Australia

Cool, thanks thats the kinda advice I was looking for

Blobby im not sure where we will end up in brisbane as we are sailing in on the Navys tall ship. - which should be a pretty cool experience.

I am looking to take a bit of a stop over on the way out and back becuase defiantly that flight is going to be pretty long.

the bit about a car sounds like a good idea jsut a pain I cant drive yet.

Also it will be my Birthday whilst im out in Sydney any ideas on a great way to spend it?

Take some stuff to do on the airplane - you will be in transit for more than a day. If you are stopping in Singapore or HongKong try to take a day out to relax at a hotel cos you can't sleep on the plane..... at check in most people ask for an aisle seat, or near the front, or by the window etc. Just ask to not be placed near a young baby - the crying will drive you nuts..... nuts I tell you!!

For some amazing reason the sun in Aus is death itself so take a small amount of sun screen, then first thing to do when you get there is buy some good local sun screen which is cheaper and better than UK's.

Consider hiring a car which is much cheaper than uk also and everything in Aus is very spread out cos its big, very big.

Try to pretend you are french because half of England has just imigrated there so you will get a warmer reception as a none Brit.

They get very sensitive about the nations sporting achievements so don't get into any discussions about sport other than sailing. And if you do don't forget the cricket scores last year.

From my vast experience of 10 days in Brisbane...

Mount Coot-tha is great, a place called Casablanca on the Petrie Terrace is a good place to eat and serves real beer, Sunshine coast is more relaxed than Gold Coast and all the sailing in Brisbane is at Manly.  RQYS for most boats which I guess is where you would end up after the Sydney to Brisbane but the skiffs sail out of the Multihull Yacht Club at the other end of the marina.

Brisbane city itself is about 30km inland.

ENjoy.