Australia, New Zealand & Antarctica

hello!

im heading to the south island in late april and for the majority of the 2 weeks i will have a campervan, however i will need to find accomodation for a night in both dunedin and queenstown... of the cheap backpacking variety.. but was wondering if anyone had any standout recommendations along this line?

Any suggestions would be very appreciated - thank you!

Anyone else getting the feeling the people organising this couldn't manage to hold a piss up in a brewery?

The whole 'we won't actually be checking registration and so are worried extra people will turn up and create a crowd, please stay away' stories of the last few days. Er, if they had kept quiet about not checking, maybe only a handful of people would have tried to cross without registering. Now the whole state has the idea.

So, anyone else going to play tourist in Sydney on Sunday and cross…

i have spent months free camping in my campervan in OZ, but i have never been sure of the rules about doing so... does anyone know? or have a link to somewhere which tells ya?
thanx!

I'm looking at three weeks, no more, in July/August in Australia this summer. This is the itinerary I'm thinking about right now: any reccomendations/comments?

1. fly to Sydney
2. Sydney
3. Sydney
4. Sydney
5. day trip to Blue Mtns
6. fly to Darwin
7. Kakadu
8. Katharine Gorge
9. Katharine to Kununurra
10. Kununurra-day trip to Bungle Bungles
11. drive to Fitzroy
12. drive to Broome
13. Fly to Perth, afternoon in Perth
14. Fly to Ayers Rock
15. Ayers Rock and Kata Tjuta
16. Fly to Cairns
17. Cape…

I need to send a gift (value $43 Cdn. or about $48Aus.) to someone near Perth - from Canada. In Canada, we can get a gift from overseas up to the value of $25. without paying customs duty on it. Does anyone know what the amount is in OZ and if I have to lie about its value?

Thanks forthe advise about sailing, having toleave Aukland without doing it here but I've been advised to try Abel Tasman. Can I also ask about dolphin swimming? We don';t have time to get up to the bay of islands so is Kaikoura the best place anyone know?

I'm a 33 year old American going to Australia and want to ask a few questions before making the trip.

On the US branch we are constantly arguing about tipping at restaurants and bars. I'm a tipper. I usually tip 20 to 25% at bars and restaurants. Is this going to be misinterpreted? Will I actually look like a jerk? What do people normally tip?

Also, I know we hate when Australians come over and do the whole "Gooday" and ham up their Australian accents and slang.

What are the types of things…

Myself and my wife will be visiting Sydney in August for 3 nights.
We would like a hotel close to all the tourist attractions like the Opera House, The Rocks, Circular Quay etc..
We have visited Sydney before but are struggling to find anything with a good location for less than £90GBP P/Night.

£90GBP P/Night will get us the Holiday Inn, Old Sydney in the Rocks area. If this is the best sort of deal that exists then I will go with this but would welcome any recommendations, advice or opinions.

Many…

I posted a thread about where I could fine a good Irish pub for Paddy´s day recently-cheers for all the replies but I have one more question sorry! Anyone know where I can watch the Irish vs Italy rugby game on Paddy´s day in Auckland? Could be a good day for us if we win so really don´t want to miss it..
Cheers

HI.
Does anybody know about a relatively cheap accomodation in any of the island of the great barrier reef

thanks