concordian

I am planning to visit Australia in June 2014(3rd or 4th week) and spend 2 weeks. I will be visiting Sydney(4-5 days), Melbourne(3-4 days). I will be coming with my family including 2 boys(9 and 7).

I have few questions like:

1) Weather in SYD/MEL - checked wiki and looks like its cold season
2) Visit to Great Barrier Reef(no diving, just submarine boat tour only)
3) Visit to Alice Spring/Ayers Rock
4) Any other must sees on first visit?

Zarf4

Hi concordian - just a few thoughts...

Yes, June in Oz will most likely be cold and rainy, it's the equivalent of December in the States.

You said your itinerary called for Sydney & Melbourne. Please be aware that Australia is a very large country and destinations like the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru pose a pretty big trip.

SYD > Great Barrier Reef is about a 2 hour flight.
SYD > Uluru is nearly a 4 hour flight (similar to SFO > Dallas)
(Not a huge difference from MEL but you have to see which airports offer non-stop service)

When you arrive you'll also have jetlag to deal with. You'll want to go to bed at something like 6 pm and wake up at 3 am Oz time. This can put a crimp on those first few days. (I do the trip from SoCal > Oz about 3 times a year and jet lag does get old.)

Both SYD & MEL have a lot of things to see and do and I would try to stay close. Bridge climb, Blue Mountains, Circular Quay, Melbourne zoo/aquarium, etc. But I leave the recommendations up to those more familiar than me.

Am sure you & yours will have a great time in the lucky country. (Especially if the US dollar keeps climbing as it has the past couple of weeks.)

harvyk

How many days exactly are you over here for? As Zarf4 mentioned, AU is a big country, and whilst it's possible to fit in what you are planning on doing by flying, it's still a big stretch for 2 weeks. Plus if you're not used to jetlag that's going to take you out of action for the first day.

I'll assume you have 16 days, a potential itin could be.

Day 1 Fly SFO-MEL (prob via either LAX or SYD).
Day 1 (thanks to int time line), spend a day catching up on sleep in MEL.
Day 2-4 Spend the day exploring MEL
Day 5 early morning flight to SYD, spend day exploring SYD
Day 6-7 Spend the day exploring SYD
Day 8 Fly to Ayers Rock (Uluru)
Day 9 Explore the Rock
Day 10 Fly to SYD / BNE (I'm not quite sure where you can actually get to from the rock, I think SYD / PER is the limit but I might be wrong)
Day 11 Fly to TSV (Townsville)
Day 12 Explore the reef
Day 13 Fly back to BNE, you may even be able to connect to a LAX flight on the same day, but no guarentees
Day 15 Arrive at LAX, transfer to SFO
Day 16 Get over jetlag

harvyk

I did SYD to Cairns last year, it over three hours (QF has it listed as 3 hours 10 minutes). Left mid morning and arrived mid afternoon. SYD-TSV (at least on the random date I just picked with QF) requires a stop over in BNE, and for that you are looking at 1.5 hours SYD-BNE and a further 2 hours BNE-TSV.

Also from either SYD or MEL, you will require a stop over in BNE or CNS for any other destination along the reef.

Also SYD-Uluru is about 3 hours provided that you can get a direct flight. That said they don't run direct flights every day so a stop over in Alice Springs is likely which will push the time out to over 5 hours.

Mwenenzi

Look at the many other threads on this topic in this sub forum. Just keep paging down.
Another from http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz-370/
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...ia-2014-a.html

As with many others you are hoping to visit far too many places: -it won't happen. Australia is big and travel time is signifcant and can be costly. Compared to USA not as many frequent direct flights. Many destinations require a change of aircraft at BNE, SYD or MEL. Accomadation costs are high compared to USA, especially at Ayers Rock. But the rate of exchange for USA people is improving at $0.90 : Was $1.05 not many weeks ago. harrvk's plan is good but wlll be rushed and no free time.

http://www.anbg.gov.au/maps/aust-usa-map.jpg

concordian

Thanks for all the suggestions. I am still in planning stage only and will remove GBR or Ayers Rock from my trip. Will definitely see MEL/SYDNEY and surrounding areas. Also, I think we lose 2 days time in travel(date change). Would the weather be better in July/August(2nd week) compared to June?

Alexander123

It's gonna be cold! It might also rain all the time. At this time, all the aussies are up north in Darwin or Queensland. WA still has quite nice weather but icy nights. Sydney is nice, but I guess 3 days and you saw everything. Blue Mountains are definitly worth a visit. I'd skip Melbourne..

harvyk

You sort of lose two days, I actually got it the wrong way around in my itin as I'm used to going the other way.

Coming here you will lose a day, so if you depart SFO at 10pm on Friday the 6th, you'll arrive here on Sunday the 8th at around 7am. Going back if you depart SYD on Sunday the 22nd at 2pm, you'll arrive back in SFO around 8am on Sunday the 22nd. Technically you'll arrive back 6 hours before you'll leave. (times are approx and depend on airline and daylight saving) but it's approx what I used to do when going SYD to SFO direct. It's similar timings for LAX as well

It's certainly cold here, but it's not that cold (except for Canberra, it gets pretty cold here) most aussies are down south, even in winter. Pack some warm clothes, but it ain't going to be freezing in any of the places mentioned.

number_6

June in SYD in much like June in San Francisco I can say that truthfully having lived in both cities. It is early winter, but even in MEL it is more likely to by 60-70F than colder. Also MEL isn't bad to be a tourist in even when pouring rain as there are arcades and other covered spaces. Enjoy your trip, but remember Oz is the size of the continental US so that is a lot of flying for 2 weeks.

PICA

Personally i'd skip Melbourne, I found it a disappointment. I would definitely go to Sydney and then spend a few days in Port Douglas, from where you can explore the GBR. You may also want to think about Brisbane and the Gold Coast (less than an hour away from each other). I found Brisbane really nice for a few days and the Gold Coast also has theme parks etc which the kids would enjoy

number_6

Melbourne is one of the best cities in the world to visit, but reveals its charms slowly; that means you have to work at it as a tourist (or have a local guide you). Make of it what you will, or are able. By contrast Sydney is much more tourist accessible, throwing its charms at you. A bit like SF/LA as point of comparison.

Dianne47

I lived in Sydney for three years, so am prejudiced, but have to agree with Pica. MEL will be colder, too. Weather will be even colder in July and the first half of August. Think June in Australia = December, July = January, August = February in the northern hemisphere.

Pack layers, be sure to have a mid-weight rain jacket or trenchcoat for SYD. Don't forget an umbrella. If you venture to Queensland it will be warmer.

tt7

Total nonsense. It's the middle of winter so of course it's going to be 'colder'. Will there be some rain? Probably. All the time? Absolutely not. Today is about 15 degrees, some sunshine, the odd short shower. I'd be interested in your definition of "cold". As someone who used to live in New York, I know what cold is - 6 inches of snow on the ground, temperature below freezing and minus 20 with the wind chill - and that's balmy compared with Chicago. Melbourne is never, ever remotely near that.

For anyone who doesn't understand this (and as someone who used to live in San Francisco), one of the jokes was always watching the tourists in their shorts in June, freezing their buns off. Once the central valley starts to warm up, and the fog starts to get sucked in through the Golden Gate, the temperatures in SF plummet ... As Mark Twain said "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco".

+1. It really is a great city...

Clearly neither of you know what you missed ....

BadgerBoi

Just to make sure we don't have another 50 pointless posts on the charms of a Melbourne winter...
Melbourne in winter is almost tropical, the temperature never falls below 25C and it remains daylight until 11pm. Surf conditions on the Yarra beat those of Hawaii hands down.

tt7

You really have it in for Melbourne, don't you?

Some of us are just trying to get the facts straight and correct what we perceive to be incorrect or uninformed information. As to the point of your post, I've no idea ....