Originally Posted by
irockfm2
....Also looking at going to Melbourne then driving the coast to Sydney - any thought on that as well?
How are rental car rates? What hotel chains do you recommend? I'm trying to do all the stays with points...
Coast road is a great drive, but requires an overnight stay. It is a single lane very windy road for the most part, and in view of the ocean about half the time; goes through a variety of climatic zones and temperatures
About 16 hours total drive time. The direct road MEL-SYD is the Hume highway which is very boring and entirely inland and takes 10 hours at speed limit (which is often strictly enforced) and 8 hours if you judiciously speed. Hence the comments about flying instead.
Car rental rates vary with supply and demand (thin market compared to US); for example over Christmas it was $150/day for the cheapest car! I can usually get a Camry from Europcar for $220/week so just over $30/day. Hertz/Avis will be more. Petrol will cost you more than the car rental (typically $15 per 100km or about $200 for driving sydney to melbourne).
For hotel chains using points, Hyatt is best as there are great PHs in SYD and MEL (maybe best PHs in the world) but SPG and Marriott also have good hotels here. Even 4Points in Australia is more like a luxury hotel, strangely enough.