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| If there is anything you want to know about Australia-related travel and stuff just ask me. This goes direct to my email |
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| Your cheap flight to Australia? – AirAsia |
Now this isn’t going to be the most sophisticated blog post I’ve ever written, and do excuse me while I mostly cut and paste this from TravelZoo but WOW this is bl**dy cheap! Only £449 return. Seriously good price. I’ve not seen a return flight for under £500 to Australia for a long time…
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| Cathay Pacific great cheap flights special offer to Australia |
Cathay Pacific have just released a great offer on flights to Australia WITH a Hong Kong stopover (including hotel accommodation!) – you can fly into any of Cathay’s Australian destinations for £600-something (and that includes the hotel stay!)…
If, after watching Jenson Button win the Grand Prix in Albert Park in Melbourne at the weekend, you are fancying a visit to the capital of Victoria, I’ve just spotted some amazing hotel deals at very low prices.
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| The Harbour Bridge and Opera House in Sydney |
Read a really good guide to Sydney over the weekend in the Sunday Times.
Clearly written by a local ‘Sydneysider’ it had some great tips for:
Well worth a read if you’re heading to the lovely harbour city any time soon…
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| One of my favourite photos of one of my favourite places in Oz – pelicans on Belongil Beach, Byron Bay, NSW |
I am a huge fan of Kirstie and Phil and their location/relocation on-screen shenanigans, so am doubly excited that this week sees the lovely Phil hot footing around Australia helping people to buy a house Down Under. Phil Spencer Down Under is on this Friday (22nd January) Channel 4 at 8pm.
There was an article in the Sunday Times at the weekend written by Phil where he listed some his ‘ideal’ places to live in Australia.
So where does Phil like (and do I agree?):
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| Sydney’s bridge climb is open on Christmas Day |
I had a great question sent to me about what there is (and isn’t) ‘to do’ over the Christmas holidays in Australia.
Got me thinking (and googling) what you can and can’t do over Christmas if you’re visiting Australia. The question I was asked specifically related to Sydney, so here’s what I found out for there first…
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| Your chance to win a trip to Melbourne |
For this first competition, if you have friends and relatives in Western Australia you can enter.
The second competition, however, is open to all (UK residents) — a 10-day trip to Melbourne and Victoria could be yours
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| The 4-star Mercure Hotel in Brisbane is just one of the hotels offering great deals at the moment |
If you can leave it to the ‘last minute’ to book your accommodation for Australia then, like the UK, you can also access LastMinute.com and see what hotels (and trips) they have available for you, as well as some great deals to be had on Wotif.com
But here are some other great bargains I heard about today from TravelZoo Australia…
Just a quick note to let you know: if you’re thinking of heading to Australia this summer, you can for only £469 return!
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| More bargain air fares to see the lifeguards in action in Australia |
All the airlines seem to be celebrating the Bank Holiday weekend, and there are deals all over the place.
Here are some of the best deals available to Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth for now AND nearer to the peak Christmas time…
OK, so am getting VERY fed up getting non-stop emails advertising bargain flights to Australia (‘cos I’m not booked to go!), but there are some more new offers now that I REALLY should share. And a discovery I’ve made that looks less of a bargain, but turns out it’s quite a bargain when you start doing some sums!
So, first up here’s a couple of new offers… they might sound familiar, but lots of the deals only last a few days, so ones I’ve written about already have expired. But don’t worry — here’s some more ways to get to Australia for under £500…
OK, so not content with the AMAZING fares from Singapore Airlines and Qantas and Emirates I already wrote about this week (£539 to Perth anyone?), but now Cathay Pacific are offering return flights to Adelaide for £499. Yes — change from £500! 2 flights for under a grand!… and the chance to stop-over in Hong Kong too.
Phew, it’s just getting way too tempting for me now…
The latest news story on BBC tells about the extreme heatwave in Victoria (Melbourne) and South Australia (Adelaide).
Already there have been deaths relating to the heatwave, and there has been disruption to transport services with train lines buckling and traffic lights not working. There are also some bush fires in rural areas.
Something new for my wish list on my next visit to Sydney — a trip to Cockatoo Island.
I got an email from Trailfinders this morning alerting me to this great £599 deal on cheap return flights to Australia.
The dates for travel are 20th April to 11th June, which is already a cheap time to fly (see recent ‘January Sales‘ post about other flights in the £600s for that time of year), but for Sydney especially this is almost a £100 saving on other airlines for this time of year.
Not for the vertigo sufferers among you, but if you’re visiting Melbourne and would like a bird’s eye view of things, then the new Southern Star is for you.
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| The Southern Star puts you high over the Melbourne skyline — image by Jeffery Yates from the Southern Star website |
Modelled on the London Eye, the Southern Star is a gigantic ‘Ferris wheel’ with observation ‘pods’ on it to give you a show of the city skyline.
Tickets are priced at AUD$29 for adults and AUD$17 for children. There is no online booking at the moment, so if you’re in Melbourne and in a hurry you can pay AUD$58 for ‘Premium Access’ (AUD$£34 children), which allows you to get right on at the front of the queue.
Saw this ad at the weekend from Trailfinders showing availability on JAL (Japan Airlines) flights to Australia for Christmas for £999. Not a bad price for this time of year, and is quite possibly the last chance to book a ticket to ensure you get a cliche-laden ‘Bondi Beach BBQ’ 
I loved this article I read in yesterday’s Guardian, and wished I could dive in… it features some amazing ‘ocean’ swimming pools in and around Sydney and other areas of NSW (which has 100 of these pools it says!).
Saw this great deal on an airfare to Sydney today on one of my email alerts (this one from TravelBag) flying with Cathay Pacific for only £698 in November. This is a really good price, and November is a great time to visit its heading into — summer and some good weather but before the ’summer holidays’ when everyone else in Australia is on holidays.
There is a great article in this month’s Sunday Times Travel Magazine that suggests it’s entirely possible to take a holiday to Australia (and enjoy it!) in just a week.
The plan is that you fly to Perth, and from there take a few days in the city, then explore the Margaret River region (south of Perth, about 3 hours drive), and/or fly up to Exmouth area to explore the Ningaloo Reef.
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