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Australia
Posted on 9/15/22 at 7:05 pm
Posted on 9/15/22 at 7:05 pm
Thinking about a trip to Australia for a few weeks in early January. Kind of late on planning but whatever.
Anyone done this trip and have any recommendations?
I'm considering two possible itineraries:
(1) Sydney (4 days) - Melbourne (4 days) - Great Ocean Road and the Grampians (3 days) - Adelaide (3 days)
(2) Sydney (5 days) - Melbourne (5 days) - Cairns/Port Douglas (4 days) - or maybe cut them short by a day and squeeze a stop in the Brisbane/Sunshine Coast area on the way up.
Those don't include entry/exit days. Would be flying LAX-SYD. If I do the second option, I would probably do a long guided day tour of the Great Ocean Road from Melbourne as it seems like that's a must see highlight. Ayers Rock/Uluru is in the middle of nowhere and doesn't appeal to me on a tight schedule. Flying up to Port Douglas would be to see the rainforest and go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. Would like to fit in a beach day somewhere. And I also want to see the native wildlife - in a zoo or conservation park. And hit the cool places in the big cities.
Wish I had more time to do a full adventure but this is one of those I'll probably never be back trips.
4
Posted on 9/15/22 at 8:37 pm to AUFANATL
Went to Sydney and Northern Queensland.
Would have spent more time in Queensland if I had it all back. Sydney is scenic, nice and all but an international city.
You actually feel like you're in Australia when you're in QL, like Steve Irwin looking folks who are friendly. Not Sydney and figure not Melbourne.
Palm Cove right north of Cairns would probably more an American's style. Go to Port Douglas but I'd stay in P.C. it is nice but less expensive and more down to Earth, was less commercial.
Would have spent more time in Queensland if I had it all back. Sydney is scenic, nice and all but an international city.
You actually feel like you're in Australia when you're in QL, like Steve Irwin looking folks who are friendly. Not Sydney and figure not Melbourne.
Palm Cove right north of Cairns would probably more an American's style. Go to Port Douglas but I'd stay in P.C. it is nice but less expensive and more down to Earth, was less commercial.
This post was edited on 9/15/22 at 8:45 pm
Posted on 9/16/22 at 4:09 am to AUFANATL
Itinerary 2.
However, this is a horrible take.
It's arguably the best part of Australia.
Trim a day off of Sydney and 2 off of Melbourne and make it happen.
The rocks are cool, but really, it's the outback and bush that make the trip special and different from just visiting another couple of major cities.
Walking around on a foggy morning, you feel like a raptor might jump out and eat you. It has a very prehistoric feel to it.
And daintree NF in nQL is the oldest rainforest on earth.
Easily worth skipping a day or two in the big cities.
However, this is a horrible take.
quote:
Ayers Rock/Uluru is in the middle of nowhere and doesn't appeal to me on a tight schedule.
It's arguably the best part of Australia.
Trim a day off of Sydney and 2 off of Melbourne and make it happen.
The rocks are cool, but really, it's the outback and bush that make the trip special and different from just visiting another couple of major cities.
Walking around on a foggy morning, you feel like a raptor might jump out and eat you. It has a very prehistoric feel to it.
And daintree NF in nQL is the oldest rainforest on earth.
Easily worth skipping a day or two in the big cities.
Posted on 9/16/22 at 9:18 am to AUFANATL
So we went a few years back and after alot of thinking I decided to stick to the east coast, its a huge country and you don't want to just be traveling the whole time.
US -> Sydney
Sydney -> Brisbane
Brisbane -> Cairns
Our itinerary looked like this:
Sydney Area: 3 Days
2 days in the city and one day in Blue Mountains
Brisbane Area: 4 Days
Zoo of Australia (Steve Irwin zoo), Fraser Island (must do), Gold Coast/Byron Bay
Cairns Area: 4 Days
Great Barrier Reef, Daintree Rainforest, Atherton Tablelands waterfall circuit
Then we flew back to Sydney for the flight home.
ETA: I skipped Uluru...too far out of the way for my taste and I found the reviewers hyping it were "spiritual" 20 year old hippies.
US -> Sydney
Sydney -> Brisbane
Brisbane -> Cairns
Our itinerary looked like this:
Sydney Area: 3 Days
2 days in the city and one day in Blue Mountains
Brisbane Area: 4 Days
Zoo of Australia (Steve Irwin zoo), Fraser Island (must do), Gold Coast/Byron Bay
Cairns Area: 4 Days
Great Barrier Reef, Daintree Rainforest, Atherton Tablelands waterfall circuit
Then we flew back to Sydney for the flight home.
ETA: I skipped Uluru...too far out of the way for my taste and I found the reviewers hyping it were "spiritual" 20 year old hippies.
This post was edited on 9/16/22 at 9:23 am
Posted on 9/16/22 at 9:26 am to LSUHeights
quote:
Palm Cove right north of Cairns
Seconded. This is where we stayed and we would wake up to wallabies in the yard every morning.
Posted on 9/16/22 at 9:43 am to HollierThanThou
Also highly recommend North QLD. My wife's extended family is from the area, and we went for a couple of months when we were just dating. Had an amazing time. Did a lot of backpacking. The Aussie relatives were pretty convinced we were going to die in the bush.
Camped in the Daintree and also backpacked the Thorsborne Trail on Hinchinbrook for like 3 nights, which was an amazing experience (you have to book it pretty well in advance, as they only let like 20 people on the trail at a time).
Cairns is like an Aussie adventure travel jumping off point, so there is all kinds of awesome stuff to do out of that area. It's also possibly worth going up into the Tablelands, just to see a bit of the interior and what things look like when you get away from the ocean.
Camped in the Daintree and also backpacked the Thorsborne Trail on Hinchinbrook for like 3 nights, which was an amazing experience (you have to book it pretty well in advance, as they only let like 20 people on the trail at a time).
Cairns is like an Aussie adventure travel jumping off point, so there is all kinds of awesome stuff to do out of that area. It's also possibly worth going up into the Tablelands, just to see a bit of the interior and what things look like when you get away from the ocean.
This post was edited on 9/16/22 at 9:44 am
Posted on 9/16/22 at 10:16 am to AUFANATL
My fist time there I skipped New Zealand. Don't skip New Zealand....unless you're not vaccinated.
I'm glad we got to go before they went batshit crazy.
I'm glad we got to go before they went batshit crazy.
Posted on 9/17/22 at 10:46 am to SippyCup
quote:
My fist time there I skipped New Zealand. Don't skip New Zealand
I've already done New Zealand and agree it's awesome. In fact I went to New Zealand in part because I was planning a trip to Australia and kept running into comments about how such and such was better in New Zealand.
Both are so far away and so spread out that it is tough for the average working man to properly visit on a standard vacation.
I wish I could visit the Outback, Northern Territories, Perth and southwest coastal areas. But you need at least a full month to see the whole country. For two weeks, you're probably limited to the two options I mentioned: the southeastern coastal route over to Adelaide or the northern trip up to Queensland. And even that will probably feel rushed.
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