how much money would I need to travel to Brisbane Australia for 2 weeks?

There are budget hotels in Brisbane (Google "Budget Hotels Brisbane" and check some of the links) and you should find an adequate room for less than $100 a night. If you want to go the backpacker hostel route, they are much cheaper but I presume you want a hotel.

All Australian cities have many good restaurants with meals at very reasonable prices and most pubs have good food as well. Again Google is your friend. Google "Cheap eats Brisbane" for details of many restaurants serving food well within a budget. I would set aside $50 a day for food (you will eat well) and $100 a day for accommodation. So for 14 days that will be $2100. You would want spending money for transport, souvenirs and sightseeing so allow another $900 for that making it $3000 all up. If you want to stay another week, add another $1500.

Airfares vary enormously depending on the airline, how far ahead you book, the time of year and even the time of day the plane leaves. You can go to a travel agent or hunt around the airline web sites for the best deals. You have plenty of time to do that. Finding your way around an airline website is worthwhile when it comes to booking your flight. While Brisbane has international flights, Sydney and Melbourne are bigger hubs and there are airlines that fly to Sydney that don't fly to Brisbane. It would be worth checking the fares to Sydney (adding a domestic flight to Brisbane) against flights direct to Brisbane.

The Australian dollar is very strong, buying about 66p at the moment, and there is no reason it should fall in the next year (although anything can happen). At that rate, $3000 is £2000 and $4500 is £3000. Add the cost of your airfare and that will tell you how much you need.

There are ways to do it on the cheap but one needs to do a lot of investigation Air Asia have some mighty cheap fares from London but with booking them you need to do it on 2 legs of the journey first to kuala Lumpur then to Brisbane. Or go to a travel agent and ask what they can do for you They will all come up with different suggestions. or go to Etihad or emirates on the web and see what they have fares for They are often the cheapest but not always sometimes Korean air have good deals. It's not wise to travel to Japan at the moment with the nuclear fallout one needs to be very careful. As the pound is weak and the Australian dollar is high yes you will find it expensive here. Maybe your friend has somewhere to accomodate you. Dont spend all the time in Brisbane. The Gold Coast is only 1 hour by train and trains go each half hour. It depends what accomodation you want There are back packer hostels. and one can get some deals for hotels if you book last minute up to 2 weeks prior on www.wotif.com.au/ brisbane or / gold Coast which is more competitive. You can buy food at the supermarkets to save a bit there.

Sounds like your problem is that YOU need to decide what you want to do first. Summer in Brisbane is very hot. August is an absolutely beautiful time of year there. Two weeks is too short. I'd go in January for 3 months. Lots of time to enjoy, Safe as anywhere traveling alone. Just follow the usual safety guidelines. Brisbane is as good or bad as anywhere.

3 or 4 thousand pounds is about right.

I'm not sure how much international flights are- but when I do glance at a travel agent window the fair for UK to AU is usually several hundred dollars.

Hotels (unless you are planning on using a backpackers hostel) run upwards of $200 a night. That's for a basic studio room, a villa is pricier.

Food here is NOT cheap- a decent meal costs around $30 a person.

Japan is even more expensive- my husbands grandparents went there for a week a few years ago and it cost them $10 000!

If you're going to be in Brisbane for a couple of weeks, find accommodation with a kitchenette so all meals don't have to in restaurants etc.

The Gold Coast is only an hour from Brisbane's CBD and its Australia prime holiday destination with thousands of apartments. Split your time between the two!!

Sounds like enough if you have a beach wedding and don't go too silly with luxury.

It's not rocket science to use a website and getting other people to do all the research for you is lazy as you'll need to do it all again anyway, so maybe look for yourself?

I'd go for 3 weeks.