SparkleGirlSparkle

That sounds exactly like the Oyster system. Since the $6 is non-refundable, does it get automatically added to the card, or is it purely $6 for the card, then you top up after that? I will hopefully get to use it a bit to do some exploring at the weekends!

My mum and I bought our pet ashes (one cat, one dog) over with us in November. There were no issues whatsoever. We carried them in our hand luggage (despite all the other valuables crammed in!) I think the only reason for carrying them in hand luggage is for the same reason you carry your laptop in your hand luggage - they are valuable (if only sentimentally) and you don't want anything to happen to them. The most important thing is that they need to be x-ray-able. If they are not, they will not allow them on the aircraft for security sake. So, as long as they are in a wooden box rather than metal, you shouldn't have an issue. Secondly, since you're heading down under, you'll need to make sure the wooden casket is treated. Thirdly, the box must be secured. We took all the certificates and paperwork from when the cremations and caskets were ordered, but no one asked to see those, we just had them in case. We also ticked 'Yes' on the customs card to 'Wooden Articles' and 'Animal products'. When asked what we had, I simply said that the same item covered both thing, and that we had animal ashes in wooden caskets. They simply had a quick look and that was that. As long as you are sensible, follow the precautions and declare everything, then you have nothing to worry about. The thing I read from the website was that occassionally they might be interested about where you are going to scatter, but my cat is just sitting in my bedroom watching over me, so that wasn't an issue for me. You'll probably find that as long as you are scattering in an area that is designed for that there will be no issue. My cat casket is enjoying her new position in Australia! ;-)

Yeah, I think I can work that system - I had one of the original London Oyster cards! So far I've always found the station staff to be friendly and helpful, so hopefully the same will be true of Melbourne!

I am WWOOFing in between trips home to Sydney (to stay with mum and sister). As previously mentioned, the work does not have to be paid, or as far as I'm aware even on a commercial farm (although that helps!), but the work does have to meet the specified requirements, and it has to be in the right postcode area. With WWOOFing/volunteering it helps to have other information to prove you were in the area, like photos of work or train tickets, but you must get the 1263 form signed. DIAC can and will trace your references and confirm the work/days completed. Speaking of WWOOFing, you might want to look into that someguyinoz if you want to get away from the masses of people in backpacking hostels! A lot of the WWOOFing hosts have places for 1-3people, so you aren't surrounded by many people and have the chance to get to know the people you are with, and in a bit more of a controlled environment. I am a bit like you and will avoid a large gathering of people if given the option, and the thought of stepping foot into a hostel is not very appealing. I've been to one farm already, only for a few days, and stayed with 2 others in a small cottage. I had a great time! Made some friends, didn't find it that awkward and got food/board in exchange for work. Only expense was the travel costs to the place.

Well, I managed to get a Tiger Airways bargain, at least compared to everything else out there. $62 for one-way flight from Melbourne to Sydney, with a checked bag of 20kg! Although it's a day later than I intended, it did prove to be half the price of the flights the day I did want to go, and it was cheaper than an economy saver on the train!

That doesn't seem quite as cheap. I also think my flight is due in for the afternoon, so won't be able to go direct to Berwick. At least that is how I read it. I will definitely keep that in mind though.

Towards the end of the Pakenham line - I'm meeting someone but depends what they are up to on the day as to where I meet them

Wow, that is... outrageous (and that coming from a Londoner!) Is the $6 for the bus or for the train, or for both? Where would I be able to pick up that ticket? Is it a long walk from the airport to the station? Now, I know the distances in Australia are longer than you think, but I'm pretty sure they don't class Sydney as long haul! I could be wrong though! I just need the cheapest fare, and if that means running around the airport and outside bus stops, so be it!

That is true, but my accommodation is sorted, it's just getting from A to B. But it's okay, I think I have come up with a reasonable solution. Those JetStar prices seem to be fluctuating too... in my favour! :biggrin:

Am I right in reading that the SkyBus is $17 just into town???

I will hopefully be flying into Melbourne airport (MEL) in a couple of weeks, and need to figure out the cheapest, but not necessarily the fastest, option of getting from the airport to the main city train station. I don't think it matters which station I go to, because I'm getting on the Pakenham line. As far as I'm aware that stops at Melbourne Central Station, Parliament Station, Flinders Street Station and Southern Cross Station.

Signing up to those now! Do the campervans come with drivers?!:biglaugh:

I do not qualify for any of the youth/student fares and wondering if I am looking in the right places! I've been looking at traveling by air, train and bus, but nothing seems really cheap, although I think that is partly a personal thing! Anyway, it makes me miss the £1 MegaBus fares a great deal!!!! I'm not looking to travel to the other side of the country or even up to the top of the country, just from Sydney down to Melbourne and/or across to Adelaide. I also toyed with the idea of heading to Hobart until I started researching prices! So, any slightly older backpackers that aren't entitled to any concessions, got any advice or secret hidden beauties for reasonable travel costs around this beautiful country? Thanks!!!

It's definitely worth considering. I know the flights themselves are expensive, but when you add on additional luggage, which is generally charged per kilo on the other airlines, that soon adds up and you end up gaining, especially if taking a lot. Mum, sister and I all cheated a bit with our flights. We generally only ever fly to Orlando, and because it's such a popular route, we've never been able to use our miles on those flights, so we all had years of flying miles points just racking up and never been able to use them - until now. We all got miles only flights, so all paid about £300 in taxes, but that was it! Cheapest flight to Sydney ever! I'm out here on a working holiday, and just like you, I intended to travel light, but for an entire year, with the possibility of having to have things for work, travel and play, it just isn't always possible - I didn't want to waste my money buying more clothes, etc out here, so just took the initial plane hit and paid for extra luggage! When are you planning on coming? Will you be traveling alone?

If you haven't asked your uni for a transcript yet, I would get on and do that, even if you don't put in your AHPRA for a while. The university transcript was one of the headaches for my mum and sister. They can take up to 8wks to come - my mum's took 10 and held everything up! It will also cost about £50 (depending on uni) to get it. While you might not be doing the actual application now, there are some things you can start to chase and prepare ahead of time, so when you do get to that part, it's there ready and waiting. As for the IELTS test, you only need to do that if you are planning on going under an individual skilled migrant visa/regional/state sponsorship. If you are doing 457 or working holiday, it's not needed, so you probably don't have to worry about that. As long as you went to school in the UK and got you diploma/degree at a UK university, and hold a UK passport, that is sufficient enough to prove your English skills. My mum did the test because she was over the age bracket for individual skilled migrant visa, so had to go the 457 route, and she just wanted to prove to everyone that she was committed. My sister didn't bother at all because she just went 457 and didn't even consider individual skilled migrant visa cos of the cost and wait time! She will probably wait for her employer to sponsor her for PR if and when the time comes. If you are doing skilled migrant visa for permanent residency, you'll be scored on the points test. Doing the IELTS test can add to your score if you get 8s or 9s. I was going for state sponsorship before my job was removed :-( and I did the IELTS because it gave me an extra 20 points and sent me rocketing up the points scale - higher points = more priority :-)

No worries! How is it all going? I remember my mum and sister sent a package to Australia that resembled the size of the yellow pages, so I know it's not an easy task to get it all together.

A 4x4 could certainly be an advantage, but the van does give you somewhere to stay at night. Could you go with the 4x4 and opted to stay in caravan parks? That's not too different from staying in the van, but there is obviously cost with that. I'm planning on doing volunteer work through the WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) programme, which might be something for you to look into.

If you have family in Sydney, then make that your first point of call. You can get yourself settled in, familiarize yourself with your plans, where to go, etc without the hassle of having to worry about finding accommodation, a job and and paying bills straight away. If you're traveling on your own, it will also give you a chance to makes some new friends before you set off for your adventure.

Wow, that sounds like you're going to have a massive year ahead of you! As for getting around it all... well, a van will definitely help with that. Since it's such a large place, perhaps it might be better to eliminate where you DON'T want to go first, any types of environments/locations that you don't want to be a far (like really hot or really cold). Then, I guess you've got 8 states, and 12-months, so divide the time up proportionally. WA has biggest land mass, but that doesn't mean it has the most towns!! Use your map of places you don't want to/don't need to visit and go from there. At a quick work out, you could probably do TAZ and ACT in a month (if not less). Then if you took a month for each of WA, NT, QLD, SA, NSW and VIC, that will bring you 7months into the trip, leaving you with 5months. You could either 1) extend your stays in the larger states (so 2months in WA, NT, QLD and NSW instead) and have 1 month to revisit things, or 2) stick to one month per state, then have an extra 5months to revisit places/states that took your fancy the first time around to reaffirm your thoughts and feelings! You have so many possibilities and options, that it will be totally up to you. You might want to check out the average monthly weather reports for each state and use that as a guide as to where to go first/last. =D Enjoy the planning, I'm very jealous!

I'm staying at my mum's and using it as a base, travelling out for a while, them coming back here. Off to do my farm work hopefully in February, then back here after that. The trouble with general travel insurance is that it only covers you for something like a 90-day trip. Anything long, it's null and void. Some even require a return ticket date within the stipulated time. So, backpacker insurance is better because you get up to a year, because that's what it's designed for. There are plenty of places that do it, you just need to do a bit of searching and find one that covers the things you might be getting up to. I went with Outbacker Insurance because we will be going to America in June for my birthday, and I was able to get a pack that covered me while in Australia for the year, but also if I went somewhere else for a holiday/visit. If you're just staying in Australia, them I'm sure there are plenty of others to choose from. You can apply for Medicare when you get here, but that is only for "treatment that is medically essential. This means any ill-health or injury which occurs while you are in Australia and requires treatment before you return home," so might not cover everything. Also, Medicare will not cover the cost of the ambulance trip - that will either come from your travel insurance, or if not covered in that, then your own pocket!!!

My mum and sister are here on 457s as nurses, which isn't quite your question, but as I understand it, in order to get your APHRA application you have to get something from the NMC anyway, so you don't have 'to tell them as such'. You just need to make sure that you keep up your NMC registration while out of the country. That way, any work/hours you do in Australia, will count towards your annual required hours. The APHRA application process is very long winded, but as long as you read ALL the information and include EVERYTHING they ask for in the CONDITION that they ask for, you won't have a problem. If it says certified copy, that's what you send. Don't send anything else. Just read, re-read and double check each thing. And of course, without it, you won't be able to work as a nurse over here, so it isn't pointless if that's what you want to do!

We ended up at Yarranabbe Park. It was a nice, family-friendly location, with a no alcohol policy. All bags were checked upon entry and all opened bottles were sniffed for alcohol! So they did their best to attempt to stop alcohol from coming in. There was a rotary club bbq (well sausage in a slice of bread), and a drinks van. The only thing you didn't have a good view of was the water light parade that they did (although perhaps it was better at the other end - we were down the Edgecliff end). We arrived at about 6.30pm/7pm. It wasn't particularly busy at that point, so we were able to get our blanket down on the grass at the front, and thus have access to the wall once the fireworks started. We sat back for the 9pm ones (although sister was at the wall filming), then once the families started to leave, we moved the blanket off the grass and onto the walkway at the wall (which was warmer cos the grass was starting to get damp and the ground was still hot from the sun!) Then we stood for the main fireworks with a view directly over to the bridge, with the barges off to the sides of the bridge. Will try and post a picture tomorrow.

Will do! I think we are looking to go a little further afield (out towards Watson's Bay direction) in the hope that a little further away will be quieter. We have found a paid event that is not too much, and a nice family atmosphere, so we will see! We routinely go to WDW and actually the best views of the fireworks are from behind the castle, and over at the transportation hub (and both are dead quiet), so we are using that as our basis for where to pick to watch the Sydney fireworks!

I don't blame you! We lived in London for 10yrs and never bothered going in for the fireworks - watched them on TV. This year though, we have decided to brave Sydney and watch them down there! Well, that is the plan. I half expect us to end up coming home after our day at the beach!

I don't know if you managed to get your flights booked yet or not, but if you can get a deal with Virgin or BA, both offer additional baggage of up to 10 pieces per person on top of your free one. The first additional bag is £35 and then £72 for any after that. I came over with Virgin and had a couple of extra bags, and also brought my bike, which was carried free of charge (only had to purchase the cycle bag for £6.99 to put it in!)