Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne or Sydney?

[anmas]

also thinking to going sidney n melbourne

some link to share
http://online.smartvisitcard.com/melbourne.html
http://www.seesydneycard.com/

will be going after mar 16 06 for honeymoon, so still thinking of whether self tour or package tour will be better , cause if i miss plan it , my wife will kill me .

Thanks for the link Chiang, hope you have a memorable honeymoon

 

[anmas]

I personally prefer Perth, but that's because I was born here and grew up here, so it's my home
I've been to the other cities,and out of those, I enjoyed Melbourne the most, followed by Sydney. Melbourne is good to experience all weather in a day I remember Christmas 2000 - it was 40 degrees in the morning followed by a thunderstorm in the afternoon! exciting.

Perth, compared to the other cities, is very small, very quiet. The city parking is a lot cheaper, there are a lot less people. The traffic is less, everything is less. If you like busy-ness, then I'd recommend Melbourne

Perth sounds good too, only around 4 hours flight from Singapore i think. Any recommendation of tourist attractions?

 

[anmas]

Be prepared to dress for both ends of the scale. Jeans are good overall and a windbreaker and a sweater will be fine. Winter nights can be pretty cold. I have been by the beach shooting with strong winds blowing and even though it was only 10 deg, I was freezing my pants off....and I was wearing only a tee. Thus bring a sweater/windbreaker whereever you go and you should be fine.

I have experienced 3 deg temp in Nov (spring 6am) and it was so cold that I had to take cover in a bush even though a sweater was on. The temp soared to 38 by 11 though! This was at near the end of the Great Ocean Road though and the winds came from the South Pole as I was told.

Wow, from 3 deg in the morning to 38 deg in the noon :bigeyes: Maybe 'cos it's the end of Spring, so weather kind of unpredictable.

Thanks for the clothing tip ywh

 

[behyx]

For nice city + good places to visit in the vincinity, Melbourne is a nice place!

check out some pictures i took during my trip in Dec '03 if memory is not failing me!!

http://www.pbase.com/behyx01/melbourne
http://www.pbase.com/behyx01/melbourne_in_black_and_white

It was summer during that time. In the morning when i woke up, it's pretty cooling, feels like it's 10-15deg, nice breeze.
But after-noon, temp can soars to as much as 40deg, very hot but not humid, so don't perspire much. Just that i came back to Singapore with very tanned complexion!

I joined some local tours when i was there, it was very interesting.. The bus driver doubled up as a tour guide and also made some really nice tea for us! Hehee.. I took the helicopter ride over twelves apostles, very expensive (A$50 for 7mins i think) but nice flight

Above all, i love city shooting in Melbourne! The nice and friendly people makes shooting very easy.. And the long daylight hours means that you can so sightseeing slowly.. Take your time

If you have time and love to see another Aussie city, then Sydney will be good. However if you feel like you want some countryside getaway after Melbourne, you should definitely go Tasmania.. It's just a ferry ride away from Melbourne.

I'm someone who finds that Singapore is way too fast paced, and places like Sweden is too slow.. However, the pace of life in Melbourne is JUST RIGHT for me

 

[swiftdragon]

It really depends on the type of holiday you want. Do you want a sightseeing kind of holiday or a chill out and "nua" type?

As for places in perth you can visit, you shd go down south to Albany, margaret river or you can go up north to Kalbarri and at the same time visit the pinnacles. you'll fid nice scenary & perhaps great photography opportunities. Its all away from the city so its nice and peaceful (but the city is also quite quiet, so its one of those sit back, relax and enjoy the slow pace of life type of place to visit)

 

[Tetrode]

1 more to add.

Penguin island gets damm cold. *brrrrrrrrrrrrr
During winter, not many penguins come up to shore.

No flash photography allowed (at least i remembered that 7 yrs ago).
u prob need to push ur iso to 1,600

There is a fairy penguin colony in Sydney too. But it's location is a secret.

 

[behyx]

There is a fairy penguin colony in Sydney too. But it's location is a secret.

So do you know the location? :devil: :devil: :devil:

 

[Tetrode]

So do you know the location? :devil: :devil: :devil:

He he. :devil:
Yes I just found out by chance while picking up four Kodak slide projectors just last week.

 

[sk.images]

If you have 5 days, then spend 2 in Melbourne and 3 in Sydney.

If you have 7 days then as above + 2 days in the Sydney surrounds, e.g. Blue Mountains day trip, Hunter Valley (wine region) day trip, etc...

There's more to see and do in Sydney and in May/June the weather is still quite pleasent.

 

[Tetrode]

If you have 5 days, then spend 2 in Melbourne and 3 in Sydney.

If you have 7 days then as above + 2 days in the Sydney surrounds, e.g. Blue Mountains day trip, Hunter Valley (wine region) day trip, etc...

There's more to see and do in Sydney and in May/June the weather is still quite pleasent.

if you only have 5 days, it is best you choose one City and spend more time discovering it rather than trying to cover two and not seeing much in the process.

 

[Alpc]

Hmmm.... if you don't want to feel too much of the cold... Can always head for Brisbane/Gold Coast/Sunshine Coast... Hee hee hee hee...

However, for more photoshoot opp... I still think Melbourne is the right place... The city and surroundings is enough to cover the 5 days... You can walk the city in 1 day or 2, 1 day tour to Great Ocean Road, 1 day tour to parks and phillip island for the penguin... if you wants to... There are vineyards to visit, ski area to go, etc, etc, etc....

Sydney, yes you can have places to go as well - but somehow I find it a bit like London... Can be a bit gloomy at times...

Have not been to Perth, and I think I might make a trip there as well as Adelaide... maybe drive from Perth to Adelaide and back... Heh... Have friends living there....

So... With my "skewed" opinion... Melbourne is a good place to start...

If you have 9 days or more... You can then consider Tasmania (Had a whole album of my previous stay)... But May/June period - no go for me... Too cold for my comfort, can't even think about staying at Cradle Mountain...

 

[anmas]

Melbourne seems to be a real favourite travel destination for many ClubSNAP members.. mostly positive comments of the city

 

[anmas]

I'm someone who finds that Singapore is way too fast paced, and places like Sweden is too slow.. However, the pace of life in Melbourne is JUST RIGHT for me

How's Sweden? Heard from a friend that Sweden is very very cold during winter.

 

[anmas]

if you only have 5 days, it is best you choose one City and spend more time discovering it rather than trying to cover two and not seeing much in the process.

I think so too

 

[sk.images]

Didn't realise it was your honeymoon - missed that..

In that case, it doesn't really matter too much which city you go to - the inside of a hotel room looks much the same wherever you are :devil:

Seriously, for honeymoon, either Sydney or Gold/Sunshine coast - lots of beaches to walk along, great restaurants (in Sydney) on the water with great views, themeparks (if you're into that) on the Gold Coast...

 

[behyx]

How's Sweden? Heard from a friend that Sweden is very very cold during winter.

Haha! Well it's not too cold for me. Was there during Oct/Nov '05... In Goteborg, the 2nd largest city there, i still can ride bike wearing sweater + giordano jeans.. not forgetting hat and gloves. That was around 1-2deg. Northern sweden (Abisko and Kiruna) way into the arctic circle, temp was around between -5 to 0 deg, very nice and snowing at night.
However Stockholm was 5-10deg when i was there, but due to wind and high humidity, it feels like -10deg...

take a look at my pictures

Not to sidetrack too much from the original threadsetter, i think many people like me do recommend Melbourne :thumbsup:

 

[Watcher]

1 more to add.

Penguin island gets damm cold. *brrrrrrrrrrrrr
During winter, not many penguins come up to shore.

No flash photography allowed (at least i remembered that 7 yrs ago).
u prob need to push ur iso to 1,600

Now a total photography ban.

 

[yyD70S]

Now a total photography ban.

Now that is really bad news:cry:

 

[nemesis32]

For melbourne... best timing to go IMHO is around MAr-Apri or Sep-Oct, which is the Spring and Autumn timing. This is generally the best time to visit Australia anyway because in Winter, it can be very cold and damp and very warm and hot in summer (not to mention flies in your mouth!).

For Melbourne, Penguin Parade in Philip Island is just an experience for tourist, not really for photographer.... I think there's a penguin colony off St Kilda as well, accessible by boat from ferry at St Kilda.

Great Ocean Road is the best natural scenery area in Melbourne and possible Australia... you will loved it, trust me on that. If you are on your own, try take the back route back and visit some of the very nice waterfalls and country roads. Just make sure your hp has reception and have 1 or 2 spare tyres!

Other sights includes the CITY itself, Crown Casino and Entertainment complex, QVM (queen victoria market, best visit on sunday morning), the various parks, MCG (can catch the footy for the experience, i didn't ), South Yarra/Toorak for some high end boutique shopping. Outside melbourne, in the state of Victoria, best attraction as mentioned is the Great Ocean Road, Philip Island, Wildlife Park (near Geelong, cannot rem the name as i also never go!), Sovereign Hill (Old gold mining town), Grampians, Puffing Billy etc.

If you are not self-driving, then take the coach tour departing from SWanston street or your hotel (if it's on the pick-up route) organised by the various agencies...

Enjoy!

 

[centuryegg]

Honeymoon??!!!

haha then in that case go for something less rushed..... choose one city. Take the time to enjoy to slower pace and wine and dine your missus.....