Never Been To Australia

[Misty]

Trying to use miles at holiday times will always be tough, CX flights are often full but always are at holiday time.

You can apply for a electronic visa for Australia online i's very easy

http://www.visabureau.com/australia/...s_cid=20117341

Hope this helps

[peppy5]

can a visa to australia be obtained via a travel agent?

[vmlinuz]

can a visa to australia be obtained via a travel agent?

Really, the way to do it is to go to the Australian government visa site, fill out your details, give them AU$20 by credit card, and make a note of your reference number. It's quick, it's easy and it works.

I'm in Sydney right now

[Katanga]

I have found it impossible to use my CX miles for vacations during peak times (public holidays, school holidays etc) They seem to have a "black out" policy.

I have over 400k ! The best way to use them is to go to locations where they have multiple flights a day e.g. Vietnam, Bangkok etc. Another way to cash them is to buy cheap economy tickets and them use the miles to upgrade to biz or first class.

[discobay]

The problem with the Australian ETA is that they charge you on application. When their system f&*ks up and it has to me it will not take you to the final page containing the visa and you are out of pocket in a flash.

[kiwi_bc]

there is a better service than the official Australian ETA (and they charge cheaper too!) - I've used them.
they have customer service as well!

try fastozvisa

[samquade]

hey Kiwi bc,

old thread but do u hav a fresh link to the Oz visa site u said is fast and cheaper?

Ive been to Oz once before and got the visa last min at the Airport Ex station. think it was about 250-300 HKD. anyway of getting it cheaper?

Thanks a lot

[PDLM]

Er, just try Australian Visas - Australian 3 month ETA visas

Was that really so hard?

[cloverclover]

Qantas allows you to use your points whenever you want (it just costs more points) maybe if your points holde is a partner airline you can see if this is an option.

Melbourne is a great city, and tourist attractions. The zoo, great ocean road, sovereign hill, wineries, cooks cottage, werribee zoo (lion park) luna park and much more. Transport is excellent as it is a planned city.

try Melbourne Victoria Australia - visitvictoria.com The official travel and accommodation site for Melbourne Victoria Australia

Sydney has the harbour, opera house, zoo etc

Queensland is more spread out the gold coast is tourist central but has easy access to all the theme parks which your kids may be a bit young to enjoy fully. It also has lovely beaches and a good variety of family friendly accommodation. Car rental is pretty cheap for a mid size family sedan so you can travel between the gold coast, sunshine coast pretty easily. further north is port douglas and cairns.

My two family favourites are:Maroochydore - north shore beach houses (we stay in a 4 bed with study) or Caloundra - rolling surf resort (we stay in a 2 bed pool apartment with own access to the pool)

hope it helps

Happy to get more info if you wish