Advice: Travel to Australia/New Zealand

[ShaneSparky_YYZ]

I need to know how much are general things so I know how much to bring when I go down under.. :p

Auckland, New Zealand: 3 days

Sydney/Brisbane, Australia: 10 days

How much is a bottle of pop? the size smaller than 2L?

How much is a combo at fast food joints?

Road tolls any idea how much they are? Suggestions? I will have a car while in both countries.

Any other things I should know before I go? I'm going over xmas to Jan 8 ;)

I'm asking these general questions as I will bring some cash and figuring how much I should bring, I'd rather not use a ATM there and Visa/Mastercard use will be used here and there but cash is good in the small towns while driving up to Brisbane (12hrs I'm seeing from Sydney)

Much help appreciated, thanks all!

[thisispete]

How much is a bottle of pop? the size smaller than 2L?

How much is a combo at fast food joints?

Road tolls any idea how much they are? Suggestions? I will have a car while in both countries.

Much help appreciated, thanks all!

Well I'm from Australia, I live on the Sunshine Coast about 1hr north of Brisbane so I can give you some rough estimates on our prices!

A 1.25L bottle of Soft Drink from the service station, corner shop etc. is about AU$3.50 if you get it hot from the supermarket they're about AU$1.50

A large Big Mac combo from Macca's is about AU$6.95 from memory

A large Zinger Burger combo from KFC is about AU$9.50ish?

Road tolls: I there are a few in Brisbane. The one over the gateway bridge is AU$2.60 each way. Cant help out with the ones down south!

Petrol at the moment gets up to about AU$1.50L so keep that in mind when travelling by car. Its a long way from Sydney to Brisbane.

[Digitalx]

Auckland here,

How much is a bottle of pop? the size smaller than 2L?

Usually referred to as soft drink, fizzy drink etc here there's 600mls, 1L, 1.25L, 2.25L bottles which are most common including cans too

How much is a combo at fast food joints?

at usual joint mc d's burger king etc around $6-$9 NZD though i would suggest if you're after junk food outside of them to check out chinese fish and chip takeaway bars around the place the food is around same price but get tons more and it's very good.

Road tolls any idea how much they are? Suggestions? I will have a car while in both countries.

New Zealand has no road tolls all highways/motorways whichever you wish to call them are free and open to use all round country as of at the moment

Also, mastercard and visa is available at most places however i would suggest having a little cash on you $20 or so just incase come across a place which doesn't

hope that helps or have any other q's happy to help.

[ozgeek]

And remember we drive on the left side of the road and the driver wheel is in the right side of the car. while you are from canada, i assume you drive on the right.

[Ninety]

I think in Sydney, every motorway toll is being changed to e-cards or something like that. As a visitor, you have to give the company a call and provide them with details, credit cards etc, or something like that. Depends on where you wanna venture off to though.

[se7en.hu]

If your into it be sure to check out Nimbin, it is relatively close to Brisbane and imho worth checking out. No other community like it exists anywhere afaik. If you havent heard of Nimbin check it out online, its a pretty famous place. Last time I went to Brisbane I ended up renting a car to drive down and check it out. Sitting in the HEMP Bar there, the vast amount of tourists travelling through this small town (keeping in mind theres no 'big' towns in either direction for 30km) is amazing, just sit and chat for a while.

The place also looks AMAZING, really, really beautiful waterfalls and mountainous, luscious green forest. The town is on the top of a larger mountain, surrounded by a valley and more mountains. So almost anywhere you are in town, provided no buildings are blocking the view you can just see mountains all around.

Its called the Rainbow Region, certainly looks like it too :p

[ShaneSparky_YYZ]

Thanks a bunch everyone :) So prices are around the same as here, phew! LOL!

And yes we drive on the right here, back in April I was in the UK and drove on the left so it won't be a big issue for me, hehe, thanks for the tip before I go there :)

I will check out Nimbin for sure! I'm drving North from Sydney to Brisbane/Gold Coast, so I see Nimbin is on the way. Then flying back from Gold Coast to Sydney via Virgin Blue. I'm into sights, clubs, and beaches :)

[Nikv]

tip : perth is pretty boring.

the end.

gl have fun.

[ShaneSparky_YYZ]

Thanks Nikv, yeah I'm not going to the west coast of Aussieland, just the east :)

I heard you can't swim in the the water up in Darwin during the time i'm goin due to Box jellyfish so that's out... lol

[-T- Member]

Perth aint that bad, it's just a quiter city compared to the East.

Good luck on the trip, I hope the car you hire has good air con as it'll be stinking hot at that time of year. Also Darwin has worse things in the water than just box jellyfish, but it doesn't look like you'll be going there anyway so nothing to worry about

[splicer707]

Why eat at fast food places? There are some great restaurants in Brisbane. Costs a bit more. But at least you won't clog your arteries.

[addc182]

you should probably pack lots of animals and plants ;)

[ShaneSparky_YYZ]

LOL ^^ I don't wanna get arse raped at customs, what a wonderful experience that would be coming there, haha!

[deuz]

ahahahha as long as you declare those animals and plants should be ok.... :D the only people that get 'arse raped' are the ones that dont. :p

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

Summers here suck, Can I take your place in Canada?

[ambushed]

Summers here suck, Can I take your place in Canada?

lol im looking forward to the end of winter tomorrow and it warming up a bit. This winter's been ****ing cold(by local standards :p). Im sick of it. I want some sun.

To reinforce it, as ninety said, make sure you plan your trips on Sydney motorways ahead of time as you can't pay by cash at all on many. You'll cop a punishing in excess fees if you don't do anything.

ps stay away from Adelaide. It's a hole....

[ShaneSparky_YYZ]

hehe, thanks for the tip ambushed :) I'm just going up from Sydney to Brisbane and then flying back. I will be renting a car while there so i'll watch out for toll roads as I know they rape you here if you don't have a transponder when you renturn the car.

As for our summers they're generally mild but some days so hot and smoggy, I hate it. It's 33C here today with humidex around 38C, at least along the coast you get a nice breeze or something there :)

And Decryptor i'll let you know when I get bak in January.. lol.. they say people always hate where they live for the most part and want to live elsewhere, I honestly hate it here. After being to europe recently I noticed the nightlife is so much better there than here. lol.

[petroid]

you should probably pack lots of animals and plants ;)

Quarantine matters!

Couldn't help it :p

[Africandream]

I've got $1.55 so I'm trying to figure out if I have enough before I walk to the store.

A large Big Mac combo from Macca's is about AU$8.

A large Zinger Burger combo from KFC is about AU$10.00ish?

Roll Toll cost comes around 4 dollars.

Winter will be started from october so my advise is to go with swatter during chrism as season.

Myafricandream - Win an African Dream

[shadowmatt]

Avoid the locals, their favorite sport is killing backpackers...

[Sam Symons Veteran]

I need to know how much are general things so I know how much to bring when I go down under.. :p

Auckland, New Zealand: 3 days

Sydney/Brisbane, Australia: 10 days

How much is a bottle of pop? the size smaller than 2L?

How much is a combo at fast food joints?

Road tolls any idea how much they are? Suggestions? I will have a car while in both countries.

Any other things I should know before I go? I'm going over xmas to Jan 8 ;)

I'm asking these general questions as I will bring some cash and figuring how much I should bring, I'd rather not use a ATM there and Visa/Mastercard use will be used here and there but cash is good in the small towns while driving up to Brisbane (12hrs I'm seeing from Sydney)

Much help appreciated, thanks all!

For a bottle of Coke here in NZ, you can it for about NZD$1.80 at my local shop (600ml). For a Zinger Burger Combo I think it's about NZD$6.

Anything else you should know...uhm...Sheep jokes aren't appreciated :p Nah, I dunno. Might I ask where you're going in New Zealand? It sort of differs. If you feel like getting beat up, try South Auckland. If you want beautiful mountains, try the South Island.

(and for Australia, if you feel like driving around the outback, just go buy a bucket of sand, a dead tree and a Kangaroo then soak it all in cheap beer -- it's the same experience (sorry Australia, but you know it's true))

EDIT: Just read the Auckland part. Hmm. Well. Can't really recommend anything for there...doesn't really have the NZ experience :p Keep your wallet close at hand and avoid South Auckland, I suppose. Unless you get on well with Gang members. Personally, I'd say switch Auckland with Christchurch, then it's an hour drive to where all the nice forest walks are at. I can recommend a nice short one that's pretty good, and even has a waterfall :p

Edited September 1, 2008 by Sam Symons Live

[ShaneSparky_YYZ]

Thanks Sam, yea flight is booked, so I can't switch, my friend who i'm going with knows someone in Auckland so we'll be there for a few days.

I'll avoid S. Auckland as mentioned, lol.. i'm pretty street smart, I've been in bad areas before (Detroit, MI.. lol) and it ain't the nicest place, very scary with boarded up places and homeless and gangs everywhere, lol.. (had to drive thu there while going to Chicago).

Heard you got more sheep than people there, hahaha :)

[smithy_dll]

I for one am glad our two weeks of winter are now over up here in Queensland.

Avoid the locals, their favorite sport is killing backpackers...

Don't listen to the drop bears.

[Digitalx]

Heard you got more sheep than people there, hahaha

Although true, it's on the decline since cow/beef markets and stuff are becoming more profitable for farmers.

if you also find things like farms and view of alot of auckland interesting, make sure to check out driving to summit of one tree hill and mt eden (both mountains and farmland inside the middle of city lol) but they have a free good 360? view of most of auckland as an alternative to sky tower.

/me lives by one tree hill :ninja:: >

Also as he was saying avoid majority of south auckland. problem is airports in south auckland but just keep on main highway out towards city and you'll be good and won't see too much bad stuff and it won't be as bad as bad places in US but it's still not appealing seeing suburban "hoods" with graffiti etc everywhere lol.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I for one am glad our two weeks of winter are now over up here in Queensland.

...

Yes, you're the only one.

Now I've got to go and dig my fan out, I liked being able to sleep at night.