My wife and I are planning two weeks in Australia late Sept-1st week in Oct. It will be our first trip to Australia. We've looked at a few recommendations and have a very basic game plan. We are in our 60s and in decent health but my wife is limited on walking distances. Please respond with recommendations on itinerary/activities/lodging or anything to help.
Basic itinerary:
Fly into Sydney from the US.
Arrival day just some light exploring in Sydney
Day 2 hit some of the highlights Bondi/Manlay Beach (w Ferry), downtown sites
Day 3 Blue Mountains day trip
Or Day 3/4 stay in the Blue Mountains area for one full day
Return to Syndey and fly to Cairns Rent a car (needed??)
Stay 3-4 nights and visit hotspots (GBR, Daintree NP, Whitsundays (?Seems far)
Fly to Adelaide Rent a car
Visit Kangaroo Island and take 3 days along Great Ocean Road to Melbourne
Fly back to States.
Posted by
Adelaide, Australia
69 posts
The spots that you have picked are great BUT they are all a long way apart, Australia is huge, so you would loose 3 days travelling between the major destinations Sydney, Cairns and Adelaide. My first thoughts, have you booked your flights yet? If not look at what is sensibly available to you in terms of flying into or out of Sydney and the same for say Cairns and Melbourne and what could be combined to maximise your time enjoying Australia. Depending on your flight schedule and the number of days that you will actually have may be consider Sydney, Cairns and Melbourne as your main destinations and add day trips to see some of the surrounding area. The Blue Mountains are beautiful but given your limited time, I would just make that a day trip and also add an extra day to your stay in Sydney, there is lots to see and it is a lovely city to visit. A car is useful for Far North Queensland but there is also a very good selection of bus and boat tours from Cairns. Again I would consider adding more time in Cairns, there really is a lot to see up there. The Whitsundays are more than 600 kms (370 miles) from Cairns, so probably not this tri.. I love Adelaide (my home town), Kangaroo Island is beautiful and the Great Ocean Road is a lovely trip but again the tyranny of distance is your greatest enemy, so maybe next time. Melbourne is also a lovely city to visit and again plenty of opportunities for day trips.
Posted by
Victoria
5 posts
A quick glance at your plans and some sums and that looks like 5000 plus miles of travel within Australia across your 2 weeks. Are you up for that?
Posted by
Victoria, Australia
50 posts
Another thing to be aware of is that Spring school holidays are from 19 September to 10 October across the 4 states that you are travelling. Each state has 2 weeks, 3 for private schools so you could juggle where you will be to some extent, but you will find everywhere busier and more expensive than if you avoid them altogether.
I also think that in only 2 weeks, Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns & Adelaide are too much (forget Whitsundays), particularly with that road trip thrown in. You can do it but less will be more.
Posted by
Zuytdorp
540 posts
Cairns to Whitsundays and back is about 800 miles so I'd give that a miss.
You probably need to keep your Blue Mountains to a day trip so you can get a reasonably early flight to Cairns. It is over 3 hours flying, hotel to airport an hour before departure, airport to hotel in Cairns it's going to be most of that day.
A trip into the Daintree is 150 miles return a full day. A trip out to the reef most of a day too. As I said a trip to the Whitsunday is a miss.
Flying from Cairns to Adelaide is well over 3 hours flying. Again most of a day gone.
Adelaide to Cape Jervis is 60 to 70 miles, the ferry to KI takes 45 mins to cross. If you take a car then you need to get there with a bit of time. Takes some time to get off too so about 3 hours from Adelaide to driving off around KI. So you probably want to stay arrival night in Adelaide then head off to KI next morning.
I assume you are planning on overnighting in KI. One day or two?
What's the plan for the drive to Melbourne?
It's about 600 miles. You can go 2 different ways. Whichever way once you hit the GOR don't expect fast travelling. You might hit 40 mph if you having a great run. There are numerous points of interest though so unless you skip them it's going to be a slow journey. You probably want to not be hitting up the final run into Melbourne any later than 3 pm as you can get seriously bogged down in traffic. FYI Metro Melbourne has a population of more than 5.5 million. It's busy.
Cheers.