By Plane
Australia is a long, long haul from anywhere except New Zealand. Sydney is a nearly 15-hour nonstop flight from Los Angeles, longer if you come via Honolulu. From the East Coast of the U.S., add 5 1/2 hours. If you're coming from the States via Auckland, add transit time in New Zealand plus another 3 hours for the Auckland-Sydney leg. If you are coming from the United Kingdom, brace yourself for a flight of 12 hours, more or less, from London to Asia; then possibly a long day in transit, because flights to Australia have a habit of arriving in Asia early in the morning and departing around midnight; and finally the 8- to 9-hour flight to Australia.
Sydney (SYD), Cairns (CNS), Melbourne (MEL), Brisbane (BNE), Adelaide (ADL), Darwin (DRW), and Perth (PER) are all international gateways, but most airlines fly only into Sydney. A few fly to Melbourne and Brisbane.
