My girlfriend and I are going to Australia in March for 18 days with our 3 kids.Going to Melbourne, Sydney, Hamilton island, surfers and Brisbane. Any recommendations would be great!!

Byron Bay!!

Recommendations on what exactly?

Good question:
What to see in and around those places, car rentals, domestic flight tips, is uber good and cheap?, reef tours do and donts, surfers for kids or go a little bit more south?

Melbourne- Phillips island penguins are awesome. The Great Ocean Road. The artist alleys. Byron Bay the light house view view view! Incredibly beautiful

Doing Phillip island, great ocean road to the 12 apostles. Will look at artists alley and bryon bay! Thanks

Agree. A must when in Melbourne.

Bring money. Australia is hella pricey.

Remember taxes are included in the price. And you don’t need to tip, but it is welcome

Especially eating out...

Yes. Very expensive. If you can pack picnic meals is best

Great suggestion!! Rotisserie chickens in Aussie grocery stores like woolworths are really cheap and delicious. One of those bad boys + a caesar salad mix bag was our favourite thing to bring to the beach!!

Plus pretty much all parks and beaches have free real BBQs at them. We had drove down the cost and ate most meals this way.

Sarah you mean bring your own food and cook it at one of these bbq’s? How about propane or charcoal?

Sydney - State Library New South Wales, ferry ride up and down the harbour, Manly, Anzac war memorial, Opera House
Melbs - Anything sport that's on, Abory floating bar on the Yarra, Chin Chin (Amazing Thai food), Naked in the Sky (tapas with awesome views), Eureka sky deck, the many laneways with street art (Google)

We are doing Airbnb so will go grocery shopping for sure

I just got home yesterday. Love It there, been 5 times. Groceries can also be expensive so take your time shopping. Melbourne has strange weather changes all in one day. That is quit a few places to go in 18 days. Have fun!

Olga what cities did you go and what would you recommend doing?

Each time I go to a different area. I've been to all those places. Diffinately the great ocean road and the penguins in Melbourne.

Sydney. The blue mountains. Downtown Sydney is very nice.

Surfers paradise will be a great place to rest.

Don't miss out snorkeling! Sunscreen sunscreen sunscreen! Lol

If you’ll be camping look up Sunburnt Beach between Ulladulla and Bateman’s Bay (about 5hrs south of Sydney). Only 12 camp sites. Free. Drop toilet. 2min wall to deserted beach. Good goanna watching

In chinatown in Sydney, make sure you try Emperor Puffs! There will probably be a line, but they're worth it. (They're these little sweet dough balls filled with cream. So delicious!)

So I got those yesterday... sooo good!!!

Hahah amazing!!! This is why I love contributing to groups like this

Have a great time Anthony! Saw Pete the other day.

Awesome! Thanks bud

Australia zoo is about an hour away from Brisbane. They have bus’s that you can take if you don’t want to rent a car. I went 3 times when I lived on the Sunshine Coast and I was 18/19 I loved it so much. I can’t wait to bring my son when we go in August. If you’re planning on going to Brisbane and have time I would consider traveling to the Sunshine Coast. My husband is from noosa it’s amazing. peregian beach is quiet and very nice we lived there for half a year, mooloolaba is gorgeous and has a really cool aquarium called underwater world.
Surfers paradise has so many fun things for kids you guys are going to have a blast. There’s a haunted house that’s super fun but there’s soooo much to do!! There’s even a bar that you can get a Caesar if you’re feeling home sick
Taronga zoo, the aquarium, a boat tour of Sydney harbour, depending on how old your kids are climbing the Sydney harbour bridge is amazing. The Lindt cafe in darling harbour is a must!!!!
Get ready for amazing coffees and meat pies. The food in general in Australia I find to be so much better than what you typically get in Canada. I love Australia we go once a year. You guys are going to have such a good vacation! Unlock your cellphone if you can and buy a SIM card in the airport. Best way we have found to keep a phone going and the
Pay and talk phone plans are so good.

I personally found Brisbane kind of boring in comparison to what surrounds it but I guess it depends on what exactly you’re wanting to do when you’re there! I’d say surfers for sure and Sunshine Coast would be my top picks for that sort of area

Can’t be better than our aquarium here is it?

Brisbane is a bit boring, but Australia zoo is excellent. Was fortunate to see Steve Irwin in his glory doing a crocodile show.

That’s amazing Jessica, lucky! We seen his wife and kids do the show one of the times that we went.

I’d have to say the aquarium in Sydney harbour just might be! It’s pretty cool!! The mooloolaba one definitely not but they did have a frozen hammerhead shark as a temporary exhibit which was really cool. They have a neat spot for kids to interact with starfish etc and they offer scuba diving with sharks in the aquarium. I did it my husband stood outside of the tank and laughed at me (he couldn’t because he has ear problems). It’s a small aquarium but it’s fun for something to do if you end up in the area.

Krista Sydney aquarium is great

Very cool

We went for 2 months and rented a camper van. Served as transportation as well as accommodation. Food was costly but no tipping there.

If you fit in Fraser Island, it is well worth it.

After kakadu, Fraser Island and whitsundays tied for 2 on my highlights

We didn't realize until the day before we left we needed Visas! But, you probably already know that.

My friend told me his nightmare story so yes I am aware thanks!

Was an ETA good enough?

Mandy yes that’s all you need if you have a valid Canadian passport

Sydney - get an Opal card for using transit. Works for buses, ferries, trains... TripGo is a great app to find ways to get around.

Fern dale zoo in Sydney and blue mountain

Stephanie Rae

Philips Island to see the mini penguins.

Consider a cruise for part of your trip. Australia is expensive. So a cruise could be great value. We just came back from a 9 day cruise in Australia. We spent almost as much in the 3 days we spent in Sydney after the cruise as we did for the nine night cruise.

Near surfers there are glow worm caves. Definitely worth checking out!
Byron bay is also magical.

We went with our 2 kids (5 and 7) 2 summers ago. We stayed with friends in the blue mtns just inland of Sydney and did a week and a bit of road-tripping. Charles Darwin walk and the falls at the end are incredible, as well as the 4 sisters in katoomba. Both are available from public transit. Dubbo zoo is a few hours past and was even better than the Seattle zoo. Theres glow worm caves in old abandoned train tunnels near the blue mtns as well. Finally, the jenolan caves were incredible. Don't miss them. There's cute towns and beautiful beaches all over the place but the caves are like nothing else.
Oh, and don't use lucky car rentals. They're the cheapest and the worst.

That is allot to cover in 18 days but doable. Kids will be tired. Have down time days or afternoons.

Hamilton and Mel will be chill (I think). Also working in rugby game in Sydney

Depends on how much time in Melbs, and how old kids are but Melbs itself is pretty good- like a bigger Vancouver- avoid peak hour traffic as much as possible, it's horrendous. Melb Zoo is great, scienceworks, or just hiring bikes and riding along st kilda foreshore. there's loads of kid friendly cafes- Leroys in Newport was our fave. Outside of city you could always check out werribee zoo (safari zoo) on the way to Great Ocean Road- GOR itself is a nice drive with plenty of beach towns to stop at with good vibes, hire some boards in torquay or mountain bikes around otways, treetop/zipline etc.
Or you could do the loop around the bay- Arthur's Seat/sorento/ferry to queenscliff/geelong/werribee zoo..
Or there's Ballarat (sovereign hill)/daylesford/Mt Macedon...

Anthony you're so lucky to be going in March. When in Sydney you MUST check out the Beinalle. It's an art installation all over the city, but the most interesting part is hosted on Cockatoo island. Get the free ferry from Circular Quay to this normally inaccessible island. Explore the AMAZING sculpture art, the tunnels, bunkers and some of Sydney's lesser know Aboriginal history on the island. AMAZING!! Best of all it's FREE. https://www.biennaleofsydney.com.au

Very cool! Thanks

If you're around the cbd in Melbs, the Collingwood Children's Farm is another option

Bondi Beach was amazing! And the Great Barrier Reef is a must!!

My friend works here. They have a cheese and wine tours along with an amazing restaurant - it has won many tourism awards. https://www.facebook.com/cupittswinery