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[ Not ] Budget Travel
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Lakes Entrance & Mallacoota Victoria Part 2
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Lakes Entrance & Mallacoota Victoria Part 1
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Kryal Castle, Ballarat, Victoria
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My GiPiS
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Echuca - Victoria
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Portfolio Madness
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ramble on travel
Burrishoole Friary
Giants Causeway, Ireland
The Giants Causeway - Ireland
Visiting Ireland - Knock
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Tales of Ireland
Narita and the Airport
Arriving in Japan
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First Class isn`t all it`s cracked up to be anyway....
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Budget Travel - Australian Traveller

Seeing Australia by train

November 29th 2007 00:16
Travelling to Sydney by train has always been a favourite of mine. The day stretching ahead with all those hours lying before you at your disposal - nothing more to do than sit back and watch as the scenery changes, framed by the large glass windows, perhaps have a chat to a fellow traveller or lose yourself between the pages of your latest read.

Countrylink are offering ridiculously cheap Christmas fares - Brisbane to Sydney for $77 and you can take your kids along for only $1! (I wonder if that price will include husbands or partners?)



Trains departing to Sydney leave from Brisbane`s Roma Street at 6:30am (if you take the day train). Onboard facilities include a buffet dining car with bar facilities, satellite phones and comfortable reclining chairs. Sleeper cars are available for part of the journey at an additional fee and include complementary breakfast and toiletries. If you travel on the overnight service in Economy security guards patrol the train throughout the night and overhead luggage compartments or the option of booking your luggage through are available.

Countrylink also offers some great travel passes for the International visitor.

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Blue Mountains, Sydney
Backtracker Rail Pass: there are various options available for this ticket, but for the bargain price of $420.00 you can have unlimited travel between Melbourne and Brisbane for 6 months, as long as you are in possession of a foreign passport and return airline ticket. This also includes a DayTripper card which allows unlimited travel around Sydney on buses, ferries and trains (exclusions apply, please check link for conditions) and two one way tickets to the Blue Mountains.


East Coast Discovery Pass: now you can travel along Australia`s East Coast with this great pass - even if you are an Australian Resident! Start in Cairns and slowly make your way down the coast to Melbourne with as many stopovers as you like along the way, as long as you complete your journey in 6 months. (You can also travel in the opposite directions from Melbourne to Cairns). This pass will also allow you a 50% discount on any train trip you take West of this line, plus a 50% discount on your return trip once you have reached your final destination. (Surely with all those 50% discounts added up you can travel for free? spacer ) Prices vary according to what you want to do but an example fare is as follows: Melbourne - Cairns (direct or via Canberra/Sydney/Kyogle/or Casino) - $493.90. Some inclusions have now been made for backtracking via coach, however all train travel must be in one direction only

Austrail Flexi-Pass: this is the mother of all rail passes! You can travel around most of the country with this little baby. You can buy either a 15 day or 22 day pass which allows you travel on CountryLink, Queensland Rail and Great Southern Railways. It is valid for 6 months and you do not have to travel on consecutive days. Once again you must possess a foreign passport and return airline ticket in order to purchase this pass.

Please note that prices quoted on this post were correct at the time of posting. These are just to give a rough guide for train travel around Australia and it is best to click on the links and check the most current information from those websites, should you decide to use this alternative.

Life`s a journey - enjoy the ride!

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Posted By: Ash - Category: Budget Travel
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Imbil

July 15th 2007 12:25
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Imbil is located in the Mary Valley, Queensland just a short drive inland from the Sunshine Coast. Located on the banks of Yabba Creek is the Borumba Deer Park which offers camping and cabin accommodation with plenty of activities to keep the kids happy too. Their facilities are very clean and staff extremely friendly with special organised kis events during the major holidays throughout the year. Having the deer enclosure keeps the kids busy for hours and when they get bored there is always the playground for them to mingle and scream and yell to their hearts content.

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There is something mesmerizing about fire, particularly when you are around a camp fire. The way the flames hungrily devour the wood, the crackle and sparks of escaping spray of embers into the dark... but the smoke? Not so cool when you have clouds of it wafting into your face, making it diffcult to breathe or even see. So I taught my Australian friends a good African trick. When the smoke comes your way simply lick your index finger and point it at the smoke - after a few seconds it will move away from you. My friends daughter was jumping around the campfire happily chasing the smoke away from everyone with her newly learnt skill of smoke whispering!

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Lake Borumba is located just around the corner from the Deer Park and is the perfect place to spend the day. If you enjoy fishing make sure you remember your rods and if you have a boat why not try out some water skiing? Otherwise take a walk along the winding shoreline and breathe some fresh air. Be careful to take note of what a Mary River Cod looks like - get caught with one and that`s a $75 000 fine - that would be a pretty expensive meal by any standards!

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Camping during winter is a first time experience for me so I made sure that I was covered on the whole warmth side of things. Thank goodness I was prepared. Just as we were getting into bed the wind really picked up and howled through the valley, shaking the little temporary dwellings and sending icy fingers into any holes left exposed. Definately not something for the faint hearted but worth the experience if you are feeling daring. So if you are in the area give it a try - any time of the year.
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Bunya Mountains

December 4th 2006 22:12
Ok so back to the camping trip. Well it did not start out quite how I planned. Basically the boys were messing around and our 11am start turned into a 3:30pm start. We never got the chance to get to the Observatory and besides it was really cloudy so I am not sure we would have been able to see anything anyways.
The drive up to the campsite was a rather interesting one. The mist was rolling in and dry, empty fields lined either side of the road. Dead and gnarly fingers of branches poked through and with the ghost stories being called across the car it was not long before we all feeling just a little edgy!
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Fingers grabbing out for us


As there was such thick mist around we did not quite realised how high up we really were until we came across the sign just outside our campsite that read "MT MOWBULLAN 1107m" That is pretty high up and the icy chill in the air just reiterated it! The campsite was an open green field with tall Bunya Pines in the background and a field of swaying reeds on the left. Small wallabies (not being too clued up on Aussie wildlife I Think they were wallabies - thats what they looked like!) bounced around, their pouches heavy and moving around chaotically with a little head peeking out now and again.

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Campsite in the Bunya Mountains


As it was getting dark when we got there we had little time to check the place out but on your drive up to the camp site there are quaint log cabins on the side of the road that can be rented out should camping not be your thing. You can just imagine them with glowing fireplaces and smoking chimneys during the winter months - looks right out of a childs Christmas story book. The mist finally turned to a driving chilly rain which sent us scurrying for cover into our tents. For inexperienced campers I think we did well and would highly recommend it!
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Wanna save on your travel costs?

November 20th 2006 09:12
I know that I have written about this site before, but I thought it needed a post of its own. When we travel one of our biggest travel expenses is getting from place to place. Rental cars are really expensive and using buses and trains can sometimes leave you a little frustrated with waits and delays. Along with that there is also seeing that perfect photo opportunity passing by and not being able to stop.
A lot of people will hire cars/campers for a one way journey and during peak seasons this can be a problem with car shortages at various outlets. So they have come up with the brainstorm of campervan relocations. This is a great way to get some cheap transport, especially if you are on a tight budget. Although you have a time frame to keep to and you can`t be too picky about where you go you can pick up a rental for as little as a dollar a day. And let`s face it when you are travelling anywhere is good so why not get there on a deal like this? 4 people travelling together? That leaves it at 25c each per day for your car rental! Score! You get a great deal and they get their campercan/car back in time for the next rental without the hassle of sending one of their staff to get it - everyone is happy.
For the latest rental deals check out the following site to find your bargain hire car


[ Click here to read more ]
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Travel Passes

October 24th 2006 07:07
Before heading off on your tour around the world it`s a good idea to check out travel passes. They are not for everyone and will depend on how far and how frequently you travel, but they could end up saving you a lot of money. If you are a student you will get even cheaper deals. A lot of these passes are available only before you leave home and not in your destination country so make sure you ask your travel agent when you are booking your ticket.

However, there are a few choices available to you once you are in Australia. If you check out the YHA website they have some great offers from specific town to town deals or kilometre based deals. www.yha.com.au/traveldeals/traveloz.cfm


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Hunger on the

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