Vacation to Australia?

Question

My dream (since 7th grade) has been to go to Australia. This fall, for our 5 year wedding anniversary, we are planning on going! I can't believe it. Now...I need your travel advice :) We are thinking of staying for about 12 days on land.

Here are the three main MUST-DO while in Australia:
- Sydney
- Uluru rock (Ayers Rock)
- Whit Sundays/Barrier Reef * my husband may scuba dive here once but I won't, we are hoping for some time here as a relaxing beach vacation before we go back to Sydney to fly home.

Thinking of seeing them in the order above.

Questions 1:
Should we rent a car and drive to these places ourselves, or fly or take tour buses?

Question 2:
We are thinking of going from mid October to mid November. What month would you recommend more and why?

Question 3:
We can fly out of Toronto, or the States (Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse), do you think its advantageous to fly out of the the US instead?

Answer 1

Okay , firstly if you only intend staying for 12 days I'd suggest you forget about Uluru this time ...it's way too far out of the way ...Australia's land mass is about the same size as the US (excluding Alaska ) & Uluru is smack bang in the middle , a long way from anything else .



Which brings me to my next suggestion ...instead of Uluru why not spend a few days on the Gold Coast & experience our holiday playground . If you fly it's only an hour north of Sydney en route to the Whitsundays so you maximise your limited time here with less spent traveling .



Yes , flying is the only way to go with such tight time schedule ...it's also probably more economical with the cost of fuel the way it is these days.



Definitely mid October is better than later ...if you could do it late September would be even better .Our tropical summers bring rain & storms & you don't want this adventure spoiled by getting caught up in bad weather if it can be avoided. Late Oct should be okay but the earlier the better

.

Can't help with your travel plans from that end ...whatever is the most economical as far as cost & time is the way to go...

Answer 2

Hi there



I disagree a little with the others, I think it's possible to visit the three areas in 12 days, but it will be quite rushed. You definitely need to fly between destinations, and each flight takes up at least half a day out of your schedule.



If I can make a suggestion - if you don't really plan to snorkel or scuba then there doesn't seem much point going all the way to the Whitsundays or Barrier Reef. There are many better beach locations much closer to Sydney if the idea is for a relaxing beach holiday. The Barrier reef is more of a diving area, not so much of a beach area. Consider perhaps the Sunshine Coast instead (Maroochydore airport, Noosa is the most popular resort destination).



The best time to go depends on how far north you are going, eg Cairns is best as early as possible (mid Oct), Sunshine Coast better a bit later (mid Oct to early Nov) to get the best weather.



As far as the international flights, I suspect it's cheaper to fly from the US. I doubt Thanksgiving has much impact on the prices. I hope you enjoy it, October is a great time to come.

Answer 3

First off you will NOT be able to see and do what you want in ONLY 12 Days.



Australia is the SAME SIZE as the United States (48).



You should Fly out of LAX to Sydney. If you were driving from Sydney to Uluru it will take 4 days.

Two lane paved road.



If you only have 12 Days, you will have to FLY From Sydnet to Alice Springs. take a tour bus to the Rock.



Fly back to Syndey then to Cairns in Queensland for the Great Barrier Reef. Hire a car and drive down to the Whit Sundays.

Answer 4

You can fly out of wherever you want. I suggest the most convenient airport to your home.



It is a pity that you have so little time, Australia is a big country so maybe research a little more all the place you want to visit and the distances. Don't forget that taking a flight anywhere is almost a day wasted as you really need to be at the airport at least 1 -1/2 hours before departure for local flights (regardless of what they say on the ticket) and after landing it takes awhile to find the rental car and drive to destination.



May I suggest you leave your trip until you have more time? It is a lot of money to spend for such a rushed vacation.



I don't want to spoil your dream, just help you make the most of it. I have visited Canada x3, each time for a month. I have barely scratched the surface. 4th trip coming up soon.

Answer 5

Canadian, firstly, I fly out of Montreal to LA, with either Air Canada or American, then connect to Qantas direct to Sydney.



12 days and you want to get Uluru in, forget it not enough time, you will be rushing, and it won't be a vacation, so I would leave it with Sydney, fly up to Townsville, and you can bus/coach to Airlie Beach, and you have the Whitsunday Islands on your door step. We stayed at Wanderers Paradise at Airlie Beach, then a short bus ride to Shute Harbor, to do some island hops, there is sailing and diving on the reef. On one of our trips to Australia, we actually stayed at Day Dream Island for 2 weeks.



Canadian, Uluru is in the center of Australia, if you look at the Atlas, you will see why I said to skip it. Being your anniversary, I can recommend the John Cadman cruising restaurant of the harbor at night. The name of the vessel is the Explorer 2000, that's the one we went on, and it was the Captains cruise upstairs. You can book that cruise, at the ferry wharves at Circular Quay, Jetty Six, across from Rossini's.



The other place to go to is Koala Park, there you can hand feed Emu, and Kangaroo's, if your lucky get to hold a Koala at feeding time.



There is so much, you need more than 12 days.

Answer 6

You will need to fly. It is a much longer than 12 day driving trip to those place - you could not make it even if you only spent 30 minutes in each location (there are no direct roads).



Thanksgiving is not an Australian holiday so there are no crowds on the planes at that time.

Answer 7

Fly to the rock..it's two days drive in both directions from Sydney.

No advantage that I know of flying from the States.

Your timing is fine...winter ended and summer starting.

Answer 8

don't drive, with only 12 days you don't have enough time. fly (then you can visit uluru no problem)



i expect the most expensive time to fly into the usa is around thanksgiving

Answer 9

You'd probably be best off renting a car - you'll have the freedom then to do what you want, when you want.