Australia?

[cameronw01]

No, not at all. Some (poor quality) drinks are cheaper, but by no means free. The plane trip between Sydney and Melbourne is a bit over an hour by plane.

[-beavs-]

HitHard,
Crown casino in Melbourne is the only casino in Aus worth even considering, and it is still not the best. No free food or drinks ($2 beer pots, $4 spirits). Rake is prob larger than vegas too because there is only one casino per city, so they can get away with it.

Too bad you're coming in winter, there's a lot less to do. Try and get to a AFL game if you can. Melbourne is WAY better than sydney for bars etc so spend your second week there. Enjoy.

[HitHard69]

Is that in Aussie money or American dollars? Isn't they're money worth about half of what the dollar is?

[blatz]

boozing it up at an AFL game at the big stadium in Melbourne was the most fun I had there. Eat a meatpie.

Go to the beach where they filmed the final scene of Point Break and act out every part. Bring back a bottle of sand to make your friends jealous.

I liked eating kangaroo, 'cause I'm an idiot American tourist.

[Edge34]

[ QUOTE ]
Ah, to be 20 again and going back to Sydney.

The only bad thing is you're going in the winter, puts a crimp in the nude beach action.

[/ QUOTE ]

FWIW, I spent 2 and a half weeks in Surfer's Paradise in June 2002 and can say for a fact that you won't have to worry much about crimps in the nude beach action.

[Merovingian]

[ QUOTE ]
Is that in Aussie money or American dollars? Isn't they're money worth about half of what the dollar is?

[/ QUOTE ]

1 Australian dollar buys about 80c US.

I'm from Sydney myself [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Nashr8521]

I'm wrapping up a semester spent studying in Wollongong (an hour South of Sydney) so here's a few of my reccomendations:

In Sydney:
-Sydney Harbor Cruise. There are some good sunset cruises with nice dinners/open bars that are a lot of fun. Ask around Sydney or use google.
-Go to the Opera House. We went to see the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for $32AU so it's affordable and a great experience. If you don't want to see a show you can just go to the OperaBar which is right below the building itself.
-Climbing the Harbor Bridge costs like $150 so I decided not to do it but I have talked to people who really enjoyed it.
-Also the Sydney Aquarium is pretty well done and a fun trip.
-The Casino does still have a ridiculous rake system where it's "pay to play" and basically you have to pay an ante every hand you want to play in addition to the blinds when its your turn. When I was there I think they only had they had 5/10 10/20 limit and a 5/5NL and the wait for these tables was about an hour (although it was a Sat. night when I was there)
-Hunter Valley is a few hours north of Sydney and is a famous and huge wine region which is a fun day trip if your looking for something like that (there are bus tours that start and end in Sydney and allow you to visit plenty of wineries and the bluetounge brewery(my favorite Australian beer))
-The Blue Mountains are close to Sydney and have some nice hiking.

Melbourne: (will be fairly cool this time of year because it's winter but I'm from Chicago too and it's nothing like back home)
-I haven't actually spent much time in the city but I've heard the bars/clubs are really cool. The Casino is supposed to be awsome too.
-Rent a car and drive the Great Ocean Road. There's some cool stops you can make along the way one of which is Bell's Beach (Point Break). It is a famous surfing beach but not the beach actually used for the filming of the movie (even though thats where it was supposed to have taken place).

Tasmania:
-Some great beer and hiking trips to be found here but if you only have two weeks flying to the coldest part of AUS to hike and camp proally isn't what you want to do.

Fraser Island/Hervey Bay:
-World's largest Sand Island and World Heritage Area. There are companies who put you in groups with other travellers and let you drive a 4 wheel drive bus type of thing around the beaches on the island stopping to swim in lakes and do some hiking if you want. This was one of the highlights of my stay and definitley worth checking out if you have time.
-Also in the area are Byron Bay, Brisbane, and Surfers Paradise which are all fun places worth checking out if you have time. Byron is relaxed and a surf town. Surfers is a tourist Mecca with all night parties and lots of lights and glitz. Brisbane is a big city that has a lot of parties like most other big cities but it also has the Steve Irwin (Crocadile Hunter) Zoo which I skipped but everyone has told me that it is worth the trip.

Whitsunday Islands/Airlie Beach:
-Just got back from here last weekend and it's another highlight. Very backpacker oriented with a pretty crazy night life and the opportunity to see the islands and the reef. There are tons of sailboats and companies so you can easily find one to suit your needs. We didn't book it ahead of time and ended up saving about $100 by waiting and using a booking center there instead of at the quoted price online. You can also dive at the islands or at the reef for affordable prices (even if your not certified) which is a pretty cool thing to do. Whitehaven Beach was remarkable and the most beautiful beach I've been to in Australia yet.

Others:
-The last State of Origin game (rugby league) is in July and pretty much sets all of NSW and Queensland in a frenzy and is not something to by missed even if you just catch it on TV.
-Unigames: Is a huge gathering of students from all over Australia where all the Universities come to compete in all different sports (it's not like back home with college athletics competing during the year). It's supposed to just be a huge party and one of the things not to be missed but because I'm not gonna be here when it happens I never really looked into it.
-Also going to a Rugby League or Rugby Union game is a fun thing to do and all the big cities have them.

Cairns and Alice Springs/Uluru I haven't done yet but am doing as soon as I finish finals in a few days. Both are supposed to be pretty spectacular.

Lastly, I've heard Perth and Western Australia are worth checking out if you have time but again it's fairly far if your only around for two weeks.

Drinking and Gambling ages are both 18. I think it's 18 to rent a car too because we haven't had any trouble (I'm 20) but it costs a little more because your not 21.

Hope that helps and isn't too long.

[Merovingian]

Nice itinerary, Nashr8521.

I have sent you a PM, HitHard, feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss anything.

[HitHard69]

Thanks guys...
Mero, I'll probably PM you closer to the trip

[Ray Zee]

do0nt worry just being in austrailia is so neet you wont need to find things to do they are all around you every minute.