I went to Oz for a 14 days free and easy, self-drive trip during end 2010. It was a very fun trip! Australia is easy to get around in, and the well constructed network of roads means that self-driving is a must in order to get flexibility to go anywhere there :)
I have been approached by my friends for my trip itinerary, and thought I will also share them on my website.
Here's a brief summary of the places I covered:-
Day 1: Great Ocean Drive (Melbourne-Lorne-Cape Otway-Port Campbell)
Day 2: Great Ocean Drive (Port Campbell-Port Fairy-Melbourne-Sydney)
Day 3: Sydney (Skydive or Bridgeclimb, Whale watching)
Day 4: Sydney (Paddington, Birkenhead)
Day 5: Sydney (The Rocks market, Bondi Beach)
Day 6: Blue Mountain (Katoomba, Leura, Blackheath)
Day 7: Blue Mountain (Blackheath)-Hunter Valley (Pokolbin Vineyard)
Day 8: Hunter Valley
Day 9: Hunter Valley-Wollongong-Jervis Bay-Kangeroo Valley-Canberra
Day 10: Canberra
Day 11: Canberra - Melbourne
Day 12: Melbourne (Federation Square, Queen Victoria Market)
Day 13: Melbourne - Philips Island Day Tour (Penguin Parade)
Day 14: Melbourne (Brunswick St)
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I spent about 3 months in total to plan for the trip. All in all, I spent about S$8,500 for two pax all inclusive i.e. air tix, tickets, meals, accomodation, shopping etc. Exchange rate was 1 AUD to 1.29 SGD then.
- Pre-trip Preparation 1- GPS and Australia Maps Before the trip, I prepared for the self-drive trip by getting a Garmin GPS, and uploaded open source routable maps into the unit. I settled on a Garmin unit because unlike other brands, it allows user to upload any map they want into the GPS. I was reluctant to part with $$$ to rent a GPS unit which has the Oz maps pre-loaded, nor to buy the Oz maps from Garmin, so I spent about 2 weeks to find out how to upload the maps.
In addition, I used Google Maps to store the points of interest into the unit, so that I can just select the points of interest i.e. destination without having to go through hassle of typing in the address every time I want to go somewhere.
Of course, now that you can rent a GPS unit along with your car rental, I suppose getting a GPS unit and uploading of the Australia maps may be redundant. However, I find that having my own GPS unit means that I can use it even when I was walking on the streets and use it as a form of navigation, plus I was able to store the points of interest in advance as mentioned earlier, therefore saving me time and hassle.
Remember to check if you need a visa to enter Australia, and to apply for one in advance. For Singaporeans, this may be done relatively easily via the Australian Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) website: https://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETA/etas.jsp
Pre-trip Preparation 3 - Car booking
It's important to book your vehicle online before your trip, to ensure that the vehicle you want is ready for you when you touch down at the airport. Furthermore, being a self-drive trip involving long hours behind the wheel, a good comfortable, safe car is necessary.
After comparing costs across the various car rental companies, I went with Europcar which gave me a better deal.
For the Great Ocean Drive, I rented a car in the "Camry or similar" category for about S$120 for two days. When I went to retrieve my car from the airport, the car rental company gave me an auto Ford Falcon.
For the drive from Sydney to Blue Mountain, Hunter Valley, and Canberra, I rented a car in the "Corolla or similar" category for about S$240 for four days. The car rental company gave me an auto Audi A4 when I went to collect my vehicle! Woo Hoo! With such a great car, driving was a breeze :)
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