What is the quintessential Australian vacation?

Question

I am from the US. I love to hike, camp, and scuba dive.
I also enjoy amusement parks, sight seeing and indoor stuff, but why go all the way to Australia for amusement rides? I might as well stay in the US for that.

Anyway, if I only have one vacation (or holiday) to the land of Aus, and assuming I can spend two weeks there, what should I do? Thanks

Answer 1

Queensland / northern NSW is an excellant choice, although a stop in Sydney and the Blue Mountains (including Katoomba and the Jenolan Caves) are well worth a visit.



Brisbane is okay, but it is really a gateway to other places - you can pretty much hit all your list within an hour or two drive of Brisbane.



From about an hour north of Brisbane is the Sunshine Coast which has some plenty of nice camping / hiking areas, and beaches. Do look just inland as well, at places like Maleny and Montville. If you are a Steve Irwin fan, his zoo (Australia Zoo) sits near the Glasshouse Mountains. From about an hour south of Brisbane is the Gold Coast which has a lot of beaches and a lot of touristy things like the amusement parks (Sea, Movie and Dream Worlds amongst others). For camping / hiking however I would suggest going inland to the Natural Bridge or Lamington National Park (you can stay at O'Reilly's or Binna Burra). From Brisbane it takes about 1 3/4 - 2 hours to drive up to either O'Reilly's or Binna Burra (about 1/2 on highway and the other half up thinner mountain roads). There are some diving spots off both places or in Moreton Bay too, such as Moreton Island (out from Brisbane), and mostly are wrecks.



In northern NSW you have Mt Warning on land and down to Byron Bay are is great for water based activities.



Heading up the Queensland coast, Fraser Island is brilliant. Up the coast from there, there are plenty of islands and (Great Barrier) Reef such as the Whitsunday Island chain, Heron, Dunk, Lady Elliot and a whole raft of others...



Cairns is another gateway spot to the reef as well as rainforest (Kuranda is a great day trip, but there are longer stops too). Keep an eye out the back of Cairns to the Atherton Tablelands to such places as the lave tubes out there (volcanos erupted hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago and the outer side of the lava hardened but the inside has gone leaving tubes)

Answer 2

If you have two weeks, spend 7 days in Sydney. There is heaps to do there. Take a day trip to the Blue Mountains, the scenery is great.



Then maybe go to the Gold Coast for 4 days. Take a day trip to Brisbane, spend a day at the beach and go hiking in the Gold Coast Hinterland. There are lots of amusement parks here, but don't waste all your time at them. Only go to one of them though, they're not that different from US parks.



Then I would reccomend you go to either Townsville or Cairns for 3 days.



If you go to Townsville, you must go to Magnetic Island. It's a rainforest island with beautiful beaches and scenery. There is plenty of hiking to do here. You can also do scuba diving off the coast of Townsville. Then spend a day exploring the downtown area, and go to the aquarium.



If you go to Cairns, you must catch the Kuranda Scenic Railway or the Rainforest Cable Car to the town of Kuranda. The scenery is amazing. You can also scuba dive.



Both are great cities, but Cairns is somewhat overrated in my opinion.

Answer 3

It depends on how much time you are going to spend here. I recommend doing the Harbour Bridge Walk, going to The Opera House, and Taronga Zoo in NSW, snorkeling in The Great Barrier Reefs and going to the theme parks in QLD. TAS is beautiful if you're into scenery, NT Kakadu park is amazing. VIC is great for shopping and food.



In short:

1. Hiking - Harbour Bridge, NSW.

2. Camping - NT, but very weary of crocodiles, and never get you water from the same place each day, because they will learn your routine.

3. Scuba diving - The Great Barrier Reef, QLD.

4. Amusement parks - Lunar Park, NSW, and Wet 'n Wild, Dream World, Sea World and Movie World, QLD.

5. Sight seeing - TAS and WA.

Answer 4

Tropical North Queensland is a must...dive on the Great Barrier Reef, explore the rain forests , bungee jump , go white water rafting...maybe go sailing for a few days in the Whitsunday Island group off Airlee Beach.



Most tourists do the Sydney / Melbourne thing & think they've experienced Australia when in fact they 've experienced large cosmopolitan cities that are only different geographically from many large cities in the world.



If you are keen to do something typically Australian I would suggest combining a reef experience with an outback experience ..



http://www.tyrconnell.com.au/



http://www.cairnsgreatbarrierreef.org.au/

Answer 5

Spend one week in Sydney, the other week in Queensland near the great barrier reef.



You can do all the sightseeing (Harbour Bridge, Bondi/Manly beaches, Taronga Park Zoo, the Rocks, climb the harbour bridge arches) and see the Sydney Opera House in Sydney for that week (and longer if you have the time). Use the Queensland adventure to scuba dive amongst the coral and amazing sea life on the great barrier reef. You could also spend time hiking through any of the many national parks along the queensland coast. That way you get the best of both worlds, city sight seeing and outdoor adventures.

Answer 6

start in sydney do the harbour bridge walk over the top of the bridge

fly to cairns do diving from there

dint try to do too much

oz is huge