CPRich

I have tickets for my family of 4 (kids age 17 and 12) for next June, arriving in Sydney and leaving from Melbourne, 15 days in country. I'm assuming it will take a full day to recover from the long flight, so 14 days total. Right now, I'm thinking of splitting time as follows. Flights would be early morning/evening, so each of these may be shaved by a few hours/half a day.

- Sydney - 5 days, flying out in the evening, so 4 full days, plus morning to 3p or so

- Brisbane - 2 days, after flying in the previous night and flying out the following morning, so 2 full days

- Cairns - 3 days, flying in one morning, out one evening, so noon-end of day one day, one full day, morning to mid-afternoon 3rd day

- Melbourne - 4 full days.

The flight out of Cairns could move to the next morning, so 2 full days in Cairns (plus 1/2 day on arrival), and then 1/2 day plus 3 full days in Melbourne.

An option is eliminating one city, but it's probably the only time we'll be there. I've also looked at Alice Springs or Uluru, but I'm not sure they are worth the flights for a short stay.

Interests are natural sights, animals, mature kids stuff, architecture/art, etc. No interest in food, wine, kiddie parks, theatre.

Thoughts/comments?
Thanks

kcupp95

I would skip Brisbane. Is there any particular reason why you want to go there?

I used to live there and loved it - but it's not really the most exciting destination.

Definitely get the extra day in Cairns (or longer if you skip Brisbane). Are you planning to go to the reef there?

Mwenenzi

As above skip Brisbane. Just a concrete city with cars and traffic.

June is a good time for far north Queensland (FNQ). Port Douglas is a better place to stay than Cairns: just a little more up the coast.

You could drive up to the Daintree area. Very different to Pittsburgh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daintree_Rainforest
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daintree,_Queensland

I would cut a day from Sydney or Melbourne and have an extra day in FNQ
Even then 14/15 days is not much for Sydney-Cairns-Melbourne
June in Melbourne is "refreshing" [mid winter]

Edit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_North_Queensland

Edit 2
Read this http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/commu...24-2009-a.html

travelinterpreters

We just returned from a 2 week trip with our 15 year old. We did Sydney, Port Lincoln, Cairns. Our son liked Cairns the best. We stayed at an awesome airbnb...great price too! He really liked diving the GBR, and seeing all the native animals. He liked Sydney too, just not as much as I thought he would, he usually likes big cities, Bangkok, Tokyo, Hong Kong...but we are kind of like you and are not into food, wine, or theatre. We did whale watching, Taronga Zoo, went to a swans game ( awesome ), Chinatown, shopping on George street. I wish we would of cut one day out of Sydney and added it to Cairns. We did not do the bridge climb...the price didn't seem to fit the experience.

bensyd

I third skipping Brisbane. If you like nature, another option worth considering is Tasmania. It is the most pristine natural environment in Australia. The MONA is also worth a trip to Hobart.

Mwenenzi

June in Tassie is more brisk than Melbourne. Great in summer

bensyd

True, but if you live in Pittsburgh I'm sure the cold won't feel too bad. You are right though, June is a great time for FNQ.

CPRich

Thanks for the feedback. To answer the question of why it was on the list, TripAdvisor lists it as the #3 spot to go in Australia, as do a few other lists.

But I've seen similar advice elsewhere and, with Cairns and Port Douglas listed as #4 and 5, and after looking at the various activities, I think the Sheraton Port Douglas (described as "outdated", but being remodeled right now, so hopeful...) will be the other location outside of Sydney and Melbourne. It looks like we can get to Cairns and Daintree an hour each way.

So then the question is day allocation. With the weather much better up north, and seeing similar "not that much to see" comments about Melbourne, is it 5 in Sydney, 6 in Port Douglas/Cairns/Daintree, and 4 in Melbourne rather than 5/5/5?

As long as I'm asking - how are Jetstar and Tigerair? Non-stops SYD-CNS and CNS-MEL are relatively sparse. Should I stick to Qantas/Virgin?

CPRich

dupe.

Mwenenzi

Yes 5-6-4 is better if you like the out doors - raw nature type activities. Go to the Daintree for a night or 2.

Both are low cost carriers, who make a lot of money from the add on's. Especially extra baggage allowance purchased at the airport. Carry on allowance and checked baggage weight per bag are adhered to the gram/oz.

I would not book Tigerair. They tend to change the schedule a lot with new routes and routes deleted. They have few aircraft, compared to QF, VA & JQ. They are losing money.

JQ Jetstar are OK. Just read the ticket conditions carefully. JQ are 100% owned by QF

Carry on (7kg) on Australian airlines is a lot less than common in USA.

FindAWay

I think you could fit Uluru into your itinerary by flying nonstop to AYQ from SYD or CNS. We flew VA SYD-AYQ & QF AYQ-CNS. We stayed in Ayers Rock Resort for only a single night and got a lot in. We were able to see a lot there in a short amount of time. IMO, 2 nights would be plenty for you and it'd provide a very different experience over the coastal cities. I have more details in this Trip Report I put together. Qantas flights using Avios are a good option for these flights. You could consider something like:

4 nights in Sydney,
2 nights in Ayers Rock/Uluru,
5 in Port Douglas/Cairns/Daintree, and
4 in Melbourne

Also, for Sydney, we chose the Koala Park Sanctuary over the Sydney Zoo (of course, one could do both with enough time) because it is easier to pet Koalas and interact with various animals there, which your kids may enjoy. I think it is overpriced, but, it all depends what one wants from a zoo-type experience.

bensyd

Based on what you've said you like I think that's a pretty good way to breakdown the trip. I do like Melbourne, but it's a lady who doesn't lift up her skirt as easily as Sydney.

Jetstar is fine for short trips. SYD-CNS would be pushing the outer limit of what I would consider Jetstarable. I agree with Mwenezi avoid Tiger, they just don't have the fleet to be able to cover things if an aircraft goes unserviceable.

CPRich

Thanks to all for the comments - very helpful. After reviewing all the feedback and doing some other research, it looks like Sydney(5), Port Douglas/FNQ(6), Melbourne(4) will be the plan. Dropping BNE wasn't challenging, but AYQ/Uluru was very tempting.

Question on flights - Jetstart SYD-CNS-MEL is about AU$437/US$312 per person (after Plus bundle, credit card fees, etc. - 28% higher then the "base" fare - love those LCC's). That seems like a decent price for two 3hr, 2000km flights, comparing to what I typically see in the US. Is that reasonable/close to the best I'll see, or should I wait for some type of sale?

yhm71

We just returned from 2 weeks in Australia, visiting Sydney, Uluru, Cairns and Melbourne. Looking back Uluru and the outback was a highlight. A very different landscape from anything we've experienced. Very expensive though. I would be inclined to trim time in other places and work in Uluru. 6 days in Port Douglas sounds like a lot. One or two days on the reef and then... lots of rainforest? Reef trips also are not cheap, and you definitely want to go with one of the better (and more expensive) boats. We paid 200 AUD each for a day trip with Silverswift (3 outer reef snorkel sites, excellent, they run out of Port Douglas too and I hear the reef is even better up there).
The price for your jetstar flights sounds good, less than what we paid. They were totally fine, good crew, decent buy on board food, looked like good legroom (we had heaps in the exit row).

CPRich

My procrastination paid off. While I was watching the exchange rate improve, Jetstar had a sale. I ended up with 4 SYD-CNS-MEL, with seats/luggage/credit card fees, etc., for under $1K USD.

Is a 1-day, or 1-night trip from Cairns to Uluru realistic?