Frommer's Australia from $50 a Day 13th Edition - To Parent Directory

2
Planning an Affordable
Trip to Australia
by Lee Mylne
This chapter aims to answer all the practical questions that may pop up as
you’re planning your trip: How will you get there; how much will it cost; the ins
and outs of traveling Down Under; and myriad other details. We’ve done the
legwork—ferreting out ways to nail down deals on airfares, listing package companies,
locating outdoor adventure operators, and more—so you won’t have to.
1 The Regions in Brief
About 84% of Australia’s 19 million
people huddle in cities around the
coast covering a mere 1% of this vast
continent. The reason is simple: Much
of Australia is harsh Outback country,
characterized by savannah land, spectacular
rocky outcrops, shifting
deserts, and dry salt lakes. In these
parts of the country, the soil is poor,
the rainfall scarce, and some rivers
don’t even make it to the ocean. The
roads that traverse the interior are
sometimes barely worthy of the name,
and most people choose air travel or
stick to the coastal fringe.
In spectacular contrast, on the
coast—particularly the east, where
most people live—Nature’s bounty has
almost overdone it. Here, Australia is
blessed with one of the greatest natural
attractions in the world—the Great
Barrier Reef. There are also rainforests
in Queensland, alpine scenery in Tasmania,
wildflowers in Western Australia,
rolling wine country in South
Australia, a great coastal drive in Victoria,
bird-filled wetlands in the Northern
Territory, and countless sand
beaches more or less everywhere.
Australia is made up of six states—
New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria,
South Australia, Western
Australia, and Tasmania—and two
internal “territories”—the Australian
Capital Territory (ACT) and the
Northern Territory. The national capital
is Canberra, in the ACT.
See the map on p. 20 or the map on
the inside back cover to visualize the
regions described here.
NEW SOUTH WALES Australia’s
most populated state is also the mostvisited
by tourists. They come to see
Sydney—and who can blame them?
It’s one of the most glamorous and
beautiful cities in the world, with
dozens of harbor and ocean beaches
within and around the city, and a mixture
of bushland and city development
around Sydney Harbour itself. Sydney
is also a good base for day trips or
overnight excursions inland, especially
to the scenic Blue Mountains and the
wineries of the Hunter Valley.
Farther afield, a string of quaint
beachside towns stretches all the way
down the southern coast to Victoria.
Along the north coast are remnant