Australia Trip Insight

cwlyle

Earning My Ears
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Looking to see if we can get any insight on a couple of items as we are bound for Australia in a few days, on our own for the first 4 weeks and then hooking up with ABD for the Adult Disney Tour.

1) Did anyone get a SIM Card when they arrived so that they had an Australian phone number and access to Internet? If so, what company did you use.

2) Did you have to ship anything home during your trip? We figure we are going to have to shed ourselves of some things once we get to Sydney as the in-country travel has some restrictions. If you shipped stuff home to the US, what did you use? So far it looks like Australian Postal Service is the best bet (but even that seems rather steep).

3) I see there is now some significant free time. One thing we want to do is walk the Harbor Bridge, but wanted to wait to see if anyone else in our group was going and wanted to do it together. If you did the bridge tour did you have any trouble getting a reservation? Did the guides help with this?

Finally, if anyone else is headed on the 10/22 AUS Adventure and wants to chime in, that would be great.
 
#2 FWIW, we shipped a didgeridoo home, but the shop in Tjapukai Aboriginal Park arranged that. I think it came Australian Postal Service.

#3. We were not planning on doing the Bridge Climb, until we got on the trip. We booked a couple of days in advance and got a sunset climb time for 2. It worked out great, but I'm not sure if that's normal to have last minute availability. When we showed up for the tour they were turning away walk-ins. If I go again someday, I'll book in advance to be safe.
 
We found that the OYO time in the morning on day three that ABD recommended for the bridge climb was the best. Several other families had also pre-booked it and we joined in with them on the climb, the first of the day, but it was by happenstance that this occurred. It was completely booked by the time we arrived in Australia. One couple on the trip had booked the twilight and tried to move it without success.

We stayed so busy that calls did not take place. Texting and email with wifi was more than sufficient.

We were delayed by American Airlines and missed our preday and first day, so our additional free time activities in Sydney were limited. We were going surfing at Manly Beach and had great tickets to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in the Opera House which we missed.

We arranged for Skydiving from the Gold Coast Airport on the day of arrival - it was excellent - landing on the beach, and the skydiving folks brought us back to the hotel. We also did a great whale watching from the Brisbane area on the last day - Disney dropped us at an airport hotel the last day, and the watching picked us up and brought us back. Good use of extra time - that was also beyond amazing.

It is a very good trip. Our trip report is finished, just can't get the pictures to behave on uploads yet. You will enjoy it. This is an ACTIVE trip, so you may want to guard that free time carefully to soak up the amazing PEOPLE of Australia - they are the best part of this adventure.
 
We are skipping the Bridge Climb (I know, blasphemy) but have a lot of stuff planned for or New Zealand pre days and Hawaii post daysand just aren't up for it. I made a lunch reservation at a fantastic sounding place at noon that day (Day 3). The restaurant says we need at least two hours for lunch. Will finishing at 2 or 3 pm give us enough time before we depart for the sheep farm? Likewise, I'd like to make dinner reservations on Day 2 after the Opera House. Does 8 pm sound right?

We still have not planned anything for the Gold Coast. I have a feeling my 10 year old may request a trip to Movie Land so we may end up doing that. However, I agree with you, our Alaska itinerary was so packed that I am hesitant to commit to anything else while we are on the ABD. We were just too exhausted to want to do ANYTHING extra on the last trip and this trip sounds similar.
 


We were told to meet back at the hotel not later than 2 pm on day three. The Sheep Station program was very well done. There are so many amazing parts of Sydney..it was not like any city we've been in before, and we've been to a lot of places. It was clean. People were genuine and friendly. Unfortunately for me, the twin DD and wife found the shopping to be great. The city does not sleep, and neither did we. By the time we hit the Gold Coast, and perhaps after 12,000 skydiving, we were exhausted. This was a good recharge point. Byron Bay is physical and fun, so rest up for it. Some of the older boys also tried their luck surfing at Gold Coast. We did better surfing the giant kayaks at Byron Bay...you are going to love this trip. Acndis - there is a lot of fun things for boys your sons age to do - Seaworld is a stone's throw away.
 
Thanks! I went ahead and cancelled my lunch reservation as I just think it's cutting it too close! I don't think I will book anything additional during the trip. That's what I did for Alaska and I was SO glad. It's just I do love planning so much that it's hard to resist. There are so many great options!

We can't wait for this one! I'll do a trip report when I get back, too. Can't wait to read the rest of yours. Thanks for all of your help!
 
Thanks! I went ahead and cancelled my lunch reservation as I just think it's cutting it too close! I don't think I will book anything additional during the trip. That's what I did for Alaska and I was SO glad. It's just I do love planning so much that it's hard to resist. There are so many great options!

We can't wait for this one! I'll do a trip report when I get back, too. Can't wait to read the rest of yours. Thanks for all of your help!
I missed the second question you asked - just re-read it. You'll be more than fine on day two...we were back at the hotel from the Opera house right on time - we wrapped up at 4:30. So from 4:30 on is OYO - go enjoy an amazing dinner. The food in Sydney is fabulous! Remember - no tipping is expected. It's built into the prices.
 


I missed the second question you asked - just re-read it. You'll be more than fine on day two...we were back at the hotel from the Opera house right on time - we wrapped up at 4:30. So from 4:30 on is OYO - go enjoy an amazing dinner. The food in Sydney is fabulous! Remember - no tipping is expected. It's built into the prices.

Well yes and no
 
We are skipping the Bridge Climb (I know, blasphemy) but have a lot of stuff planned for or New Zealand pre days and Hawaii post daysand just aren't up for it. I made a lunch reservation at a fantastic sounding place at noon that day (Day 3). The restaurant says we need at least two hours for lunch. Will finishing at 2 or 3 pm give us enough time before we depart for the sheep farm? Likewise, I'd like to make dinner reservations on Day 2 after the Opera House. Does 8 pm sound right?

We still have not planned anything for the Gold Coast. I have a feeling my 10 year old may request a trip to Movie Land so we may end up doing that. However, I agree with you, our Alaska itinerary was so packed that I am hesitant to commit to anything else while we are on the ABD. We were just too exhausted to want to do ANYTHING extra on the last trip and this trip sounds similar.

I believe we are on your trip and this was the response I received from Disney when booking our bridge climb:
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If you want to book the Sydney Bridge Climb during your On Your Own time on Day 3, we recommend that you confirm a start time prior to 10:00am. I do not have the start time for Tobruk Sheep Farm activity, but you will be done in time if you schedule the bridge climb for 9:00am.

The other option to do this is the evening of Day 2. Reservation should be after 5:00pm on this day.
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From other correspondence, it sounded like ABD wanted us back around 1:30 for the sheep farm, but as Grifdog22 said, your dinner reservations should be perfect! Excited to meet you and your family! We are close now.

To the original poster, we already booked our bridge climb for December 22, but did so as we are going around the holidays and it seems to be busy. We also booked a family surf lesson for Sydney as well. Haven't been yet, so not sure the advanced booking is necessary. Have a great trip! Can't wait to hear about it!
 
Thanks for the info! Can you let me know the details of your surf lesson? That may be something we want to do instead of the Bridge Climb. Thanks! Can't wait to meet you all, too!
 
You definitely want to pre-book your bridge climb. There were a few in our group that didn't get to do it or ended up on the sampler climb. We went in 4 days early so we did the twilight climb. If you can, highly recommend this one. You go up in the daylight, get a spectacular sunset, and descend in the dark.
 
You definitely want to pre-book your bridge climb. There were a few in our group that didn't get to do it or ended up on the sampler climb. We went in 4 days early so we did the twilight climb. If you can, highly recommend this one. You go up in the daylight, get a spectacular sunset, and descend in the dark.

That’s what we did as well. Fabulous!
 
Thanks for the info! Can you let me know the details of your surf lesson? That may be something we want to do instead of the Bridge Climb. Thanks! Can't wait to meet you all, too!

I know there was some talk on an earlier thread about Manly Beach versus Bondi Beach and Manly came out on top. However, we did decide to go with Bondi and the company Let's Go Surfing. If you look it up on Trip Advisor, it's listed under Bondi rather than Sydney as the city. We booked a private lesson for the 4 of us on the 19th (my parents are going to the Blue Mountains that day), and I want to say it was about $400 AUS for an hour. I am currently in process of trying to up it to 1.5 hours. When we were in Costa Rica, we had a lesson where we EACH had an instructor and it was amazing, but also a lot less expensive in CR versus Australia!

We are planning to do the Bondi Coastal Walk and have lunch in the area and relax that day as well. Ahhh, I am getting excited!
 
Thanks for all of the tips! We are on the Dec 16 trip this year--I think the others are all on the later December trip?
 
#1 - When we were in Australia in 2012 - we purchased a prepaid 4Q wifi modem that we carried around. It was superfast and you could connect multiple devices to it. It didn't allow us to make phone calls, though. We were more interested in having data than a phone number, so it worked out for us.
 
Quick question--Is laundry available in Cairns? I remember Cousin O saying that in his report. Wanting to confirm if that's still correct.
 
I know there was some talk on an earlier thread about Manly Beach versus Bondi Beach and Manly came out on top. However, we did decide to go with Bondi and the company Let's Go Surfing. If you look it up on Trip Advisor, it's listed under Bondi rather than Sydney as the city. We booked a private lesson for the 4 of us on the 19th (my parents are going to the Blue Mountains that day), and I want to say it was about $400 AUS for an hour. I am currently in process of trying to up it to 1.5 hours. When we were in Costa Rica, we had a lesson where we EACH had an instructor and it was amazing, but also a lot less expensive in CR versus Australia!

We are planning to do the Bondi Coastal Walk and have lunch in the area and relax that day as well. Ahhh, I am getting excited!
When I went in 2015, LGS was the company ABD used for our surfing lesson at Bondi. Enjoy it! It was a fun time!
 

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