We are 2 families, 3 kids each, ranging in age from 8-15. Would appreciate any suggestions for b&b's which take families, farm stays, attractions, any islands we should see, or any other suggestions for families. We are arriving in Sydney on March 11, and renting a car and driving up to Port Douglas, we have 3 weeks there.

My first suggestion would be to FLY from Sydney to Port Douglas. It would take quite a few days to drive there, and your kids might be hating life! Unless your goal is to stop a lot along the way...I honestly don't know what's great to see along the route, but I'm sure there are many on this board who will be glad to help.

By the time you add accommodation, petrol and the rental for the car you may as well drive and save yourself what can be a very boring drive in parts. Sydney to Bundaberg in Queensland would be quite Ok ( that's 2 days flat out driving ) but then you have pretty well a boring drive for 800 klm till you get to Mackay ( another day) there is a lot around there to see but if you do that it will take about one week to get to PD from Sydney. Between Whitsundays ( just north of Mackay ) to Cardwell, about 500 klm away and 160 Klm north of Townsville is also boring, from then on though its nice. <BR>I agree with the previous writer, I would fly, especially as you can get some good bargains at present. Look at the Red -e deals with Qantas on www.qantas.com.au put in your destination as Cairns. Also look up www.babs.com.au which is a Bed and Breakfast site. However if you find a specific area you are sometimes better to search the web for B&B as not everyone is with Babs.

We too are from Canada. We were in Australia in August. Arrived in Sydney then flew to Brisbane and stayed a couple of days. We then flew to Townsville and drove to Port Douglas. That was enough driving for our children ages 14 and 11. We got good deals on Virgin. I would agree with the other posts that it would be a much better idea to fly. It would be like driving from Vancouver to Winnipeg and then some. After your gas costs and car rental it would probably be about the same to fly.

To Alicia from Canada!<BR>Thanks for your answers and I think we will do that. Your kids are the same ages as ours, what can you suggest we do that your kids really enjoyed? We would love to do a 3 day Outback tour, any suggestions? Any info would be most helpful, thanks!

Charlotte,<BR>Another idea is to Fly to Townsville from Sydney. You can then hire a car and take a three hour drive down to the Whitsunday Islands. This is a beautiful place, and some of the islands are dedicated to familes so everyone can have fun. Then you can drive to Cairns, about a 6 hour drive. Along the way there is heaps of swimming holes etc to break up the drive. From Cairns you can go to the Great Barrier Reef, maybe take the kids Whitewater Rafting. There is plenty to do, and then try to get up to Cape Tribulation, the Daintree Forest, and Mosman Gorge. I think the kids will still be entertained.<BR>

Our 13 and 16 year olds say the best things in Australia were the following: <BR>-the rainforest experience, an animal 7 bird place at the entrance to Port Douglas<BR>-the sky rail up to Kuranda, and the butterfly sanctuary in Kuranda<BR>-Hartleys crocodile farm<BR>-Tjapukai aboriginal center...the music show and the hands on spear throwing and boomerang tossing were their favorites.<BR>-rainforest walk<BR>-Lone pine animal preserve in Brisbane (where you can HOLD a Koala)<BR>-the aquarium in Sydney<BR>-the bridge climb in sydney<BR>One thing nice about Australia is that there are lots of multi-bedroom hotels to stay. We call them fully furnished 2 bedroom condos in Hawaii. Most had full kitchens, several TVs, and washer dryers in the unit. Made it nice for our family as we were expecting 2 little 2 bedrooms--not 5 room spreads!

Hi Charlotte,<BR><BR>As a family, we LOVED Australia. I'll give you a run down of what we did over three weeks:<BR>Four days in Sydney - Got a Sydney Pass and went on the Harbour Tour, Sydney Explorer and Bondi Explorer. Good way to see the City. Went to the Aquarium and Darling Harbour. Our girls enjoyed the Aquarium (good shark exhibit and got to see a palyatupus). Four days was a good length of time.<BR>Flew to Brisbane and rented a car. Went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. We all enjoyed it. The girls got to hold a koala and we fed kangaroos. They still talk about being able to get so close to these wonderful animals. We drove north to Noosa. Saw a wild koala in a tree which was exciting!!! Went on a full day tour of Fraser Island (the world's largest sand island). It was interesting and our children loved swimming in the lake on the island. It is crystal clear and the sand is so fine people use it to clean their jewellery. We saw kangaroos in the wild and a dingo. Back at Noosa we went on a camel ride. Another great experience. We learned alot about these gentle animals and saw some outback.<BR>Drove back to Brisbane and flew to Townsville. Nothing exciting at Townsville. Wished we had gone to Magnetic Island (hear it is great) as it is only a short ferry ride.<BR>Drove north to Port Douglas. Loved Port Douglas. It is a quaint little town. Did a full day snorkelling tour of the Great Barrier Reef with Wavelength. They only take 30 people and were great with the kids. They take you to three snorkel sites and at one of the sites take you on a guided tour with a marine biologist. We saw so much and learned alot. Our girls were in awe! Went on a full day tour with David Armburst to see his animals and an outback tour (you might want to check his website). We enjoyed it but there was so much hype from the other posters and for the cost I don't know if we would do it again. <BR>Drove north to Cape Tribulation and Daintree. Saw a couple of monitor lizards. Went on a river tour to see crocodiles. Saw lots and learned alot.<BR>Drove south all the way to the Whitsunday Islands. They are beautiful. Reminded me of the Gulf Islands except with amazing blue water and lots of sun! We spent three days on Hamilton Island. Our girls really liked Hamilton. They got to try windsurfing, we went on another half day snorkeling tour and just hung out. It is a small island and there are no cars, people use golf carts. Our children loved that! We felt very comfortable letting them go on their own which they really liked. There are lots of rainbow lorakeets(beautiful bird), cockateils and bats (neat thing to see at night from atop of the hill).<BR>Drove back to Townsville, flew to Brisbane and Sydney and then home. <BR>As you can tell we are animal lovers and Australia had lots of interesting creatures. The people were friendly, the country is beautiful and it was a trip of a lifetime. I would go back in a minute. Before you go in the water check with the locals about box jellyfish (there weren't there when we went in August). These guys can kill you! Have a great time!!!!!!!<BR>

Charlotte,<BR><BR>In my lengthy post forgot to mention a couple of things: we did the Kuranda tour. It was okay - a little touristy. If you do it don't spend the extra money to do the train ride. We all found it too long and saw most of the scenery on the tram. We also wished we had gone to the Australia Zoo north of Brisbane (the Crocodile Hunter's zoo). Not a big deal but thought being so close it might of been interesting. One our our best purchases was a digeridoo. We bought at the market on the Kuranda tour. After checking many other places we got a good deal. If you get one make sure it is an original one - in places like Sydney they have some machine made ones and they aren't as nice. We worried about carrying it all over Australia but they packaged it up and we brought it home on the plane. A great treasure that our girls love to play!