Because you’re named after my favorite vampire-slaying TV superhero, I’ll answer where I can:

According to everything I’ve read, English is very widely spoken in Singapore. I’ve never been there, however, so I’m not sure about hostels.

Australia is awesome and you can thoroughly explore the continent in one month…but it’s easiest to fly (it’s a big country—expect flights of at least two hours to just about everywhere within the continent from anywhere else on the continent).

I would start the trip in either Sydney or Melbourne and do a circle, ending in whichever of those two cities you didn’t start in. For example, Sydney-Cairns (Great Barrier Reef)-Darwin (Kakadu)-Alice Springs-Ayers Rock-Perth-Adelaide-Melbourne. Or something like that. Ayers Rock only receives three or four flights/day so it may not be connected to Perth.

Good "daytrips" that I’m happy to have done include renting a car in Melbourne and driving the Great Ocean Road (really a two-day trip), going to the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves from Sydney, and visiting the Kuranda rainforest near Cairns.

In my experience, Australia has some of the nicest hostels in the world. They are clean, well-located, almost all are air-conditioned and many have pools! If you really want to "do" Australia by climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge (worth it) and diving the Great Barrier Reef (also worth it), expect to dish out a lot of cash.

LA has some nice hostels as well. The best hostel with regards to location and amenities is the HI Hostel on Second Avenue in Santa Monica…just one block from the ocean and Santa Monica Pier and one block from the Third Street Promenade pedestrian shopping street). A huge hostel with movies shown every night and close to major streets and bus routes. I would avoid the backpacker hostel on Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood—the neighborhood is perfectly safe during the day but a little sleazy at night.

Singapore speaks English…very well. We stayed in little India and had a blast…a great area for backpackers…easy transport on the metro and cheap! There is a hostel there that I can’t remember the name of…it was excellent. If I remember or find it I will post again.

Because it’s so massive, a month for Oz is not a long time. I think I would concentrate on the east coast as it’s fairly easy to get around…lots of buses and other travelers heading up and down. Maybe fly to Cairns and make your way back to Sydney. There is so much to do along that coast that you will stay busy. Save the other areas for another trip…just my opinion. Have a great time! Amy

You’ll have no problems in Singapore. English is widely spoken there. It’s a nice place…very clean! Can’t recommend a hostel I’m afraid as I stayed with a friend. I recommend you go on the night safari at the zoo in Singapore. I’m not a big fan of zoos, but the night safari was fantastic.

I agree with homeskillet about the hostels. I’ve never stayed in a hostel here but Santa Monica is so much nicer than Hollywood ( at least that part ). My ex/best friend lives near there and it can be really shady. If you’re from a big city in the States then you’re used to a high crime rate, but if not then somewhat keep in mind that LA is different than home. Do not walk alone in LA at night. I don’t mean to make it sound horrifying. Just, if you’re from somewhere safer ( which you probably are ), you should be aware of these things. These very much applies to certain parts of Hollywood and certain parts of Downtown LA. Downtown is a bit of a dump, but go anyway. It’s just different than anywhere else I’ve been.

At the end of the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica you make a right and walk a short bit and you can catch the #2 bus. Thank goodness for the #2. It will get you to Hollywood ( it runs down Sunset ). You could go to Amoeba records as it stops right there, or get to Hollywood Blvd. with a short walk. The #2 also goes into Westwood which is pretty nice.

Try to see a band out here if you’re at all into that. The Troubadour is a good club.

If you let me know what you’re interested in I could recommend some places if you like. I’ve lived in LA all my life.

Remember to pack clothing for Australia ranging from shorts, singlet tops and hiking boots (central Australia) to rain coats, jumpers and umbrellas (Melbourne) as June has incredibly varied weather in Aust. My fave place at that time of the year is Darwin as it is about hot but not humid everyday and there are none – less crocodiles so better outdoor fun! Melbourne is very cold in June but well worth the visit – near Melbourne trips are Mt Buller or Lake Mountain for snow, the Great Ocean Road for beachside camping (definitely no swimming that time of the year).

Enjoy your trip!

Anita

Hmm, very interesting…

-"To perceive is to suffer."

I’m thinking about doing the same type of trip. We were alloting a month to Austrailia, but I was considering not going because it takes so long to travel around. I’m still not sure about it.

What do you already know about Fiji? I was REALLY interested in making it there…but then I heard that it was expensive. Do you know anything about how costly it is?

have vaguely planned my australia leg of my trip, am spending 3 weeks there which seems just about enough time to hit all of the main sites, i have booked a few internal flights with virginblue.com.au to get around as it is so big, i dont know loads about fiji but from what i gather it doesnt seem particularly expensive, my roundtheworld trip cost £950 in total for all of the flights from Thomas Cook which is pretty good i think. i think that Raratonga (Cook Islands) are also quite cool as an alternative to fiji but im not going there so i dont really know. hope this helps! hx

Hi Buffy
I see you are coming to Australia for 3 weeks l am going to give you 3 web sites that will help you find places of interest
www.traveldownunder….
www.australianexplor…
www.travelmate.com.a…
In Melbourne go a trip to the Great Ocean Road and go to the Rialto Tower observation deck for views of the city there is a old red tram that goes on a trip around the city with imfo and history it is free.
In Sydney a harbour trip and go to the Sydney Sky tower on the corner of Pitt and Market street there is a revolving restuarant up there a trip to the Blue Mountains is good. Cairns is the best place to go to the reef from l would stay on the east coast as there is more to see there than any where else for the time you have if you go to Alice Springs in the centre www.aatkings.com .do bus tours to Ayers Rock and other tours you can get there prices on that web site have good holiday down here a good book to get is The Rough Guide to Australia but the web sites give you a lot of imfo