Virgin launches 24-hour Halloween sale with scarily low prices

Elizabeth Whitehead Elizabeth Whitehead
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No trick – Virgin Airlines is serving up Halloween treats in the form of sweet deals.

Set your timers! This Halloween, Virgin Australia will slash over 500,000 fares, with prices starting at $45. The sale will be live for one day only, from midnight to midnight AEDT on All Hallows’ Eve (Thursday 31 October). The discounted fares will apply to select travel dates between 15 January and 31 May next year. It’s the perfect time to take a getaway and extend your summer, whether that means chasing waterfalls in the NT’s Top End or sipping bubbly in a Tassie Vineyard.

The stand-out fare is a $45 deal between Sydney and Byron Bay, two of NSW’s ultimate summer destinations. We’ve put together a 60-second flash-guide to having the perfect summer in Sydney, as well as a round-up of Byron Bay’s prettiest waterfalls to get your summer wanderlust simmering.

Sun setting over Main Beach, Byron Bay.
Byron Bay still manages to retain just enough of the free-spirited hippy roots that made it famous. (Image: Destination NSW)

The sale also includes fares between Melbourne and Launceston for $65, offering the perfect chance to hop between Australia’s capital of cool and Tassie’s UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.

Windsor, Melbourne
Melbourne regularly tops lists for its cultural cachet. (Image: Visit Victoria)


Be at the ready! The sale will last until the end of the 31st, or until sold out. Shop here.

Other domestic sale fare highlights (one-way Economy Lite fares, valid in both directions)

  • Sydney to Gold Coast from $69

  • Sydney to Sunshine Coast from $69

  • Brisbane to Proserpine (Whitsundays) from $79

  • Melbourne to Hobart from $79

  • Brisbane to Sydney from $89

  • Melbourne to Sydney from $89

  • Adelaide to Hobart from $99

  • Melbourne to Canberra from $99

  • Brisbane to Hamilton Island from $115

  • Brisbane to Townsville from $149

  • Brisbane to Darwin from $189

  • Perth to Launceston from $219

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Elizabeth Whitehead
Elizabeth Whitehead is a writer obsessed with all things culture; doesn't matter if it's pop culture or cultures of the world. She graduated with a degree in History from the University of Sydney (after dropping out from Maths). Her bylines span AFAR, Lonely Planet, ELLE, Harper's BAZAAR and Refinery 29. Her work for Australian Traveller was shortlisted for single article of the year at the Mumbrella Publishing Awards 2024. She is very lucky in thrifting, very unlucky in UNO.
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How a $1 deal saved Bendigo’s historic tramways

    Megan Arkinstall Megan Arkinstall
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    The passionate community that saved Bendigo Tramways has kept the story of this city alive for generations.

    It was an absolute steal: a fleet of 23 trams for just $1. But such a fortunate purchase didn’t happen easily. It was 1972 when the Bendigo Trust handed over a single buck for the city’s historic collection of battery, steam and electric trams, which had transported locals since 1890.

    inside the historic Bendigo Tram
    Bendigo Tramways is a historic transport line turned tourist service. (Image: Bendigo Heritage)

    The city’s tram network had been declared defunct since 1970 due to post-war shortages in materials to upkeep the trams and declining passenger numbers as motor vehicles were increasing. However, determined locals would not hear of their beloved trams being sold off around the world.

    The Bendigo Trust was enlisted to preserve this heritage, by converting the trams into a tourist service. The Victorian government approved a trial, however news spread that the Australian Electric Tramways Museum in Adelaide had acquired one of the streetcars for its collection.

    a tram heading to Quarry Hill in 1957
    A tram on its way to Quarry Hill in 1957. (Image: Bendigo Heritage)

    An impassioned group rallied together to make this physically impossible. Breaking into the tram sheds, they welded iron pipes to the rails, removed carbon brushes from the motors, and formed a blockade at the depot. The community response was extraordinary, and a $1 deal was sealed.

    A new chapter for the city’s fleet

    the old Tramways Depot and Workshop
    The old Tramways Depot and Workshop is one of the stops on the hop-on, hop-off service. (Image: Tourism Australia)

    Today, Bendigo Tramways welcomes some 40,000 passengers annually, operating as a hop-on, hop-off touring service aboard the restored trams. Fifteen of the now 45-strong fleet are dubbed ‘Talking Trams’ because of the taped commentary that is played along the route. The trams loop between Central Deborah Gold Mine and the Bendigo Joss House Temple, which has been a place of Chinese worship since 1871, via other sites including the old Tramways Depot and Workshop.

    a Gold Mine Bendigo Tram
    The fleet comprises 45 trams that have been restored. (Image: Visit Victoria/Robert Blackburn)

    Keeping things interesting, throughout the year visitors can step aboard different themed trams. Tram No. 302 becomes the Yarn Bomb Tram, decorated both inside and out with colourful crochet by an anonymous group of locals.

    During the festive season, Tram No. 15 operates as a tinsel-festooned Santa Tram, and the big man himself hides out somewhere along the route for excited children to find. And on selected dates, the adults-only Groove Tram runs nighttime tours of the city, accompanied by local musicians playing live tunes and a pop-up bar.

    the historic post office turned visitor centre in Bendigo
    Visitors can hop on and off to see the city’s sites such as the historic post office turned visitor centre. (Image: Tourism Australia)

    As well as preserving the city’s history, however, the continuation of the tram service has kept the skills of tram building and craftsmanship alive in a practical sense. Bendigo’s Heritage Rail Workshop is world-renowned for restoring heritage trams and repurposing vehicles in creative ways.

    Locally, for example, Tram No. 918 was transformed into the Dja Dja Wurrung Tram with original Aboriginal artworks by emerging artist Natasha Carter, with special commentary and music that shares the stories and traditions of Bendigo’s first people. You can’t put a price on preserving history. Nonetheless, it was a dollar very well spent.