..stop over...

[malJohann]

A friend of ours invited us to stop over and visit them in Sydney when we go over in November on a company sponsored 457. This will be our first time in Oz, so I need to confirm a couple of things, especially since we're going to live in Melbourne.

Would customs have a problem with us getting off at Sydney while we should be in Melbourne?

IOM doesn't offer stop over flights on its immigrant service, or does it (and for how long)?

How much would car rental be including fuel from Sydney to Melbourne and who should I use?

[MarcK]

Not sure about IOM stopovers.

Try Thrifty car rental...they sometimes have very special one-way deals as they need to move cars between the cities

[rozellem]

A friend of ours invited us to stop over and visit them in Sydney when we go over in November on a company sponsored 457. This will be our first time in Oz, so I need to confirm a couple of things, especially since we're going to live in Melbourne.

Would customs have a problem with us getting off at Sydney while we should be in Melbourne?

IOM doesn't offer stop over flights on its immigrant service, or does it (and for how long)?

How much would car rental be including fuel from Sydney to Melbourne and who should I use?

The Syd to Mel drive in great, look at some car rental sites for quotes for one way driving. Here is info on the drive, they state how many km it is, so calculate your petrol.

http://us.sydney.com/Sydney_Melbourne_Coas...Drive_p654.aspx

We have done this, absolutely lovely and a great introduction to the country. Remember that the speed limit is never more than 110km/h on this route, most of the time 80km/h, so keep in mind how much you will cover per day. And by the way, the Aussies keep to rules. We did not book accommodation ahead and just pulled into motels, worked out very well, people were lovely. Have you booked your Melbourne flights already? Cant you get your IOM flight to Syd and then drive to Mel?

I might be stating the obvious but remember you cant just get off a plane when you want, your end destination has to say Sydney. Speak to IOM and see what they can do. Very excited for you.

[malJohann]

..Try Thrifty car rental...they sometimes have very special one-way deals as they need to move cars between the cities

Thanks for the tip. I’ll look into this.

The Syd to Mel drive in great, look at some car rental sites for quotes for one way driving. Here is info on the drive, they state how many km it is, so calculate your petrol.

http://us.sydney.com/Sydney_Melbourne_Coas...Drive_p654.aspx

Thanks for the link.

We have done this, absolutely lovely and a great introduction to the country. Remember that the speed limit is never more than 110km/h on this route, most of the time 80km/h, so keep in mind how much you will cover per day. And by the way, the Aussies keep to rules.

Sounds like it should take about two days taking it easy, even though it can be done in one.

We did not book accommodation ahead and just pulled into motels, worked out very well, people were lovely.

Good to know.

Have you booked your Melbourne flights already? Cant you get your IOM flight to Syd and then drive to Mel?

I might be stating the obvious but remember you cant just get off a plane when you want, your end destination has to say Sydney. Speak to IOM and see what they can do. Very excited for you.

We haven't booked yet, waiting for the 457 to come through, which is why I asked whether IOM does stop over flights. It would be ideal if we could land in Sydney, visit for a day or two, then fly through to Melbourne all with the 40kg each baggage allowance. Flying down is quicker and more convenient, driving will likely be much more interesting though.

[Jill]

No, as far as I know IOM doesn't allow stopovers, when we flew JHB SYD BRIS ROCKHAMPTON, we wanted to overnight in Brisbane because we had family there we hadn't seen for 5 years, they said we could stop there but we would then have to book our ticket from there ourselves, we ended up getting a stopover anyway because we missed the last flight to Rockhampton because of a delay in Sydney.

Hope that helps, this was two years ago, things may have changed though.