11 Days in Oz
 

We are taking our vacation to Australia in June this year and will have 11 days "on the ground". While we would very much like to visit Ayers Rock, our itinerary seems somewhat hectic if we try to wedge this into what we already want to do in Sydney and Cairns. If we don't go to Ayers Rock, we are thinking 4 days in Sydney and 7 days in Cairns/PD area. Any thoughts on whether this is too much time in either place? Would you leave Ayers Rock off the itinerary if you only had 11 days?

Hi TimJ,
We had the same dilemma and decided to leave off Ayers Rock. We'll just have to go back. We are dividing it up with about 5 days in Sydney and surrounding area (we are going down to Jervis Bay for a night - although I think we could spend a whole week there also) and then 6 days in the Cairns/Port Douglas area. We are going out on the Reef Encounter for one night so we will actually have 2 days on the reef. When in June are you going? We leave Chicago on June 15th and then leave Cairns to go to New Zealand on June 28th. We are getting SO excited! Going to Australia and New Zealand has been a dream for a long time.

Hi Tim,
ayers rock is a wonderful place but its in the middle of nowhere and 11 days in au is insufficient,if you want to do Ayers Rock.Instead i would recommend that you stick to the east coast.i.e. sydney-brisbane-cairns-sydney-melbourne(try do Mt baw baw a 4 hr train journey and a ride up the mt. )-sydney.with this plan you could do practically all.the outback,metros,dive in barrier reef,aussie alps (mt baw baw a must see)

In 11 days I suggest limiting yourself to 3 places at most. I can't see how you could see all the places harsha mentions unless you're trying to set some sort of crazy record, and I'm really puzzled by the comment "with this plan you could do practically all.the outback.." The Outback covers millions of square kilometres, and the only chance you'd have of seeing anything that looks remotely like it would be inland from Cairns. I think you'll have a better time if you stick to Sydney, Cairns and their surrounds.

I encourage people to book their tickets to Australia Open Jaw, which means fly into either Sydney or Melbourne and fly out of either Brisbane or Sydney.

You could fly from Sydney to Ayers Rock early, spend the night and then later the next day fly up to Cairns. Then fly from Cairns to Brisbane to catch your flight home.

(Brisbane is often cheaper than Sydney)

You should have time to catch two tours in Ayers Rock or get a rental car and do your own thing.

i suppose niel you did'nt see the pause after '..practically all.".which follows by a little of everything.

Okay, I may be in the minority here. Yes, I know 11 days is nowhere near enough time, but . . .
My wife and I had 14 days and I too debated on whether to cut Ayers Rock out of the mix. We knew we were going to see Sydney and Palm Cove. But at the last minute I decided to "squeeze" in Ayers Rock and BOY am I glad I did. For me that was the highlight of the trip.
We did a couple of days in Sydney, a couple of days in Alice Spings with a (long) day trip to Ayers Rock, then about 4 days at Palm Cove and finally a full day and a half back in Sydney.
Personally as relaxing and beautiful as Palm Cove was i can't see spending more than 4 to 5 days there.
But this is merely my opinion and it ALL depends on what you want to see. They are completely different parts of a huge (and wonderful) country.

Point taken, harsha, but it would have been easier to spot if you'd capitalised the word that began the following sentence.

hi
have you frozen your plans? australia is one awesome place that has so much to offer. i would recommend (as what we did went we went) landing at brisbane but stay at the gold coast.thats happening. after two days here, hire a car (and you get the very best of them) and drive to cairns and right upto to cape tribulation. must halt at the daintree forests, moseman gorge (there are a whole lot of homestays on the way for you to check out.)do the great barrier reef snorkelling or scuba diving ONLY from cape trib and NOT from cairns. that is a different experience altogether.
after a few days there drive back to cairns and halt there for a day or so. any shopping you have in mind do it here.best deals. from cairns take a flight to sydney (you can leave your car at cairns to be picked up by the rental guys). sydney three days should suffice. see the beaches, bronte etc. see the old world charm of sydney. take a boat ride to imbibe the whole feel.and ofcourse taste the commercial side to sydney. from there move to the perfect countryside - melborne. this is a place to relax. do the ocean drive, the 11 apostles. from melborne take a train and coach to the 'victorian alps'. do sking etc. and an overnight in their lodges is a must. this way your holiday would have covered the beach life (gold coast), the rain forests, the barrier reef , city life and even the snow!