Sometime in the year 2001 we started seriously talking about visiting Australia. At first we intended to cover New Zealand on the same trip but later (much later) realised that there simply wouldn't be time to cover both on the same trip. The first plan was to go in the winter 2002-2003 and we started saving some money for it. However we couldn't make it because of financial difficulties and decided to postpone the trip for one year. In the autumn of 2002 things started looking good... And the next winter -- early 2003 -- we began following the flight prizes to Oz very closely.
In march 2003 we stepped into the office of Kilroy Travels and bought ourselves flights into Australia for next autumn. The trip was to last over two months (a total of 66 days) starting in October. The only problem now was how we could survive the almost seven months of waiting...
The summer came and went and suddenly it was September. We had only twenty days before the start of the trip when something happened: we found lower priced flights than our previous ones! The new flight dates would extend our trip for a few days from both ends and unfortunately it was unacceptable to one of us (Asmu) because of vacation arrangements. We decided that Asmu would take the original flight and Kuvaweopu and Gandi would change their flights to the new ones -- and save 250 euros while extending their trip to full 71 days!
We bought our flights from Kilroy Travels. The original flights were with Finnair and Qantas with the route Helsinki-Frankfurt-Singapore-Sydney at the cost of approximately 1430 euros. Gandi and kuvaweopu changed their flights to Austrian Airlines (1180 euros) with the route Helsinki-Vienna-Kuala Lumpur-Sydney. Here's more detailed information about the flights:
TRIP DATES (Gandi, Kuvaweopu) --------------------------------------------------------
Monday 29.09.2003 - Monday 08.12.2003 (total 71 days)
FLIGHTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
29.09.2003 08:00 Departure : Helsinki (HEL) Tyrolean OS 5348 [Canadair Regional Jet]
09:35 Arrival : Vienna (VIE) [2 h 35 min]
29.09.2003 11:00 Departure : Vienna (VIE) Lauda Air OS 3001 [Boeing 777-200]
30.09.2003 15:15 Arrival : Sydney (SYD) [20 h 15 min] (via Kuala Lumpur)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
07.12.2003 18:35 Departure : Sydney (SYD) Lauda Air OS 3002 [Boeing 777-200]
08.12.2003 06:05 Arrival : Vienna (VIE) [21 h 30 min] (via Kuala Lumpur)
08.12.2003 10:40 Departure : Vienna (VIE) Tyrolean OS 5345 [Canadair Regional Jet]
14:20 Arrival : Helsinki (HEL) [2 h 40 min]
TRIP DATES (Asmu) ----------------------------------------------------------
Thursday 02.10.2003 - Saturday 06.12.2003 (total 66 days)
FLIGHTS --------------------------------------------------------------------
02.10.2003 17:00 Departure : Helsinki (HEL) Finnair AY 825 [Airbus A321]
18:40 Arrival : Frankfurt (FRA) [2 h 40 min]
02.10.2003 23:55 Departure : Frankfurt (FRA) Qantas QF 006 [Boeing 747-438]
04.10.2003 05:15 Arrival : Sydney (SYD) [20 h 20 min] (via Singapore)
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05.12.2003 17:00 Departure : Sydney (SYD) Qantas QF 005 [Boeing 747-438]
06.12.2003 05:20 Arrival : Frankfurt (FRA) [22 h 20 min] (via Singapore)
06.12.2003 10:45 Departure : Frankfurt (FRA) Finnair AY 822 [Airbus A321]
14:10 Arrival : Helsinki (HEL) [2 h 25 min]
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Starting from Sydney around October 6th, we will tour the eastern half of Australia by car. Sometime in the last third of our trip we'll fly from Sydney to Perth and return about two weeks later for our flights home. The dates in the map are estimated arrival dates in each location and will differ from reality. |
We're planning to buy a car in Sydney and start touring the great continent. Our initial plan is to start driving north along the coast to Brisbane and Cairns. Then we'll continue west all the way to Darwin and the Kakadu national park. From there we go straight south through the desert to Alice Springs and Uluru. Adelaide will be the next major stop and after that Melbourne. Continuing along the Great Ocean Road we'll find ourselves in Canberra and finally back in Sydney after a month and a half of travelling. Of course we are going to make little sidetrips as interesting things come along and generally have a good time. From Sydney we'll book flights to Perth in the west coast where we'll enjoy the beach and sun for a week or two before returning to Sydney for our flight home.
The "must see" places include at least the following: