I had been planning to go to Australia for several years. After having perhaps abused it at one time, North America doesn’t tempt me at all anymore, I’m still a fan of Asia and the Middle East but I was looking for something new and Oceania had everything to please me.
After a first aborted attempt in 2020 because of COVID I was finally able to organize two weeks in Australia last September.
Choice of travel dates
I can’t say I really had a choice. On my first failed attempt in 2020 I was able to plan ahead for a trip in April.
This year, due to multiple professional constraints, I didn’t take a break for more than 10 months and it wasn’t until July that I had the certainty of finally being able to take two weeks off in September.
That said, it is a rather pleasant period there: it is the beginning of spring and we are far from the crowds that we can know in the heart of the summer (from December). Of course the climate limits a little the possibilities if you have other ambition than to survey the local beaches but otherwise it is quite acceptable.
The climate
After that, the climate factor is to be taken with caution. Australia is a continental country and therefore the climate is far from uniform at any given time.
As for me, I chose to visit Sydney and Brisbane and just at that moment the 750 km separating the two cities had a noticeable impact on the weather.
Let’s say the equivalent of a nice mid-March in the northern hemisphere in Sydney: between 15 and 20° and a weather that can be sunny one day and cool and overcast the next. At some points I even felt like I was in Stockholm at the same time.
The difference with Brisbane is noticeable. There I had in general days around 25° and the difference, even at the level of the heat of the air and the wind was sensitive. And no grey and overcast day like I had in Sydney.
The choice of itinerary
It wasn’t too difficult. By reflex I had decided to start with Sydney (which is not the capital but Canberra) and then I had to be realistic: I needed a second city and not more if I wanted to take the time to discover them
At the time of my aborted attempt by the COVID I had chosen Sydney and Melbourne, here it will be Sydney and Brisbane. A question of mood at the time and then at this time of the year Brisbane gave me a little more guarantees in terms of good weather than Melbourne, located further south, since it is in the southern hemisphere, with a less favorable climate at this time.
But whether it is one or the other, their advantage is to be at 1h30 by plane from Sydney. Perth, for example, is 4 hours and 15 minutes away, which is not a problem unless you only spend two weeks there.
It will be 4 days in Sydney, 4 in Brisbane and 1.5 in Sydney. I wanted to give myself a safety margin on the way back and not chain the return to Sydney and the flight to Europe in the same day as a precautionary measure in case of a delayed or cancelled flight. Self connect is nice but you have to use it carefully.
The choice of flights
As you may have noticed, ticket prices have skyrocketed this summer. When I saw tickets at 400 euros or more in eco just to go to Europe it made me sick. No question of eco here, especially considering the duration of the flight.
From Paris the cheapest I could find in business was 7 500€ on Thai. I might as well tell you that at this price I was staying in Paris for my vacations. As usual I looked for a market fare on a Star Alliance airline. Oh yes, it was a constraint: I had a status to renew before October 30th, so I needed a Star Alliance which flight that scores a lot.
In 2020 I found a ticket at 2100 euros on Singapore Airlines in business class from Goteborg, a city that often works for me for the fares and that I like very much. But in general you can find good prices from Scandinavian cities or from Finland.
And this time the lucky one was Stockholm.
I found a round trip to Sydney on Thai in business class at 3,500 euros (the same I found at 7,500 from Paris). Far from the 2100 euros of two years ago but the least we can say is that the context has changed in the meantime. This may seem like a lot of money but when you see the prices from Paris not only in business but also in economy it was almost a bargain. And when you have to spend 22 hours in flight, comfort counts.
So I had to add a flight to Stockholm and back but considering the amount of money I saved it was pretty painless. Outbound on Lufthansa, return on Swiss.
For domestic flights, given the prohibitive prices charged by Qantas (1,400 euros in business for a Sydney-Brisbane flight), I will take Virgin Australia in economy, not finding the price difference justified with the business. I’ll end up upgrading to “economy x” for 20 euros but we’ll talk about that when the time comes.
Choice of hotels
To optimize loyalty programs, I took a look at the Marriott catalog.
To start with the brand new Courtyard de Roissy, knowing that I prefer to sleep at the airport when I have a flight at 6:10 the next morning.
The Sheraton in Stockholm. I’m not a fan of this hotel at all but it has the advantage of being right next to the central station where I arrive by Arlanda Express from the airport.
The Sheraton Grand in Sydney was the budget choice and it is a brand that has never disappointed us. There was better but at prices that I did not find justified.
In Brisbane I indulged myself with the W but at 400 euros a night I paid for it with my points. I added a “Suite Night Award” for the guarantee of being upgraded to a great suite without waiting to see availability at check-in. Zero budget therefore.
And for the return to Sydney it will be the Marriott. Like the Sheraton, it’s the choice of reason: it doesn’t make you dream (or even less) but it does the job with “normal” rates for a hotel of this category. I could have returned to the Sheraton, but it gave me a second hotel and a change of neighborhood.
The choice of visits
I usually make sure to plan everything I want to visit well in advance but did not do so this year.
The reason? A small health problem that handicapped me significantly in my movements. I left without the cause being formally diagnosed and it was only after my return that it was established that it was a compression of the external popliteal sciatic nerve. The result was no pain as opposed to the herniated disc initially suspected, but the consequences were more or less the same with a significant loss of motor skills in one leg.
I traveled a bit against the advice of the doctors but from the moment I was told that my condition could not get worse but that they were just afraid that I would have a bad fall because of a failing leg I took the risk. It’s up to me to be careful. And everything went very well.
So as far as visits are concerned, I have decided to take it one day at a time, depending on what I feel able to do. But inevitably that limits and the various travel diaries that I am going to propose to you will not be as thorough as I would have liked and certain excursions which would have pleased me were sacrificed on the altar of the reason.
Frustrating but still better than nothing.
Choice of restaurants
In general, I always identify one or two very good restaurants that I book well in advance and I plan the rest from day to day. This time, as for the visits, I played the last minute card, not knowing in what state I would be after a day of visits. Inevitably, this closed the door on certain tables for which reservations had to be made a long time in advance.
Finally I did not test too many restaurants in Sydney The Sheraton had an excellent club lounge and after realizing that I was no longer hungry after the aperitif service, I decided that this would be an excellent option that would allow me to spare myself and avoid unnecessary efforts. I will indulge myself more on the second part of the trip when I return to Sydney for two days.
In Brisbane, seeing that things were going well I emboldened myself and tested some local tables.
Now you know everything about the genesis of this trip…and the articles will follow each other in the next few days.
In terms of air routing, it looks like this.
And here is the list of articles related to this trip:
Articles similaires
Sydney day #1: The Opera House and its surroundings
Sydney day #2: around Hyde Park and the city center
