Weather and What to do in November in Australia
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Weather and What to do in November in Australia
Hello,
My fiance and I are going to Australia for our honeymoon in November 2008. I know it's early, but right now I'm trying to get a general idea of where to go for the sake of booking airline tickets (we're using our frequent flier miles so must book now). So, I have a few questions that I hoped you all could help me out with:
1. All references to weather in all guidebooks concentrate on December through February and June through Sept/Oct. We'll be arriving Nov. 5 and departing the 20th. Can someone please tell me what the weather is like in the southeast and northeast of Australia during early to mid-November?
2. Our thought was essentially to split the trip in half. One half in Sydney and surrounding areas and the other half spent between Brisbane and Cairns. Is it advisable to add a day or two on to the south at the expense of Queensland?
3. At some point during the trip, we'd very much like to stay at a beachfront resort so we can have a few hours on the beach without having to dedicate the full day. Would this be a good idea for Cairns or surrounds from which we could go to see the coral reef? Or is there a better beach that someone can recommend?
I know these questions aren't simple, if any follow up information would be useful, I'd be very, very, very happy to provide it.
Thanks a lot, I'm grateful for any advice!
-CR
My fiance and I are going to Australia for our honeymoon in November 2008. I know it's early, but right now I'm trying to get a general idea of where to go for the sake of booking airline tickets (we're using our frequent flier miles so must book now). So, I have a few questions that I hoped you all could help me out with:
1. All references to weather in all guidebooks concentrate on December through February and June through Sept/Oct. We'll be arriving Nov. 5 and departing the 20th. Can someone please tell me what the weather is like in the southeast and northeast of Australia during early to mid-November?
2. Our thought was essentially to split the trip in half. One half in Sydney and surrounding areas and the other half spent between Brisbane and Cairns. Is it advisable to add a day or two on to the south at the expense of Queensland?
3. At some point during the trip, we'd very much like to stay at a beachfront resort so we can have a few hours on the beach without having to dedicate the full day. Would this be a good idea for Cairns or surrounds from which we could go to see the coral reef? Or is there a better beach that someone can recommend?
I know these questions aren't simple, if any follow up information would be useful, I'd be very, very, very happy to provide it.
Thanks a lot, I'm grateful for any advice!
-CR
#2
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The weather in Sydney in November is usually fine but can start getting a bit humid.
If you want to spend time at a beach resort, you'd probably want to do that anywhere south of Brisbane at that time of year. North of Brisbane you start getting jelly fish in the water, the type that sting, which means you won't be able to swim in the beach.
Brisbane is OK but I wouldn't recommend spending more than a day there. If you want to hang out in that part of Australia, you'd be better off driving 2 hours north to the Sunshine Coast, to a place called Noosa, which is beautiful. It has a fantastic national park, good cafes and restaurants and plenty of hotels. There is a really lovely beach there too, but I'm not sure what the situation would be there with the jelly fish, given it is north of Brisbane. If you do a google search for Noosa you might find out a bit more. Noosa is pricey though. Or you could go to Noosaville which just 5 minutes further up the road from Noosa and has cheaper accommodation. It is on the river. It also has good food.
About 20mins drive inland from Noosaville is a great country town with a big market which is held every Wednesday and Saturday. The name of the town escapes me.
If you do get to Cairns, can I suggest you make the effort to drive about 1 hour north to Port Douglas. It is a much nicer place than Cairns. In fact the beach at Cairns is not nice at all. Port Douglas has a beautiful long beach and plenty of hotels with pools. Good food. Great views. You can do trips out to the Barrier Reef from there. There's a beautiful little white timber church on the river in Port Douglas that is always booked out by couples getting married there. It makes for pretty photographs. YOu can also drive to the Daintree Rainforest from Port Douglas. You could also go white water rafting or hot air ballooning there too.
Given you are only there for two weeks, I wouldn't worry about going south of Sydney, you won't have enough time.
HOpe this is of some help to you.
If you want to spend time at a beach resort, you'd probably want to do that anywhere south of Brisbane at that time of year. North of Brisbane you start getting jelly fish in the water, the type that sting, which means you won't be able to swim in the beach.
Brisbane is OK but I wouldn't recommend spending more than a day there. If you want to hang out in that part of Australia, you'd be better off driving 2 hours north to the Sunshine Coast, to a place called Noosa, which is beautiful. It has a fantastic national park, good cafes and restaurants and plenty of hotels. There is a really lovely beach there too, but I'm not sure what the situation would be there with the jelly fish, given it is north of Brisbane. If you do a google search for Noosa you might find out a bit more. Noosa is pricey though. Or you could go to Noosaville which just 5 minutes further up the road from Noosa and has cheaper accommodation. It is on the river. It also has good food.
About 20mins drive inland from Noosaville is a great country town with a big market which is held every Wednesday and Saturday. The name of the town escapes me.
If you do get to Cairns, can I suggest you make the effort to drive about 1 hour north to Port Douglas. It is a much nicer place than Cairns. In fact the beach at Cairns is not nice at all. Port Douglas has a beautiful long beach and plenty of hotels with pools. Good food. Great views. You can do trips out to the Barrier Reef from there. There's a beautiful little white timber church on the river in Port Douglas that is always booked out by couples getting married there. It makes for pretty photographs. YOu can also drive to the Daintree Rainforest from Port Douglas. You could also go white water rafting or hot air ballooning there too.
Given you are only there for two weeks, I wouldn't worry about going south of Sydney, you won't have enough time.
HOpe this is of some help to you.
#3
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chadnycity: weather in north east Queensland in November is starting to warm up, but usually very good reef conditions as its after the prevailing SE winds of earlier months. Before someone jumps on me, there was a patch of bad reef weather this past November, due to an unusually early cyclone hitting PNG, north of Australia. But since then and up to now reef conditions have been perfect with light northerlies and excellent underwater visibility.
There's a current post about dangerous marine stingers in northern tropical COASTAL (not reef) waters running here now at about no 15. Its headed "Box Jelly Fish in Queensland" or something similar.
Noosa Heads is way too far south to be affected by stingers; but it has no coral reefs.
Whilst its true that Cairns city does not have a beach of any description (it has a harbour with deep water anchorage for ocean going vessels) Cairns has a string of beaches to its north - from 12-25 minutes drive from airport. Palm Cove (another long beach) and Trinity Beach are particularly well geared for tourism and there's a good selection of beach accommodations. Most reef trips leave from Cairns city and these are easily accessible from its northern beaches, all reef trips will provide transfers. For extra transfer cost most Port Douglas reef trips will pick up there too.
markop, the town inland from Sunshine Coast would be Eumundi; grade 5 white water rafting is at Tully River, some 60km closer to Cairns than Port Douglas, there's a gentler white water rafting trip at Caravonica, a Cairns suburb, on the Barron River. Hot air ballooning leaves from Mareeba on Atherton Tableland and Mareeba is actually about 25km closer to Cairns than Port Douglas.
There's a current post about dangerous marine stingers in northern tropical COASTAL (not reef) waters running here now at about no 15. Its headed "Box Jelly Fish in Queensland" or something similar.
Noosa Heads is way too far south to be affected by stingers; but it has no coral reefs.
Whilst its true that Cairns city does not have a beach of any description (it has a harbour with deep water anchorage for ocean going vessels) Cairns has a string of beaches to its north - from 12-25 minutes drive from airport. Palm Cove (another long beach) and Trinity Beach are particularly well geared for tourism and there's a good selection of beach accommodations. Most reef trips leave from Cairns city and these are easily accessible from its northern beaches, all reef trips will provide transfers. For extra transfer cost most Port Douglas reef trips will pick up there too.
markop, the town inland from Sunshine Coast would be Eumundi; grade 5 white water rafting is at Tully River, some 60km closer to Cairns than Port Douglas, there's a gentler white water rafting trip at Caravonica, a Cairns suburb, on the Barron River. Hot air ballooning leaves from Mareeba on Atherton Tableland and Mareeba is actually about 25km closer to Cairns than Port Douglas.
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To be sure about marine stingers ensure that you are not above the Tropic of Capricorn which is quite a long way north of Brisbane. They are not encountered only in Australia but most of the research about them has been done in Australia and we here feel that it is wisest to let people know about these dangers whereupon other countries do not do this. Here is some information from a Science Website which may help.
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I have heard about the jelly fish in Oct - May. Is it safe to dive?
Jellyfish occur in all tropical waters. Thanks to the research efforts and level of knowledge about jellyfish in the northern Great Barrier Reef, operators here can offer much better safety and information about this issue than in other tropical diving locations.
We do know that the most lethal species of box jellyfish, (chironex fleckeri) live in estuaries and coastal waters and do not venture offshore to the areas visited by most dive vessels.
There are other species of jellyfish, including oceanic and offshore species of box jellyfish, which occasionally occur and if encountered can have serious health issues and in extreme instances, cause fatality. These occur in all tropical diving locations throughout the world, including Hawaii, Florida, the Caribbean, Thailand, Fiji and Indonesia especially during the warmer seasons.
We advise the wearing of full body coverage using lycra suits and/or wetsuits to minimise the already low possibility of jellyfish stings, but equally important to protect from sunburn, wherever you dive. Suits are not always available for hire, so it is best to bring your own (cost approx A$ 80.00) as there are many different body shapes and a hire suit will never fit you as well as your own.
..............................
I have heard about the jelly fish in Oct - May. Is it safe to dive?
Jellyfish occur in all tropical waters. Thanks to the research efforts and level of knowledge about jellyfish in the northern Great Barrier Reef, operators here can offer much better safety and information about this issue than in other tropical diving locations.
We do know that the most lethal species of box jellyfish, (chironex fleckeri) live in estuaries and coastal waters and do not venture offshore to the areas visited by most dive vessels.
There are other species of jellyfish, including oceanic and offshore species of box jellyfish, which occasionally occur and if encountered can have serious health issues and in extreme instances, cause fatality. These occur in all tropical diving locations throughout the world, including Hawaii, Florida, the Caribbean, Thailand, Fiji and Indonesia especially during the warmer seasons.
We advise the wearing of full body coverage using lycra suits and/or wetsuits to minimise the already low possibility of jellyfish stings, but equally important to protect from sunburn, wherever you dive. Suits are not always available for hire, so it is best to bring your own (cost approx A$ 80.00) as there are many different body shapes and a hire suit will never fit you as well as your own.
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Thanks very much for the replies. I feel so relieved that the weather should be nice and that I won't have to worry too much about the jellyfish (it was a concern that I hadn't mentioned).
I'm a little concerned now about my plans for NSW. I thought that a week would be enough time to see a bit outside of Sydney (living in a large City, I usually don't want to spend more than 3 days in a particular City while on vacation).
I want to make the best of my vacation, which I just decided to extend by another 2 days.
Oh, one more question, my fiance keeps asking about visiting the 'outback'. It seems from other posts that this will not be really feasible without really wearing us out, and I was wondering whether this is the case?
Again, thanks for the advice, I appreciate it...
I'm a little concerned now about my plans for NSW. I thought that a week would be enough time to see a bit outside of Sydney (living in a large City, I usually don't want to spend more than 3 days in a particular City while on vacation).
I want to make the best of my vacation, which I just decided to extend by another 2 days.
Oh, one more question, my fiance keeps asking about visiting the 'outback'. It seems from other posts that this will not be really feasible without really wearing us out, and I was wondering whether this is the case?
Again, thanks for the advice, I appreciate it...
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I'm assuming that you're in the US. If so, you could book your trip over and back, then fill in with your internal flights later as you finalize your plans. Check out Virgin Blue's Happy Hour fares on their website, and remain vigilant in snaring some amazing bargain fares. VB honored Qantas' international baggage weight limits.
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Thanks for the tip on Virgin Blue, I'll keep an eye out. I don't intend to really work out a full itinerary until a month much later. The only reason I'm trying to get a general sense now is that I get a free flight from Sydney to Brisbane at some point during the vacation and I'm trying to figure out when to schedule it for. Unfortunately, because it's free it has to be scheduled ridiculously far in advance.
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Also keep an eye out for Tiger Air flights as well as www.jetstar.com.au as I usually find that jetstar are cheaper than VB even with the happy hour flights. T.A will match most of the prices as well but are not fully up and running throughout Australia as yet.
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Tiger Airways does not operate to or from Sydney yet. It's based in Melbourne and does flights to smaller cities from Melbourne. It's worth checking out their site though for great bargains in case you end up in Melbourne.
As for going into outback Australia. I think you will be limited by time. If you have three days to spare and are not short of money, you could fly into Uluru, do a three day outback trip with an organised tour group, and fly out again.
The previous suggestion to keep an eye out for Virgin Blue happy hour is a good one. The happy hour is usually on at 12noon eastern time, but because Virgin in based in Brisbane (Queensland), and Qld is not on daylight savings time, the Happy Hour starts at 1pm Aust eastern time.
As for going into outback Australia. I think you will be limited by time. If you have three days to spare and are not short of money, you could fly into Uluru, do a three day outback trip with an organised tour group, and fly out again.
The previous suggestion to keep an eye out for Virgin Blue happy hour is a good one. The happy hour is usually on at 12noon eastern time, but because Virgin in based in Brisbane (Queensland), and Qld is not on daylight savings time, the Happy Hour starts at 1pm Aust eastern time.
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LOL, trying to time the VB Happy Hour connection from the US is a bit of a pain, but so worth it when you figure it out. You have to be vigilant to catch the date/destination you want. I checked the site every day for a long time and was rewarded with flights (Melbourne > Hobart, Launceston > Sydney, Sydney > Townsville RT) for great fares. The flights were fine too.
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Thanks so much for the tip on VB Happy Hour, I'll definitely keep looking. I've set myself up to land in Sydney on the 5th and depart from Brisbane on the 21. I have a flight from Sydney to Brisbane on the 13th, but I'm not sure I will make use of it. We'll see. I read a two week itinerary that included Ayers Rock so I may see if it's doable. I don't like to rush but from other posts it seems like the recommendation is to go, even if you've only got a couple of days.
Well, I've got a lot of time and at some point I have to start planning this wedding. Although, the honeymoon is starting to sound far more enjoyable.
Thanks again everyone.
Well, I've got a lot of time and at some point I have to start planning this wedding. Although, the honeymoon is starting to sound far more enjoyable.
Thanks again everyone.