Visiting Australia - any advice?

I would avoid the GC if you are not a party/Theme Park enthusiast 

 

Head South and visit the most liveable City in the world, Melbourne.

 

The weather in Cairns at this time of year is starting to get unstable and just gets worse until April next year.

go to the gold coast if you want to party, maybe do one theme park, but i would rather go further north to enjoy the beaches and snorkeling/diving at the great barrier reef which would be amazing.


You can try melbourne, which is nice and chilled compared to sydney, good cafes, bars etc.

Overall you'll love australia - its a very friendly, open minded and multicultural country (less so as you deviate further away from the coastal regions).


PM me if you're looking for anything specific, e.g. stores etc.

Don't go to Cairns in February, as it is summer and so it is stinking hot and humid, and more importantly, it will be "stinger season", when you stand a considerably higher chance of being stung - possibly fatally - by jellyfish.

If you do visit Australia, put a post in the Australian Members thread listing dates and cities and some of us might be able to catch up with you.

Agreed. Look at what happened to Steve Irwin and he was almost invincible in the wild.

That's a good call, it starts to cool off in May. Feel free to pop in to the Aus Member's thread in MC if you have any more questions, responses will be faster there.

If you drive the coast, expect to drive very slowly compared to the US. I was surprised when I realized there weren't major highways. Brisbane was probably my favorite city, although I did not get to spend much time in Melbourne.

If you really want to appreciate the trip then I'd highly recommend hiring a car.

If you are a beachy person but not into tacky tourism and nightclubs then skip The G.C. Between Sydney and Brisbane are some beautiful beaches and small cities/towns and there are no dangerous stingers at any time of the year and Feb is great beach weather.

In the northern suburbs of Sydney is a very fun beach suburb called Manly, it's worth a day and a night. Then about two hours north of Sydney is Gosford which is a pretty laid back town and is close to some excellent beaches, again worth a day or two. Then just North you've got Lake Macquarie which is quite picturesque and good for watersports. If you want to continue up the Pacific Highway you'll find numerous smaller towns with great beaches, if you want I can recommend some as I've probably been to them all. Closer to the QLD border the hinterland is very nice, national parks, lots of small dairy farming communities and the leftovers from the 60s 70s counter culture, again if you are interested I can recommend something more specific.

Now if you want something a little different then turn left on Route 82 off the Pacific Highway and head for Cessnock which is the start of the Hunter Valley wine country. Between and around Cessnock in the South and Singleton in the North there are dozens and dozens of small and large wineries, probably in the top two or three wine regions in Australia. You can then take the New England Highway (Route 15) to Toowoomba which is just west of Brisbane. It is usually quicker than the Pacific Highway because there is less traffic, however at most towns on the Route 15 you can swing right and only be a few hours from the coast.

Driving from Sydney to Brisbane on the New England Highway only takes 12 hours give or take if you only stop for petrol (gas) and food, so if you have a week or more you can see and do a lot of stuff in the area and I would really recommend the trip.

North of Brisbane the places of interest are the Sunshine Coast, smallish cities and towns and superb beaches, Maroochydore and Noosa/Tewantin are probably the picks. Then next there is the cream of the crop if you like unspoiled beaches and nature, Fraser Island which is the largest sand island in the world. It can be problematic as you need a 4 wheel drive to really appreciate it. North of Fraser is the start of The Great Barrier Reef and between there and Cairns once again you have a series of small towns and cities both rural and coastal to choose from.

Brisbane to Cairns is about an 18 hoursish direct drive no stops (haven't driven it for years so might be different these days) and the majority of the interesting places are on the coast.

Depending on how much time you have I would recommend choosing one section Syd~Bris Bris~Cairns or the other, or driving Syd~Bris and then fly to Cairns.

The recommendation to go to Melbourne is a good one if you like city vacations, Sydney is also fun, and even though I'm from Brisbane and I think it's the best city in Australia to live in I wouldn't really recommend it for a vacation.

I know a lot about the area from The Sunshine Coast (north of Brisbane) to south of Sydney, and quite a bit about North Queensland so If you have any specific questions I'd be happy to help out. It would be helpful if you let me know what kind of stuff you enjoy doing on vacation, travelling by yourself/ with familly etc.
Edited by Fang66 - 11/5/12 at 2:57am

No, The reef proper doesn't really start until North of Fraser. Fraser is the destination for fishing, deserted beaches, crystal clear lakes, camping etc, The Whitsundays is a sailing Mecca.

If you are into diving I recommend Cairns, you can take day trips to the outer reef, which I've done a few times, it is fantastic. There are also some small islands near cairns within an easy boat ride that have unique diving attractions. Fitzroy Island sounds like the ticket for you, 45 minutes from Cairns, it is attractive to young single travellers from all over the world. There's a good dive school/shop, you can stay in beach shacks with other young people, a backpackers place and I think recently they've built apartment style accommodation. There is a central open air cooking and dining place where people gather in the daytime and a bar at night. I had a great time there in my 20s. The snorkeling and scuba diving are very good, coral is fine and there's a wide variety of fish species. Might see sea turtles if you're lucky. Pretty sure there are daily boats from Fitzroy to the outer reef as well.

One point though, you need a diving licence to rent tanks. You can get one on Fitzroy, it takes about 3 or 4 days. If you don't have one doing the course is also a good way to meet other travellers.

everything closes at 5

lol yes but give Sydney ~20 more years to catch up on non-clubbing nightlife

That's N.Z.