Susan Westwood, Travel Counsellor Plan your stopovers wisely. Malaysian Airlines offer free side flights to places like Langkawi with its fabulous beaches and Borneo where it’s possible to visit the Orangutan rehabilitation centre. With Royal Brunei you can stop over in Brunei and journey into the rainforest on a long boat. In Australia, a visit to the Blue Mountains with AAT Kings four-wheel drive takes you more off the beaten track than the coach tour.
If you want to attempt the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb, it’s best to book well in advance because it’s a very popular thing to do. Port Douglas is quieter than Cairns and has some good harbour-side restaurants. Darwin is a great little town with fabulous seafood restaurants. I would only recommend Uluru (Ayres Rock) for anyone truly keen to see it, or as a stopover from Darwin to Perth. It gets very crowded at sunrise and sunset.
Susan Osborne, Travel Counsellor Check the weather before you book. The seasons vary across the country. It’s easy to underestimate driving times. In remote areas, always let someone know your driving itinerary, carry lots of fluids and remember that the next roadhouse with fuel and refreshments could be hundreds of kilometres away. Take advice from the locals. The tours available from Darwin offer stunning scenery, swimming in rock pools, rock art and a real feel of Aboriginal culture and being close to nature. North of Darwin, the Tiwi Islands also offer a glimpse of Aboriginal Culture.
In the rainy season from October to March, many of the falls and waterholes are inaccessible. In Western Australia you can feed the Dolphins at Monkey Mia, view sharks from Eagles Bluff, snorkel the Ningaloo Reef at Coral Bay and swim with whale sharks from March to June. At the Karijini National Park Visitors Centre you’ll learn how life changed for the indigenous tribes when 'white man' arrived. The wet season here is May to the end of October and flash floods can wash out ungraded roads. In January and February the high summer temperatures can hit the 40s.
Vicki Roth, Travel Counsellors helpdesk Cairns is great for nightlife and shopping. From Palm Cove, 20 minutes from Cairns, you can take a day trip on the Quicksilver Catamaran to the Great Barrier Reef which is fantastic for snorkelling, diving or even a helicopter trip from a platform in the Pacific Ocean.
Some of the content of the magazine refers to flights or prices from the UK. At Travel Counsellors Ireland we can source flights from Ireland and provide full quotes in Euros. Please call me for latest availability and prices.
