re: planning a trip to Australia

My recommendation: don't try to see it all.

It's very, very tempting, since it feels like a once in a lifetime trip, to try to see as much of the country as possible. That would be like someone doing something similar in the US and trying to see LA, New York, Chicago, and a bunch of national parks on one trip.

So, that being said, my main Australian experience is in North Queensland from Townsville up to the Daintree. My wife's family is from Townsville/Cairns area, so we went and spent a month there before we got married.

Yes, we spent in a month in just that area, and we were perfectly happy staying mainly in North Queensland. Lots to see/do there, as it's kind of known as an ecotourist/adventure tourism area, with Cairns being a jumping off point. Can go up into the Daintree rainforest.

The highlight of our trip was hiking the Thorsborne trail on Hinchinbrook Island. Not sure about now, but at the time, they only let around 20 people at a time on the trail and you had to apply well in advance to get a permit (similar to the Grand Canyon). We spent three nights on the island, hiking the 20 mile trail. The trail takes you up into the mountains/rainforest with waterfalls and such, then down onto the beach for camping each night.

Although her relatives all thought that we, being stupid yanks, were going to die trying to camp in Australia, either by croc, stinging nettle, brown snake, or taipain I'm not sure, but they were pretty convinced that we were too ignorant to survive backpacking in Australia. Clearly we survived, and it still ranks as one of the peak experiences of my life.

Aussies are cool AF, so try to get to know some folks and spend time with them. Their outlook on life, possessions, and such is really great. We had the good fortune of having lots of connections with her relatives, so the majority of our trip was spent either camping or hanging out/couch surfing with locals.