I am going to Australia for 3 months in January. I have been looking at planning a route, and am getting stuck continually. I wanted to do all the main cities, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, DArwin, then the East coast. But, after looking at maps etc, have decided not to go to Perth or Darwin, and stay pretty much down in the South and the east. if i do this, will i miss out on a lot of the other cities, or can someone suggest possible routes, that wont be too expensive.
Thanx Emma x

Hi! Not sure how much money you have, but if you have 3 months, you really need to see more than just the east coast! I'm an Aussie living in England, and this is the suggested itinery I made for some of my colleagues visiting Aus next year. I believe it will show you a good selection of the diversity of the country...
Arrive in Melbourne or Sydney. I've travelled from Melbourne to Sydney on the train, then was annoyed to find that really long (ie 10 hours) journey was the same price as a flight of just over 1 hour ... so take a plane if you can (after all, Australia is approx twice the size of Europe, according to Lonely Planet website...). Use Sydney then as your start point for travelling up the east coast, up to Cairns, then from Cairns up to Darwin through Mount Isa and the Barkley Tableland, etc, to give you an idea of the size of the country, and you should also see some scenery along the way you won't see anywhere else!! Not sure what the traveller buses are like, but you may be able to hire a car cheap enough if you find a few other like minded souls on the way. I'm from Darwin, I'm not going to tell you it is the best place in the whole country, but you can then go from there to Kakadu and Litchfield National Park, etc. If you have the money, get yourself to northern Western Australia, around Kununarra, and check out the Bungle Bungle area, but not sure what access will be like for these regions as it may still be the Wet season, where, depending on the rain, they may be closed for being flooded out ... although, to be fair, you will really only know this a few days in advance. But it is amazing out there. Then return to Darwin and travel down the centre of the country, either on a tourist bus, or on the railway, stopping off at Alice Springs to use as the base to get out to Ayers Rock, then keep heading south, see if you can get to Coober Pedy, then through South Australia, check out the Flinders Rangers, along to Melbourne again via the Great Ocean Road drive if you can ... Well, from all my experiences of family driving holidays through the country, this is what I would recommend!!! Just remember, even if you don't get to do all of this, that there is more to the country than the east coast! If you think you will only get out there once in your life, then make sure you have a good time and see as much as possible! Have fun!

Fi

Agree that in 3 months you should be able to see more than just the east coast.

Cheap airlines within Australia are Virgin Blue and Jetstar.

Also www.standbycars.com.au have as section of late deals on campervans where you can often relocate a van between major cities at no charge and they sometimes even offer money towards fuel.

Many backpacker hotels have notice boards where you can advertise for wanting a lift or often see people with spare seats in their cars offering lifts in exchange for a share of the petrol.

Hope this helps a bit.

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today - you may enjoy it and have time to do it again

I'd highly reccommend going to Melbourne in Spring. In Summer it's too busy and hot and in winter it's deserted and cold. The shops are great and there are plenty of things to see, i.e Federation Square, QV building, MCG, etc.