We decided not to cycle in Australia based on our experience of NZ (which may\nor may not be applicable!). Also, being there in winter wasn't ideal for\nriding the reportedly better cycling regions in the South. To be able to\nafford to hire cars, and also to get back to Europe for some more\n(summertime!) cycling, we cut this section of our trip down to just over 5\nweeks.
\nWe flew into Sydney and spent some time in the city, then took a short trip to\nthe Blue Mountains and wine regions of Orange and Mudgee. All highly\nrecommended. Relevant to cyclists, we took a taxi from Sydney airport to our\nfriends' house just down the road. We needed a wheelchair taxi (basically a\nsmall van) in order to fit the bikes. It was about $45 for a journey that\ntakes 30mins to walk....but it was absolutely chucking it down at the time!
\nWe then flew to Perth (with Virgin Australia, which meant paying for extra\nluggage). We hired a car for the full trip (from Bayswater, who have excellent\nrates) which meant it was easy to lug the bikes around. Two bike boxes fit\nnicely in the back of a toyota corolla with the seats flat, but we did take\none bike out and flatten the box in the longer term.
\nWe then took a road trip up as far north as Exmouth, and as far south as\nMargaret River. It was wonderful. Kalbarri national park was a really\nhighlight. We definitely wouldn't want to cycle north - the road is good but\nit's a really long way between settlements.
\nOther pertinent notes: we saw lots of bike paths - Australia does seem more\nbike friendly than NZ. Camping is a big deal here, and (in WA at least) their\nare lots of free camps at roadside rest areas. Of course there are also\ntourist parks everywhere. We didn't enjoy hostels here as much as in NZ.\nThere's less choice, and the ones we stayed in were full of long-term guests\non working holiday visas - fine, but harder to feel like you fit in. If you do\nneed hostels, try Western Beach Lodge in the northern outskirts of Perth (much\nbetter than Spinners in the city!) Fremantle Prison YHA is pretty cool and has\ntons of bikes storage. We also quite liked Dunsborough Beach Hostel, although\nit was pricey.
\nHostels and campgrounds seemed more expensive than NZ, but food was vastly\ncheaper, thank goodness!
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