I also heard about them through Travel Cuts. Haven’t been but it sounds awesome. I’m dying to go to Oz (and NZ) and am hoping to get there within a couple of years. If you end up going, let us all know how it is!

No problem,

It’s gonna be a pleasure to share it with you. I am actually surprised that there are so many backapackers going in Australia and so little post about it on this forum!

I don’t think this is really an Australia forum. I think the LP forum gets more posts about Oz. I suppose I’ll check it out in more detail when I actually get the opportunity to go.

I went on Ozexperience for about 4 weeks total in January 2001. I flew from Melbourne to Cairns and then took the bus from Cairns to Brisbane stopping along the way. It was a blast and really fun, but it’s really geared towards under-30-looking-to-party people. If that’s you, you’ll have a great time. It is, however, more expensive than just buying a regular Greyhound pass (which many of the people I met at various hostels had done).

I went on Autopia Melbourne-Adelaide, Wayward Bus Adelaide to Alice, Adventure Tours Darwin-Broome. All very good, wide age range up to 65, mainly 20’s. Many tours cater for hop on/off, but the system doesnt work well because you have to wait for a bus with a spare seat on a route with perhaps 2 buses per week. But the buses often stop at the places you want to go anyway, for the right length of time. None of these were very party-ish, and we met an Oz Experience tour which looked much the same. No need to book in advance for any of the main routes unless you have to plan your schedule very tightly. In any of the main cities you’ll find a range of tours on offer, I think they’re equally good. Greyhound passes may be cheaper, but they may travel at night and dump you somewhere at 3am, and they dont go via many of the scenic spots.

I can’t really offer you any advice on bus options cuz I’ve never used any for long distance travel, but…

Just one piece of advice from an Aussie sorry if I’m telling you something you already know): Be aware that Australia is a VERY BIG country, with lots of travel time required to get to just a few places. If you’re only there for a month, consider very carefully which areas you REALLY want to visit and which ones you could stand to sacrifice this time around. Remember, Australia’s not going anywhere, so you can always come back another time to see the bits you missed!

I’d recommend investigating some flying options (eg. Melbourne to Cairns like Hope did) – here are some websites for cheap flights within Australia:

www.virginblue.com.a…
www.jetstar.com (cheaper version of Qantas)
www.qantas.com.au (more expensive)

Hope this helps