so many choices

Please help with my itinerary for mid October -Staying 3 nights in Sydney. What should I do next? There are so many options.Unsure of what destination to choose for an additional Aussie experience.I have 4 days available.Then,on to Port Douglas for 3 nights. Back to Sydney for 3 nights. What am I missing? Thinking about kangaroo Island 2 nights and Adelaide for 1 night. Is it worth all the extra traveling time? Option 2- visiting one of the islands Heron, Lizard or Orpheus. But, will it be similar to Port Douglas? What about the Outback or Kakadu National Park? So many choices and only 13 nights.

Sara

Hi, it is hard to decide, I ahve been to Australia several times, My last tripwas Oct 2001-I went to Kangaroo Island and it is great!! Not just kangaroo but wallabies,koala bears, fairy penguins, NZ sea lions, seals, and incredible birds, and lovely country side -great vistas-Istayed at the LOookout which was great and had personal guide etc. Dress warm it is cool there. Ididnt go to Adelaide but Melbourne for shopping etc but I did take a low flying plane ride up and down the Great road which was totally awesome.I could go on but I wont-no matter how you do it you will return its a huge country; Sara

Debbie

Hi,<BR>I went to Adelaide for 2 nights and Kangaroo Island for one and loved it. It's definately worth considering. Kakadu is also very special but to really appreciate it, you would need at minimum overnight--you could stay weeks and still not see it all. It's that huge! Since you have just four days to play with, you might the Adelaide idea might be the better of the two...<BR><BR>I can't speak about the various islands because I haven't been there yet. I'm sure one of the other posters can advise you better than me.<BR><BR>Debbie

liz

3 nights in Port Douglas is not very long at all - there is so much more to that area than the reef and about 2 weeks would be more like it. If you want to see some outback then you could go out to Lawn Hill National Park ( north of Mt Isa) which would be at least a 3 day excursion from Port Douglas/Cairns - in some ways similar to Kakadu and certainly a real experience. But I would be spending my time in North Queensland before returning to Sydney before I looked at flying anywhere else.

Christina

I agree with Sara about KI. We just got back & spent 3 nights Sydney, 2 nights KI, 2 nights Adelaide, 2 nights Ayers Rock, 4 nights Palm Cove. <BR><BR>We absolutely loved KI. Adelaide we could have done without. The wine country was lovely though. Ayers Rock/Kings canyon was beautiful as well. GBR & Daintree were spectacular.<BR><BR>If you don't want to pack up so much, Sealink tours offered a full day excursion to KI from Adelaide. It picked you up at 6:15am & you got back at 10pm. It's a long day, but you get the highlights & get to see the wildlife.<BR><BR>Happy Planning!

Mike

If you are staying in the Port Douglas area, a really great place to stay is the Daintree Ecolodge. It is in the rainforest, the cabins are in "sort of tree houses". At night a local man takes a small group out on the river for an "in the dark" boat ride in a metal boat. He takes you up the streams running into the river. Also in the area is the "Native Guide Safari Tour" It is a small tour company ran by an aboriginal woman named Hazel. You spend the day with her going to Mossman gorge, Cape Tribulation, and into the rainforest. We were in Australia three years ago, and that part of the trip was my favorite.

so many choices

Dear Liz,<BR>Help please! I could use some suggestions, where should I go in North Queensland? Thanks

Liz

Dear SMC<BR>I used to go up to North Qld just about every year when I lived closer than I do now and I would try and go to a new place each year. <BR>There is a wonderful trip - by small boat - which goes from Cairns to the top of Cape York, this calls into little islands and bays for fishing and swimming, snorkling etc and at the end of the trip you stay at the Eco lodge on the very top. Either coming back to Cairns by plane, 4 Wheel drive, or boat. That for me would be the ultimate experience because you are taking in all aspects of the area. But if you can't do that then I would stay in Port Douglas and take little tours from there both to the islands, the reef, the rainforest, the waterways, and the inland from there. I get hooked just snorkling around Green Island off Cairns ( which is the worst island in the chain actually) Then there is the Mossman Gorge, the Daintree area with pristine wilderness, Cape Tribulation which is the rainforest coming down to the sea. The sky rail going to Kuranda behind Cairns, a trip around the Atherton Tablelands behind Cairns and going to the lakes surrounded by rainforest and the other waterfalls and rock-pools which abound in that area. Further west you can get into the old Lava tubes and explore those. Thats the Cairns area. <BR>Further south near Cardwell and off the coast is Hinchinbrook Island, a very large island and something that you would expect Robinson Crusoe to have been on. They only allow a few people at any time onto that island and you can spend days just exploring that one - there are other islands in between Cairns and Hinchinbrook - further south again you come across the Whitsundays group of islands. There are about 80 of those ( and you are about 500 Klm south of Cairns now) There are only a few which are inhabited and one of the nicest things to do there is rent a yacht or a cat and explore these islands yourself. If that is not your scene then there are many resorts on lots of different islands which cater for just about anything and any tastes. <BR>If you have only a few days to spend in the Cairns area then another boat trip is to get a boat in Cairns which does a 3 -4 days trip down to Townsville calling in at various reefs and coral cays en route where you can snorkle to your hearts content or whatever. I had some friends from England do this one and absolutely loved it. It carries about 24 people I think so its very intimate. Food was wonderful too they said. <BR>This is a very quick overview of that area but I am sure that if you went, and whatever you did, you would not be disappointed and you would have a memorable experience.

liz

Just to confuse the issue even more. Between Sydney and Cairns there is a wealth of great places to see, things to do. Whilst KI is a nice place you can get to see lots and lots and lots of animals between Cairns and Sydney in many different areas. You could hop along the way and go to other areas but still remain in the same line from Sydney to Cairns. Tell us where you are from and what you would like to see and do and we can make the suggestions from there.

so many choices

Dear Liz,<BR>I'm from the United States and my daughter is studying at the UNSW. She is going to travel with us for the weekend that I mentioned. She feels that Sydney and Port Douglas offer us a wonderful city and tropical experience. She suggested Kangaroo Island so we could see wild life in their natural habitat. I just not sure it is worth traveling to Adelaide from Sydney then on to Cairns or if there are places closer that would provide a similar experience. There is also a car race in Adelaide the weekend of Oct. 18 and just about every hotel is booked. I was worried that Adelaide could be overcrowded that weekend. I Don't mind if we have to stay in more than one place, but I only have 3 nights. Originally I was thinking about the Gold Coast, but was afraid it is to much like America. Are there Kangaroos in Lamington National Park? I also thought about Noosa and during someday trips from there. My third idea was one of the islands but thought it might be similar to Port Douglas. I'm going to be in Sydney for 6 days, 3 on each leg of my trip. Excursions from Sydney are also a possibility. Thanks so much for your help.

Liz

Ok what about this? Fly from Sydney to Brisbane and have a couple of days there going to both or either the Sunshine Coast or the Gold Coast, neither of which is like America other than they are modern towns/cities with some similiar features - but you will get similiar features everywhere and different ones too. Getting back to your original question - yes there are Kangaroos and wallabies and even the cute little paddymellons in Lamington National Park. There are also some absolutely beautiful birds that will want you to be their friend. There are some wonderful walks around Lamington and the rest of the 11 National Parks in the area which will take you to waterfalls, rock pools, gloworms, lookouts and the like. You can take a night tour in many of the parks with naturalists who will show you the wildlife. <BR>There is also Currumbin Bird Sanctuary on the Gold Coast where you can feed the wild birds that fly in twice a day and also play with the kangaroos, wallabies and emus etc etc. Also on the Gold Coast is Fleay's Fauna Sanctuary with lots of endangered species have been bred and looked after. The rangers there are very knowledable. <BR>On the Sunshine Coast you can go to Australia Zoo and see what Steve Irwin has actually done there. There is also a deer park which you don't need to go into to see their nocturnal house and koalas Kangaroos and the like - just buy a cup of coffee from the shop and check out the animals. <BR>In Brisbane there is Lone Pine and again you can interact with the animals there too. <BR>If Adelaide has the car race on then it most certainly will be full to over-flowing and I don't think that it would be worth flying over there just to go to KI. <BR>Fly from Brisbane to Cairns and all you have done is a stop-over en-route to Cairns really. Alternatively you can fly into the Gold Coast and then fly out of Brisbane, transport from the Gold Coast to Brisbane takes about one hour or so and is very varied and frequent.

liz

PS<BR>Actually, come to think of it, there are some wonderful nocturnal tours AND daylight tours in and around the Cairns area where you can get to see the wild-life. I went spot-lighting up there the last time I was there. We went into the Daintree forest to find the white possums which are only found in that small area, it was great fun. Our rellies went on a different animal spotting tour and had a ball.