ksp2001, great that you can spend so long exploring the country.

Be aware that in summer there will be periods of extreme heat in the south and wet in the north. It will not be hotter as you go north but will feel that way much of the time due to increased humidity.

I would head straight to Perth or Cairns as that is a great time to be in the south-west or in the tropical north. I feel it would be a shame to spend that long in the country and not see the Barrier Reef.

You don't say what sort of music you play but the Woodford Festival is on over the Xmas/New Year period www.woodfordfolkfestival.com/ Also check out http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/festivals-in-australia

I suggest you do a bit more reading and come back with specific questions where we might be of more help.

Tamworth (NSW) Country Music festivival is 18-27 January
Queenscliff (Near Melbourne) Music festival 23-25 November 2102
Wikipedia has a list of Australian music festivals.

With six moths you will be able to see a huge amount of the country.

It is the wet seaon up north so the wether will not be the best and Perth and Brisbane will be quite hot.

You will have time to see all the icons
Melbourne - Historic Buildings, Penguin Parade at Phillip Island,Gold history at Ballarat and Bengigo, Coastal scenery along the Great Ocean Road particularly around Port Campbell.

Sydney - The Blue Mountains, the Harbour, surfing.

Perth - Rottnest Island, Margaret River (Wines and Beers - Caves and Coast

To name a few.

You will have time to visit Ayers Rock but it will be hot with flies plenty plus.

BEWARE - even for experienced surfers our beaches can be quite daunting. Check with locals first. there are many places you can hire a board.

Western Australia is miserably hot in Jan/Feb (think 40C). Do be aware that cyclone season begins Nov 1 and runs through March along the NW coast of WA. The NW of WA is best in April-Oct - whale shark season is March-June (Ningaloo Reef).

The SW of WA is lovely, so much to see and do down that way - towering forests (and an excellent tree top walk near Walpole)lovely beaches, abundant national parks and reserves, great food and wine. As you enjoy hiking, I suggest you research the Bibbulmun track, a ~965 km track that runs from the Perth Hills down to Albany...you can access it from many places and just do short sections as day walks.

Some of my favs in WA - Perth Hills, Margaret River (Yallingup), Balingup/Nannup/Bridgetown, Pemberton, Denmark, Walpole, Albany, Esperance.

The Pinnacles (near Cervantes) is about 2.5 hours drive north and well worth a visit - best photographed at dawn and dusk. New Norcia is about 90 minutes north...Australia's only Monastic town and an interesting place.

Wildflowers will still be in bloom in Nov in many parts of the state too.

Perth must-dos - Fremantle (great cruise from Barrack Street Jetty in the CBD down to Freo, can train back - Little Creatures Brewery is hugely popular) - Kings Park, Cottesloe Beach, Swan Valley. Many Surfing opportunities between City Beach and Sorrento.

Just an FYI that Perth has a serious accommodation shortage due to the mining boom and the fly-in-fly out crowd - you'll want to book in advance and expect to pay through the nose.

Christmas through the end of January is very busy...school holidays and many folks on summer holiday. Prices soar, accommodation becomes even more scarce.

Loads to do here.

KSP, how do you plan to stay in Australia for 6 months? I see from another one of your postings that you are "from the States" and, as a U.S. citizen, you must obtain an ETA to enter Australia. The ETA is valid for 12 months, but each visit can last only 3 months. You would have to leave Australia after 3 months and then re-enter.

From the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship website:

"An ETA allows the holder to travel to Australia as many times as required within the validity period which is 12 months from the date of issue. The maximum length of each visit is three months."

Great. Thanks for the heads up about the music festivals and the weather. I appreciate all the tips and I'll definitely be looking into a lot of these.

Longhorn, I'm able to stay with a working holiday visa (subclass 462).

That's great, Ksp!

If you love art, I would highly recommend that you visit the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. The collection of Aboriginal art is the largest in the world and should not be missed. I'm also a big fan of their Australian collection and you will likely find the iconic series of Ned Kelly paintings by Sidney Nolan interesting. Finally, you have to see Jackson Pollock's "Blue Poles".

There are a lot of other great museums in Canberra and most of them, like the NGA, are free.

I would second the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) recommendation. There is now a separate wing for Aboriginal art. Also while in Canberra visit the National Museum of Australia which has some of the earliest Aboriginal works from Papunya Tula. Unfortunately, they are not always on display, check their website for details. http://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/papunya_painting/home

In addition, QAGOMA (Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art) in Brisbane has the best selection of Australian art in Australia. They also have a much wider range of recent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art than NGA. I think that the collecting has been much more intelligent in Brisbane than any other city.

There is a decent collection of Aboriginal art in the Art Gallery of NSW assembled by Hetti Perkins. Her TV series on Aboriginal art, Art and Soul would be good preparation for your trip. See a preview here: http://www.abc.net.au/arts/stories/s3017793.htm can be

The Holmes à Court collection in Perth is also worth visiting: http://www.holmesacourtgallery.com.au/exhibitions/index.cfm

For something really different in Melbourne check out the Walk to Art tours http://www.walktoart.com.au They will take you on tours of Melbourne's lane ways checking out the graffiti (as in art graffiti rather than just plain graffiti). They also go to some galleries which you would never come across by yourself, pop up galleries, studios etc. They are great fun, customers tend to be on the younger side though not necessarily (I thoroughly enjoyed it as a 50 year old) and you finish up at a pub or wine bar for a drink and can kick on with the other attendees if you wish.

Look at the Great Ocean Walk out of Melbourne, glorious, on the water. Can't comment about surfing but can say the hiking is incredible. Think about a quick flight to Tasmania, it is a wow!

I agree with other, people think the weather is monolithic, but it is not, so don't go too far north until rainy season ends. Look at north of Perth along the water areas, up to Broome. Might be right up your alley.

We are going on our 4th trip end of November, but we are hikers so we are doing 5 national parks, in depth, e.g. Flinders Range, Grampians, Flinders Chase on Kangaroo Island.

Enjoy!

RSS