who's been to Australia?

Hi all, talking over possibly going to Australia on vacation with dh. It's a lot to sort through, which cities to visit, how many days in each etc. We would like to spend a lot of time snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef. We'd also be interested in a tour.

Any advice would be most appreciated!

Re: who's been to Australia?

We went to Australia on our HM.

5 nights in Sydney
5 nights outside of Cairns (Great Barrier Reef)
1 night LA to visit family on the way home

Our flight & hotel package included a side trips to the Blue Mountains, Bondi Beach, Kuranda (?) rainforest and a snorkeling trip to the reef. We spent most of the time doing our own things; we were definitely not on a tour. We enjoyed the trip to the reef so much that we booked a second, smaller reef trip on our own.

We did not go to Uluru or any other cities in Australia. With two weeks, we really had to limit what we could see. I had a very hard time adjusting to the time difference and fell asleep on a sunset cruise of Sydney harbour.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip!

Re: who's been to Australia?

thanks for the info! i was afraid of that, the 2 weeks not being able to see ayers rock etc.

did u feel u needed 5 nights in sydney?
do you mind if i ask how you booked your package and with whom?

Re: who's been to Australia?

For us, 5 nights in Sydney was perfect. I had a really hard time adjusting to the time change and slept a lot, but still had time to see a lot of the city. We definitely didn't see everything, but we were happy with what we did see.

OK, I pulled out my HM scrapbook. Here's what we did:
Day 1 - fly to LA & depart for Sydney
Day 2 - in flight
Day 3 - arrive Sydney, slept, wandered around hotel neighborhood
Day 4 - Manly beach and city on our own
Day 5 - Tour to Bondi beach, then shopping on our own
Day 6 - Wandered city on our own
Day 7 - Blue Mountains tour with wildlife park and quick stop at Olympic stadium
Day 8 - fly to Cairns
Day 9 - Kuranda rainforest tour and aboriginial park
Day 10 - first reef snorkeling trip
Day 11 - wandered around Cairns, hung out at hotel pool and beach
Day 12 - second reef snorkeling trip
Day 13 - fly to LA
Day 13 (counting it twice!) - slept & visited family in LA
Day 14 - visited family in LA, left for NY
Day 15 - arrive NY, slept


One of the days was taken up by traveling between Sydney and Cairns. I think it was about a three-hour flight.

We booked through Qantas Vacations. I found the package online, but spoke with them over the phone quite a bit to finalize the details. We extended our stay for both legs of the trip and upgraded both hotels. Our package included full breakfast daily and all airport transfers in Australia.

We've casually discussed going back for our 5th anniversary next year.

Re: who's been to Australia?

thanks so much for all the info and advice! i'm going to check out Quantas. sounds like u guys had a blast

Re: who's been to Australia?

Message edited 9/17/2011 1:27:55 AM.

Re: who's been to Australia?

I wanted to add that my husband dealt with 3 travel agents here who were really trying to jerk him around with the airfare to Australia and even LA trying to make a package deal so we booked it ourselves through Qantas.

He then booked all of the inside flights, tours, hotels etc. with a travel agent IN Australia over the phone/internet.

If you decide to go, have a great time.

Re: who's been to Australia?

Re: who's been to Australia?

I live in Sydney, so if you have any questions feel free to ask me.

Since you are interested in the Great Barrier Reef I suggest staying in Port Douglas. Cairns is nice, but on a mud flat and most of the reefs are very touristy and have been damaged. I have not been to Port Douglas, but drove through it and it is amazing. The reefs are less damaged there.

There is a good zoo in Cairns where you can actually hold a koala. I forget the name of it. You can't hold a koala anywhere else in Australia except Queensland.

If you go to Cairns / Port Douglas I highly suggest taking a rainforest tour in combination with some tour on the Daintree. There are plenty to choose from. We had a very knowledgeable guide who told us a lot of info about the rainforest and we even saw a Cassowary in the wild, which is really rare.

If you are primarily interested in diving, have you considered the Whitsundays? You can get do a diving tour for a few days. I wanted to do this but it was too expensive for us.

What time of year are you going? July and August is the time you don't have to wear stinger suits. Other time you have to wear a suit as there are deadly box jellyfish.

Uluru (called also Ayers Rock, but please refer to it as Uluru as it is sacred to the Aboriginal people and that is its name) I have heard is good for one day. You will pay a lot to fly out there, but there is not much to see after you see it.

If you go to Sydney, please try to do an overnight trip to the Blue Mountains or Hunter Valley.

If you need any recommendations for restaurants in Sydney, please ask me. The same for the Blue Mountains.

In Sydney 5 days is enough to see things. Some must-sees I suggest:
The Bondi to Bronte walk
Taronga Zoo
Featherdale Park (I think this is better than Taronga)
The Aquarium at Darling Harbour (Don't waste your time with Wildlife World)
The Botanical Gardens with Lady Macquarie's Chair
The Opera House (on the ferry to Taronga you will get some great views of it)
The Harbour Bridge. If you are adventurous you can do a bridge climb or you can just do the Pylons.
The Rocks (where the first European settlement was built)
Manly
I did a three hour cruise around the Harbour with my mom and she loved it. I did the Captain Cook coffee cruise. It was $50, but worth it.
Shopping in Newtown and there are some great restaurants there. But be careful there are a lot of thieves here.
Oxford Street in Paddington is good for shopping.

Keep in mind things are expensive here.

I may have left stuff out, but feel free to FM me, I've lived here for 4 years.

Re: who's been to Australia?

thanks so much for your info! I'll definitely contact you before we make plans