney had a full kitchen so you could easily do self catering in it. We got stuff for new years eve and cooked. My ds2 was only 18mths at xmas and it was lovely taking him on the ferry every morning he thought it was fab

have you considered going to Darwin? The weather will be great at that time of year and you could hire a car and drive to Litchfield National Park (takes about an hour). You can swim in fresh water swimming holes at that time of year (we went the first weekend in September) and see giant termite mounds.

There's also the Mindil night markets on the beach twice a week (thursday and sunday??) and you can eat at the nearby sailing club and watch the sun go down over the ocean (spectacular!!)

I've travelled extensively in Australia over the last 13 years, at all times of the year (as well as spending a year living in Sydney).

For me, the top end of Australia always feels like the real deal. The earth is red, for a start! You are visiting the country at exactly the right time for both the top end and the far north of Queensland (rainforest and reef).

My idea trip at this time of year would be Darwin (3 nights) Cairns (a week including Port Douglas for accomodation, cruising the daintree river to spot crocodiles and going up the cable car across the rainforest to Kuranda before heading onto the barrier reef), a few nights in Noosa on the Sunshine Coast and lastly on to Sydney for the whole city experience.

Remember, September is early spring. I was surprised how cold the winter and spring were "down south" whereas up north it's easily warm enough to swim in the sea and probably 25-35 degrees (with the higher temps in Darwin).

Other places in Aus are well worth a look, but I honestly think you're better off in the warmer parts of Aus in September.

It won't be any good for your DDs, but the older children may enjoy jet boating on the harbour. (Don't open the link at work or with a sleeping child in the room - it has very loud sound). There are a few different companies.

I always see them screaming past our place and everyone looks like they're having a brilliant time.

Just saw the question - don't know if our Woolies is connected to theirs. It's ASX-listed but I'm not sure if they have any overseas operations.

Coles is the other big supermarket chain so you could flick through their online shopping site if there is anything in particular your DCs won't be able to live without for a few weeks.

Melbourne is all about shopping and food!!!! Queen Victoria Markets and all the outlets in Bridge Road, Richmond And all the designer stuff on Chapel and Church St.

Sydney, The harbour!! The Opera house, a ferry ride to Manly and the Harbour bridge and then of to Taronga zoo.

Sunshine coast, beaches beaches and animals, the reef if you can go there, theme parks Movie World, Sea world and dream world, but maybe look for some tours out into nature.

Serviced apartments are cheap and easy in all places While you cant use this site to book in advance, I recommend it to find listings of suitable apartments that you can then link to directly
www.wotif.com/

Gluten free not a problem in any of the places you are planning to visit, supermarkets Woolworths and Cole all carry gluten free lines, and heaps of asian restaurants everywhere, on top of places that do lots of salads, fruit, healthy stuff. Also the easiest thing to get in most counter meals etc. is steak and chips with salad, we have great beef here, serving sizes are huge

Melbourne in August will be cold! We arrived there in July and stayed for 6 weeks, and I could not believe the weather, reminded me of Dublin in March, so bring layers. If we had not brought our winter coats, we would have had to buy some .

To be honest I didn't like Melboune at all, Sydney is a far nicer city, particularly for children, so if I were you, I'd spend 2 nights max in Melbourne, and as long as possible in Sydney.

Things my DC liked in Melbourne were trams, and the Aquarium (it is better than the Sydney one). There is a nice zoo in Melbourne, but the Sydney zoo is spectacular. The botanical gardens are lovely. We stayed in the Darling Tower apts like SueW, nice area, lots of playgrounds/parks/shops around,easy access to city on tram and a stroll to the botanical gardens which has a lovely cafe.

Sydney is so fantastic, I was distraught to leave it.

The zoo is amazing, get the ferry there and back, in fact use the ferries as much as possible, your dc will love them. It will take a day to see it all.

Take the Manly ferry one day, go to the beach, eat ice cream, etc, the journey alone is a treat.

Bondi is a must for your older dc, and there is a lovely walk along the coast to Bronte, which has a lovely beach/play area for the younger ones.

The Powerhouse is a brilliant science museum, lots of interactive stuff, down at Darling Harbour.

If you have time, a day at the northern beaches, like Palm beach is lovely.

The food in Sydney is fantastic, and the whole city is very welcoming to children.

I'm so of you!!

Message withdrawn

Noosa is FAB and not far from where you are staying.

I can also recommend visiting the Blackhall Range

and of course Australia Zoo

Movie World,Dream World and Seaworld are on the Gold Coast so quite some distance from you bit Underwater World is great and about 10 mins from where you are staying

oops

thankyou, thankyou, everyone.

will go through thread and make a list.

our holiday is looking as follows:

melbourne for 4/5 days. i know it's not the greatest for small children, but dh used to live there years ago (as a student), and still has friends in the area (actually dd1's godfather). we also think this may be the last holiday all together as a family (stepchildren off to university, and naturally have their own plans) and dh would like to show them where he used to live, etc.

so we are seeing that part of the holiday as more grown up time, for them to spend with dh talking over family stuff.

then off to QLD for 10 days, stayinga t the hotel I linked to earlier. It seems to tick all the boxes for luxury, (friends form melbourne coming too, don't have children so want the spoiling aspect of holidays)activities, good ix of self-catering and restaurants, etc.

then down to sydney for the last weekend, as you can't go all that way and not see sydney. I rememebr the harbour tour from when we last went (pre-children), and I think all the children, big and small, will enjoy that.

as far as accomodation in melbourne is concerned, we have found here, hopefully not in the red light district, or anything

we will have cars at all locations, as public transport and dd1 don't always mix very well , so day trips possible, eg down to one of the theme parks on the gold coast for the older kids (and me!) for the day.

thanks for all the info on food - I know all the fruits and veg will be available all over the place, but dd1 not likely to eat them, so need to stick with her "known" foods, so curry and spag bol it is! having said that, she ate an apple and a pear at lunchtime yesterday - for the first time in about 3 year, so you never know One quick question on food, well drink really - dd1 will only drink one type of juice (won't touch water) - it's a pear/pineapple mix. I know aus customs are really strict on bringing stuff in - how available will these two juices be? pineapple i am not anticipating a problem with, but pear can be tricky to find over here.

so far we have:

melbourne:
arrive, suss out food options, rest up after epic flight with no sleep
relax with friends, catch up/dh tour around with older children showing them the sights

Queensland:
Australia zoo (dsd would not forgive me if we didn't visit)
underwater world (dds are nuts about fish/sealife)
a theme park for the day - any recommendations as to which one? would be more for the older ones, so big rides good, although dsd can be a little wary
noosa visit - anyhting in particualr to see? or is it just a nice town (nothing wrong with that, nice towns good to stroll around)
I have heard rumours about the ginger factory? (dh is a ginger fanatic, so if it is good, we should go, i guess - can't stand it myself )

sydney
olympic park - think the bigger kids would like to see this
australia museum
powerhouse museum
harbour trip
bridge climb if we feel up to it

thankyou again for all your ideas, and keep them coming - we won't be going again for a good few years, so it's good to pack it all in

will now go and hunt through thread for extra ideas

Message withdrawn

The Sydney Aquarium at darling harbour is fantastic too.

You could try bringing your juice and declaring it (it's often much quicker to go through the red channel with something innocuous than the green channel with nothing anyway) but be prepared to lose it. As bloss says, they tend to let processed things through but I'm not sure how they feel about fruit juice.

Is it one particular brand your DD likes? If not, there are a lot of places that do their own fresh juice on the spot, so you might find one that way, especially as pears will be in season then. Nudie 100% juices are sold everywhere but I couldn't see pear on their list. They do seem to have a lot of flavours so I could just have missed it.

I am off to the supermarket today so will post here again if I see pear juice.

thanks re: juice info.

last tie I went through, customs were really narky about everything (and we were declaring), and that left me wondering about fruit juice.

It is one brand she prefers, but have already weathered the major hurdle of getting ehr to drink it out of a cup (they stopped making the small cartons she used to drink, now only available in 1 litre size - i nearly had a heart attack (no joke) when i found that out!) so I should be able to con her using her normal cup...

pear juice is always the hard one to find.... trust her to drink the world's most exclsuive juice