18 Days Down Unda
 

My wife and I are heading to Australia next October for 18 days. It will be our first trip there, and we want to see the best of Australia without jumping around too much. My initial thoughts for an itinerary are:

Sydney - 6 days
Port Douglas - 6 days
Alice Springs / Ayers Rock / Kings Canyon - 4 days
Melbourne - 2 days

We would likely rent a car everywhere so that we can explore. Would love feedback about the overall itinerary and suggestions for things to do at each locations.

Thoughts, anyone?

I've been living in Sydney for the last year and I thoroughly recommend the Blue Mountains, particularly Wentworth Falls. There are a number of small, medium, and long walks in the area and all are worth it. The falls itself is spectacular. There are also accommodation options you can look into. Here is the official tourism site for New South Wales that may come in handy: http://www.visitnsw.com/

Before Sydney I was living in Cairns for a year and then Townsville for a year and you cannot miss the Great Barrier Reef. The official goverment tourism site for this, which suggests some key places to visit and recommended tour operators is here:

http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/visit-the-r...rism-operation

Also, while you're in Port Douglas I recommend the Daintree National Park, mentioned by David Attenborough as a fantastic place to visit. Suggested lodges if you're keen to stay in the rainforest are the Daintree Wilderness Lodge:
www.daintreewildernesslodge.com.au

and Silky Oaks:
www.silkyoakslodge.com.au

That's about as far as I go as so far I have not been to the other places. I will have to get out and about more often!

Looks like a good plan. Without specific information on your interests I'll give you a few pointers.

Sydney has all the wonderful attractions one would expect of a world class city and a wonderful setting. As mentioned by TJA above the Blue Mountains are a fantastic area for walking, nature and adventure sports. The Hunter Valley makes some of the best Semillion in the world.

Port Douglas is a good base though with tourist type prices. In October it will be starting to warm up but you should get some good weather to go to the reef as the SE winds are usually lighter by then. Mossman Gorge is a great spot and there is an opportunity to go into the forest with local Aboriginal people too. If you have an interest in primitive plants then the Daintree rainforest is well worth the trip but if your interest is more in wildlife then you should visit the Atherton Tablelands.

In Alice Springs the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens, the Reptile Park and the Alice Spring Desert Park are some of my favourite attractions. Lots of good art on sale in the town too.

http://www.fodors.com/community/aust...rt-douglas.cfm

maybe youll find something useful in this report

Hello Gaterman,

one question regarding your planned itinerary (no criticism, just being curious): Why Port Douglas?
It'll surely be worth going, but its quite far off. Have you looked into flights? I'm not sure Port Douglas even has a proper airport.
Also, if you rent a car in Port Douglas, you would probably need a 4WD (at least it used to be like that 2 years ago).

Since it's your first time visiting Australia, Cairns might be a good (and better accessible) alternative to Port Douglas. Or maybe Airlie Beach (on the East Coast in Queensland), from where you can make a cruise in the Whitsunday Islands with beautiful beaches. Just suggestions.

Alice Springs with Uluru, King's Canyon and the Olgas is a must.
Personally, I would recommend spending more time in Melbourne - it has a lot of culture & arts stuff going on all year round and really good food from all over the world. But that is just my personal impression.
Anyway, beware: Australia is addictive!

Enjoy!
Travelphilia

oh but port douglas so much prettier than cairns...no?

easy drive from cairns and we didnt have even a proper four wheel drive when we drove to cooktown

up to OP to decide but id only visit cairns but use port douglas as a base even if you do have to drive back to cairns airport

Gatorman - what are your interests? The reason I ask is that 6 days Sydney seems long to me, unless you're a big city person. Sure, you can use Sydney as a base for seeing outlying areas like the South Coast and the Blue Mts, but remember, it is a huge city, not that easy to get in and out of.

You're quite right - it's a smart thing not to jump around too much. Nonetheless, Id recommend mixing it up a little more if you can. How about driving a sector between cities, say Sydney-Brisbane, Sydney-Melbourne (on the coast) or Melbourne-Adelaide (Great Ocean Road), taking a couple of nights in-between?

Also, while I would definitely spend at least six days in north Queensland, I wouldn't recommend all of it based in Port Douglas. Two or three nights on the Atherton Tablelands would be my suggestion. We spent two nights in Yungaburra this past November. It is a wonderful spot. (Check out my trip report, by the way).

[Regarding Travelpjilia's post, unless you plan on traveling north past Cape Tribulation, there is no real need for a 4WD. Also, Port Douglas is only about an hour's drive north of the Cairns airport -paved all the way and quite scenic. Maybe Travelphilia was thinking of Cooktown.]

I've been to the Red Center a couple of times and love it. I would give yourself an extra day or two. At least two nights at Uluru, one at Kings Canyon and a couple in Alice so you can enjoy the MacDonnell Ranges and gorges east and west of the town.

I agree with Ralph about cutting back the time in cities. I would do either Sydney or Melbourne not both. People don't come to Australia for the cities, it's the natural features of the country that are unique.

I would add in more time to Far North Queensland and the Red Centre and have 5 days max in cities.

First of all, thank you for the helpful replies. As far as Sydney/Melbourne go, here are our thoughts:

Sydney:
We plan to arrive in Sydney after 24 hours of travel, and our body clocks will be 12 hours off. So we figure to be a mess for the 1st coupla days. So either we will hang in the hotel or maybe the beach while we gain our energy back. So realistically, I see us having 4 days in Sydney for exploring. And that will include the Blue Mountains and any other sights outside the city.

Melbourne:
I wasn't really planning on seeing Melbourne at all, but I figured we needed to fly out of someplace, so why not there. I haven't worked out the details, but I'm thinking between the travel time from Alice Springs and the departure back to the US, we may only have a day or so. So my only plan for Melbourne is to get a quick feel for the city before we leave.

Port Douglas:
I'm thinking we will fly into Cairns and drive up to Port Douglas. Our main goals here are to relax on the beach, snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef, and see some of the tropical rain forest. I'm interested in the Atherton Tablelands because so many people have recommended them, but I'm not sure what we'll do. Perhaps we will stay a night there before returning to Cairns. I don't really have a feel for what the Atherton Tablelands have to offer, so I don't know what we will do. We don't want to be on the road more than we have to, but I wouldn't want to miss something special.

Uluru/Alice Springs/Kings Canyon:
I could really use some help here. I am afraid that more than a day or so in Uluru could be boring - what is there to do there besides the vistas and aboriginal culture? I am really interested in hiking and am guessing that the Kings Canyon area is better for that. What about Alice Springs? It sounds like a nice place to hang around (perhaps like Sedona, AZ?) and take a few interesting trips to the local area. So I was thinking that we would spend 2 nights in Alice Springs enjoying the desert, pop over to Uluru for 1 night just to see the majesty of it and soak in a little aboriginal culture, and then stop for a night in Kings Canyon for a couple hiking adventures through some exciting terrain. Are my expectations off base here?

Here is my plan in a nutshell:

Sydney: recover from travel, see very cool city and surrounding areas.

Port Douglas: chill with rum drinks in sun and water with a couple of ambitious excursions.

Red Centre: Enjoy the beautiful sights of the desert with some interesting hikes/explorations by day, relax in the evenings.

Melbourne: pop through on way back to USA.

I'd love to hear more thoughts....