1 month Australia East Coast December / January - ideas
 

I am a Sydneysider, and my cousin has just announced she and her husband (50 ish) are planning to spend a month (10th December to 10th January) in Australia. They want to visit the east coast by car, seeing as much as possible between Melbourne and Brisbane. (They have an invitation for New Year's eve with a friend in Sydney).

I don't know anything else (eg where they fly into and out of, but as they are coming from South Africa, I am guessing Sydney and or Melbourne). She has asked me "what they must not miss" on this route). Obviously with us and their other friends, they are well catered for in Sydney, and my parents live in Nelson Bay and will be a base for them to see that part of the coast and Hunter Valley area.

I have advised her it is peak season, busy and hot at that time of the year. I have been wondering what to advise her. Personally, things that would appeal to me at that time of the year would be Great Ocean Road (perhaps even a trip Adelaide to Melbourne, including Kangaroo Island), and Tasmania, but that does not really fit their specs. Otherwise, Bowral area / Kangaroo Valley is somewhere I was thinking of suggesting.

I would love to hear what others would suggest.

I think you've already done an admirable job of advising them--you've told them it's peak season, busy and hot. If the things that appeal to you don't fit their specs, then perhaps they should do a bit of research on their own and find things that suit their interests, budget, etc. (If they haven't given you any guidance on these points, how can they expect you to make any viable suggestions?) Why don't you give them a recommendation for a couple of good Australian guidebooks that you think might have useful info for them.

Me and my girlfriend travel around Australia quite a lot. We use Wotif.com to find accommodation at short notice. We have also found a site called gaander.com that we use to search town we are passing through for attractions. It helped us stumble across places like this https://gaander.com/au/new-south-wal...k-duck-brewery as we travelled from Melbourne to the Gold Coast/Theme park capital (My girlfriend has an obsession with theme parks)

It depends on what they like and where they are from.
The inland route will be similar to SA,- wide open spaces, few people. The coastal route would not be dissimilar to SA either.

I would suggest a mix. The coastal route from Melbourne to Canberra via the Gippsland lakes. They can hire a boat, but would need to book now.

Canberra to Sydney, then inland to Bathurst, Orange, Dubbo Tamworth and to Brisbane.

This will give them, forests, lakes, coast, mountains, "outback"(almost) then more beaches around Brisbane.

A couple of nights in Ballarat before heading out from Melbourne would give them a good idea of our gold history, particularly a full day at Sovereign Hill, be sure to do the night tour "Blood on the southern cross