Airport

-8pm or 6 pm (depending on transit flight to cut cost)

-Arrive 4/5 am

-Rental of vehicle (A)

May have to confirm the air passage to Brisbane once we reach the airport to save time and to confirm the number of days stay at Melbourne which solely depends on the graduation ceremony of Ruth. Hopefully the air trip to Brisbane will be in the late afternoon if the ceremony is in the morning and given the 3/4 hours flight will reach Brisbane by evening so we can check in at the hotel. Will have to calculate the time to travel from Deakin to airport.

Rental of car should be enough for 4 persons. Was actually thinking of getting the MPV (Toyota Tarago type) or else can get some one to pick us up to cut cost. But for fun’s sake, it is better to have own vehicle so that we can have more fun along the way if we wish to.

- Find a place near Ruth’s University or at the City outskirts itself.

- Rest/ Breakfast

- Tour the city/University/Moomba/Whatever Festival is on.

May have to go Ruth’s University to tie up some loose ends concerning the graduation gown and maybe can take some pictures as well. If we are taking pictures this day, at least we can go to Brisbane earlier so as to save on 1 day to stay at Melbourne itself (see above) and we proceed on to the airport straight after the ceremony. Will have to check the airport schedule.

Therefore it is wise to confirm Ruth’s ceremony details before we go to Aussie so that we can make preparations to go to Brisbane earlier if not, we have to stay one more night at Melbourne.

- Graduation Ceremony

- Photo Taking (if we got time for Alternative 1; if not then only to rely the previous day’s photo taking session.)

Airport

- Return rental car (A)

- Board the plane to Brisbane

Brisbane

Airport

- Rental of car (B)

- Check in

- Celebration Dinner/Supper/Nite tour (if there’s night life)

We must check what is the check in time in order for us to avoid being condemned by the Motel owner. So must also calculate the time to travel from Airport to the Motel. We can have dinner at one of the restaurants, hopefully Hard Rock Cafe so that I can grab some pins there. Can use the occasion for celebration as well. The key here is to arrive at Brisbane early.

Melbourne

Hotel

- Return to hotel to rest

- Go for celebration dinner

- Wake up early to a brand new day.

- Check out

- Go eat breakfast and maybe a short tour of the city ( if there’s anything to see).

- Proceed on to Gold Coast after Lunch .

How early we start the journey depends how long we need to reach GC. The objective here is to reach Gold Coast by 6 pm. E.g. If takes 3 hours car ride to reach Gold Coast, then latest time to leave Brisband is 2, one hour earlier for provision’s sake.

-Check into the hotel before dinner

-Have a tour of the strip and then Dinner outside.

The program to each theme park will use fully one day. We will go to these parks in the following order:

If I am not wrong, the Wet & Wild park is just next to Sea World. This one Ruth have to check it out because if they are not, then we have to use another day to go see Sea World. Not particularly keen on going to see fishes, because I already allocated one day for diving/snorkelling at Great Barrier Reef which is so much better rite?

As the name suggests, we may take a boat ride out to the Great Barrier for a dive/snorkelling. Should be the most fun part of the tour. Will check this out with the Singapore dive operator and see what they say. If this one does not go through then we shall proceed on to Sydney one day earlier. ie. Day 9 we start the Highway One part of the tour.

Allocated three days to travel from Gold Coast to Sydney. Will stay in the town between Sydney and Brisbane (what’s the name again?). So have to check out accomodation for Nite 10 and Nite 11. To be confirmed by the map of highway one(Winnie’s dad?). By day 12 must reach Sydney, earlier the better.

-Reach Motel, check in. (late afternoon)

-Have late lunch and then proceed to go to Darling Harbour at nite (so romantic~~~~)

-Hard Rock Cafe/ Planet Hollywood for dinner (sorry my pins again :) )

- Go to the outskirts for a visit to the sporting venues. (must check guide what to see)

- Back by late afternoon.

- Have dinner in town.

- get ready to go to Airport

- Return Car/Check in

Just nice for a two week break. Shiok siah. Great for those who have 10 days leave only (excluding Saturdays). If we have 14 days leave, then we extend 1 day stay each in Brisbane, Gold Coast, along Highway One (just in case we see something nice or driving is too tough) and Sydney.

-Check out in the morning

-Reach airport and return the rental car

-Proceed on to Brisbane (as early as possible)

-Should reach Brisbane by the afternoon.

-Check into the hotel

-Enjoy the stay at Brisbane

From this point on, Alt. 2 will be the same as Alternative 1 but it will be one day later. This part will start at day 3 of program alternative 1. The day for Program Alternative 2 will be in brackets.

Alternative 2 is of a more leisurely paced at 15 days or 11 working leave days (excluding Saturdays) because we do not need to rush right after Ruth’s ceremony.

To confirm number of people going. This way we can check which vehicle we need for travelling, the air tickets and lastly the accomodation.

Accommodation (Ruth please check the time needed to book and confirm the size and price) in Australia is very straight forward as there are motel chains available. And it is cheaper as they have discounts if we stay the same chain of motel through out the program. Accomodation must book by May 2000 (So Ruth must remember to do this before she comes back).

We will rent the rooms for 4 or more people. If there’s 6/7 people going then we need to book two 4-beds rooms. These rooms must have cooking facilities. Cheaper to cook our own food.

The best thing to hope for is that the Graduation ceremony is held on the Saturday, and if we use alternative 1 for our program, then we will be in Brisbane on Sunday (attend church?) and then we will reach Gold Coast on Sunday itself (or Monday if alternative 2 is used). On Sunday, people are starting to go back for work etc etc. And I don’t think August is their Summer Holidays yet. So it is just nice. And best of all, Weekday charges for accomodation is very very much cheaper.

As we have a choice regarding the graduation ceremony, we have to see when’s the earliest internal flight from Melbourne to Brisbane and must confirm booking the tickets when we reach Melbourne on the second day of the program. So Ruth can check the timing out?

Rental of Vehicle. As they say, big is safer. I won’t settle lesser than an MPV car (space wagon). However, this arrangement can only be made if we have more than 6 person. I have to compare price of renting in Singapore and in Australia. I think through Singapore would be cheaper.

Air tickets. I think I have to opt for MAS because it is the cheapest as we need to transit at KLIA (no harm doing it because I want to see the new airport as well). Problem is it will be a big hassle as I heard need to transfer from the old Sepang airport to KLIA (dunno why they build so big an airport yet still have this problem). However if we can afford, then I use the Changi-Melbourne way. Less hassle, then can plan better. This issue will only be resolved by me and Ruth in June (along with the rental car details).

Most importantly, Olympics is going to Sydney on Y2K. So we better book our tickets/car rental/motels and have it confirmed few weeks before we go. Tickets must be confirmed by end of 1999. So attendance is important. I suggest we stay one day in Sydney to travel round the sportign venue.

Visa Application must be taken care of.

Have to ask John how long it takes to drive from Gold Coast to Sydney (or vice versa) so we can gauge to time spent on highway one.

For those like Val, Jo and John who might join us for the dive (let’s say it’s confirmed). I suggest that we meet in Brisbane itself. I know Valerie is very excited about it but I worried about her leave :). So Valerie & gang must confirm with me if they’re going all the way with us or meet us at Brisbane itself. Anyway the ticket for Valerie should be S’pore-Brisbane,Sydney-S’pore.

Financial Problems. Apart from car rental and accomodation, I suggest that meals should be taken care by each individual. Most likely the payment for rental and accomodation is going to be paid with credit card. The settlement of the bills must be done the night we leave Sydney. Ruth can you take care of this issue? Thanks.