Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific

Discussions regarding holidays in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific region.
Australia- Q&As
148 Posts
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Chubby
Thank you so much for that, it is so good of you to put in the time, i have made notes of the ideas and i will be fitting them into my trip, they alll sound great and different to what the brouches say which is what we wanted, again thank you
Ann
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I've booked my flights, not realising I had to get a visa for my visit to Perth. It's in November, I've paid a deposit on flights. I have no reason to believe we won't be accepted for the visa. We have had visa waivers for the US no problems many times. We have no criminal records etc.

How do you apply for these? What is the charge? I'm currently looking at migrationexpert.com and I've got an application filled in, they're looking for payment of £25 to process (for both of us). Anyone know if this is a legitimate site and if I have to pay this fee etc?
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hiya
when we went to australia and new zealand last year, we got our from airline network that we had booked outr flights through.

they charged £10 each and it it was was a peice of paper that we took with us.

they do it as a ETA(electronic trave authorisation).they take your passport details and in put it into the computer. so when you get to the otherside they will scan your passports and the information will come up that you have have been authorised.
#
so try the people that you booked your flights through as they should do it for you.
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Don't worry Lesley, you can go online and arrange the visa in an instant
http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ you pay with your credit card $20 AUD you will receive a reference number, no piece of paper. If you get it through the travel agent they will charge you more. Hope this helps.
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Hi Lesley

Just to agree with 4Jay, I'm going end of October and I did mine on the eta site in minutes, extremely easy and quick - you should have no problems.
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Is that an official austalian site then? Sounds like the right way to do it. I found it somewhere else for £7.50 each, but I think I'll go with the one that's been used by someone on here before!
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That is the site where I got our visas Lesley not much difference in the price either. I know how you feel, we were nervous about our trip too. Booked everything on the internet, flights, hotels, internal flights with Virgin, had a few sleepless nights but everything went without a hitch. I hope you enjoy yourselves as much as we did.
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is there no visa waiver forms to fill in and sign on planes like USA ?
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No, you can't fill out a form on the plane, you have to apply for one before
your journey. As previously stated you can apply on the net it only takes a few minutes.
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Hi,

I agree with a few of the previous posts. We went for the rugby world cup and did it on http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ . Took 10 minutes but we were given the opportunity to print a page off saying we were accepted okay. It was about £12 each I think. You do fill out a small form when you get there as well but its just a card with basic details.

We did absolutely everything on the internet which was a first and felt weird but it was incredibly smooth while in Oz. They are so much more efficient and switched on over there and they pay great attention to customer service.

Absolutely no hiccups at all so don't worry about booking o the net.

Have a good time

Lummie :D
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Probably a bit late now - but I used to live in Pemberton and in Albany for a while... see note from chubby...
The Karri Forests are amazing and the coast line around Albany is out of this world and the weather is sublime (why aren't I still there???)
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Going to Oz next year.Thinking of driving down the Great Ocean Road from Adelaide to Melbourne.Any suggestions of places to stay overnight?
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Thanks for that info, I'll have to get one soon.

Now slightly worried about travel to Dubai, in light of what happened in London today.
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Hi Shiftcontrol

From Adelaide to Melbourne the first stop should be Mount Gambier 450KLS this is the part of the trip that has not a lot to see in Mount Gambier go to the lakes in the grater and the look out and the cave gardens all in the town .
Warrnambool for the next stop 210KLS just after Port Fairy there is a wild life reserve at Tower Hill you will see kangaroos and emus and koalas in there you can drive through it . In Warrnambool go to the Flagstaff maritime village there is a sound and light show about the ship wrecks of the early days it is very good .
The next day is when you get to the best part the coast line just before Peterborough turn to the Bay of Islands from here it all starts the veiws are very good .In the Port Cambell National Park you will come to the Twelve Apostles there was nine standing till Monday and one crashed into the sea so you will only see 8 now the road goes inland to Lavershill go to the Tree top Walk there .
From there go to Apolo Bay and stay from here the road goes along the edge of the cliff to Toquay from there to Geelong To Melbourne.
This will give you plenty of time to stop and see all the things that there is to see at all the towns I have said you will get lots of motels to stay at.
If you want more info just ask

____chubby___
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Hi Chubby,
Thanks for the info.
We've got the tickets already so I'll do some more research.
Shiftcontrol
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Hi, has anyone been snorkelling with Quiksilver on the Great BR? We were wondering if there were any lockers or safe place to put valuables like camcorders/cameras while we are snorkelling?
:?:
thanks in advance
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Hi Sandbee

When we was on a tour of the reef with Quicksilver tours from Cairns they had a locker that everone put there things in when you were diving and was opened when you got back it was one big locker and one of the crew that stayed on the boat kept the key
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Thanks Chubby, appreciate the reply, I would be interested in any info on the trip, we are going in 3 weeks, staying in Cairns.
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Hi Again

Your tour will leave Cairns marina at 8 or 9 am there quiet a lot of boats going out to the reef each day from Cairns it takes about three hours to get to the outer reef . Quicksilver runs twin hulled fast cats to get you there as smooth as possible you will go to one or two places to see the reef you will get a lunch and nibbles to eat .Some tours cater for just divers some do diving and snorkelling and glass bottom boats and some do a submarene dive but I think you still get the best with the snorkell to see the coral you will get back to Cairne about 4 or 5 pm
Just one tip take a mouth peice with you better than wondering whose mouth it has been in before you got it.
Where else are you going in Australia on your trip
If you have time do the train trip to Kuranda and take the chair lift down over the tree tops it is very good to do.
If I can help more just ask

_____chubby____
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