Hi everybody, looking for a critique and a fill-in-the-blank for the missing days of my trip, planned for New Year's 2008. First trip to Australia, going solo, goal is to see a mix of urban and rural/countryside.

General trends: Not a big fan of diving, sitting on the beach, etc. Light hiking is fun, moderate hiking is work. Spectator sports would be fun as well - I enjoyed going to a baseball game in Tokyo last year. Would like to drive part of the time if affordable. Flying ORD-LAX-SYD/back. Had originally planned to end in Melbourne but the combination of the Australian Open plus the fact I'll be lugging gifts for extended family there makes that less interesting.

Points and miles: I'm taking advantage of Starpoints for the Sydney stay at the end and for Melbourne. Will probably try to priceline-type lowball the rest of the hotels - Hampton Inn type facilities are all I need on those nights. I'm going to try and use AA miles for the Uluru open-jaw on QF. I am not a fan of any seat pitch less then 34", so if you're going to recommend a flight, please try to keep it under 2 hours.

Region/Sightseeing time
- Sydney (2 days, get organized and de-jetlagged, and do the basic city tour)
- Melbourne (4 days/5 nights, some time burned due to extended family, so timed to be over the weekend)
- Tassie (4 days - haven't figured out details yet)
- BIG EMPTY SPACE (3 days)
- Uluru / Ayers Rock (2 days)
- Sydney (4 1/2 days/5 nights, but one or two day trips as appropriate)

Fire away....