16 nights - Need Australia Itinerary Help Please!
 

Hello - My husband and I will be traveling to Australia for the first time at the end of November. We had a great itinerary set up, but after having a hard time finding room in Byron Bay we found out about "schoolies" week - so we are trying to come up with a new itinerary to avoid the schoolies as much as possible.

We fly into Sydney on 11/17 and fly home from Brisbane on 12/2. Our only MUST do is to take an overnight sail charter around the Whitsunday's. We want to have a good mix of relaxing beach time and active adventure on our trip (think - hike to waterfalls, snorkel/diving, climb the bridge in Syd), here is what we are thinking (each is the place we will be SLEEPING in:

Night 1 - Sydney
2 - Sydney
3 - Sydney
4 - Port Douglas (flight to Carin)
5 - Port Douglas
6 - Port Douglas
7 - Port Douglas
8 - Noosa (fligt from Carin to Brisbane, rent a car)
9 - Noosa
10 - Noosa
11- Airlie Beach (flight from Brisbane to Airlie)
12 - Whitsundays
13 - Whitsundays
14 - Airlie Beach
15 - Brisbane (flight from Airlie to Brisbane)
16 - Brisbane
17 - fly HOME

My worry is that we will be spending too much time in planes - am thinking about cutting out Port Douglas if that is the case as we will be going out to the GBR while in the Whitsundays.

We have also toyed with the idea of adding a couple days to see the Blue Mountains. I am from Montana and we now live in Seattle, so we have some very beautiful mountains/scenery around us - do the Blue Mountains compare to Mt. Rainer/Glacier National Park ect?

I would love some thoughts/recommendations.

Thanks!

Hi there
Hmm the Blue Mountains...you have to see them of course. I have seen many mountains and am about to go to NZ shortly but I dont think theres anything as spectacular as the Rockies or the Swiss Alps
but you need to see stuff to be able to comment, right...so yep you do have to see the Blue Mountains
they're different...and I see them every year or so and I try to be objective...which is hard when youre a local and others will be bound to disagree and express their awe and reverence


i love port douglas..been there twice
so try not to cut it out...its nicer than cairns and more vibrant than palm cove or trinity beach

maybe take a night off port douglas and add to sydney so you can fit in the walk from bondi to bronte beach
and a trip out to the blue mountains

i have a trip report about port douglas.. you might be interested to have a look at it for specifics about port douglas and cairns

Why not rent a car and drive down to the Whitsundays from Port Douglas? Quite a lot to see along the way, particularly between Cairns and Townsville. I certainly wouldn't take PD and North Qld out of the itinerary - in my opinion one of the top areas in Australia to see. It's crazy to fly north and back to Brisbane twice.

Tough to compare the Blue Mts with say, the Rockies. The Blue Mts are are actually high plateaus with deep valleys. Hiking involves walking along rims or down into valleys. While some of the sights are quite touristy, it's a huge area and you can easily get away from it all: lovely scenery, wildlife and vegetation.

Thanks everyone for your replies!

RaplhR - we were thinking about driving from PD down to the Whitsundays - do you have any recommendations on which towns to stay in along the way? The reason we are were flying to Brisbane twice is we couldn't find a direct flight from Carins to Airlie Beach, but I do like the idea of driving down and stopping at some towns along the way.

I probably would pick one of the smaller towns en route like Mission Beach, Innisfail or Ingham. You might also consider driving inland part of the way, particularly the Atherton Tablelands west of Cairns. There are some lovely places to stay there like Yungaburra.

Inland from Ingham are Australia's highest waterfalls - Wallaman Falls - definitely worth a look. (We saw a casowary and several platypuses there.) For some reason, I really liked Ingham. My wife's aunt lives - a non-touristy real place, a sugar town with a great Aussie pub - the Station Hotel in the town center.

here's an idea:-

Night 1 - Sydney
2 - Sydney
3 - Sydney
4 - Port Douglas (flight to Cairns then drive to Port Douglas)
5 - Port Douglas
6 - Port Douglas
7 - Port Douglas
8 - Airlie Beach (drive - the distance is about 620kms (about 7-10 hours driving. With this day/night designated as a sleep night then this could be on the road and you will see a reasonable amount of North Queensland)
9 - Whitsundays
10 - Whitsundays
11 - Airlie Beach
12 - Noosa (flight from Airlie Beach to Brisbane, rent a car)
13 - Noosa
14 - Noosa
15 - Brisbane
16 - Brisbane
17 - fly HOME

This removes 2x flights, gives to time see a more of the country. If you wish there are flights from Cairns to Townsville then a drive to Airlie (about 275 Kms or about 3-4 hours)

Regarding the Blue Mountains. they are different to what you would consider Mountains. They are beautiful but I wouldn't spend my tim ethere compared to your other options.

David

I would stop overnight once or twice en route to Airlie Beach. No point in being rushed in beautiful part of the world with plenty to see. Noosa is nice but it's really just a southern version of Port Douglas with surf.

I agree with David's itinerary, or something similar..

Definitely fly to Port Douglas, drive down to Airlie Beach, to Whitsundays, and then I would fly to Brisbane. I personally don't think Noosa is as spectacular as Pt Douglas and Whitsundays, although it depends what you like. I would extend my time in Sydney and Northern Queensland, and maybe throw in the Gold Coast (1 hour south of Brisbane)? Or, alternatively, maybe you could drive to Noosa from Brisbane (or get a tour?) and visit Australia Zoo if that interests you.

What are your interests/what are you looking for in your trip?

When in Port Douglas be sure to go to Mossman Gorge and take the longer walk there. If you like waterfalls then I suggest that from Port Douglas you head up to the Atherton Tablelands and spend a day or two there, where it will be a lot less hot and a little less humid. (though coming from Seattle the humidity might not worry you.)http://www.yungaburra.com/attractions/

There is little comparison between the mountains of which you speak. Both groups are delightful but very different. You'll not be seeing a smaller version of what you have at home.