During the first 14 nights of December, 3 adults plus a 3 year-old plan to spend 2 nights in the Blue Mountain area, then 5 nights in Tasmania, then 3 nights GBR on Heron Island, then 4 nights in Sydney. The order was determined by the domestic flight schedules. For a first-time visit to Australia, what do you think about the pace and planned destinations? We had divided feelings on whether to see Tasmania or substitute Cairns area or possibly Ayers Rock, but thought with a young child those areas might be too hot/harsh that time of year. Comments welcome on our concerns or your favorite things to do or places to stay along the planned path. Thanks!

14 nights in oz and 5 of them in Tasssie!

Who is pushing Tassie in the US? Seems like every second itinerary has got Tassie in it.

Surely you have to go to Cairns area.Rainforest and reef.

Check out wether its bird nesting season on heron.Its a small coral cay oriented towards diving/snorkelling.

Leave Uluru out at that time of year.

Hi, Illinois Traveller!
The domestic flight schedules are not running your way.... the Blue Mountains are practically an outer suburb of Sydney (less than two hours by car or train), so to split up this with a long flight to Tasmania, and then another long flight up to the GBR, seems to be using your time poorly. I have nothing against Tasmania, but I think a better schedule might be: Blue Mountains, Cairns, Heron Island, Sydney. Or, alternatively, Tassie, Cairns, Heron Island, Sydney (and try to do a day-trip to the Mountains in that final four days).

Johnji - why did you say to stay away from Uluru in December? We may be in Australia end of Nov, early Dec and want to do Sydney/Alice Springs & Rock/Cairns area. Too hot? Humid? Thanks.

My point is that the centre in summer is quite likely to be baking hot...100F + but a dry heat.The sort of blasting sun that just makes you want to stay in the shade or in the air con. The flies can be bad as well in summer.
If you must go I would make it a "hit and run" and be thoughtful how you plan your day.

Cairns is hot/humid in summer..sauna bath heat...and it is stinger season.
However i think it is manageable if you plan your day.In my opinion the GBR is an absolute must see...i would have the rock further down the list particularly in summer.
Perhaps you could shorten ur cairns stay and look at areas to the south in qld.

I have a question johhj_au:

You note that it will be stinger season in early December. How much of an impact does this have on travel planning? Are there stingers on the coral islands like Heron Island or just on the mainland? I was thinking of spending a few days there in late Nov-early Dec. If there are stingers, does that mean the waterfront is completely off-limits? What about swimmings, snorkelling, scuba diving (the whole reason for the trip)?

Stinger season has a pretty minimal impact on travel planning....the reef and islands are stinger free.

I guess you realise Heron is many hundreds of kilometres south of the stinger region.

Heron is great.

Some possible reservations about Heron are:
-it is relatively difficult to get to.
-the birds can be very noisy at certain times of year.

Hi Illinois Traveller - In Queensland, box jelly fish (marine stingers) inhabit coastal waters from Mackay north between November-May. Heron Island is way south of Mackay and is 60km off the coast, so don't worry about stingers. North of Mackay there are plenty of beaches with netted swimming areas - people lately have taken to wearing "stinger suits" which cover the whole body - stops sunburn too!

Illinois Traveller: I apologize for temporarily hijacking your post with questions about stingers.

Johhj: I apologize for being a dummy about Australian geography - thanks to you and Pat for the info. I knew that stingers appear north of Mackay, but I wasn't sure how precisely the stingers enforced the border, and I wasn't sure how far south Heron was.