We have been using our credit card with the intent to build up points to transfer to our Qantas Frequent Flier program. After many years we have finally build up enough points for four domestic tickets in Australia.

The tickets would normally cost about $400.00 each for our flights.

After finding four available seats on Qantas we proceeded to book our flights. Despite flying on frequent flier points we were still hit with a charge of almost $200 per person for taxes and surcharges!

So much for a cheap way to visit the family …

With our tickets we had to transit through either Sydney or Melbourne. We were booking our flights with frequent flyer points, so the only charges were the tax and extra fees, so there were no differences in the cost of the actual tickets.

Sydney airport tax was about $10.00 more per person than Melbourne for our domestic airfares. We chose to fly through Melbourne because that $40.00 saved will buy us our meals while we wait for our next flight, since meals are rarely offered on flights any more …

The best day to purchase petrol in Australia is on a Wednesday. Last week petrol was $1.24 per litre on Wednesday and then on Thursday I had to pay $1.34 per litre.

Consumer Groups in Australia have reported that petrol in Australia is almost always cheapest on Wednesday, with a price jump on Thursday for the weekend. Petrol will then slowly drop in price until Wednesday of the next week when petrol price will be at it’s cheapest, with the petrol price then jumping again for the following Thursday.

You can guarantee that Long Weekends and the start of School Holidays also signals a large jump in petrol prices in Australia.

Despite there being enquiries into possible price gouging and price fixing there has been nothing conclusive found. For us living through it however it’s hard not to think that there is something up between the oil companies in Australia.

Technorati Tags: petrol, australia, gas

The Bruce Highway between Townsville and Cairns is a two lane highway for about 95% of the trip, with very few places to safely overtake. About 1/3rd of the highway has no shoulder and no place to pull over, unless you want to drive your car into a cane-field.

The trip from Townsville to Cairns is about 350km, but it takes over 5-hours to drive it. You will want to make sure to fill up your car with petrol in either Townsville or Cairns before undertaking the drive as it’s a long drive and it’s more expensive to purchase petrol in the small towns between Townsville and Cairns.

There has been talk for years from the politicians about upgrading The Bruce Highway in North Queensland, but we will wait and see when or it it finally happens.

Technorati Tags: townsville, cairns, bruce highway

For the price we probably couldn’t have a found better value accommodation around Cairns.

We found a package for $279.00 for five-nights accommodation in a one bed-room apartment. That works out to about $56.00 per night, which is hard to beat unless you are willing to stay in backpacker style accommodation.

Castaways, Trinity Beach has one-bedroom and two-bedroom self-contained apartments in it’s complex. There are three swimming pools and BBQ areas set throughout the complex. You are only 75 metres from the beach and numerous restaurants, a sports pubs and parks.

The accommodation is rated at 3.5 stars and for the money it was pretty good value. For family accommodation in Trinity Beach it would be pretty good and I would highly recommend it. For romantic accommodation in Trinity Beach you might want to look at spending a bit more money and going for a 4 stars or above style resort, which there are plenty of in Trinity Beach.

Link: Castaways Trinity Beach

Technorati Tags: trinity beach, accommodation

On our way up through Cardwell I had a Steak and Mushroom meat pie an on the way back I had a Steak, Bacon, Tomato and Cheese pie. The Steak and Mushroom pie I had at the Cardwell Hot Bread was fantastic but the second pie was average. I think that it was probably too late in the day (2:30 pm) for the pie to be fresh, especially with the tomato in it.

Lunch in Cardwell for my wife and I only cost $9.40, including a pie each and we split an orange juice. Pretty good value, especially if you get there early enough that the pies and pasties are fresh.

This is a relief for a lot of people, but it definately makes sense for the airline to do it, because firstly most passengers are not going to have an extra piece and secondly they would get a lot of hassle from customers who wanted to take these things as extra.

Just remember if you are travelling by air with a guitar to loosen the strings so that you dont have a damaged guitar on arrival!

One of the things on this hidden menu is the value meal that my wife and I consider to be McDonald’s best value meal. It is McDonald’s “5 Dollar Value Meal“.

The Five Dollar Value Meal consists of a cheeseburger, medium fries, medium drink and a choice of a sunday or apple pie dessert. We find it to be pretty much the perfect amount to fill you up, while giving you lot of sweet and savoury flavours in the meal.

One important thing that air travellers have to think about today that they did not have to 10 years ago is security and the fact that at nearly every international airport you are likely to be standing with your bags in a line for some time. This can add to the stress of travelling and can make the journey just seem a bit harder then it has to.

Here is a list of the things I recommend for people flying to take in their carry on.

• Laptop (as you are obviously not going to check that)

• MP3 player – to kill time

• Shirt - it is great to have something fresh to change into before landing

• Travel sized deoderant - remember that most airports will restrict you to 100ml containers

• Book / Magazine

• Travel documents – (passport, tickets and information about where you are staying for immigration)

This amount of weight should not be too much even if you have to wait 2 hours in security or immigration (which is likely if you are flying into North America or Europe), yet it gives you enough stuff to be entertained as well as a few essentials.

It seems like more and more people are being told to repack their bags at the check-in desks – don’t be one of these people, think seriously about what you take as it will save you a lot of time and pain.

Located a 2 – 3 hours ferry journey (or 30 minute flight) from Dar es Salam(Tanzania), Zanzibar is an Island bathed in sunshine that is becoming a bigger tourist attraction each passing year.
Stonetown is the capital city on the island – and from here you can get transport to anywhere. It is worth staying in Stonetown for a couple of nights to walk around the town – and see some of the history. It was a huge slave trading port and there are still some of the original trading buildings standing.  The architecture, language and culture of the east coast of Africa, but especially Zanzibar is largely influenced by the Arabs that colonized there – and Stonetown is a stark example of this.
If you are there in the evening it is worth heading down to the seafront and trying some food at the night markets. You can buy all sorts of seafood – but my personal favourite is the lobster that cost $1 for a tail.

If you want a bit of peaceful relaxation then my recommendation is the east coast of Zanaibar – when I stayed there I paid $10 a night (including breakfast and dinner), the beaches were calm and relaxing – the sun rises are breath taking.

If you want something a little more lively,  then head to the north west of Zanzibar where the resorts are aimed more at the younger crowd with restaurants on the beach and bars that are open until well after the sun goes down. During the day you play sports on the beach, go snorkelling or diving or rent a motorbike and see more of the area.

Zanzibar is a great place for young people and families with older children – it is not quite a child friendly resort island – but I am sure that it will get there one day!!  For some pictures of Zanzibar (a bit dated but still great) click here…