hobbes

Going to be in Oz as I have learned what you locals call it in early November after my New Zealand trip in mid Oct. So, what is there to do and see in Australia? I would come with my 8, but I thought it would be best to leave it at home for this trip. :D
________
YAMAHA RAPTOR 700R

Choppy

What locations are you coming too?

EZZY

NSW:
boobies @ bondi beach/manly beach/palm beach (free) and...... kings x (you will have to pay) :D

e

takahashi

King street here too ....

labrat

Melbourne is supposed to be a bit like Toronto, only not quite as flat. Sydney is....., well, it's Sydney. For a REAL city, you can't go past Brisneyland (or BrisVegas). For starters, it's warm (but the beer's not), and we have more RX-8's per head of poulation than elsewhere in Oz. You can also check out the great places to the north and south of Brisbane. Of course, it would be remiss of me not to to mention that Brisbane is the home of the highly esteemed Hymie, and you might be able to score a stone grill and his famous exhaust if you visit.

Choppy

I agree living in Toronto for 6 months that Melbourne is more like Toronto than Sydney

Regards
Phillip

Lock & Load

The Gold coast is a fun party town if you are into beaches surfing , hinterland walks and nice Senoritas ( ladies ).

cheers
michael

Gomez

OR......You could come to Melbourne, the cultural capital of Oz. You'll be here just in time for the Melbourne Cup....the worlds most famous horse race, (Good for a decent perve, if the racing does nothing for you....).

We have great restaurants, galleries, pubs, nightlife etc. To the north we have historic Bendigo and Ballarat, the Great Dividing Range....to the west you can take a spin down the Great Ocean Road and have a swim at the world famous Bells Beach. Travel east and see gorgeous Gippsland, with it's great lakes and forests.

Take a day trip up through the Dandenong Ranges and the Black Spur (magnificent tree'd drive up a beautiful mountain road).....stop for an arvo in the Yarra Valley and taste the great wines.

Maybe wander down to Phillip Island and take in the penguin parade at dusk....visit the home of the Australian Motorcycle GP.

We may not have Hymie.....(sic, shame on you labrat). We do have Taka, though!

Enjoy your visit....

Gomez.

takahashi

Do not make me falling in love with you Gomez :p

The coffee and culture. Melbourne has everything you want without the complexity of the Sydney life. It is fun to go to Sydney, but I personally cannot live there long term.

Melbourne seems to be simple but if you live/visit long enough or you are with someone knows where to go. There are so much fun things to do here.

Well we have 4 race tracks within 1 and 1/2 drive. Beat that!

Seus

sydney is also quite touristie if your into that sort of thing
bridge walk, all around the rocks and opera house
probably the unique things you have to check out are the beaches, more than i can even begin to remember
you might be lucky enough to catch some cricket
plus more..

hobbes

Thanks for the info, keep it coming! I'll be in Sydney on the 22nd..hmm I'll be leaving Toronto with two stop (argh...two...anyway) in the San Fran and Chicago, with a 12hour layover in Sydney, where my wife (sorry guys them skirt chasing days are over) and I are planning to hit the fishmarket to get some fresh sea food before jumping back on the plane to NZ. We'll be in Oz for a total of 14 days starting on ~Nov 9th to the 22nd. We'll be hitting Sydney (will be living at a friend of friend place; we'll see how that goes) and Melbourne (have family there, yay, free stay )

So with 14 days to do Oz, I can see there are some great suggestions. We would like to see the culture of Aussies, have some fun (planning to do a ATV eco tour) bridge walking would be fun, but the $ to do it still pulls me away from it, unless convinced otherwise, unfortunately, I did finish my openwater diving tests so SCUBA will have to be next time , and food. I really want to know the best places to get great seafood meals, really traditional Aussie grub (not the touristy crap), %for tips?. So Fire away with suggestions galore :D .

How are the public tranist system in Syn and Melbourne anyways? I assume safe and all, reliable, etc?

BTW how is the weather during that time? Temps? I know I can find this info on the web, but let's face it, the weather has gone truly wacky, so I trust people who are actually there then SATs and Radars :p

Thanks to all!!!!
________
FORD XM FALCON PICTURE

moatz

A nice place 3 hours north of Sydney is Port Stephens, there is a lot of water sports, diving, dolphin trips, 4WD trips, etc. It is also close to the Hunter Valley Vineyards.

Unfortuneately, it is the wrong time of year for the whales (June thru September, I think).

A site that could be handy, is TravelMate

I make sure I visit both Port Stephens and the Gold Coast, every time I go back home to visit my family.

My recollection (I left Oz 9 years, ago) of the public transport system in Sydney was that it was relatively clean and more or less on-tme. It depends on which part of Sydney you are staying. I lived and worked in Sydney and it took me 45 minutes to an hour to get to work, by train.

The city, itself sprawls out for miles and miles. The further out you get the worst the public transport infrastructure gets.

As for weather, if you go to weather.com, it contains averages for most major Australian cities.

Hope this posting helps.

(Aussie in Exile)

Choppy

Sydney public transport is not on time, but these days its pretty safe... I even get hassled some times by security if im coming home late from the datacentre. But thats probably got more to do with my destination as i dont looke like a trouble maker

Obviously the lack of fresh seafood in Toronto you would want to go sick on our supply. The fishmarkets would be a great place to grab fish hehe and have it cooked etc.

Maybe we can organise the local rx8 boys/girls to take you and your wife out one night???

What suburb are you going to be staying at in Sydney?

Gomez

The bridge climb is dear......from $160 for an adult. That said, I was all set to do it the other day till I found out that the kids had to be older than 12. Mine are 8 and 11.....and demon climbers!

Here is the Bridge Climb website.

Gomez.

hobbes

Well living inland doesn't help with getting fresh seafood :p.

That would be great to go out with other RX8ers, infact we're trying to start a club in Toronto, so perhaps I'll be the first member for a cross-over meet . Unfortunately my car will have to stay at home for the trip :p . But of course my pics are up at the garage part of the forum as well as the link to the Toronto 2004 Meet. I'll let you know which suburb we'll be staying at after I talk with the logistic manager; that would be my wife :D .

________
No2 Vaporizers

hobbes

We'll be in Sydney, near Coogee Beach, starting Nov 13 (we're flying in from Melbourne) and leave on the 22nd.
________
Find dispensary

Choppy

cool.

not to far away at all

hobbes

On Friday we leave to New Zealand and 14 days later to Oz. Can't wait to leave this cold crappy weather behind us in Toronto.

PM me with contact infos and we'll ring you up while we're in Oz.
________
Ultimate Fighters

Choppy

Its been **** weather in Sydney too.. its become cold again after a week of great weather...

Regards
Phillip