1

Hi I'm currently doing something similar.Sydney to Cairns.I've. Been using the Greyhound which is spot on.Sydney,Byron Bay,Noosa,Fraser Island all worth visiting.That's as far as I've got upto now.Don't worry about being on your own. There are loads of girls and boys doing similar trips.You'll meet loads of people in hostels.Have a great trip.

2

join the iyha hostel assoc. book them ahead online to make sure of accomo. most are well run make sure your credit card is set up for online payment. also check withbank about you debit card my cibc one worked well all over oz. but double check yours

3

YOU need to put the year as 2013, not 2012!!!

4

I am landing in Oz on 24th Feb 2012

Hope you enjoyed your trip!

If you want more things to see and do, take the Princess highway from Melbourne to Sydney, not the shorter Hume Highway.

5

yha hostels are good in general. when i was iun cairns few years ago i stayed at the njoy hostel and it was very good. not far from train station and about 15min from the beach front. your grocery shopping will be at the train station.supermarket.

6

Hi,

I recently did a similar trip to the one you're proposing. I started in Melbourne and hired a campervan with my gf and drove to Cairns up the East coast. If you're worried about meeting people I can safely say that you won't have any problems, even as a couple that seeks a bit of comfort and quiet we still managed to make a heap load of friends along the way. If you're on a tighter budget then you'll most likely be staying in budget hostels, but that is where all the travellers are! There were a few people we met who were solo travellers but they had hooked up with other random solo travellers and gone part of the way with them, so again no worries there.

Australia is one of the most popular tourist destinations at the moment and if you visit the really touristy places; Noosa, Byron, Sydney, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Fraser Island etc you'll bump into people who are in your boat.

Good luck and I hope you have fun!

ps. A list of tips:

1. Australia is very expensive for food and drink; $8 for beer, $8 for big mac meal, $3 for a can of coke etc (but Oz is cheap on household bills, which comes in handy when you share some accommodation)

2. If you want to do the Whitsunday Islands, book your boat trip a few days in advance at least. When we arrived with hopes of Whitehaven we were told that all the boats were booked up for the following 5 days... so we went to Daydream island instead as there were some leftover tickets, big mistake.

3. The best beach in Australia is Hyams beach, it's still a relative secret.

4. Where are you landing? I ask because the weather will be different depending on the state. You'll be arriving in late summer/ early onset Autumn, so Victoria will be getting cold. But NSW and QL stay very hot and humid.

5. Perth isn't as good as everyone makes out, it's much more expensive on the west with fewer jobs.

Good luck again you'll have a great time :)

7

although i found Perth quite delightful Perth is a very well developed and geared up for the tourist dollar extraction but i did enjoy the city its quite beautifull . especialy the KINGS park overlooking the city and the swan bell tower thats is kinda different. lots of tours to be had also. wonderful lifestyle they have trhere office to beach in 5 mins.