[Rad]

Hi Cara - I would personally take the three seats and hope for the best. I did a 10 hour flight recently and though it was not the best of times, it had to be done and we got through it fine. Tired and crabby but we were so over it the next day! I had a stop over for four hours too which I would not recommend just to get the four seats.

I have only flown Cathay and Thai with our daughter and they are wonderful. On a recent short haul flight they had extra seats and blocked it off for us so that we had more space. I would recommend requesting the staff at check in rather than the office as they seem to be much more in tune with what parents need! Also don't forget asking for priority tags on all luggage so that you don't have to wait around too long at the other end.

The way I look at it, I had more money to spend on doing some extra nice things on the holiday.

[karmah1]

I've never flown with kids but I've flown home to Sydney on both QANTAS and Cathay and can't complain about either. I usually find the QANTAS flights cheaper than Cathay. Look for flights on www.zuji.com.hk

For domestic airlines i've flown both virgin blue and Qantas and again no problem for these short haul flights.
http://www.virginblue.com.au/
http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn/home

This Australian website http://www.whereis.com/ has maps of Australian cities, towns and travel destinations with driving directions and traveller information.

Enjoy your trip!

[carang]

thanks for all of the advice folks...

last night after hours of searching the internet, i realised that if we sprung for the premium economy and we are springing for the nice campervan.... this will cost us almost $100K!!!!!

that's just to ridiculuos for us...we've decided to suck it up and go for the night flight, direct on virgin with only 3 seats in economy. we'll see when we get to the airport if they can block a seat and failing that try to upgrade then (i've heard it's MUCH cheaper to do it that way...we'll see)... if not, we'll suffer for 9 hours and then be done with it!

thanks again for all of the sage advice. i appreciate the time you have taken to respond!
cara

[mumto2]

Cara, in the many many many flights we did before daughter no.1 turned 2, we never paid for a seat and always got one so fingers double crossed for you as well. I adore the service from Virgin Atlantic, find Qantas' service a bit on the rude side but mostly ok as well. If you get to the airport on the really early side, you have more of a chance of them blocking a seat for you as well. I always do my best to be holding at least one baby under the arm at check-in and look a bit harrassed at the same time...they sometimes take pity...lol...you'll have a great time, its a lovely time of year to go to Australia.

[nicolejoy]

Originally Posted by carang

now, i'm stumped....i've read some HORRIBLE reviews of quantas and virgin atlantic...

I actually PREFER Virgin Atlantic - although Qantas tends to be pretty good too. You shouldn't have any major problems with either of them!! Virgin Atlantic is much better than Virgin Blue (australian domestic flights) - but if you're prepared, Virgin Blue isn't too bad. They don't give you any food or any "extras" but their prices are generally the cheapest... Virgin Atlantic feeds you though and they have the entertainment systems and everything... (Virgin blue has no entertainment, I don't think)

[spockey]

Hi Cara!

Congratulations! I'm sooo excited for you!

You'll have lots of fun! It was an annual trip for us every summer... Sydney-Brisbane & Sydney-Melbourne. I used to whinge about it every year... Oh No! Not another family car trip but now that I look back, it was a blast! My parents have been taking us on car trips from way back! Before we lived in Australia, we also did the Singapore-Thailand drive too!

I know you are planning to do the Sydney-Brisbane leg. I just remembered a few things I enjoyed on the journeys... the BIG everything... I remember a prawn/lobster, banana... and the fruit farms along the way... peaches, nectarines and strawberries! Perfect time to take the kids fruit picking... I remember eating just nectarines all day one time! All the beach stops we did along the way and stayed at caravan parks along the way to Brisbane... my fav was Coolangatta (can't remember how to spell it) they were cheap and LOTS of fun for us city folks. Beats a hotel experience any day! Dad drove one of those 6-8 seaters though. We never travelled in a campervan.

I have a suggestion though... instead of driving down south coz I remember it being the most boring drive on that long freeway! There was not much kid friendly stuff to do too... not that I can recall. Why don't you go further North? After the G.C. & Brisbane, why not head up to Sunshine Coast? The kids will love Noosa and the surrounding areas. Lots of easy family friendly walks/hikes. It'll be sun and surf all the way.

Have fun planning! There's heaps to do with the kids that time of year.

Cheers!

[Nula]

Hi Cara,

Would highly recommend this caravan park at South West Rocks

http://www.horseshoebaypark.com.au/

Other stop off places on the way up from Sydney to Brisbane.

Port Stephens (they filmed some of the beach scenes there for the most recent tourist ads.)

Sawtell (another great caravan park http://www.sawtellbeachcaravanpark.com.au)

Byron Bay.

I don't know the road south of Sydney that well but I do remember some stunning parts of the coast (take the coast road not the highway).

[nicolejoy]

You COULD drive to Melbourne the longer way - along the coast, through Eden and all that. I LOVE the Batemans Bay area - I used to go camping there EVERY year when I was a kid... There's a gorgeous beach there called Pebbly Beach and there are all kinds of parrots and birds that are really tame, you can feed them from your hand - or just sprinkle seed on the ground so they don't scare the kids too much... And there are kangaroos too, all over the place!! It's one of my favourite places in the WORLD - but I spent a LOT of time there... a week and a half every year for probably 10 years or more!!

Going up to Brisbane, there are two main roads - one is inland, one is coastal. I think the coastal one is more scenic and all that - but you could take one road each direction to get a bit more variety... If you were going to JUST choose one though, the coast road has much more to see and do, in my opinion!!