A little help needed from our Australian friends.

[titanium_hiker]

I like playing with flight websites- Jetabroad.com.au is a good one because it gives you an idea of the taxes, but it's cheaper (often) to book through the airlines themselves.

The airports you fly from are New Orleans, (MSY) LA (LAX) Auckland, NZ (AKL) Perth, Australia (PER) and Sydney (SYD) I calculated up the flights and combos of flights, and it worked out like this:

1766.05 + 243.11 + 131.76 =   2140.92  (MSY-AKL, AKL-PER, SYD-AKL, [AKL-MSY])  
1506.45 + 1528.70 =  3035.15  (MSY-PER, SYD-MSY)
454.05 + 1683.56 + 253.11 + 131.76 = 2522.48 (MSY-LAX, LAX-AKL, AKL-PER, SYD-AKL, [AKL-LAX],[LAX-MSY])

([between brackets means included in return airfare]) (taxes included)

So, Flying from MSY-AKL return and then bouncing off to Perth and back from Sydney looks like your best bet, unless you can work a really cheap way to get to LA from New Orleans. (This is for the month of March, by the way.)

TH

(hope you don't mind me looking at flight costs!)

(last edit, I promise: )

When you get the final idea of what sorts of dates you want to go for, play around with, say, flying on a Tuesday for cheaper fares. These are going for rough price guide only, 01 and 24 March being the dates I randomly picked. You can probably get a better price with a tad more fiddling. (All prices USD)

[Bumper]

Hi coffee,

I'm thinking the best time of year is our spring or fall - March-April or September-October. Other times can be either way too hot (around 40 C) or way too cold!

If you're planning on hanging, there's not too many trees between Perth and Adelaide (at least not many higher than a metre!) so you might need to consider some alternate way of hanging.

You'll need to be pretty proficient at bike repairs, carry some spares, and carry PLENTY of water. While that all sounds a bit limiting, there are plenty of people who do the trip without problems. Don't underestimate the sheer distances though. It's a bloody big ride, and unles you like plains full of stubby trees, not too much of interest until you get close to Adelaide. Speaking of which, the Flinders Ranges and Wilpena Pound are well worth a few days. There's some very pretty desert country around there.

Yes, the Great Ocean Road between Adelaide and Melbourne is well worth the effort. Once you hit Victoria, the country changes dramatically, and working around to Sydney you'll pass through everything from desert to temperate rainforest.

Hope you have a fantastic trip!

PS, most snakes will leave you alone if you don't step on them! Then again, so will most people. Don't worry about them, they aren't anywhere near as prevelant as the media like to make out.

[Coffee]

I like playing with flight websites- Jetabroad.com.au is a good one because it gives you an idea of the taxes, but it's cheaper (often) to book through the airlines themselves.

The airports you fly from are New Orleans, (MSY) LA (LAX) Auckland, NZ (AKL) Perth, Australia (PER) and Sydney (SYD) I calculated up the flights and combos of flights, and it worked out like this:

1766.05 + 243.11 + 131.76 =   2140.92  (MSY-AKL, AKL-PER, SYD-AKL, [AKL-MSY])  
1506.45 + 1528.70 =  3035.15  (MSY-PER, SYD-MSY)
454.05 + 1683.56 + 253.11 + 131.76 = 2522.48 (MSY-LAX, LAX-AKL, AKL-PER, SYD-AKL, [AKL-LAX],[LAX-MSY])

([between brackets means included in return airfare]) (taxes included)

So, Flying from MSY-AKL return and then bouncing off to Perth and back from Sydney looks like your best bet, unless you can work a really cheap way to get to LA from New Orleans. (This is for the month of March, by the way.)

TH

(hope you don't mind me looking at flight costs!)

(last edit, I promise: )

When you get the final idea of what sorts of dates you want to go for, play around with, say, flying on a Tuesday for cheaper fares. These are going for rough price guide only, 01 and 24 March being the dates I randomly picked. You can probably get a better price with a tad more fiddling. (All prices USD)

Hey, play away. Navagating public transportation is not one of my strong suits. At least you guys speak the same language. Dealing with a lot of language mixups now. Make for a good story though.

Yeah the prices you are quoting look like what I was figuring. Doing the math in my head I figure this trip is going to cost more than my AT hike, but take a sixth of the time. But hey you only live once.

I'll let you know when I get more concrete dates. The dates traveling are not too big of a deal. I do want to try and use them to maximize my time.

[Coffee]

Hi coffee,

I'm thinking the best time of year is our spring or fall - March-April or September-October. Other times can be either way too hot (around 40 C) or way too cold!

If you're planning on hanging, there's not too many trees between Perth and Adelaide (at least not many higher than a metre!) so you might need to consider some alternate way of hanging.

You'll need to be pretty proficient at bike repairs, carry some spares, and carry PLENTY of water. While that all sounds a bit limiting, there are plenty of people who do the trip without problems. Don't underestimate the sheer distances though. It's a bloody big ride, and unles you like plains full of stubby trees, not too much of interest until you get close to Adelaide. Speaking of which, the Flinders Ranges and Wilpena Pound are well worth a few days. There's some very pretty desert country around there.

Yes, the Great Ocean Road between Adelaide and Melbourne is well worth the effort. Once you hit Victoria, the country changes dramatically, and working around to Sydney you'll pass through everything from desert to temperate rainforest.

Hope you have a fantastic trip!

PS, most snakes will leave you alone if you don't step on them! Then again, so will most people. Don't worry about them, they aren't anywhere near as prevelant as the media like to make out.

Very true words.

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking that about hammocking. I'm thinking about finally getting a nice light weight tent with a pad. I could use the pad in a hammock or on the ground when needed. The other option is a bug bizy with my tarp. Some things to play around with.

March sounds like a good month. I don't want to deal with the extremes in temperature. I am looking forward to seeing some areas completely different from what I am used to.

Someone here gave me a good suggestion for a website with long distance motorcycle trips. I'm reading that over for planning help. I hate running out of water or pushing, so extra fuel and water is going to be a must.

I know a couple people in New Orleans that are big into motorcycle repair. I am planning on leaning on them heavily for repair tips. I figure I won't need to rebuild an engine, but the basic stuff with probably come out. Plus a couple engineers, some tools, and a repair manual can go a long way.

[gunn parker]

My questions are:

What do you think is the best month to see the southern part?

look here at one of my pages to check the expected weather thru out the year.
Perth Weather & Climatic Data

The plan is to see some cities but also camp out a lot, anything special I should watch out for?

This site looks interesting, SOUTH WEST CAMPING or this one may be better for you, Free-Camping in the South of Western Australia
Also look at the Bibbulmun track foundation, this is our longest hiking trail in Western Australia at about 621 miles.

I always hear of bugs and snakes and things down there that don't play nice, are they really a problem?

I would not worry too much, in summer a head net to keep the bush fies off might be nice if your in the bush. not too many other bugs to worry about. Be careful of snakes as you would in your bush, and thats about it, we have no animals to be worried about.

[HitchHiking]

Only got to watch for the Drop Bear eh fellas.

[Bumper]

Shhh! You're supposed to let the tourists find out about drop bears late one night when they, well, drop in unexpectedly

[Nails]

What's a drop bear?

I should state up front that all I know about Australia is what I got from that one Simpsons episode: "They's everywhere they is. They're in the lift, they're in the lorry, they're in the bon whizzer, and they're all over the malonga guilderchuck!"

But seriously, what's a drop bear?

[titanium_hiker]

Nails- you'll have to come and find out!

[Nails]

But seriously, what's a drop bear?
You'll have to come and find out.

Love to. But probably can't afford it anytime soon.

On an unrelated note: In the above Simpsons quote does "bon whizzzer" or "malonga guilderchuck" mean anything? If some Aussie hanger could let me know, it would settle a bet I have with my wife. Keep in mind those are phonetic spellings.