(Part 2) Best australian & south pacific travel guides according to redditors

If you'd like to buy it before it becomes collectable

.



may not actually become collectable

I am from American and spent 6 weeks traveling Australia last year for fun and I got to see the entire east coast from the Daintree Rainforest to Melbourne.

One HUGE difference that I had the most problems with were airline restrictions. Luggage flying within Australia can only weigh 23kg (50lbs) and carry-ons have to weight less (I think like 10kg.) They certainly weigh your check-in and have the right to weigh your carry on. Every kilo you are over in weight, you have to pay something like $10-15. On my flight over from the states, my bag could weigh some ridiculous amount but my flights within Australia, the bags had to weight a lot less. I threw away or gave away absolutely every item that I did not need or couldn't replace for my last domestic flight before I flew internationally. I still ended up paying some for my bag weighing too much. I crammed as much as I could into my carry on and just prayed they wouldn't weigh it. They didn't. But as I got on the plane, the flight attendant eyed my bag and asked if she could hold it to see how heavy it way. I could tell she was thinking of having it officially weighed.

For the electricity, when I got to Australia I found a very cheap adapter in a post office that allowed me to plug my ipod into an Australian socket to charge. It didn't convert the voltage so it could have fried my ipod. But it didn't.

I would follow other people's advice and travel/work. Many farmers are always looking for work. People I met along the way said they were able to work for a month or two and then take nice vacations and travel. Plus, if you work as a harvester for 3 months (I think) you can extend your visa for another year.

Get a Bank of America account before you go and put your money in it. A major bank, Westpac, is partnered with BOA so you will get better exchange rates when you take money out of ATMs. I don't know how it is now, but last year for every $500 Australian I took out of an ATM, it withdrew about $400 American from my account.

There are certain things you should do once you get there before you start actually working. Like get the Australian equivalent of a SSN. Otherwise, your paychecks will be taxed about 50%.

Hostels in Australia were really nice and clean. Everyone I went to provided sheets and a blanket. I made a sleep sack before I left just to have that extra layer or cleanliness. I included a built in pocket so I could sleep with my money and ipod where someone wouldn't be able to steal it. http://www.ehow.com/how_5515194_make-sleep-sack.html I never had any problems with safety in a hostel. That being said, I didn't carry a laptop or anything expensive with me. Also, many hostels will give you a cheaper rate if you rent by the week instead of by the night. So if you know you are going to be somewhere for at least a week, pay by the week.

You don't need a computer. There are cheap netcafes everywhere. Even in small little towns, one of the shops will have a computer that you can use for a small fee.

Another bigger-ish change is the cost of food. Food is more expensive and there is not as wide a selection in grocery stores. Carry around a water bottle, too. Drink sizes are A LOT smaller and there is no such thing as a free refill on a soda.

A good travel guide is must. I used http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Go-Australia-10th-Inc/dp/0312385757/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1278728530&sr=1-1 because it focused on some of the cheaper options out there.

I flew United internationally because it was the cheapest ($1000 roundtrip from Washington Dulles to Sydney.) However, people I spoke with who flew Quantas internationally seemed to have a much easier 14 hour flight from CA to AUS (There were individual TVs just like jetblue.) To bring the cost of your flight down, try to fly out of a major city to a major city. It might be cheaper to drive to Atlanta and fly from there than fly from Orlando. It is also probably cheaper to fly to Sydney then arrange to fly domestically within Australia to your final destination. The bonus of that is also if you have a roundtrip ticket, you can travel around and make your way back to Sydney instead of having to go back to the Gold Coast first. It gives you a lot more flexibility.

If I ever make it back to Australia, I would break up the flight with a stop in Hawaii or Tahiti. From the time I left my home near D.C. to the time I arrived in Cairns, I had been traveling 36 hours. (Surprise bonus, the flight home over the Pacific was only 12 hours due to winds helping out.)

You and your friends are in for a great adventure. Minimum wage there is a lot higher than here so as long as you aren't buying expensive items, you should be able to work a little, travel a little. I would recommend going with some money saved up for your initial expenses. It probably wouldn't be a bad idea to arrive with 1,000 or 2,000 each. You'll also want to budget a few days to get over your jet lag and swollen legs.

If you have some money (not sure of your budget), I'd do a tour of the country at some point. I did a 2 week Contiki tour and it was a great decisions. I saw a lot with very little effort on my part. (I recommend the Reefs and Rainforest.)

Have a great time!

My favorite places were the Daintree Rainforest (but there is very little work up there) and Melbourne. If you make it to Melbourne, make sure you take a tour or drive yourself along the Great Ocean Road. I like Cairns but it was small. Surfers Paradise was a little too much like an American city. Do at least a week in Sydney.

Let's get the cultural and safety stuff out of the way first.

A is for Australia.

Australia's Dangerous Creatures for Dummies.

If you still want to visit (and you should, Australia is awesome), then you get to see Australia's incredible list of home grown fantasy.

Jennifer Fallon's Wolfblade or The Immortal Prince start long epic fantasies. Wolfblade is more generic with a medieval time period and elves and magic. The Immortal Prince is the sort of insanity that Australia is really good at.

Visiting Brisbane? Pick up The Business of Death by Trent Jamieson. It's a urban fantasy where Death wears a suit and runs a business out of an office block in the Brisbane CBD.

Coming all the way out to Broken Hill? Lexicon by Max Barry ends with a running fight through the streets starting in the lobby of the Broken Hill hospital. Also, drop me a message before you get here and I can line you up a place to stay. Not that I know why you would come to Broken Hill.

Inheritance by Simon Brown starts a pretty good epic fantasy focused around succession issues in a kingdom. But that's boring, much more fun is Empire's Daughter/Born of Empire (same book, different names) which was the first full work of flintlock fantasy.

If you enjoy YA books, Trudi Canavan's The Magician's Guild, Garth Nix's Abhorsen and Sean William's The Stone Mage and the Sea are all good choices.

Try and get any Aboriginal myths that you can for the areas you are traveling through. This can be hard because for many of the cultural groups we lost track of who the myths belonged to. These stories about land and how the locals relate to it are good for understanding how the areas work.

http://www.amazon.com/Fodors-Australia-Full-color-Travel-Guide/dp/0307928446

I highly recommend reading (or unabridged audiobooking) ["In a Sunburned Country"] (http://www.amazon.ca/In-Sunburned-Country-Bill-Bryson/dp/0385259417) - By Bill Bryson. It is absolutely wonderful, charming, funny and interesting. All about Australia.

http://www.amazon.com/Frommers-Sydney-Day-Pocket/dp/0731409809


http://www.amazon.com/Frommers-Sydney-Free-Dirt-Cheap/dp/174216966X




Ironically the dirt cheap book cost more!

You should read Cold beer and Crocodiles

Im so sorry, but I received word from my friends at the visitors authority that there are no official guide books for Saipan, just maps. :( However, here are a couple of links that show what places you can visit around Saipan:

Marianas Visitors Authority

[Marianas Visitors Authority FB Page]
(https://www.facebook.com/mymarianas/)

Saipan TV

They pretty much give you a glimpse of what you can do on Saipan.



If you want a book on the islands, a local author has made one here

It's pretty broad, as it also covers relocating and moving here, etc.


Also I should inform you that with most tourist sites such as the Grotto, Banzai Cliff, and Ladder Beach, you will need an SUV or at least a crossover to get to these locations.



If your hotel is in Garapan, the tourist sites you can visit by walking are:

American Memorial Park

Chamolinian Utt

Saipan Duck Tours

T Galleria

I Love Saipan

the ARC

Beach Road Pathway (this is very long, you will be led to the other side of the island if you use this. there are no restaurants or stores along this path.)


A little note: One thing about Saipan, is that even though we are such a tiny island, everyone and their grandma has a car. It's not that places are really far apart, its just that its HOT. If you can, I would suggest to use a taxi or the T Galleria Bus as the heat is unbearable most times and it can also rain unexpectedly at times, which then increases humidity and irritability.

Hope this helps!

> Just a casual glance up at the stars destroys YEC


Really? Actually, it’s a much bigger problem for those who believe in billions of years.

Edit: lol yeah people hate when facts get in the way of their ideas