My wife and I are set for the first two weeks of our month-long trip to Australia (we are staying with friends in Brisbane / Gold Coast area) but we are trying to settle on the details for the last two weeks. She studied in that area about a decade ago and toured most of the major tour spots around the country. She's excited to tour any/all of it with me, but wants me to give the final say on where we go. Every place looks so good to me (on paper), I just can't decide.
Since our first two weeks are with friends, I would like to contrast that with a bit more adventure / action / touring. So, we are looking at various tours ranging from 5 - 11 days in essentially the last two weeks of August with a tour company my wife used back when she was in college there. I'm leaning toward an 11-day from Melbourne => Alice Springs, but I don't know much about that route (or any others for that matter). Any input on places that are particularly nice that time of the year? Any place that a person must see if I'm only probably going to make this trip one time?
I'm brand new to this site, so hopefully this is enough detail to get some input -- let me know if I can provide any other details!
Planning ~14 days in Australia
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I'm not the world's greatest fan of organized tours, but that Melbourne to Alice Springs tour might be just the thing for you.
Could you post a link to it? Depending on the route, you might go via the Great Ocean Road, some of the SA wine areas and through some other really interesting places. Of the homeward leg takes the same path, I'd be tempted to jump ship/ coach at Alice Springs, go to Uluru/ Kata Tjuta & fly to Cairns or back to Sydney from there. With 11 days to play with, you can see quite a bit; hopefully with a small group and an interesting & well informed guide in this case.
What is your exit port & do you need to return to Brisbane?
I am not a fan of organised tours either.
If you have that amount of time up your sleeve you could fly to Uluru for a few days and then spend some time in Sydney before hiring a car and heading south towards Melbourne. You could take in inland or coastal route which both provide some stunning views and small beautiful towns to stop and smell the roses. Once in Melbourne you could spend time there and also do other day trips down to Phillip Island or along the Great Ocean Road.
So many things you could do!
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Hey g0bez, what do you think about more adventure type of travelling? I went to the Australian Open Tournament last year with my Father and we had a great time. We ended up going with a travel package, though I completely understand your hesitation when thinking about using one. I've been on vacations where I've used an agency and it felt like we were always pressed for time and on a schedule that we couldn't get away from. I've also been on vacations where we just booked a hotel in advance and just went with the flow the whole time; and we ended up missing a few things because we were just lounging the whole time. It's really up to you, but I'll link the site I used here. Look it over and see if you like anything. Good luck regardless.
http://www.travelswithsoha.com/grand-slam.html