Hot answers tagged australia
24
This actually depends on quite a few factors. I wondered this once many years ago, and asked around quite a bit. Didn't have Travel.SE back then ;)
The earth is rotating at a rather fast speed - and any point on the earth is therefore actually 'moving' (it's all relative). Since the points on the equator have further to travel, they're moving even faster ...
17
Venomous spider bites have not caused a death in Australia since 1979. You are far more at risk getting in to a car than being biten by a spider in Australia. Bites from red backs very rarely cause anything more than a little discomfort, but if you are bitten, always seek immediate medical help. Anti-venom is widespread and you should not be far away from ...
14
Yes it's possible. The question is - should you?
From Wikitravel:
To climb or not to climb
Uluru is sacred to the Anangu people of the area. They say that the
climb follows the track that the ancestoral Mala men took to get to
the top for ceremony. They say that when you climb, you are on their
tracks.
In addition, there are some safety ...
13
The "E" in ETA stands for "Electronic", and that pretty much refers to the entire process. Not only do you apply electronically (eg, on the ETA website), but the airlines are responsible for electronically checking that you have obtained an ETA or a Visa.
Presuming that your previous flights to Australia have been from the US, you may recall that whilst ...
12
Very, very easy. Any bank in NZ will happily exchange those for you, or indeed as you step off the plane, there are several currency exchange places at all the international airports.
Be aware that the airports can sometimes offer worse rates than banks in town - but it depends how much you're exchanging of course, as to whether bothering with the effort ...
11
Yes, a visa is required for EU citizens.
Fortunately, getting one is free and (usually) pretty quick.
The easiest way is to apply for eVisitor online.
The eVisitor allows visitors to travel to Australia for short term
business or tourism purposes for up to three months. eVisitor
applications are free and are available to passport holders from the
...
11
Obviously this is a question that could have very different answers depending on the specific country.
For your specific example of Australia, the official list of actions that can be taken for refused items are :
pay for the item to be treated to make it safe (for example fumigation, irradiation)
store the item at the airport for collection when ...
10
This page collects lots of information about the total solar eclipse of 2012. It shows the path, an interactive map and cloud cover information. Currently only monthly averages are available, later you may find a better prediction.
It is also a good idea to check the page of MrEclipse (Fred Espenak), he's a solar eclipse veteran. Going to the same place he ...
10
OK, so my friend - Kylie Phaup-Stephens, has a blog on bugbitten. Over the period of 20 months from ANZAC Day(25th of April) 2009 to the end of 2010, she cycled from London, UK to Christchurch, NZ.
Naturally, she had to use water methods at some point.
She struggled for a while to find a boat to Aus - and a visa (a legacy law means that even Kiwis need a ...
10
I can't help with the logistics of actually getting the vehicle between Thailand and Australia, however despite what is and isn't possible there, there's no cheap way to do what you're asking.
Australia has a relatively strict process for approving imported vehicles, which would normally only be worthwhile if the car was in some way special. If the vehicle ...
10
Answering my question since I was unable to find a solid answer elsewhere:
Yes, you can. Whereas Aussie rental companies insist on "unrestricted" licenses, their American counterparts are happy with any "valid" driver's license. In San Francisco, the two random Hertz and Enterprise outlets I tried didn't bat an eyelid at seeing an Australian license, they ...
9
Based on my knowledge, there is no private yacht or cruise from Indonesia to Christmas Island.
On the other hand, there is a cruise from Fremantle, Australia to the islands.
The boat's name is Athena (from a company called Classic International Course) and here is the Athena's schedules.
The price varies from USD 2000-2800 for the cheapest cabin (for 2 ...
9
The biggest danger by far is from jellyfish. Some will paralyze you and cause you to drown, while others merely put you into excrutiating pain for up to 30 hours.
Fortunately, jellyfish are easy to avoid: stay out of the sea, at least between October and May while you're north of Brisbane (more detailed information) - no matter how urban the area, how hot ...
9
This is a common misconception. There is no such thing as an "International driver's licence". What you need is a "International Driver's Permit" which is a translation into multiple languages of your original licence, and is only valid when presented with said licence at the same time. The IDP does not give you any more rights to drive in a country than you ...
9
Well yes and no. Because it depends what you mean by "near Sydney".
Sydney is too far north to have penguins but further south there are plenty of penguins at Phillip Island in Victoria. That's a bit over 1,000 km or 600 miles away from Sydney.
There is a very famous "fairy penguin parade" near a town called Ventnor that you can begin reading about on ...
9
Flying one-way with many of the major carriers is normally far more expensive than half of a return due to the way airlines price flights. That leaves you with three options :
Find a major airline that doesn't bump prices for one-way (as much). Malaysian is one that springs to mind, and their one-way flights are normally cheaper than other major airlines.
...
9
As a New Zealander - I can confirm that I've been through Australia twice in the last three months, and many times in the last several years, and have stamps from every single time. I've also seen it on many non-New Zealander and non-Australian passports.
Frankly, this is the first time I've heard of anyone commenting that they might not get a stamp.
I ...
8
It's hard, but possible. I think the best answer for me aside from giving links is to just link to you my friend's blog - she cycled from London to New Zealand, and took boats between the land masses. It took her four months of searching to find a boat from East Timor to Australia, but you'll be better off reading about it on her blog, and potentially even ...
8
Safe, absolutely! Diving in Australia is some of the safest in the world.
Sensible use of your time on holiday? Perhaps not... I'd suggest that you'd want to do the theory part at home before you go. That way the two days sat inside happen when you're not on holiday. When you get out there, do the open water parts of the qualification as part of your ...
8
There is, in fact, a direct flight from Melbourne to Guangzhou with China Southern Airlines. (They have two websites - the global one, which I've linked to, can accept payments from international credit cards while the Chinese one doesn't. Of course, you can book via third parties like Expedia et al too.) This seems to be the easiest option.
If you want to ...
8
I'll answer this question with respect to buying your food rather than cooking it yourself as that's what you'll probably be doing.
Breakfast
Anywhere in Sydney you will have no trouble finding a cafe serving a "big breakfast" (bacon, eggs, fried mushrooms & tomato). If you're perparing something yourself try Australian owned/made Weet-Bix with milk or ...
8
From the US, going east, you should be able to reach Australia in only one stop, in the middle east. (That assumes that your local airport in the states is big enough to have middle eastern airlines serve it!). Travel time wise for that, the US east coast to Qatar or the UAE is of the order of 12-13 hours. From the middle east onwards to Australia, it's ...
8
One of the joys of living in a 3 dimensional world (Eat your heart out The Simpsons!) is that there's more than just the East or West - there's actually numerous routes you can take from the US to Australia - including both North and South!
How much these routes actually add obviously depending on where you're starting from - if you're in San Diego it's ...
8
Chocolate (and biscuits/cookies) are OK!
A travel blogger actually emailed the Australian Customs to see what the case was, and got a response:
Thank you for your enquiry about bringing biscuits and chocolates into > Australia as part of your personal luggage.
Cooked cakes, including cakes containing custard or dairy based fillings that have been ...
8
Many "Aboriginal tours" and "Aboriginal experiences" exist but, while you will have Aborginal guides, in many cases these operations are not majority or even largely operated or owned by 'Aboriginal persons' - some care will be needed in discerning which are 'authentic' in this respect.
Mild warning: You are probably aware that the subject of the rights ...
7
As Mark's answer says it is currently permitted to climb Uluru when it's not closed for safety reasons etc.
But it does come up in the news from time to time that it might be closed completely!
If you do some web searching you can find plenty of articles at least in the 2009 to 2011 period concerning this.
So yes it's open for now, but there is a real ...
7
I went with some friends in 2004, in April.
From Hervey Bay we took a day trip across to Lady Elliot Island. They offer everything as a day trip, or you can stay on the island for longer if you wish.
This included a flight in a small plane for the 40 minutes to the island, walking in reef shoes around the island and seeing the coral and shallow-water ...
7
The Umoona Opal Mine in Coober Pedy tour seems to be one of the more popular ones. You can also stay in underground bunkhouse-style rooms there, for average hostel prices.
There's another good tour at the Old Timer's Mine in Coober Pedy. It's won some state tourism awards, if that's anything to go by.
There's also the Chamber of the Black Hand tour in ...
7
The relevant visa for this case seems to be ETA (Business Entrant - Short Validity) subclass 977. Since you mentioned you're going for a conference, a longer validity business visa should not be required. It can be applied for online.
Visitor/tourist visas will probably not fit as only 'limited volunteer work' is allowed under them.
7
The usual Aussie website for comparing flight prices is Webjet, but in my experience they don't list everything.
Also they charge a booking fee so use it to find a flight but you might get a better price on the same flight elsewhere once you have the details.
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
