Travelling to Australia

[Deleted]

Hello,

My friend and I finished Gymnasium (The equivalent of High School I would assume) this summer, we both took a year off to relax and work. Recently we've been talking about whether or not we should travel to a country we've never been to, while we have time, and hopefully money for it. Seeing as we'll both be starting University this autumn, now seemed like a pretty good time to do so.

We both feel the choice should be Australia, because it will be unlike anything we've ever experienced before in a variety of different ways.
So why have I come to MMO-champ with this nonsense? Well, seeing as this is an international forum with people from all over the world, I figured we could run into some pretty sound advice from someone.

Basically, what we're really concerned about is our economy, we both have a current budget of around 20k Danish Kroner (~3.500USD), and we're wondering if that is going to be enough. We would of course prefer a lot of leisure time, but I don't know if that is possible with the budget. Regarding the Visa we pretty much have two choices, it's possible, according to my research, to get a free tourst E-Visa where you are not allowed to do any sort of work. The other Visa is a tourst working visa, where you pay 2000 kr (~350USD) for a working Visa that is active for 12 months.

If the trip was to be purely for leisure we were thinking that we could stay for around 1-2 months, if the trip would be a mix of leisure and work we were thinking around 2-3 months.

Two quick and very general questions about Australia: Is the food expensive compared to Scandinavia, and how expensive is it to stay at hostels/hotels.

Hopefully you guys/girls were able to understand most of what I'm curious about, and you'll be able to share some advice/ some of your own experiences.

Thanks in advance!

[Jakexe]

Coming from an Aussie native who has travelled and seen the entire country I'll do my best.

The Aussie dollar tends to be just under the US dollar so you can use that as a reference. A good, high quality dinner when you go out here is around $40-$50 whereas a macca's meal is around $6. You can easily live on $50-$70 food budget per week if you cook your own meals.

Hotels are around $100 a night so you'd want to look at hostels with longer stay packages which, depending on the no. of people you're happy to stay with can range between 30-80 a night.

Hope that helps a bit, I can offer sites if you specify which cities you're planning on seeing.

[Deleted]

i think the tickets to go and return cost like 3k euros

[Mikeshort]

i think the tickets to go and return cost like 3k euros

This. You would need to spend a large amount of your budget on your tickets. The prices of tickets vary from 1k-4k euros, depending on time of the year and how much stops you need to make.

[Kivimetsan]

Aus is good if you speak English.
Our dollar is usually at parity with USD but lately its been $1.05 USD coversion.
Its easy to work your way through Queensland picking fruit, you get free accommodation, food and money at some places.
Sydney is really good clubbing for backpackers, tonnes of hostels in the city near backpacker bars.

imho land in Brisbane and work your way down the south coast to melbourne.
North and Western Australia kind of suck if you don't like hot weather, crocodiles, flys, sharks, drop bears.
The south coast is safe from man eating bugs (sort of).

Drinks at clubs are expensive usually around $7 - $12 depending on the establishment.
If you just like eating noodles, your food budget could be as low as $20 a week lol.

[Deleted]

Did a quick search for ticket prices and found this price, it's in danish but it should be pretty simple, if not I'll translate. Basically what I'm wondering is, is this the full price for a return ticket? 9597 kr per person? http://tinyurl.com/cmqgkmd

[Catta]

You are Scandinavian - unless going to Monaco every country will be cheap compared to home.

Also be prepared for every animal, plant and patch of dirt to be out to kill you.

[Deleted]

A lot of people will warn you about the dangerous snakes out there, don't worry about them. Most of the really nasty snakes have been killed by the spiders.

[tavalus]

Stick to the east coast if you go, WA is overpriced beyond belief due to mining.

[Silhouette of Seraphim]

I could ask my fiancee for some actual details, as she's originally from Australia, but from what I've heard the following depictions are pretty much accurate.

[FiveDkp]

WA is pretty good if you're looking for a Mining Job. It pays very good cash but fruitpicking is alot better for a leisure thing.

[Deleted]

You are Scandinavian - unless going to Monaco every country will be cheap compared to home.

I disagree. I traveled around Australia in May and June this year and being from Denmark myself I was surprised by how expensive Australia is. We're used to high prices on everything in Denmark, so we kind of expect everywhere else to be cheaper.
Australia is not a cheap country. It is a wonderful country though, and I would highly recommend it. It's so different and yet so familiar. You will not be dissapointed!

OP, I'm not sure whether or not 20.000 Danish kroner would be enough. I used more than that, and I was there for two months. I didn't work though so if you choose to do so it might be enough

[Deleted]

I disagree. I traveled around Australia in May and June this year and being from Denmark myself I was surprised by how expensive Australia is. We're used to high prices on everything in Denmark, so we kind of expect everywhere else to be cheaper.
Australia is not a cheap country. It is a wonderful country though, and I would highly recommend it. It's so different and yet so familiar. You will not be dissapointed!

OP, I'm not sure whether or not 20.000 Danish kroner would be enough. I used more than that, and I was there for two months. I didn't work though so if you choose to do so it might be enough

How high was your budget if I may ask? And also, how much did you pay for your plane ticket?

[Deleted]

How high was your budget if I may ask? And also, how much did you pay for your plane ticket?

The plane ticket was like 8000 kroner (~1400USD)as a return ticket. I don't think I got the cheapest option so you might be able to get it cheaper.
I think I had 30.000 kroner (~5300USD) on my bank account when I left. I'm not quite sure though. What I do remember though is, that I didn't really have any money left when I came home :P