Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Day trip to Great Barrier Reef - from cities other than Cairns/Port Douglas

My question is whether one can have a (one whole day) combined air trip to some airport near the Great Barrier Reef, and then some surface transporation/boat transportation from there to the Great Barrier Reef.

In particular, I am wondering if such tour packages are available from Sydney or Brisbane as the departing cities.

My question is whether one can have a (one whole day) combined air trip to some airport near the Great Barrier Reef, and then some surface transporation/boat transportation from there to the Great Barrier Reef.

In particular, I am wondering if such tour packages are available from Sydney or Brisbane as the departing cities.

I highly doubt this is even possible with flight timetables etc. The return trip would be about 6.5 hours by air from Sydney 4.5 from Brisbane. The last QF flight out of CNS for SYD is at 1610 and to BNE it's at 1705. Most of those trips out to the reef are all day events and would not get you back in time for your return flight.

Is there a reason why there is such a rush?

I highly doubt this is even possible with flight timetables etc. The return trip would be about 6.5 hours by air from Sydney 4.5 from Brisbane. The last QF flight out of CNS for SYD is at 1610 and to BNE it's at 1705. Most of those trips out to the reef are all day events and would not get you back in time for your return flight.

Is there a reason why there is such a rush?

With our limited time (1 week) outside of Sydney (1 week at a timeshare there), I have to decide where we are going to stay.

Options include staying at Brisbane, Cairns, and Ayers Rock. Trying to stay at all 3 places in a week may be possible, but possibly too much rush. If we only stay at one other place besides Cairns, would your recommend Brisbane, or Ayers Rock, or do you think it would be possible to visit all 3 places within a week?

The GBR accessed from Cairns is one of the most spectacular sights in the world and should not be missed. Ayers Rock on the other hand, while spectacular, is best viewed by renting the National Geographic video. Getting there is a lot of trouble and expense.

I suggest that you rent a car while you are still in Sydney and drive to Canberra for a couple of days, and then return to Sydney via the Western route and the Blue Mountains. Extend you drive to the Hunter Valley.

Then spend about 3-4 nights in Cairns.

Of the three places you mention (Cairns, Ayres Rock, Brisbane), I think I'd put Brisbane at the bottom of the list in absolute terms, unless you have a special reason for going there. It's a city in the subtropics, not unpleasant and with some interesting things to see, but it's not a "must see" for someone with just a week in Australia outside Sydney. (As a city, I wouldn't rate it as being as interesting as Melbourne or Adelaide, for exampe.) I'd definitely put Cairns at the top of the list of the three. Ayres Rock is of course worth seeing, and it would give you a small taste of the interior of Australia, but as Bondiboy says, it takes a long time to get there for the one sight. Whether that time (and trouble) is worth it during just one week is something to be thought about, I guess.

What you could do, if you really want to go to Brisbane, would be to fly from Sydney to Brisbane and spend, say, two nights there, and then fly on to Cairns. You could spend the week in Cairns: it is not one of the world's top tourist destinations for no reason, but it rather depends what you want to do with your week. You could also extend your time in New South Wales and so spend more time in places such as Canberra (actually in the Australian Capital Territory, so pace any Canberra people reading!), the Blue Mountains, the Hunter Valley, the South Coast, the Barrington Tops, the wine-growing areas of Mudgee and Orange....

What time of year are you going to be in Australia? That makes a difference to what you might do too. (For example, the far north has only two seasons and is at its best in the southern winter, which is the dry season... Places like Orange and Mudgee are cold and gloomy in the winter... And so on...)

With our limited time (1 week) outside of Sydney (1 week at a timeshare there), I have to decide where we are going to stay.

Options include staying at Brisbane, Cairns, and Ayers Rock. Trying to stay at all 3 places in a week may be possible, but possibly too much rush. If we only stay at one other place besides Cairns, would your recommend Brisbane, or Ayers Rock, or do you think it would be possible to visit all 3 places within a week?

What's the reasoning behind Brisbane? It's not a particularly interesting city.

Have you considered Melbourne for a few days? I wouldn't bother with Ayers Rock it's very expensive to get to/and stay at.

What's the reasoning behind Brisbane? It's not a particularly interesting city.

Have you considered Melbourne for a few days? I wouldn't bother with Ayers Rock it's very expensive to get to/and stay at.

Is not the Gold Coast, with all the resorts, not too far from Brisbane?

Is not the Gold Coast, with all the resorts, not too far from Brisbane?

The Gold Coast is about an hour south of Brisbane. Just be warned that the GC is fairly tacky. If you want a resort you might be better off heading to one of the islands on the GBR.

Is not the Gold Coast, with all the resorts, not too far from Brisbane?
I agree with bensyd that a resort in north Queensland might be preferable. You also might prefer the Sunshine Coast, about an hour or an hour and a half north of Brisbane; it is generally more pleasant and less overtly commercial.

You can fly to either the Sunshine Coast or the Gold Coast from Sydney: Coolangatta on the Gold Coast is an international airport with plenty of flights from Sydney, and Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast is also served direct from Sydney.

I agree with bensyd that a resort in north Queensland might be preferable. You also might prefer the Sunshine Coast, about an hour or an hour and a half north of Brisbane; it is generally more pleasant and less overtly commercial.

You can fly to either the Sunshine Coast or the Gold Coast from Sydney: Coolangatta on the Gold Coast is an international airport with plenty of flights from Sydney, and Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast is also served direct from Sydney.

AC offers combined fares with QF - one can go to Sydney, Cairns, and Brisbane (and stopover in all 3 cities). I do not think AC offers any combined fares allowing stopovers in the above 2 cities, but I will check.

Ayers Roock Cairns is perfect for a week - I did this a few years ago with my 70 year old in-laws and it was great.

Day 1 - AM flight from Sydney to Ayers Rock
PM visit of the Olgas and Sunset over the rock
Day 2 - AM sunrise over the rock and walk around the rock & visitors center
PM drive to Kings Canyon
Day 3 - AM visit Kings Canyon (WOW and quite accessible for the oldies)
PM drive to Alice Springs, evening in Alice
Day 4 - Midday flight from Alice Springs to Cairns,
PM drove to Daintree (90 minutes), quite a contrast
Day 5 - AM guided visit of the rain-forest with a Ranger/Botanist
PM - drive back to Cairns plus R&R
Day 6 - All day tour of the Reef
PM back in Cairns
Day 7 - Off to Sydney

Sounds tiring but it wasn't and 6 years later we still have incredible memories of that week and regular dinner table conversations.

Admittedly the Alice/Ayers Rock bit was an organised tour staying in special purpose camping grounds (as more of a 5 Star Hotel person I was rather horrified at the idea but the whole tour was incredible with the BBQ dinners organised by the guide and the fixed out-of-Africa style tents it was very pleasant).

You could probably also stay three nights around Daintree Rainforest and have a Barrier Reef excursion organised from there (e.g. Port Douglas) all sorts of different styles/standards of accomodation exist up there.

Cairns in and of itself is not really worth visiting but it is a good base - I agree with the others that Brisbane is a bit of a dissapointment.

Admittedly the Alice/Ayers Rock bit was an organised tour staying in special purpose camping grounds (as more of a 5 Star Hotel person I was rather horrified at the idea but the whole tour was incredible with the BBQ dinners organised by the guide and the fixed out-of-Africa style tents it was very pleasant).

Would you mind sharing who you used for the Ayers Rock camping?

Thanks!

Would you mind sharing who you used for the Ayers Rock camping?

Thanks!

At the time they were called "Sahara Tours", but this afternoon when I googled them it turns out they've changed names to this: http://www.connections.travel/content.asp?Document_ID=16512

We had booked through a travel agency in France.

AC offers a combined airfare with QF - with ultimate destination to Coolangata. One can only stop in Sydney OR Melbourne, on this fare.

With Cairns as the final destination, the combined airfare allows one to stop at Brisbane, AND Sydney.

With Ayers Rock as the final destination, the combined airfare lets you stop in Sydney, AND Brisbane, AND Cairns.

How far is Brisbane from Coolangata (Gold Coast) - and what is the usual driving distance?

AC offers a combined airfare with QF - with ultimate destination to Coolangata. One can only stop in Sydney OR Melbourne, on this fare.

With Cairns as the final destination, the combined airfare allows one to stop at Brisbane, AND Sydney.

With Ayers Rock as the final destination, the combined airfare lets you stop in Sydney, AND Brisbane, AND Cairns.

How far is Brisbane from Coolangata (Gold Coast) - and what is the usual driving distance?

Coolangatta is at the Southern end of the GC...from Brisbane city to Coolangatta would be approx 100km (60 miles) and about 90 mins drive down the freeway (a few miles back from the coast) - travel down the coast road, I imagine, would take somewhat longer

The Gold Coast is about an hour south of Brisbane. Just be warned that the GC is fairly tacky.

I agree, the Gold Coast in general is tacky, does not have sufficient charm, often full of tourists, and pretty boring.

Brisbane is boring too.

At the time they were called "Sahara Tours", but this afternoon when I googled them it turns out they've changed names to this: http://www.connections.travel/content.asp?Document_ID=16512

We had booked through a travel agency in France.

Great, thank you!

if u r in brisbane u can go to lady elliot island in the south parth of the GBR for a day tour.

http://www.ladyelliot.com.au/ReefVisit.asp