Australia in Late February to Mid March 2025

One of the main Australian tour companies is AAT Kings. They have been around for at least 40 years and have a sub-brand Inspiring Journeys that are smaller groups and nicer accommodation. https://www.aatkings.com/

I would really only consider a multi-day tour for Uluru/central Australia. Everywhere else can be done independently or using tour companies for day trips.

You haven't said which parts of Australia you want to see or what your interests are. February/March is still going to be hot and humid any where from Sydney north. It's a lovely time of year for Tasmania and Melbourne.

As Nomad suggests it would be good to have a bit of an idea of what and where, as you no doubt know we are a huge country.
I can certainly offer up ideas on most areas of Victoria my home state. I have also done quite a lot in Tassie. Also I did a 3 week roadtrip around SW of W.Australia in 2022 so pretty up to speed with things in those parts.
Cheers.

"I would really only consider a multi-day tour for Uluru/central Australia. Everywhere else can be done independently or using tour companies for day trips."

That would be my advice too. You can organize your own independent itinerary by sorting out which of the various attractions and cities most interest you - using the Qantas low-cost affiliate JetStar for getting around the country ... then making use of local day trip and tour providers to see what there is to see in a particular area.
With 3 full weeks at your disposal you'd be able to see quite a lot of the country without running yourselves ragged in the process and without having to rent a car if that's a concern.
Including Tasmania is a great suggestion. That's one place I'd suggest getting a rental car in order to maximize your enjoyment of some the prettiest national parks in the country.
Accommodations in and around Uluru tend to book up early so I wouldn't delay locking something in as soon as your dates are set.

AussieNomad, thank you for the recommendation of the tour company. I will forward it to my friend.

Thanks to all for your thoughts. I feel very much out of my element for this trip. Generally when I travel I come up with the destinations, decide on the itinerary, book everything, etc. My husband doesn’t really want to hear any details and is happy to go along with the plan. That makes my life easier. ;-) In this case my friend has invited me on this trip and it’s not in my control. I am happy to travel independently and drive when necessary. I’ve done it many times and feel comfortable doing so. Besides the occasional day trip I’ve never done any kind of organized tour. My friend is pretty firm on a portion of this trip being on a tour. We aren’t spring chickens, but we do like to be active. That said, she informed me that she’s physically not up to doing things that might be too difficult for her now. She has a foot problem and is not able to zip line or snorkel, things we did in Hawaii 7 years ago. That would probably include a lot of walking on rough terrain. Other than Sydney, Melbourne and the Great Barrier Reef she hasn’t mentioned anywhere specific, except when we spoke yesterday she wondered if Tasmania would be a good idea. I’ll check those tours to see if there’s a good one for there, and we could do the rest independently I think.

I will be seeing her in July and she indicated we could talk more about it then. Especially for a tour I think we need to get plans in order, but admittedly I do prefer to plan far ahead.

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

She has a foot problem and is not able to zip line or snorkel, things we did in Hawaii 7 years ago.

If you do end up going to the Great Barrier Reef then there are non-swimmer snorkelling options. I snorkelled with pneumonia! The day trip I did had a rope line snorkel trail. I hired a wetsuit which meant I couldn't sink and had a great time. The coral and fish were close enough to the surface that you only really need to put your head under the water briefly and you can pull yourself around using the ropes if you can't kick in flippers. They also had a glass bottom boat and underwater observatory so you can see a lot without even getting wet.

I'll second Nomad's suggestion about the excursion out to the GBR - it really is terrific.
If visiting Tasmania you'll have the choice of flying into Launceston or Hobart. Both cities are quite pretty in their own right and would make a good base for day trips. Hobart would be my suggestion only because it's closer to the old penal colony at Port Arthur which itself is worth a day trip.
The island isn't that big so you could cover much of it independently or as part of an organized tour if that's your preference.

Thanks for the additional information. I checked attkings.com and looked for a tour that I thought would give her the tour experience and still allow us to travel independently to other places. I found a 10 day tour called Tasmanian Wonders that looked interesting. We could do Melbourne, Sydney, the GBR and wherever else on our own and use day tours as desired. Apparently while I was doing this research my friend was busy checking out tours, because she texted me a link to the OAT tours and mentioned she is now considering going in April (fine with me) and is looking at a 30 day Australia, the Outback & New Zealand tour, plus extending the trip to Melbourne and the Outback which would add 5 days. I’ve never done a tour, but I’m thinking that 35 days of constantly relocating would be exhausting. Maybe people who have done long tours could weigh in with their thoughts. I sent her the link to the other tour company and proposed the Tasmania tour and additional travel on our own. She sounded interested in the flexibility we would have. The ATT Kings tours sound physically easier than other tours I’ve looked at and I mentioned that to her because of her limitations. She hadn’t considered that. As far as the GBR, maybe I could snorkel while she does the glass bottom boat. If she wants us to stick together I can just do the boat.

We have visited Australia twice and New Zealand once, both times in April/May and didn't find it too hot at all. Of course, I am from South Georgia and used to heat.

We did a great tour of the North Island of NZ with Trafalgar Tours and it was excellent, but expensive.

We found doing Australia on our own, sometimes taking day tours worked very well.

Our favorite places were
Sydney, easy to do on your own, but of course, taking a couple of day tours and a harbor cruise.
Melbourne, same there, but don't miss doing a two day tour to The Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island to see the Penguins.
Also, do vineyard tours from Melbourne and Sydney (the wine country is north of Sydney).
Perth is interesting for 2-3 days, but is it a five hour flight from Sydney.
Cairns is a must with the Great Barrier Reef.

Check the local tour companies on the internet, I don't remember any names.

Dont forget, Australia requires a visa.

Thanks for the reminder Mr. E.

I called AATKings and discovered that their tours are quite large. Traveling on a bus with 48 other people doesn’t sounds like my cup of tea at all. My friend found a company called Tour Radar that has a 10 day tour she’s interested in from Brisbane to Cairns that includes the GBR. There is a maximum of 16 people on the tour. That sounds so much better to me than a much larger group. I suspect she will want to do a tour of the Outback as well. We can definitely do Melbourne and Sydney on our own.

I discovered that Tour Radar is a consolidator who seems tours from other companies, in case anyone is interested. My friend will book directly through the actual tour company.

If you have a large budget then Outback Spirit tours would be a great option. My sister has done a couple of tours with them and they have small groups and luxury accommodation. https://www.outbackspirittours.com.au/tours/red-centre-explorer/#experiences

The description of this tour also gives good indication about walking requirements.

April would be a lovely time for Uluru as it shouldn't be too hot in the day and won't yet be getting cold at night.

I have mobility issues (severe arthritis and spinal problems) and would strongly recommend against a 35 day bus-based tour. I recently did a 10 day bus tour in Bulgaria and found climbing on and off the bus multiple times each day very difficult, plus the bus seat itself was very uncomfortable. But only your friend knows the limitations and abilities of her body.

You might want to have a close look at the travel times and stopovers in a tour from Brisbane to Cairns if it is done by road. The Bruce Highway that runs up the coast isn’t terribly scenic (I lived in central Queensland for many years and have driven it many times) and it takes more than 20 hours to drive that route. Also, the larger towns en route aren’t all that exciting if you are stopping in those. Of course there are some very nice places to see (when detouring off the main highway) - I’d just look closely at how much bus time/overnights in less interesting places.

Generally it’s thought to be better to fly between Brisbane (or Sydney) and Cairns and then spend more time in the north exploring rainforest, Daintree area, reef etc.

You will probably need a stinger vest in April on the GBR if swimming or snorkelling.

This is the tour I believe my friend has decided on. https://viatravel.com.au/tour/brisbane-to-daintree-rainforest-10-day-boutique-tour-2/

She has been adamant that we do a combination of tour(s) and independent travel. The thought of a long tour doesn’t appeal at all to me, so this is a good compromise. We will do Melbourne and Sidney on our own. I’m not sure how feasible doing the Outback on our own is. Maybe we can find a 4 day or so tour for that. I’m a bit disappointed that Tasmania seems to be off the table. Oh well, perhaps I will get the opportunity to go back another time with my husband.

Speaking about flying between destinations, does Australia have low cost airlines such as Easy Jet in Europe or Southwest Airlines in the U.S.? I would like to look at the options of how to get between places. This isn’t my trip to plan, but I just can’t help myself to at least do some research.

Eatsrootandleaves - Please excuse my ignorance, but what is a stinger vest and why would it be needed?

Jetstar are usually the cheapest internal flight option.
Sorry Andrea should've explained. Stingers are jellyfish, pretty much transparent in the water. They can do some serious nasties with their tentacles. They are common in the northern waters from (I think) December to April.
You will have no issue getting protective gear in those parts.

You mentioned an "Outback" tour. Has your friend any particular thing in mind? The area referred to as the "Outback" is an area of around 5 to 6 million square kms (about 1/2 the size of the USA).
Trigger towns are Kalgoorlie, Alice Springs, Broken Hill. Probably the most popular tourist destination in that vastness is Uluru.

Thanks Eatsrootsandleaves, I’ll check out Jetstar. To be honest, I’m not sure exactly what my friend has in mind but has mentioned Ayers Rock and Uluru. At least I think that’s it. I know I saw a couple of tours that start in Alice Springs. It might be a challenge to coordinate two different tours in addition to our time seeing other places on our own.

Thanks, Tom. She initially talked about 3 weeks, but I suspect we might be there longer. I’m not in a position to dictate to her where we go and she zeroed in on the tour I linked above. Money doesn’t seem to be an issue and the odds are that it’s unlikely she would have the opportunity or desire to go to Indonesia or other tropical countries to see something similar.

I assume we will either start in Sydney or Melbourne and end up in the one we didn’t start in. I’ve already told her that I feel comfortable driving if she wants to do some part of this as a road trip. When I told her of my experiences of driving on the left she was surprised to find out they drive on the left in Australia. :-)

I would be interested in hearing how best to organize time to see the Red Centre on our own. Is that the same area as Uluru?

I haven’t heard of Via Travel, but I think the itinerary for your tour sounds quite good, with the flight part of the way.

Re airlines flying domestically - Webjet.com.au does a nice search of them for comparison of prices and times. Jetstar and Virgin generally have base fares and then you need to pay for checked luggage, Qantas usually includes checked luggage in fares. Carry on sizes and weights are small compared to international standards and it is not unusual for these to be enforced, so best to check these on their websites.

Personally I wouldn't feel comfortable suggesting travelling to Alice Springs for female travellers. Certainly some of the noise about it's violent crime is media beat up but it does comfortably sit in the top 20 of the World's most violent locations.

Re an Outback tour. Maybe the Flinders Ranges, not far from Adelaide, stunning scenery, just a thought.

Tom. I was in Jindabyne a year ago, all was OK. Regarding the forests of Oz. Close to Melbourne the forests from Kinglake through Toolangi, Healesville, Warburton and into Gippsland are among the world's finest. Australia's highest tree (a mountain ash) was in protected water catchment near Wallaby Creek near Kinglake West. Unfortunately it was damaged during the tragic Black Saturday fires some years back.

This area and also the Dandenong Ranges offer a fantastic relief from the hustle and bustle of the Melbourne rat race. I highly recommend a visit to some of these areas Andrea.

Andrea - stinger suits are a light weight garment worn over a standard swimming suit to prevent stings by lethal jellyfish. Like a very light wetsuit. The GBR tour companies are required to provide them during stinger season. Not uncomfortable or disruptive for snorkeling and swimming at all.

I did swim into a group of jellies when on a snorkel trip off Cairns. Box type, I didn’t see them until I was in their midst.

https://wetsuitwarehouse.com.au/pages/pages-wetsuit_warehouse_lycra_stinger_suits_wetsuits_faq

I also hiked in the Dandenong Ranges, as suggested above. I used public transport from Melbourne and back, called an Uber as the train line was temporarily and unexpectedly service delayed. Easy to do.

If looking for a bit more activity than your standard bus tour Andrea, you might check out Backroads. They have been around forever and are highly regarded (but I have never used them personally).
My cousin owns the largest travel agency to trips to Australia and NZ on the west coast called Down Under Answers if you decide that route. My cousin Kirk arranged a wonderful trip for us a number of years ago.

Thanks everyone. It looks like I have more homework to do.

Yes Eucy Ragnans Tom.
The Wallaby Creek trees were about 300 years old with many over 80 metres and a bunch exceeding 90 metres. They are now giant toothpicks with low growth.
No public access although a local mountain runner who looked a lot like me might have snuck in there to check them out many years ago.
Many areas of spectacular displays of Ragnans of 70 to 90 metres near Melbourne. The Black Spur Rd perhaps the best known.

Andrea if you choose to stay in Melbourne and have a car then a drive to Healesville and a loop via Mt Donna Buang, Warburton, The Acheron Way, Narbethong, Black Spur, Fearnshaw and back to Healesville is about as beautiful as it gets.
Healesville is also home to a famous wildlife sanctuary.
As Ord said (the closer) Dandenong Ranges can be reached by public transport. Trains to Ferntree Gully, Upwey and Belgrave. A narrow gauge steam train called Puffing Billy runs from Belgrave through the forest.

The Healesville Sanctuary was my absolute favorite of many zoos and animal sanctuaries I've visited in Australia. Really a wonderful collection of Aussie animals and excellent educational programming. I learned a lot about platypus in the demo as well as the seeing so many nocturnal animals and raptors!

As noted above, Puffing Billy is reachable by public transport. I think I preferred hiking, but take a look at the website - it is a nice ride through the forest if hiking isn't your (or your companion's) "thing".

Tom, what a coincidence you mentioned the convict information because I just heard of that today on an episode of Finding Your Roots.