2 week vacation to Australia in August
 

Hi all,

I am planning to travel with my husband, 2.5 year old daughter, mother and sister to Australia in the first 2 weeks of August. So far we want to spend time in Sydney and the blue mountains and Cairns so my hubby and sister can go scuba diving. Need advice on itinerary for the trip. Will it be too cold in August? (we currently live in Texas and Florida but have lived in New England) How long should we stay in Sydney? We are looking for a relaxing vacation without too much extra traveling. Hopefully my daughter will still be napping daily. How long should we stay in Cairns? What about accommodations? I think a vacation rental would be best for us so we don't have to eat out for every meal. What other places should we visit? Thanks in advance for the help.

With two weeks for this vacation, I recommend no more than 3 destinations and, depending on your interests and traveling style, you could just keep it at two destinations--Sydney and Great Barrier Reef.

It will not be too cold in Australia in August, especially if you have lived in New England! The weather in the Cairns/Port Douglas area will be great in August--warm days and pleasant evenings. It will be a bit cooler in Sydney, with a chance of drizzle or rain some days. I would characterize a Sydney winter day as similar to a spring day in most of the U.S. You'll likely be fine in pants and a short-sleeved shirt during the day and just need to add a light jacket for night.

I would plan on spending at least 4 days in Sydney with one of those days devoted to a day trip to the Blue Mountains. But, if you want a more relaxed vacation, you could spend a week there and take more day trips in the region (or spend a couple of nights in the Blue Mountains, where it will be cold at night.) Although we have been to Sydney many times, we almost always stay in hotels or B&Bs. But, on one visit, we stayed in a serviced apartment around Darling Harbour, so I know that option exists. A serviced apartment will have a kitchen so you can prepare meals and 2 -3 bedrooms for all the members of your family.

Instead of staying in Cairns, I would go to Port Douglas (more laid-back and relaxing than Cairns) and I would stay there for a week. Port Douglas has a beach, which Cairns does not, and that makes a big difference. There are plenty of serviced apartments in Port Douglas.

Thank you for this great response. We are so excited for our trip. Can we get a flight from Cairns to Texas? That would be great to cut out the flight back to Sydney from Cairns.

Good tips from Longhorn.

Have a look at www.booking.com & stayz.com.au for accommodation.

Skyscanner is a good resource for finding flights.

There are not any non-stop flights from Cairns to Texas (DFW), but there are plenty of direct flights which make a stop for a change of plane in Brisbane and LAX. There's no need to back to Sydney unless you want to take a non-stop from there to DFW (see Qantas).