Originally Posted by
ozzie
Your plan looks great (if a little rushed).
I'd skip Cairns City - there's really nothing to see there. You are much better off spending the day at the rainforest. How will you get to Port Douglas from Cairns ? You'll need a rental. You can use the car to go the rainforest as well on your second day.
In Sydney US$250 a day is a good budget (when not paying for accommodation). I think in only two days I wouldn't bother leaving the city - though if you really wanted to stretch it you could do a blue mountains tour on one of the days.
Maybe do a lunch or dinner cruise (maybe start keeping an eye on Scoopon, Stardeals and Jumponit for Sydney as they often have heavily discounted vouchers for harbour cruises). Head to one of the beaches (Manly or Bondi) and take in the sites around the harbour.
I admit that it is a bit rushed... but have built in a 'relaxing' day in CNS to chill out at the resort. Given that we are flying in and out on F really helps, I think.
Would it be a reasonable idea to rent a car in SYD? I put a reservation on hold for two day rental at 140 AUD. That will allow me to visit Kangaroo/Koala Zoo (I remember visiting such a place last time on a tour) and also Blue mountain as you suggested. Parking may be an issue while in downtown area (I am not sure what Westin Sydney will charge for the parking, but given that taxi ride to the city and back can be easily 40 AUD each way, I think renting a car is a economical option). In SYD, I really like the idea of dinner cruise! When I took my parents back in 2009, we didn't do this... but instead we took those commuter ferries to various places and that allowed us to get a nice view of the harbor!
In CNS, I am renting for two full days. If I can extend the last day rental by 4 hours or so, I can certainly make that last full day (October 8th) to visit the rain forest - I like this idea. And return the car by 4PM or so and hang-out in the city for the evening.
AA miles and LAN km are really helping me keep the cost down on travel, which would allow me to spend more on activities and food!
In the end, flights will only set me back 17.5K miles with AA (business oneway AYQ-MEL via SYD) and 28K km with LAN (economy openjaw SYD-CNS-AYQ). I had to be real careful with LAN km redemption as it's distance based and km requirement jumps significantly (14K to 27K) if one segment journey is more than 2000 km in distance! So, that was the reason for choosing SYD-CNS-AQY routing! Thank god they allow open jaw!
Without the miles, I would be looking at 215 AUD (SYD-CNS) + 450 AUD (CNS-AYQ) + 380 AUD (AYQ-MEL) = 1045 AUD per person! Flying on LCC will cut the cost down a bit, but not by much! Miles well spent!
Now, I just have to hope that the weather will hold up in CNS and AYQ!