Originally Posted by
Exec_Plat
Hmmm. I am far from an expert, but two days on the ground 'finding something to do' in Cairns, versus all the day trips around SYD- its an easy call.
There's thread along the lines of "I have a day to kill in Sydney, what to do".... check it out. You could EASILY spend two weeks picking different things each day.
Take the bus from downtown to manly spit, hike the spit to manly for a few hrs, have a late lunch at Hugos, check out Manly beach. Take the sunset ferry back to the city, amazing views of the city as the sun sets.
Im not a city person, but there is something very unique about Sydney, especially when you move in and out, that I find very cool.
But if you have confirmed stuff you will be doing in CNS, thats a different story. ive had several trips were SYD is an overnight, connecting to that long haul to LAX.
Well, it's that I want a few buffer days in case I run into bad weather, so I'm planning on 4 days in Cairns. If there were a guarantee of perfect weather, I would probably only do 2 full days in Cairns to see the GBR, but there isn't. Everything else prior to Australia is almost set (Auckland for 2 days then the South Island for 15 days), which leaves me with 8-9 days in Australia. So from there, I planned out 4 full days in Cairns and 3 full days in Sydney (discounting travel days). I haven't booked my tickets between CHC and CNS yet, so I can still lop off time in the South Island to spend in Australia; I'm always open to suggestions.