Australia Getting in & out

By plane

Approximately half of all international travellers arrive first in Australia in Sydney, the largest city. After Sydney, significant numbers of travellers also arrive in Australia in Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. There are also direct international services into Adelaide, Cairns, Darwin, the Gold Coast and Christmas Island though these are largely restricted to flights from New Zealand or Southeast Asia.

To Sydney it is a 3-hour flight from New Zealand, a 7-11 hour flight from countries in Asia, a 14 hour flight from the west of the United States of America and Canada, a 14 hour flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, a 13-16 hours flight from South America, and up to a 24+ hour flight from western Europe. On account of long journey times from some destinations, some travellers from Europe opt to have a stop-over, commonly in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur.

If you have to change to a domestic flight in a gateway city, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth all have distinct domestic terminals, requiring some time and complexity to transit, check the guides. Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin, Cairns and the Gold Coast have all gates in the one terminal building or within easy walking distance of each other.

Budget airlines

There are some routes into Australia that are operated by discount airlines, that can often be combined with other fares to make getting to Australia cheaper. Select your point of entry and exit to give you a cheaper round-trip, and possibly some interesting stopover opportunities on the way.

• Air Asia X
• Tiger
• Jetstar Airways
• V Australia

By boat

November to February is the cruising season, and there are usually about 10 ships that arrive in Australia from other countries during this time. You can cruise to Australia, and then fly home.

Holland America Line, Princess Cruises and Royal Carribean, all offer cruises to Australia across the Pacific.

By overland tour

There are a couple of expedition companies such as Ozbus or Exploratory Overland Expeditions that conduct organized trips from London to Sydney but the last leg of the journey involves flying to Darwin from East Timor or Singapore while the bus is shipped across. These are targeted at backpackers able to take months for the trip.