Australians agree that traveling around Australia is more expensive than an all-inclusive holiday to Indonesia, Fiji or even New-Zealand. Having a week off on my hands and a thirst for new adventure, I still wanted to discover the Land of Down Under and ended up in Sydney for seven days of pure bliss.
Often wrongly thought of as the capital city of Australia (Canberra is), Sydney is famous all over the world. Though not my first choice as to where to spend my first week off from work, I ended up flying out there and checking out the usual sights.
The options were many and I considered them all - should I fly to Cairns (north-east of Oz where it's hot and sunny) for the week? Even with a place to stay for free, the plane ticket was an overpriced 800$ 4-hour flight. It went up to over a 1000$ a few days prior to departure.
How about checking that iconic Ayers Rock everyone is talking about? After all, the Australians share very similar issues to the Canadians when it comes to their aboriginal population. Moreover, Uluru is said to be simply breath-taking and a so-called sanctuary for anyone visiting the land of Oz. Once again, after looking at all the fees involved, spending a week there would turn out to be as expensive as flying to Cuba from Quebec, all expenses paid in a 4-start hotel.
Indeed, after doing some research myself, my co-worker Simon filled me in on the details.
Although flying to Alice Springs from Adelaide is an option, taking the Gange (train) is a much more breath-taking experience. Sitting on that train for about 13 hours costs 250$, while a sleeper is more than double. Once you are there, accommodation is no cheaper than 50$/night and tours to Uluru, the main purpose of the trip, are complete rip-offs, ranging from 100$ to over 300$/day. Do not think about hiring a car since you do not want to take the risk of getting lost or it breaking down in the outback. On top of that there's food and access fees (the Aborigenes own the land). Simon ended up spending over 800$ for this trip.
I must say here that I was quite last minute and my holidays being at the same time as school holidays, the prices were completely out of control.
So... what to do?
Luckily enough, I attended a wedding during which Margeaux's brother invited me to spend the week in Sydney. Surfing, beaches, food, sights, hiking and drug addicts... I only scratched the surface of this fascinating city.
