Australia Independent Travel | 18-Day Itinerary Overview | Honeymoon Trip | No-Car Travel Itinerary Reference

Australia Independent Travel | 18-Day Itinerary Overview | Honeymoon Trip | No-Car Travel Itinerary Reference | Local Tour Recommendations & Booking

Taking advantage of a rare chance to have a proper long vacation (using our marriage leave), we chose an independent trip to Australia this time — also our first time abroad in the three years since the pandemic began. The decision came together very quickly: we booked the tickets at the end of January and were flying at the end of February, leaving only about a month to prepare. Planning an independent trip of nearly 20 days all at once, I'd forgotten just how much research you need to do in advance.

I visited Australia's east coast quite a few times as a child, so this time I deliberately added a west coast city to the itinerary. Because we didn't want the trip to be too tiring or the schedule too packed, we only planned three cities across roughly three weeks. In each city, besides setting aside a few days for suburban attractions and joining local day tours, we spent the rest of the time strolling around the city, finding a relaxed café or bar and experiencing life like a local.

Melbourne Airport arrivals hall

Several major cities on Australia's east coast have direct flights from Taiwan, but the west coast does not. Since the three cities are quite far apart, domestic flights were necessary to move between them. In the end we chose a route that avoided backtracking: entering via Melbourne, then on to Perth, and finally leaving Australia from Brisbane.

Itinerary Details

Starting from the latter part of the 228 long weekend and running through mid-March, this 20-day trip (18 full days actually in Australia) went as follows. It should be a useful reference for anyone who doesn't plan to self-drive and prefers a more relaxed pace. Below is a condensed itinerary overview:

Taiwan → Melbourne → Perth → Brisbane

Condensed itinerary overview

Below are detailed introductions to each attraction and activity:

Melbourne

State Library of Victoria

City Attractions & Restaurants

Suburban Attractions

Melbourne Accommodation

Australia Independent Travel | Melbourne City Accommodation | Clarion Suites Gateway | A Well-Located Apartment Hotel with Full Facilities

Perth

Elizabeth Quay

City Attractions & Restaurants

Suburban Attractions

Perth Accommodation

Australia Independent Travel | Perth City Accommodation | Citadines St Georges Terrace Apartments Perth | In the Most Convenient Business District Downtown | Three Room Types Introduced

Brisbane

Brisbane City Hall

City Attractions & Restaurants

Suburban Attractions

Australia Independent Travel | Brisbane Day Trips | Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary | The World's First Koala Sanctuary

Brisbane Accommodation

Australia Independent Travel | Brisbane City Accommodation | Meriton Suites Herschel Street, Brisbane | Australian Apartment Hotel Chain | High-Floor Views over Brisbane at Night

Flights

Jetstar

With the pandemic easing and countries gradually reopening, airfares were already far from cheap starting in the second half of 2022. We didn't get a particularly good deal either — the round-trip total came to $36,532 (China Airlines).

For domestic flights within Australia, the main options are Jetstar and the local carrier Qantas. The prices we found for the two were actually similar, both a little over NT$10,000 per leg. That said, if you have the choice, I'd still recommend flying Qantas — Jetstar simply can't compare in terms of service and comfort.

When searching for flights, we still start with Skyscanner, which at least lists all the departure times available on a given day. It can be a bit inaccurate at times, though, so once we settled on our dates we went straight to the airlines' official websites to check and book.

Local Tours

A local tour operator - Go West

Many of Australia's famous attractions are actually out in the countryside, at least a few hours' drive from the cities, and since we weren't planning to self-drive on this trip, local tours were a great option. We joined three different local tours, all booked through KKday or Klook.

Here are the tours we booked that successfully went ahead:

Melbourne

Great Ocean Road Day Tour: Twelve Apostles & Great Otway National Park

https://www.kkday.com/zh-tw/product/7807

Phillip Island Day Tour: Penguin Parade & Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Park

https://www.kkday.com/zh-tw/product/7864

Perth

The Pinnacles Sunset & Stargazing Tour

https://www.kkday.com/zh-tw/product/128252

Whether you book through KKday or Klook, they essentially book a local tour on your behalf. Some are Mandarin-language tours and some are English-language ones. All three of ours were local English tours — if your English listening and speaking is decent, I'd recommend joining an English tour: not only do you get to go deeper at certain sites, you also get the chance to meet travelers from all over the world.

Confirming pickup location and time with the local tour operator

One thing to watch out for, though: pay attention to each tour's departure requirements when booking. We originally booked a 3-day, 2-night Pink Lake tour, but because it didn't reach the minimum number of participants, we were only notified of the cancellation three days before departure. Luckily we had booked a hotel as a backup plan, and we immediately arranged a day tour instead. Stay flexible when planning and adjusting your itinerary so that a cancellation doesn't derail your original plans.

Costs & Budget

Since we departed at night and returned at night, excluding the first and last days we effectively had almost 18 full days. Before leaving we estimated around NT$160,000 per person; in the end, excluding shopping, the total came to roughly NT$280,000 — that is, about NT$140,000 per person.

The larger expenses were as follows:

Item	Amount	Notes
Round-trip flights Taiwan–Australia	NT$73,064	China Airlines direct flight
Domestic flights	NT$41,133	Jetstar & Qantas, two legs total
Local tour costs	NT$18,878	Three local tours
Accommodation – Melbourne, 6 nights	NT$35,421	(4-star) Clarion Suites Gateway
Accommodation – Perth, 7 nights	NT$34,072	(4-star) Citadines St Georges Terrace Apartments Perth
Accommodation – Brisbane, 4 nights	NT$17,382	(5-star) Meriton Suites Herschel Street, Brisbane

Local prices are quite high compared with Taiwan: a cheap meal usually costs around AUD 10–15, and eating at a restaurant will generally run you AUD 20 or more. We stayed in apartment hotels throughout this trip, so for several meals we bought groceries at the supermarket and cooked for ourselves. We also didn't splurge on food, so our spending in that category was relatively modest.

If you enjoy my posts, feel free to follow my travel accounts below. I regularly share beautiful spots I've found and useful travel tips — and I'm always happy to hear your recommendations for fun places to visit!

Travel Sean

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