OK, so I might be taking a vacation to Australia this year in the September-November time range. Unfortunately, the things Tucker-Babe and I would like to do aren’t exactly located next door to each other:
Landing in Sydney, most likely, the side trips are:
Ayers Rock, about 1300 miles away.
Snorkeling around the Great Barrier Reef, about 1100 miles away (from either Sydney or Ayers Rock)
Have a devil of a time in Tasmania, about 800 miles away from Sydney (in the opposite direction of the other places mentioned).
Nothing definite, yet, so we’ll have to pick and choose how many days we’ll take in each place, and what we might have to pass on. If we do all those activities, the only thing we’ll be doing in Sydney is boarding and deplaning.
Any thoughts on any of this??? That is, logistics of hopscotching around like that. It will be an extended vacation, probably two weeks, so we should have time to do most of it without rushing too, too much.
Well, I didn’t do the snorkeling at the Barrier Reef, but I did do a few other things when I was there in 1999. You can see what I did and what I liked at my travel pages. My Uluru page is not done because my scanner died before I got the pictures scanned. I have never replace it, so I have not finished that part of the trip. But if you go there, do not miss the Sounds of Silence dinner. You can buy tickets at any of the hotels at Ayers Rock Resort. And I enjoyed the helicopter tour I took of Uluru and the Olgas. Fun if you can afford it.
I’m an Australian and you have just about described my perfect holiday destinations. I can’t give a lot of advice on the logistics but I am pleased that you are thinking it through early instead of arriving in Sydney and deciding to drive to Brisbane for a weeked . Some tourists expect it to take a few hours and want to go for the weekend but when they find out it is 18 hours of driving they usually give up on that idea.
If you want to go to Ayers Rock (We now call it “Uluru”, its aboriginal name) at that time of year I would suggest you make it a short trip because the heat will be quite extreme and you will spend the days inside in air-conditioning because it saps your energy. Because of distances plane or helicopter tours are great as Lok mentined. I was about 14 when I went to Uluru and still remember the tour filght we took. Expense is the problem with this option
Tasmania is a great destination to get away from the large cities and has some historical locations from early Australian settlement, this history might not be as appealing if you don’t understand the history surrounding it. Tasmania also has some amazing forests and has a slower pace compared to other tourist destinations such as the reef.
I haven’t been to the Barrier Reef so i can offer too much about it except that it would be on the top of my personal destination list.
You could fit all locations into two weeks but you will probably wish you had spent more time in each by the time you leave. If your budget can fit all three I would say go for it but choosing only two and spending some time in Sydney.
Maybe someone who has been to all of those destinations can offer some advice.
Three States and one Territory in a couple of weeks? I don’t think you’ll be able to cover the distance.
Personally, I’d go for just two destinations. If I was arriving from overseas, I’d land in Sydney, hire a car and drive up the coast, spending a couple nights along the way. Heading into Queensland, I’d visit the Sunshine Coast, Frasier Island and the Barrier Reef. Depending on time, I’d stop in Brisbane–or the Gold Coast, if that’s to your taste–before heading back to Sydney. Any time remaining (but even this trip will leave you pressed for time) would be spent in Sydney.
IMO, driving yourself and stopping in a number of places along the way gives you a better feel for the country than flying from point to point. You’ll meet more Australians rather than buses full of tourists and you’ll see more of less well-known sights. Then again, not everyone likes long road trips by car (I love them) and time is an issue.
Personally, I’d leave Uluru and the Northern Territory for a separate journey. It’d be extremely easy to spend two weeks in the NT and not see it all. YMMV, but for me flying into Uluru for a quick look at the rock with a teeming mass of tourists then flying out again wouldn’t be an ideal way to experience the area.
Hope you enjoy yourself! Do let us know what you decide on.
While I agree that you can’t drive through all of that in just 2 weeks, you can certainly experience enough of the various places by flying to get an idea of what they are like. I spent time in Sydney, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Alice Springs, and Uluru in the 3 weeks I was there. I got to see all kinds of great things, both man made and natural wonders. There were a lot of things I did not get to do or see, but that has been true of pretty much every place I have traveled to. They could easily spend 4 days in each place by flying.
It basically comes down to what they want. An in depth experience of just one or two areas (you can easily spend 2 weeks just in Sydney,) or a wider experience spending less time in several places, but knowing you will not see things you will enjoy. I usually opt for less time in more places, because I know I will never see everything I want in a location, no matter how long I spend there.
I have to put in a plug for the North-west and west coast of Tasmania, or the Central Highlands thereof for some of the most beautiful pristine wilderness. Tasmania is beautiful, the bush is stunningly beautiful. I wouldn’t necessarily bother with the cities, though the larger cities have plenty of tourist oriented activities (and my hometown, Launceston, has an award-winning museum.) But if you have the time to get to Tasmania I’d skip the cities and go bush straight away. Maybe head down to the Franklin river, there are tours that will take you there, or to any of the premiere wilderness destinations. The state has a tiny population, so even organised tours are pretty small, local and friendly.
I haven’t been to the NT or QLD though, so I can’t compare the relative beauty (Been to every other state and territory but those two, alas.)
I think that the Blue Mountains are worth considering. Easy access from Sydney, and lots of stuff to see and do. If you enjoy caves at all, Jenolan Caves is a must…you could spend 2 days there and still not see them all.
Tasmania is indeed a fine destination–I really enjoyed Freycinet and Cradle Mt. National Parks.
Two weeks? And do this, and do that, and do the other thing?! There’s no way. Or rather, there’s no way to do it that isn’t way rushed.
I spent 6 months in Australia in 1999 studying abroad at Murdoch Uni in Perth - it’s a georgeous country and I’m sure I’ll spend much time and money trying to get back there. I also like to use my vacation times to try to get to know a place a little better - for example, I took a trip while in Oz to NZ and spent my eleven days there just on the North Island alone.
Like I said, I prefer getting to know a place, so if I were you, I’d spend the entire time in Sydney. Hire a car (if you’re comfortable with the idea of driving on the left - no worries, it’s really easy) as was recommended before and take day trips everywhere. If you just can’t spend all that time in Sydney, drive down to Melbourne or to Canberra.
Alternately, I’d land in Sydney, immediately hop on the plane to Cairns for a week, then return to Sydney and explore it before you have to leave. I spent some time in Cairns (not as much as I’d have liked!) and was surprised by how much I loved it and the Reef. I’m from Minnesota, and I love our cold weather here - I’ve often said I hate summer because it’s too hot. And Cairns was hot. But it was georgeous. The rain forest is amazing. I took a day trip while there to the reef and went on a very intro, very supervised SCUBA dive (we went down only 10-15 m, max) and loved it. I’d also never snorkeled before, and loved that too. There was also a rainforest walk I went on that was very interesting and really enjoyable. And the town itself is a little hippyish/artsy, so that’s fun too.
I wouldn’t try to fit it all in. Really, you’re just going to want to go back anyway.
. Some tourists expect it to take a few hours and want to go for the weekend but when they find out it is 18 hours of driving they usually give up on that idea.
(Been to every other state and territory but those two, alas.)