I'm planning an off season trip to Australia sometime bweteen February and April of 2016.  What are the regulations for pleasure flying?  What cities and sites would you recommend?  I would love to get some surfing and beach shots, other than that, pretty sunrises and sunsets do it for me.  Is Alice springs/Ayers Rock worth the extra trip to see?

Please share your ideas.

The regs are pretty much the same as in the US, and mostly it is just common sense, same as you would use in the US. Alice Springs is a smallish town in an arid desert part of the country and about a two hour flight from the east coast. Ayers Rock is now called Uluru, due to it being owned by the local natives, and you may not be able to fly there. Even if you do, it is 4 miles around, quite a bit bigger than most people think. And it is 200 miles further south west from Alice Springs by air (the usual way to get there). Personally, neither of them would hold my interest for much more than an hour or so.

The eastern coast is more interesting IMO, if you like warm beaches, then far north Queensland might suit you, plenty to see and do up there, check out the area centred around Cairns.

Yeh what cities are you going too? If your coming to Melbourne I have a heap of fantastic locations.
Beside that every state of Australia is packed with natural wonders all accessible by car.

What Rocket says. In Melbourne you have the option of surfing at Bell's Beach, about an hour and bit from the city and one of the top surfing destinations. And Rocket knows some very interesting spots to drone.

The regs in Oz are pretty tight so you'll need to comply or risk being pulled up by CASA and possibly fined if you're too near an airport (regional or otherwise). The whole country is beautiful to shoot - it just depends where you want to film. We are a nation of aviators so you'll not have any dramas as long as you play by the rules. Lots of parachuting and paragliders along the coast that are restricted areas so download the Ozrunways app (30 day free trial) and you'll see where you can and can't fly - hope this helps.

That's the footage that I shot 2 months ago in Melbourne. Lots of beautiful places around here.

Hi , Hermosa
You can find some Australia videos and photos in the forum . I believe you'll find out the best places .

Geebax, Rocket_Aus, Paul Wilson, and stephenprayogo, thank you for the input.  If I do a two week trip I will probably limit myslef to Sydney, Uluru and Alice Springs.  If I can do three week si would like to add in Melbourne.  But, depending on airfare prices i might try and fit in Melbourne to a two weeks trip.  Is Sydney cool too?  I would be flying into Sydney.

HermosaDrones Posted at 2015-11-22 07:54
Geebax, Rocket_Aus, Paul Wilson, and stephenprayogo, thank you for the input.  If I do a two week tr ...

In all honesty, I would be allowing more time on the east coast than in Alice Springs or Uluru. I don't know your tastes, but the Red Centre as we call it is an acquired taste, personally it bores me silly inside a couple of hours. Anywhere north or south of Sydney is good value. If you like tropical beaches and islands, then a side trip up to Cairns is good value, and you get to see the Great Barrier Reef. Melbourne is more like Northern California in climate, lots to do there as well, but hard to advise without knowing your interests.

Australia is about the same size as the USA (but less than 10% of the population) and has more than 30000 km of coastline so there are a million places to fly and great scenery.
Sydney has good scenery but the area around the Harbour Bridge and Opera House is a no-fly zone

You have to visit Queensland, although it is quite far from Sydney or Melbourne (3-4 hr Flight). Other states like SA, WA and NT also have many beautiful spots. Australia has so many fantastic locations and over such a huge area, you will need to choose carefully unless you plan to spend a very long time travelling around. Que tenga un buen dia y buen viaje!

i have friends in Alice Springs, Uluru is not a requirement especially if it's a seperate flight.  Beaches and harbors sound good to me.  I don't want to fly any` of the restricted sites, that's for sure.

Rocket_Aus Posted at 2015-11-14 10:51
Yeh what cities are you going too? If your coming to Melbourne I have a heap of fantastic locations. ...

Hi

If it possible please could you advise some sites around Bayside, Frankston area?
I'm newbie in this field and just waiting for my first drone landed in my hands ,just ordered it a couple days ago.
Cheers

Drone_mad Posted at 2016-1-28 12:10
Hi

If it possible please could you advise some sites around Bayside, Frankston area?

If you head out to Gippsland  anywhere from Leongatha to Yarram and head of into hills on the left up to Moe Traralgon its beautiful country side , this would be a day trip from Frankston .

RodB Posted at 2016-1-28 14:27
If you head out to Gippsland  anywhere from Leongatha to Yarram and head of into hills on the left ...

Yeah, but I would wait a while till the water drains away, we got a pile of rain half an hour ago in Gippsland. Thought I might need the Ark there for a while.

Thanks guys, also where I can look regulations regarding operations  RCA for Australia?
sorry if it was already discussed on this forum, but I could not find any info.
And yep,It was a bit wet  here in Mentone recently.

Drone_mad Posted at 2016-1-28 15:35
Thanks guys, also where I can look regulations regarding operations  RCA for Australia?
sorry if it  ...

You will find everything you need to know here: https://www.casa.gov.au/operatio ... el-aircraft-and-rpa

There is not much guidance given, but most of us suspect CASA doesn't have a clue how to regulate consumer drones.

Geebax Posted at 2016-1-28 16:04
You will find everything you need to know here: https://www.casa.gov.au/operations/standard-page/r ...

Thanks,
Also do we have any similar DJI community sites here in Australia?

Drone_mad Posted at 2016-1-28 16:09
Thanks,
Also do we have any similar DJI community sites here in Australia?

Not that I know of, but that doesn't mean anything. I correspond privately though with a couple of good people on this forum.

Drone_mad Posted at 2016-1-28 12:35
Thanks guys, also where I can look regulations regarding operations  RCA for Australia?
sorry if it  ...

Hi,

If you have an iPhone, you can download the "Safe to fly?" app which shows the NFZ's.
I'm in Cheltenham, and unfortunately we're in the middle of a NFZ thanks to Moorabbin Airport!
Cheers.

smodra Posted at 2016-1-28 16:35
Hi,

If you have an iPhone, you can download the "Safe to fly?" app which shows the NFZ's.

Oh,bugger,
I saw people with drones in Barkers street reserve , not sure it were DJI machines.
Thanks again for an app tip.

In Melbourne, Lovely beach to fly is between Carrum & Seaford. Its far enough from Moorabbin Airport, but keep under 120m ( I have spoken a while ago to the guys at Moorabbin tower and they were happy as long as AGL 120m was not exceeded and LOS only.) but I have never flown above around 80m

The beach is mostly empty weekdays and the Sunsets are STUNNING!!

My wife and daughter decided to try stand up paddle boarding next to the Sandringham Yacht Club. According to the "Safe to fly?" app, this is outside the NFZ, so I decided to get some footage. It was my first attempt over water, and I was very nervous! The beach was fairly empty, so no issues with flying over people. Great location too.

Rocket_Aus Posted at 2015-11-14 10:51
Yeh what cities are you going too? If your coming to Melbourne I have a heap of fantastic locations. ...

Hey Rocket

If you can, Please paste a list here...

I'd love to Discover a few new areas around Melbourne.

Cheers.

dji-p3p1 Posted at 2016-1-28 17:39
Hey Rocket

If you can, Please paste a list here...

Rocket may not reply, I have not heard from him for some time. He is into very long distance flights, and has some good ones under his belt. Ones I would not dare attempt.

The main rules condensed to a pamphlet.  Just don't do anything stupid like this guy.

So my trip is pretty well planned.  thanks all for the input.  I will be spending a week in Surfer's Paradise, then four or five day sin Alice Springs/Kings Canyon/Uluru, then Sydney for the remainder of the trip.  I've read a pamphlet about batteries and it seems that the phantom and TB47 Inspire batteries will fly no problems but the TB48s will not fly.  Is that right?

I leave for Sydney this week.  Any new regulations for drone flyer sin Australia that I should be aware of?  I'll be in Surfer's Paradise, Alice Springs/Uluru/King's Canyon, then back to Sydney.  I'll be taking two P3 Pros so hoping the batteries are not an issue.

I installed the Safe to fly app, thanks for the heads up.

smodra Posted at 2016-1-28 14:02
My wife and daughter decided to try stand up paddle boarding next to the Sandringham Yacht Club. Acc ...

Hi, just saw your drone footage.  We are shooting a short film in Mentone in a few weeks.  It is a low (no) budget film that is part of a Kingston Council community project.  The film is a narrative drama.  We are wondering if you would be interested in shooting some footage for us over Mentone beach? You would get a film credit and a copy of the finished film on DVD once the project has finished on the festival circuit and an invitation to the premiere screening.  You can email me at f@pangari.com if you are able/interested to help.

Thanks,
Fiona Cullen

hello all I'm a first time drone owner planning on flying my Mavic in late Nov in Syd and Mel and Tasmania. Are there any specific areas you'd recommend?