gregorygrady

OK, all the Australia threads I've read lately have got me wanting to go to Australia. So I booked the wife and me a couple frequent flyer tix to SYD in March 2005. I will stay at the PH Sydney for 3 nights and then 3 nights somewhere else (total trip will be 6 nights). That's where you all come in. I'd like your opinions on where I should go the other 3 nights. My two options are:

1. 3 combined nights at the Hyatt Coolum and the Hyatt Sanctuary Cove. I could fly into the Sunshine Coast airport, the Gold Coast airport, or Brisbane. From what I have read, both of these resorts are 1-2 hours from Brisbane in the opposite directions. Has anybody stayed at both of these, and if so, have you rented a car and driven between the two Hyatts? Or have you flown from one to the other and taken a cab to the airport? I am also considering driving up to the Great Barrier Reef Southern islands (near Rockhampton or Hervery Bay) from the Coolum and I might stay there for a night (although it won't be a Hyatt ). Is it feasible to do all this driving just for a 3 night/4 day stay? Or will it be too much?

2. My second option is just to fly from SYD-MEL and stay at the GH Melbourne and/or the PH Melbourne for a combined total of 3 nights. I guess I'd probably rent a car one day and do the coastal drive or maybe fly to Hobart in Tasmania for a day.

So for those of you that have been to several of the Hyatts in Oz, what is your opinion? What would be the best option from a strictly tourist point of view. BTW, we are a young couple, no kids, don't mind solitude or the big city hustle and bustle. Let me know what you think. Thanks in advance. Oh yeah, sorry to add yet another recent Australia thread to this forum.

pdb

Looks like this is your first trip to Australia. I would heartily advise you to go to Melbourne. (The PH there is great.) There is plenty to do, including beach, road trips along the Great Ocean Drive and day trip to Phillip Island--don't miss the Penguin Parade. Many vineyards nearby. Lot's of cultural activities, too--don't miss out on the recently renovated National Gallery of Victoria--world class exhibits.

As much as I enjoy Tassie, you will be doing yourselves a disservice to try to cram in one day. 3 days in SYD and 3 days in MEL will provide more than enough to see and do, and staying at the PH in both cities will only make those stays even more enjoyable.

By all means, understand that the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast have some great beaches, you would be squandering your limited time Down Under to go there. Save the Great Barrier Reef for another trip. Once you visit Oz, you'll want to come back.

gregorygrady

Thanks pdb, that's exactly the kind of advice I'm looking for. And yes, this would be our first time to Australia. I sort of expected a better vacation out of more beachlike areas (Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise, Great Barrier Reef; I hear those and think VACATION). Originally I would have wanted to go to the Gold + Sunshine Coasts but after searching several threads here, the reviews aren't too great for those, but everybody seems to like Melbourne (especially the Park Hyatt) from reading other threads. So I'm sort of leaning towards Melbourne, especially since I can add that onto my FF ticket for free (and make Sydney a 4 day stopover) whereas I'd have to pay another $400 to fly the two of us to BNE and rent a car and waste that time, etc. But I just don't want to go to Melbourne if there is nothing to do there. If its just some big city like LA or SF, I can go see something like that anytime. I'd definitely want to do the Great Ocean Drive. You mentioned there are beaches down there near Melbourne? Are they decent? Or is it too cold to swim there in mid-March? And I was also thinking that it might be too much to cram Tasmania into one day (I was thinking fly there in the morning, fly back that night), but it would be cool to go to Tasmania and see some of those devils. If anybody else has experienced these Australian Hyatts and can chime in with their opinion, please do as my FF tix are on a 3 day hold and I have to make a decision by Sunday night where I would like my final itinerary to go through and I would like as much input as possible.

Happy

We have visited all the places you mentioned in a 12-day trip last year. We spent 3 days each at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Cairns, all flying between cities. We did not stay in Hyatt Coolum nor Sanctury Cove as we stayed with friends in Brisbane. We did venture into Sanctury Cove to check out the hotel - it looks rather nice just from the look of it. There were threads about these locations I believe if you do a search you will find them.

Given your limited time, Melbourne probably would be better for your schedule. In order to enjoy Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, and Great Barrier Reef, you definitely need 4 to 6 days. Beaches are stunning in those parts of Australia - that is from me who lived in Hong Kong for a long time, visited many SE Asia areas and now live in Florida, who has seen probably some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Sunshine coast in particular, there is a beach called Rainbow Beach that is 50 KM long ? and totally undeveloped. If you have been in Maui, think Big Beach, and Rainbow Beach is probably 4 or 5 times longer, bigger, than Big Beach. It has a leeward side and a windward side. The leeward side was as smooth as a mirror the day we went. One needs a 4-wheel to go there (from Noosa - which is near Coolum). You can drive on the beach. There was no paved road to go there until 2 years ago as the Sunshine Coast government purposedly wanted it that way. Marked contrast between Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. Gold Coast has the atmosphere of Miami, though far less crowded. Surfers Paradise is very nice. Still, it is no comparison to the more natural beauty of Sunshine Coast. To enjoy Great Barrier Reef, you need to go out at least to the fringe of the Reef - which would be a full day boat trip from Cairns, or a 2-3 days from Whitsundays.

Back to the suggestion of Melbourne. The city is very different from Sydney due to its preservation of historical buildings in its downtown area. You can still find many of the very ornate shopping arcades from 19th century. Melbourne has beach (St.Kilda) , but it is an OK beach, not anything impressive. However, Melbourne itself is quite interesting, a rather enjoyable city. As for the Great Ocean Road, it is more a hype than anything. If you ever drive the coastal area, or Hwy 1, in Northern California all the way up to Oregan, you see far more, better, scenaries than the Great Ocean Road. If you insist to do the drive, the minimum is a very long day trip from Melbourne. It is a waste of time imho.

Even beaches around Sydney are not impressive to me, including the famous Bondi beach. May be it is good for people watching, but neither the shape nor the sand, is of good quality, imho. There is a smaller beach called Bonte beach south of it, and another beach called Coogie beach, further south of it, are much nicer. The cliff walk between Bondi and Coogie is nice (about an hour or so). Watson Bay at the north side of town has very nice view and a beach too.

But we were not impressed by the beaches in either Sydney or Melbourne, until we saw beaches at Gold Coast and particularly Sunshine Coast. enough said. ;-)

So, it really depends what you want on this short trip. BTW, you are going to South Hemisphere, so our winder is their summer. Jan/Feb are their hottest months. March may still be ok for swimming, especially in Queensland.

sy7

I did the Great Ocean Drive, but not as a day trip from Melbourne but as part of a 3 day trip that also included the Grampians (great wildlife, okay scenery). I have to agree that in terms of ocean views seen from the car, it doesn't rank all that high (eg CA Hwy 1 is much better) because the road usually isn't right by the coast. However, you do get beautiful views by getting out of the car and walking the various coastal areas and that was worth the drive. Loch Ord (sp?) right past the Twelve Apostles was my favorite area. It's very spread out, so even if it is crowded its easy to find empty areas. It was the site of several shipwrecks, and the displays (and cemetary) are evocative. If you do it as a day trip from Melbourne, it will mean a very long day if you want to get to the Twelve Apostles, and it won't leave too much time for exploring the coastal walks (or the sights along the way).

Also, I thought that one full day was enough to see the sights in the Melbourne city center.

Happy

Agree on the Great Ocean Road. We have done some stunning drives in North coast Maui, and Road to Hanna (which, despite the reputation, is not as stunning as the North Coast drive - extremely beautiful and quite dangerous in certain areas), also some drives in South Island, New Zealand, plus the Northern CA coastal. So we are jaded.

As for Melbourne, the city itself - we used a day to do the South Bank, St. Kilda, stopped at the War Remembrance Monument (Great place to view the whole city from the top of the monument), and Botanic Garden. Used another day to visit Melbourne zoo just for the Kangaroo and Koala and PLATYPUS (we had no idea that it is such a small and nocturnal animal), plus Victoria market. Last day we checked out downtown and the ethnic neighborhoods (Little Italy, Little Saigon - many great little restaurants). Used the excellent public transport all three days.

trd

I have stayed at all the Australia properties except Perth (that's next summer) and would certainly recommend the PH Melbourne and the city itself over Coolum/SC (not that they're bad). I find Melbourne a much more interesting city than SYD.

pdb

Gregorygrady, St. Kilda's is just 10-15 minutes from the PH Melbourne. There are lots of things to do there as well--it's a lively little town, but not so Miami Beach-like as is the Gold Coast. Depending upon the kind of water temperature you are used to, the water should be fine, as it should be in Sydney at Manly and Bondi. Mind you--as was indicated by others--these beaches are not the beautiful beaches that you would find in the Caribbean.

For Melbourne: one afternoon/evening to Philip Island, one day on the Great Ocean Road, and the rest of the time in Melbourne, enjoying the city's many attractions.

gregorygrady

Thanks everyone. These are exactly the kind of opinions I'm looking for. It seems like most everybody is recommending Melbourne. If there are any other last minute suggestions or experiences anyone has I'd love to hear them since the 3 day hold on my FF award tickets ends in about 20 hours. In those 20 hours I must solidify my plans on whether or not to go to Melboune and make the final booking by then. Thanks for the great advice so far.

Snoopyo

For a first trip, I would recommend SYD and MEL and the PY Sydney and PH Melbourne. The MEL mentality is fairly different then SYD and it has fantastic food... I think 3 days would be a little short to make it out of Sydney and into the Barrier Reef. Tried to squeeze Brisbane in in a day and half but a friend recommended that I leave it for a next trip.

St. Kilda is nice but not big on swimming yet. Bondi was more but then it was warming the weekend I was in SYD then the weekend I was in MEL.

PETEFLYS

I have stayed at Sanctuary Cove and did SYD and Surfers Paridise on a quick trip last year. I was staying at mostly Starwood properties,but I did check out the Park Hyatt in SYD and it a place you would enjoy.I flew to Gold Coast Airport and rented a car and drove to the Hyatt at Sanctuary Cove. First this is no easy place to find for a first time visitor driving. Second the place is a drive to Surfers Paridise which I drove to every day. I was upgrated to a huge suite even staying on points and I am only a Plat. so what a diamond would get I have no idea. the place is like a Florida resort,and a place you would want to stay on the property if you are going there. the Conrad is the place to stay on the gold coast if you like casinos. Please keep in mind this area is very spread out and traffic is heavy. Melbourne may be a better choice though I have never been.

wck4

I wouldn't recommend trying to do Tasmania as a day trip- it would be way too much running around to be worth it. Hobart is a great laid back town, but most of the amazing parts of Tasmania are outside the city in the gorgeous parks. If you do go for just a day or two, try to make it on a Saturday for the market. I spent a week in Hobart, and found it a wonderful place, but I was a little underwhelmed by the Devils. We went to a wildlife sanctuary one day, although I don't remember the name of it. The Devils were mostly sleeping or just meandering around, until one of the park workers came out with a freshly chopped up rabbit to feed the Devils. I pulled my camera out, thinking that surely they would start racing around & acting devilish, but they just trotted up, grabbed some rabbit legs, and curled up to munch them down. Maybe there were just some exceptionally lethargic Devils there, so YMMV.

The kangaroos were far more interesting- this place just had them roaming around free in a few fenced in acres, and they gave you a bag of kangaroo food and let you right into the middle of them- the joeys would come up & eat right out of your hand. That was incredible- the joeys were adorably cute. The animals there were mostly orphans whose parents had been killed on highways, so they were raised with humans and not at all scared by people.