No cycling whatsoever

We decided not to cycle in Australia based on our experience of NZ (which may or may not be applicable!). Also, being there in winter wasn't ideal for riding the reportedly better cycling regions in the South. To be able to afford to hire cars, and also to get back to Europe for some more (summertime!) cycling, we cut this section of our trip down to just over 5 weeks.

We flew into Sydney and spent some time in the city, then took a short trip to the Blue Mountains and wine regions of Orange and Mudgee. All highly recommended. Relevant to cyclists, we took a taxi from Sydney airport to our friends' house just down the road. We needed a wheelchair taxi (basically a small van) in order to fit the bikes. It was about $45 for a journey that takes 30mins to walk....but it was absolutely chucking it down at the time!

We then flew to Perth (with Virgin Australia, which meant paying for extra luggage). We hired a car for the full trip (from Bayswater, who have excellent rates) which meant it was easy to lug the bikes around. Two bike boxes fit nicely in the back of a toyota corolla with the seats flat, but we did take one bike out and flatten the box in the longer term.

We then took a road trip up as far north as Exmouth, and as far south as Margaret River. It was wonderful. Kalbarri national park was a really highlight. We definitely wouldn't want to cycle north - the road is good but it's a really long way between settlements.

Other pertinent notes: we saw lots of bike paths - Australia does seem more bike friendly than NZ. Camping is a big deal here, and (in WA at least) their are lots of free camps at roadside rest areas. Of course there are also tourist parks everywhere. We didn't enjoy hostels here as much as in NZ. There's less choice, and the ones we stayed in were full of long-term guests on working holiday visas - fine, but harder to feel like you fit in. If you do need hostels, try Western Beach Lodge in the northern outskirts of Perth (much better than Spinners in the city!) Fremantle Prison YHA is pretty cool and has tons of bikes storage. We also quite liked Dunsborough Beach Hostel, although it was pricey.

Hostels and campgrounds seemed more expensive than NZ, but food was vastly cheaper, thank goodness!