Australia - draft itinerary

[skalexander]

Happy new year Dibbers!

I'm looking at doing a trip to Australia in November. Its one I've talked about for years, so I'm super excited that its (hopefully) going to happen. I've found flights, and I will have 18 nights available. I'd be grateful for feedback on my draft itinerary:-

Fly into Melbourne
2 nights Melbourne
1 night Phillip Island
1 night Great Ocean Road
1 night Melbourne Airport (we will arrive late)
Fly to Uluru - spend 2 nights
Fly to Sydney - spend 4 nights
Fly to Hamilton Island - spend 3 nights
Fly to Brisbane
2 nights Lamington National Park
2 nights Gold Coast
Fly home from Brisbane

The other option I am considering is doing Heron Island instead of Hamilton Island. It is less accessible, as we'd have to fly to Gladstone and get a ferry to Heron Island, but it would potentially be a better reef experience.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. It is so hard trying to cram a huge country with so many things to offer into 18 nights!

[mickeyspal]

The only problem I can really see is that because of the amount of flights you will lose a lot of your days sitting in airports and on planes.
We did a similar thing 18 years ago. We went for 3 weeks but saw quite a lot here's what we did
Flew to Sydney and slept, got up mid afternoon and went to Manly on the ferry
Next day flew to Brisbane and hired a car for 4 days toured all around the gold coast
Flew to Cairns for 3 days , did great barrier reef and rainforest
Flew to Ayres rock and hired a car had one night there, one night in kings canyon and one night in Alice springs.
Flew to Melbourne and picked up motor home. Spent 6 days touring from there to Sydney.
2 nights in Sydney and flew home.
It was fabulous

[dizzymcfarlane]

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1156506

I’ve posted similar in the past couple of days and got a very helpful reply. Hope this helps but will watch this one with interest

[skalexander]

Originally Posted by dizzymcfarlane

https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1156506

I’ve posted similar in the past couple of days and got a very helpful reply. Hope this helps but will watch this one with interest

See more...

Thank you. I had read that thread but your plans are quite different to mine, which is why I started a different thread.

[Hudson]

We did a similar Australian itinerary to yourselves. However, we did a few days on both Hamilton Island and Hayman Island, helicopter transfers to Hayman Island.
We had a great day out to Whitehaven beach on the sailboat Banjo Paterson from Hayman, definitely recommended.
We rented a little motor boat on Hayman Island and sailed to some of the little uninhabited islands nearby. The snorkeling was great off the little islands. We had a picnic made up for us by the hotel and ate it on a spit of sand in the middle of ocean.

[Guest]

I am very familiar with Australia having lived there for some years. My thoughts..

I wasn’t sure what you mean by one night on Great Ocean Road, people usually drive this from A to B, are you planning on driving to somewhere and then back again? I would try to find somewhere more interesting to stay than Melbourne Airport too, can you not get to your next destination rather than stay at the airport.

I think your nights at Uluru, Sydney and Hamilton Island all look good, I wouldn’t complicate with Heron Island though, do either Hamilton or Hayman, I did Hayman, which is a short flight from Sydney to Hamilton and than a boat to Hayman.

I have honestly never heard of and never heard anyone I know in Australia mention Lamington a National Park. To be honest I would ditch anything to do with Brisbane, it is no holiday destination as far as I am concerned. We like the Gold Coast, but it is a bit marmite.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the number of flights in your itinerary, it is like getting a bus in Australia. I have flown literally hundreds of times within Australia, you could turn up at the airport fifteen minutes ahead of your flight (although I would personally give it at least thirty minutes).

[skalexander]

Originally Posted by Claudette

I am very familiar with Australia having lived there for some years. My thoughts..

I wasn’t sure what you mean by one night on Great Ocean Road, people usually drive this from A to B, are you planning on driving to somewhere and then back again? I would try to find somewhere more interesting to stay than Melbourne Airport too, can you not get to your next destination rather than stay at the airport.

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We were going to drive to Apollo Bay, stay overnight and drive to Phillip Island (taking the ferry). We'd booked the overnight at Melbourne Airport purely because the following day we have a 9am flight to Ayers Rock.

Originally Posted by Claudette

I think your nights at Uluru, Sydney and Hamilton Island all look good, I wouldn’t complicate with Heron Island though, do either Hamilton or Hayman, I did Hayman, which is a short flight from Sydney to Hamilton and than a boat to Hayman.

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I did look some more at Heron Island and it seems such a faff, so I'm glad your advice is on a par with that

Originally Posted by Claudette

I have honestly never heard of and never heard anyone I know in Australia mention Lamington a National Park. To be honest I would ditch anything to do with Brisbane, it is no holiday destination as far as I am concerned. We like the Gold Coast, but it is a bit marmite.

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Where would you suggest we go instead? Maybe Cairns/Port Douglas, and we can see the Daintree Rainforest? Or anywhere else? We can obviously move the order of places around.

Originally Posted by Claudette

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the number of flights in your itinerary, it is like getting a bus in Australia. I have flown literally hundreds of times within Australia, you could turn up at the airport fifteen minutes ahead of your flight (although I would personally give it at least thirty minutes).

See more...

Thank you for that, I was hoping that was the case Flights are so cheap as well! E.g. £88 from Melbourne to Ayers Rock - I've paid more from the IOM to Manchester!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by skalexander

We were going to drive to Apollo Bay, stay overnight and drive to Phillip Island (taking the ferry). We'd booked the overnight at Melbourne Airport purely because the following day we have a 9am flight to Ayers Rock.



I did look some more at Heron Island and it seems such a faff, so I'm glad your advice is on a par with that



Where would you suggest we go instead? Maybe Cairns/Port Douglas, and we can see the Daintree Rainforest? Or anywhere else? We can obviously move the order of places around.



Thank you for that, I was hoping that was the case Flights are so cheap as well! E.g. £88 from Melbourne to Ayers Rock - I've paid more from the IOM to Manchester!

See more...

I don't know Melbourne so well, we never really liked it much, I thought I would love it, in fact it is where I would have picked to live (before I went there). We did enjoy Ballarat and Sovereign Hill though, it is about 90 minutes from Melbourne if you have time.

I didn't mean to put you off Lamington, I just honestly have never heard anyone mention it.

Cairns / Port Douglas / Daintree and really anywhere FNQ is fantastic and I couldn't recommend it highly enough. For me it would be the top place I would recommend on a single trip to Australia. We prefer to stay in Port Douglas than Cairns but it is no big deal, the roads are good between the two and empty so very easy drive. We used to go to FNQ every Easter. One year we stayed at a wonderful eco lodge called Silky Oaks Lodge which is in Mossman a touch further north than Port Douglas.

If you buy your flights well in advance, it is easy to find cheap ones, they will increase closer to the time and also a lot of business people travel so flights between 6-8am will be expensive and then from about 5:30pm - 7pm. I regularly did day trips for work to both Melbourne and Brisbane from Sydney and the flights will be packed during commuter times.

[MinniMouse]

Just wanted to add we are just back from a trip to Oz to visit DD. We flew into Adelaide for 9 nights then flew to Sydney for 3 nights then back to Adelaide for a night before flying home.

I wouldn't worry about too many flights internally. Our DD said it's like jumping on a train here. We turned up half hour before our flight to Sydney, went through one lot of security (if travelling internationally you have to go through 2 lots of security). You can take any liquids on board too. Didn't even have to show a passport! Very easy to fly from one city to another.

Edit: if you are looking for restaurant recommendations you must go to Mr Wong's in Sydney. It would be in the top 5 meals we've ever had. There's also an amazing bar round the back Palmer & Co. Other highlights in Sydney bridge climb (DH AND DD did it), La Boheme at the Sydney Opera House with drinks after, overlooking the bridge, free walking tour (2 tours a day, leave outside city hall, they take tips) and the botanic gardens are worth a walk.

[Tinkerbell 1]

We went to Australia last Feb my sister lives in Sydney. We spent some time in Sydney, few days in Jarvis Bay, few days in Port Stephen, Hunter Valley. We also went to Hamilton Island for five days, I loved it, my fave place in the world so far and we’ve travelled quite a bit.

My sister went to Hayman Island for Christmas and new year it just re opened as it was damaged in a storm. She said it was better than Hamilton.

Looks like I’ll be going to Melbourne with work in April so I’m hoping to tag on 4 days and do something, not sure what yet though.