am i crazy????

carang said:
now, i'm stumped....i've read some HORRIBLE reviews of quantas and virgin atlantic...
Click to expand...

I actually PREFER Virgin Atlantic - although Qantas tends to be pretty good too. You shouldn't have any major problems with either of them!! Virgin Atlantic is much better than Virgin Blue (australian domestic flights) - but if you're prepared, Virgin Blue isn't too bad. They don't give you any food or any "extras" but their prices are generally the cheapest... Virgin Atlantic feeds you though and they have the entertainment systems and everything... (Virgin blue has no entertainment, I don't think)
 
Hi Cara!

Congratulations! I'm sooo excited for you!

You'll have lots of fun! It was an annual trip for us every summer... Sydney-Brisbane & Sydney-Melbourne. I used to whinge about it every year... Oh No! Not another family car trip but now that I look back, it was a blast! My parents have been taking us on car trips from way back! Before we lived in Australia, we also did the Singapore-Thailand drive too!

I know you are planning to do the Sydney-Brisbane leg. I just remembered a few things I enjoyed on the journeys... the BIG everything... I remember a prawn/lobster, banana... and the fruit farms along the way... peaches, nectarines and strawberries! Perfect time to take the kids fruit picking... I remember eating just nectarines all day one time! All the beach stops we did along the way and stayed at caravan parks along the way to Brisbane... my fav was Coolangatta (can't remember how to spell it) they were cheap and LOTS of fun for us city folks. Beats a hotel experience any day! Dad drove one of those 6-8 seaters though. We never travelled in a campervan.

I have a suggestion though... instead of driving down south coz I remember it being the most boring drive on that long freeway! There was not much kid friendly stuff to do too... not that I can recall. Why don't you go further North? After the G.C. & Brisbane, why not head up to Sunshine Coast? The kids will love Noosa and the surrounding areas. Lots of easy family friendly walks/hikes. It'll be sun and surf all the way.

Have fun planning! There's heaps to do with the kids that time of year.

Cheers!
 
Hi Cara,

Would highly recommend this caravan park at South West Rocks

http://www.horseshoebaypark.com.au/

Other stop off places on the way up from Sydney to Brisbane.

Port Stephens (they filmed some of the beach scenes there for the most recent tourist ads.)

Sawtell (another great caravan park http://www.sawtellbeachcaravanpark.com.au)

Byron Bay.

I don't know the road south of Sydney that well but I do remember some stunning parts of the coast (take the coast road not the highway).
 
You COULD drive to Melbourne the longer way - along the coast, through Eden and all that. I LOVE the Batemans Bay area - I used to go camping there EVERY year when I was a kid... There's a gorgeous beach there called Pebbly Beach and there are all kinds of parrots and birds that are really tame, you can feed them from your hand - or just sprinkle seed on the ground so they don't scare the kids too much... And there are kangaroos too, all over the place!! It's one of my favourite places in the WORLD - but I spent a LOT of time there... a week and a half every year for probably 10 years or more!!

Going up to Brisbane, there are two main roads - one is inland, one is coastal. I think the coastal one is more scenic and all that - but you could take one road each direction to get a bit more variety... If you were going to JUST choose one though, the coast road has much more to see and do, in my opinion!!
 
thanks folks, we are planning on taking the scenic routes...

we have friends in each of sydney, brisbane and melbourne (another member from here that recently relocated... my son has been talking of nothing but his "best friend" since they left, so we gotta go south)


keep on with the places you remember... i'm going to make a list and mark them all off in our lonely planey guide!
 
HA! i dont' feel so bad... i just looked at the CX deal and it's only for 14 days! we're going for 27 days>>>>.

thank god! i was really kicking myself!
 
We flew from Europe- HKG with our son when he was 15 months and 14 kilos and as we flew standby we couldn't get him a seat (plane was really full) and it was a bit of a nightmare- however at the end of the day it was on flight, 12 hrs and once done it was done!

When I was a teenager we, as a family, rented a camper van and drove from Melbourne to brisbane.....was fantastic!!
 
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