Need advice on Australia tours

My 6 tours with Rick Steves have spoiled me, too.
I have done 2 tours with RoadScholar and 1 with Odysseys Unlimited that were reasonable replacements for places RS doesn't go. Have a look and see if either has an itinerary that suits.

I’ll second the Road Scholar suggestion. I just traveled with them in October and the trip was small group and first rate fun. I’ve booked two more with them for 2022!

barb,
We visited Australia twice and on the second trip, also visited New Zealand.

Both times we connected with cruises as well as spending touring by land. The first trip we flew into Perth on the west coast prior to our cruise, toured, the the cruise took us to several ports over the top of Australia and east coast (also two days in Bali, Indonesia), ending in Sydney. Then we spend five days in Sydney.

The second trip, we flew into Melbourne, spend about five days there as well as touring south of that city, then back to Sydney (our cruise to NZ was cancelled, so we found a week long tour of the north island of NZ ending in Wellington, spent another couple of nights there, then back to Sydney and a few days later picked up our TransPacific cruise from Sydney to Seattle.

Here are detailed reviews of our trips, much is discussed on lodging, meals, tours, etc.
Australia
http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=216863

Melbourne, New Zealand and Explorer of the Seas TransPacific cruise
https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=620702&et_cid=3065755&et_rid=17221689&et_referrer=Boards

Some tips on Australia:
(1) It is a very large country, our flight from Sydney to Perth (across the country) was five hours long, like flying from the east coast of the USA to LA.
(2) Australia and NZ are not real expensive places, but a bit more expensive than you might think. Do your research on lodging and you will save.
(3) The people are wonderful, loved that part of the trip. They are helpful and friendly, so if you need help, don't hesitate to ask.
(4) Some must see places in Australia are the Great Barrier Reef off the northeast shore of the country. Try to spend a couple of days at least in that area. The reef was the one thing we missed on our trips. Other places are the Blue Mountains, just west of Sydney, the Great Ocean Highway and Phillip Island (for the penguins) south of Melbourne. Perth is great, but out of the way. We couldn't make the south island of NZ, but loved NZ.
(5) Flights fro LAX to Sydney are 14-15 hours and brutal. Therefore, if you do go to Australia and/or NZ, try to spend a good amount of time there. Our last trip was 7 weeks (23 days of that was on the cruise home).
(6) You can do a lot in these countries on your own. Although, for some areas, you probably need to check out local tours.

Without any English language barrier I found it easy to plan it all myself for my solo 3 weeks, Australia only, celebration of my 65th year. (This was pre-Covid, so maybe the support of a tour for navigating whatever things are like would be reassuring.)
Distances are vast. This was repeatedly emphasized on advice forums. Unless you use a cruise I assume tours fly between various cities, too? Trip Advisor, at the time, had some really helpful Australian posters and even looking at archived itinerary threads would be helpful. Maybe there's tour suggestions there, too
My personal goal was Uluru, and learning as much as I could about aboriginal history, culture and art. I hired a number of local guides in other locations. Do you have very specific interests as I did or want to see as much as possible?
What an incredible trip you will have!

Thanks so much for all the great ideas! There are certainly a lot of adventurous travelers out there. I'm finally taking a 30-day trip to Great Britain that I planned myself and rescheduled 5 times since covid! It's essentially Rick's Heart of England and Scotland tours combined, all planned with his guide book of course. But I have such a greater appreciation for his turnkey tours now. It was so much work! I will check into everyone's suggestions once I'm back from GB in April and ready for the next trip. Thanks again to everyone!

Odysseys Unlimited has a combined, small group tour of Australia and New Zealand:

https://odysseys-unlimited.com/tours/australia-the-south-pacific/

We had planned a tour to Australia and New Zeeland with OAT (Overseas Adventure Tours) but cancelled our planning because of Covid. Now just waiting for Australia and New Zeeland to open up to tourists. We have previously traveled with OAT and RS. OAT is similar to RS in many ways but they do handle all luggage and will arrange air transportation if you so desire. Two negatives, OAT still expects tipping for the tour guides and they issue credits instead of refunds if they cancel a trip.

These tours are very similar to the RS tours, although unfortunately they only seem to offer one very expensive tour in Australia.....

https://www.insightvacations.com/en-ca/search?text=australia&brands=Insight+Vacations%2CLuxury+Gold

They seem to have more tours of New Zealand in a more reasonable price range.

I lived 3 years in Australia more than 10 years ago and have returned a few times since then, back and forth across the continent a couple times, visiting many the major cities and sites. For my money, the most underrated city of all is Canberra. Undoubtedly, the “bush capital” has grown from the sleepy backwater town it was to a city more recognizable as the nation’s capital, but it keeps its personality and charm. Some great museums, beautiful green spaces, and wonderful food for me make it a destination worth 2-3 days, even on a short trip. Everyone has pointed out the country’s highlights, and there are many, but I’d also add a train trip on the Ghan or the Indian Pacific. The Ghan runs north - south and the Indian Pacific from east to west. Both trips are a couple of days, and they may not fit into a short trip, but both are great ways to spend time seeing the country from the ground level.

Just one more note—you’ll be happiest with more time there, not just to see more, but to adjust to the time change. It takes a day a time zone to adjust fully, so compressing your trip into lots of locations in a few days will wear you down. If you can wrangle more time, you won’t regret it. If you can’t, select your destinations strategically. Australia is a big place, and it takes more time to get from city to city or region to region than you’d think. Piling lots of long in-country trips on top of your long, long flight isn’t a good idea. If you can possibly afford business class, do it. Fifteen to 20 hours in coach leaves you feeling, and looking, like an accordion.

I suggest staying alert to the ways Australia and New Zealand are not alike. For instance, NZ is not right next door; it's a long(ish) flight. It also has a more temperate climate with fewer of Australia's extremes. The Aboriginal inhabitants have different cultures. New Zealanders are less likely to boast about descent from deported prisoners (yes, there were some convicts, maybe passed on from Australia, but I think that there is less cowboy-style romance.)
Anywhere you go, in either Commonwealth, will be great and far too much to fully understand in two weeks. I'd pick a few key spots and stay long enough to acquire a real feel for the place.

Colin Mairs, a Rick Steves guide for Scotland, operates a company called Mondumo Small Group Tours that offers tours of Australia and New Zealand. I took a tour of New Zealand with him in 2019 -- I loved Colin and loved the tour. I don't think he has any tour dates set up now, but if you go to his website, you can request to be on his mailing list for notifications of when tours are scheduled. I'd imagine he'll be doing them again in 2023 (fingers crossed).

Just curious, but are you proposing to visit during the Autumn of '23 in the northern hemisphere or when it's Autumn in Australia?
Solo traveler?
Willing to a car or relying on public transportation?

Frank II is it possible to take Odyssey tours without using their airfare?

2 weeks in Australia you will struggle to see that much particularly if you try to add in New Zealand as well.

Cala—-the Odysseys tour webpage for dates and prices says to call them for “land only” (without airfare) prices. So, it is possible to book the tour without airfare.