Australia with kids - ABD or on our own?

[Golden Rose]

We've done one ABD, Costa Rica, and we absolutely loved it. It was so good for the whole family; we were traveling with 3 generations, and they took great care of all of us. We really enjoyed the other families on the tour, and our extroverted daughter loved having other girls close to her age to play with.

We are planning to go to Australia in the summer of 2019, probably again with 3 generations. I am the only one in the family who has been before; I planned my own trip about 20 years ago. I know planning a trip to Australia isn't particularly difficult, but I would be having to deal with the logistics of coordinating my mom and step-dad (in their 70s) and my children (8 and 14 at the time.) So I'm seriously looking at ABD. (I looked a little at other options, but Tauck Bridges isn't listing a 2019 Australia, and Abercrombie & Kent doesn't allowed kids under 10 on their Australia and New Zealand option.)

For people who have done it on their own, did you rent cars, book day tours, or use Taxis/Uber/Lyft equivalents? (Does Australia even have Uber or Lyft?)

How many kids have been on the summer Australia tours, for those of you who have done it?

How is the Gold Coast portion? Honestly, it doesn't seem as appealing to me as the older Tasmania route, but I would love to hear from someone who has done it.

Most trips seem to have special things that would have been difficult to do on your own. Were there any of those on the current Australia route?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[EllinK]

Following...

 

[sayhello]

@Grifdog22 .... I bet you have some great input for this!

Sayhello

 

[acndis]

There are some threads that also discuss this but we LOVED the Gold Coast portion of the tour. I was not excited about it either but it ended up to be my favorite part. The itinerary has been updated again so I think they no longer go to Byron Bay which is NOT a good change. It is one of my favorite spots in the world and I will get back there some day.

The Australia ABD is great. You could definitely do it on your own (probably for less) but I just did not understand how enormous Australia is. All the in-country travel logistics would have driven me crazy. If you want to see a few places, I would recommend the ABD. If you are staying in just one area, doing it on your own would probably be more cost effective.

As for the kid aspect, we had Amber and Alyssa as guides and they are amazing. Alyssa (who we also had in Peru) LOVES doing stuff with the kids and she made it so much fun for the Juniors. We had a group of 3 10-year olds and then other groups of tweens and teens. My son loved it.

On this trip, the group dynamic was off a bit and I have heard sometimes this is the case for the Australia trip. It is high cost so it attracts a crowd that may have unrealistic expectations and that was certainly the case in our group. We still had a great time but it was the first time I was in an ABD group that I did not love. Hopefully, we are an outlier. However, I still recommend the trip! It is awesome and regardless, you will LOVE Australia!

 

[DCPhotoGal]

Australia would definitely be a place you could travel easily on your own. We used Uber to get around in the Gold Coast for OYO time, and we had the nicest drivers. But like acndis said, it's a HUGE country, so it would be hard to cover the type of ground that ABD does with planning your own logistics. When we went we had a small group and everyone got along pretty well. The only minor issue at times was that we had a very young child on the trip, and he started with some meltdowns later in the trip. It's a long trip compared to many other ABDs, and the itinerary packs in a lot, so it's hard for the little ones. In our case his parents were really good about trying to make sure that he didn't make the experience any worse for the rest of the group, but I know there were times that one parent or the other had to stay back and miss something to be with the child.

Re: the Gold Coast, this was the part of the trip where we had a chance to see most of the wildlife "in the wild" (Mt Tamborine day), and that was certainly a highlight. We also got some beach and pool time, which nice to have some downtime late in the busy trip. Our family took some nice sunset family photos on the beach by the hotel (in our case it was Christmas Eve). I did a trip report, and the link is in my signature if you want to read more about the trip. We were there in December 2017.

 

[Grifdog22]

We've done one ABD, Costa Rica, and we absolutely loved it. It was so good for the whole family; we were traveling with 3 generations, and they took great care of all of us. We really enjoyed the other families on the tour, and our extroverted daughter loved having other girls close to her age to play with.

We are planning to go to Australia in the summer of 2019, probably again with 3 generations. I am the only one in the family who has been before; I planned my own trip about 20 years ago. I know planning a trip to Australia isn't particularly difficult, but I would be having to deal with the logistics of coordinating my mom and step-dad (in their 70s) and my children (8 and 14 at the time.) So I'm seriously looking at ABD. (I looked a little at other options, but Tauck Bridges isn't listing a 2019 Australia, and Abercrombie & Kent doesn't allowed kids under 10 on their Australia and New Zealand option.)

For people who have done it on their own, did you rent cars, book day tours, or use Taxis/Uber/Lyft equivalents? (Does Australia even have Uber or Lyft?)

How many kids have been on the summer Australia tours, for those of you who have done it?

How is the Gold Coast portion? Honestly, it doesn't seem as appealing to me as the older Tasmania route, but I would love to hear from someone who has done it.

Most trips seem to have special things that would have been difficult to do on your own. Were there any of those on the current Australia route?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

First off, Acndis and DC Photogal have some great comments. In my view, Australia is not only an amazing country for all the reasons listed in my (still unfinished) trip report, if you are willing to interact with the Aussies you will find most of them to be outrageously awesome. They are friendly, honest, quick with wit and a joke, and unfailingly kind. We started our first ABD with Costa Rica when the twins were small (I think it was the second year of ABD) and our son had not even started college. It was and is a great trip, but it was very much a hand-holding trip. Australia is different. Things are much more active with a higher level of risk. If your kids can follow simple rules and instructions (I think our group, candies and DC Photogal would agree we each had people in our groups that could/would not) your kids will do fine. There were plenty of kids on each trip. There are always opportunities to lay back a bit. Your parents may have a harder time - there is a lot of walking. There is camel riding, snorkeling, and some revised moderate kayaking. I know my parents were active when they were in their 70s and this trip would have been too much for them. However, we had some grandparents along with their grandchildren that were in their 60s that did just fine. Take a look at all the trip reports posted - there are multiple versions of this trip out there and some very helpful insight and input. It will help you decide what to do.

I think you will find touring Australia on a schedule on your own to be challenging. Yes, visits to Sydney you can do on your own. Pretty much everything in the current roster for Sydney does not require ABD. You have some private events that are pretty cool, but its easily doable. Uluru, to do what we did in the short time we did it, would really require some outside help in my opinion. Our guides were booking that entire time. Carns, the same. These are places you can do on your own - but it's analogous to Italy - you can squeeze in to the Sistine chapel for 15 minutes shoulder to shoulder with 600 other sweating, whining people, no pictures allowed, or you can walk through it with 35 others in your ABD group as a private event to study, enjoy and (usually) take pictures. It's not the same experience. If you are going to the trouble of getting there, than do it right.

Gold Coast has changed. I was not wild about the published itinerary and we were the first group to do the new trip. It was absolutely my favorite. They've dumbed it down substantially now - but I would encourage you to take full advantage of the OYO time and run with it there. We also added a day at the end for Brisbane Whale watching which was absolutely fantastic. We found the transit system and available cars pretty easy. Transit is cheap, fast and on time. Cars are expensive in every respect.

For our summer, Tasmania is in the dead of winter. It was apparently COLD! Cousin Orville wrote an amazing trip report that covers that - and we hope to go back one day to see New Zealand and Tasmania based upon his report - but we will do it in January not June.

These boards have been loaded with amazing people willing to offer their thoughts, experiences and insights - do not hesitate to ask! I hope you will go to Australia and let us know what you thought. We have travelled a lot with kids and without with and without groups. I cannot say enough positive about the Aussie love! Enjoy.

 

[LuckyBelle1]

We have done ABD for South Africa and the Danube, but did Australia on our own this past December with our kids - 13, 11, and 11. Our decision was based on a desire to save some money (we have several other trips planned this year), and also a desire to adjust the itinerary a bit. We chose to spend time in the Melbourne area rather than go to the Gold Coast, although it sounds like we really missed out on the Gold Coast! We flew into Melbourne and spent some time touring the city as well as doing the Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island, and then flew to Uluru, from Uluru flew to Cairns, and then finished the trip by flying to Sydney to spend a few days and celebrate New Year's in Sydney. We did a combination of on our own touring, small group tours and private tours and activities (for example, in Uluru we biked around the Rock, took a helicopter ride, and did a camel trek to a sunset dinner). Our trip was a couple of days longer than ABD and we had a very full schedule which meant we were able to accomplish a lot, but it took a lot of planning and we were very tired by the end. The thing I was most afraid of in planning - the flights - were not hard at all. I found a website that allowed me to lay out an itinerary and it booked flight and hotels all in one place and we found all the airports in Australia very easy to navigate. You could also book activities through the site, but we chose to book them separately. It really made things very easy and I was worried it was too good to be true, but everything went smoothly with the flights and hotels. The hotels we booked through the website were all nice and very conveniently located, but certainly not the same caliber as ABD. We knew that going in and were fine with it. Not sure if I can give the website name here or I would happily share it. Australia was very family friendly in comparison to Europe and other places we have traveled - family rooms are very common and we had no trouble finding places able to accommodate our family of 5. Even with booking lots of relatively pricey tours (the Bridge Climb, Great Barrier Reef cruise, etc), and with a couple extra days, I think it ended up costing about half what the ABD would have cost. It did not have the same ease and level of luxury as an ABD would have, but for this trip, I think it was the right choice for our family. We also are not as drawn to the social aspects of group travel as our kids are so close in age so that is another factor.

Happy to answer any questions about our itinerary if you decide to do it on your own.

 

[tgeorge]

We have done ABD for South Africa and the Danube, but did Australia on our own this past December with our kids - 13, 11, and 11. Our decision was based on a desire to save some money (we have several other trips planned this year), and also a desire to adjust the itinerary a bit. We chose to spend time in the Melbourne area rather than go to the Gold Coast, although it sounds like we really missed out on the Gold Coast! We flew into Melbourne and spent some time touring the city as well as doing the Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island, and then flew to Uluru, from Uluru flew to Cairns, and then finished the trip by flying to Sydney to spend a few days and celebrate New Year's in Sydney. We did a combination of on our own touring, small group tours and private tours and activities (for example, in Uluru we biked around the Rock, took a helicopter ride, and did a camel trek to a sunset dinner). Our trip was a couple of days longer than ABD and we had a very full schedule which meant we were able to accomplish a lot, but it took a lot of planning and we were very tired by the end. The thing I was most afraid of in planning - the flights - were not hard at all. I found a website that allowed me to lay out an itinerary and it booked flight and hotels all in one place and we found all the airports in Australia very easy to navigate. You could also book activities through the site, but we chose to book them separately. It really made things very easy and I was worried it was too good to be true, but everything went smoothly with the flights and hotels. The hotels we booked through the website were all nice and very conveniently located, but certainly not the same caliber as ABD. We knew that going in and were fine with it. Not sure if I can give the website name here or I would happily share it. Australia was very family friendly in comparison to Europe and other places we have traveled - family rooms are very common and we had no trouble finding places able to accommodate our family of 5. Even with booking lots of relatively pricey tours (the Bridge Climb, Great Barrier Reef cruise, etc), and with a couple extra days, I think it ended up costing about half what the ABD would have cost. It did not have the same ease and level of luxury as an ABD would have, but for this trip, I think it was the right choice for our family. We also are not as drawn to the social aspects of group travel as our kids are so close in age so that is another factor.

Happy to answer any questions about our itinerary if you decide to do it on your own.

This is great to hear! I’m looking at doing a similar itinerary (but likely fly into Sydney and leave from Melbourne). I have found a travel company that can pull it all together that I may use, but I may try to look into what you’ve suggested. There are some itineraries that I really want to use ABD, but I may try to do Australia on my own.

 

[Travel junkie]

We've done one ABD, Costa Rica, and we absolutely loved it. It was so good for the whole family; we were traveling with 3 generations, and they took great care of all of us. We really enjoyed the other families on the tour, and our extroverted daughter loved having other girls close to her age to play with.

We are planning to go to Australia in the summer of 2019, probably again with 3 generations. I am the only one in the family who has been before; I planned my own trip about 20 years ago. I know planning a trip to Australia isn't particularly difficult, but I would be having to deal with the logistics of coordinating my mom and step-dad (in their 70s) and my children (8 and 14 at the time.) So I'm seriously looking at ABD. (I looked a little at other options, but Tauck Bridges isn't listing a 2019 Australia, and Abercrombie & Kent doesn't allowed kids under 10 on their Australia and New Zealand option.)

For people who have done it on their own, did you rent cars, book day tours, or use Taxis/Uber/Lyft equivalents? (Does Australia even have Uber or Lyft?)

How many kids have been on the summer Australia tours, for those of you who have done it?

How is the Gold Coast portion? Honestly, it doesn't seem as appealing to me as the older Tasmania route, but I would love to hear from someone who has done it.

Most trips seem to have special things that would have been difficult to do on your own. Were there any of those on the current Australia route?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

We did Australia in 2018. Our kids were 8 and 9. Their was only another young girl their age, the older kids were teens. But all the kids got lots of attention and after so much tine together, everyone was friendly.

We had Suzanne and Amber as our guides, aka “Suzzamber” mentioned in other posts. They were great and soooo energetic! I think at times their energy kept me going. We did get there two days early to try and adjust to the time. In those two days on our own we did the bridge climb, went to see a kid friendly performance at the opera house, and visited a nearby city park. I had booked the theater performance tickets online a few months before. The bridge climb was only a few minutes walk from the hotel.

I don’t think I would have been able to cram as much into 10 days as ABD did if I had planned it on my own. Since we had limited time, it was the better option for us.

I didn’t think the farm would be too exciting, but with only 3 younger kids in the group (and two of them mine) they were all offered a chance to participate. The other two declined, so my older one got to dress up as an Australian stockman and help sheer a sheep. Pretty cool memory!

Also, the early morning camel ride was neat. We got to learn some neat history about how cancels were introduced into the Australian desert, since they are not native to the region previously. I’m sure you can arrange for that activity on your own, but with the timing of hikes/camel ride and then going to the airport to catch a flight I might be more nervous about timing. With ABD the guides took care of that worrying. The night before the camel ride they had the late night stargazing lesson. I really wanted to attend, but the pace had me tired. My husband went and said it was pretty amazing to see the stars in the outback.

They also had a wonderful marine biologist who took small ABD groups snorkeling when we went to the Great Barrier Reef. My little one was so very scared, but I knew he would be upset later if he didn’t go and his brother did. The biologist was wonderful and stayed right near him and was able to take him out. In fact he went snorkeling out with her twice and saw a stingray on the bottom of the ocean floor.

I am quite an introvert, so after so many days, I needed a day or two on my own. At Gold Coast I ended up staying in (spa, beach, shopping) all right there. My husband and kids went to the hike they had. They seem to enjoy it. Only my husband went to Byron Bay, he did whatever water activity they had (he felt it would have been too tough for our kids). Kids and I went to the beach at the hotel.

I hope I answered some of your questions.