Back again, <BR>Had another thought on my original posting. <BR>Wonder if anyone can offer input on this route and the timings(steve your help is needed yet again and thnks for your earlier post) <BR>Arrive Cairns on Wednesday Afternoon, stay in the area, probably Port Douglas or Palm Cove till early sunday morning(doing the usual tours, barrier reef, cape trib etc). <BR>Early sunday morning (0600) drive to Mackay(would like to see a bit of the area(is this worth the drive or would it be better to fly ?). <BR>Spend a couple of days on Hamilton Island/Airlie Beach area, then fly to Brisbane on the wednesday, arriving in the afternoon(2pm ish). <BR>Spend the rest of the week exploring and making our way down to sydney, by car(quite fancied o'reilly's is it worth it ?)attempting to get to sydney on Sunday night. <BR>Stay in Sydney till wednesday morning, fly to melbourne, visiting relations before heading home on the friday night. <BR> <BR>Any opinions on this would be greatly appreciated, would it be better to fly to each of the centres and forget the driving ? <BR>Is Hamilton Island worth the visit for only 2 days etc <BR> <BR>Thanks <BR>

<BR>Colin, <BR> <BR>As always, I'm happy to provide my opinion <BR> <BR>*I guess I don't understand peoples' interest in driving down the queensland highway. Cairns to MacKay doesn't sound like fun to me, but I'm beginning to sound like a broken record. <BR> <BR>*For my money, I'd take those days and spend them driving the Great Ocean Road outside of Melbourne. <BR> <BR>*O'Reileys is great for a night or two -- we also can't wait to get back to Byron Bay, NSW. <BR> <BR>*If you'd like, I'll look up the name of this state park in Victoria where we stopped to see Koalas in the wild (very rare). <BR> <BR>Whatever you do, it'll be a blast. We also had fun on Hamilton Island.

Steve, <BR>Thanks again for your views. <BR>The only reason I guess I wanted to drive down the coast was I had visions of it being some sort of coastal highway, where great views and lots of things to see were available. It now sounds more like it will be a huge letdown, True ? <BR>If so then I think we will probably fly down to Hamilton and use the extra day there. <BR>We fly into melbourne early on sunday and are staying with relatives till the wed then come back again 2 weeks later for another few days there, so hopefully will do the great ocean road. <BR>So little time and so much we want to do ! <BR>It looks like we might just go and book flights between the places we want to go and then hire a car if we want to travel around that area, the only one I think we will probably do that is in Brisbane. <BR>Are there anythings you would recommend that are absolute must do's in cairns area/brisbane. I know it depends on what you like to do but all we want is a chance to see and experience the place, doens't really matter what it is. <BR>Cheers <BR>Colin.

<BR>*Truthfully, the drive I did was from Noosa up to Rockhampton. It wasn't fun. The highway did not run along the coast and the terrain, while pretty & lush got very boring quickly. Sugar cane as far as the eye could see. There are very few towns/sites along the way. The road is really built for the overland trucks to use, not for tourism. Up north could be different, but I kind of doubt it. I have heard good things, however, about the train. 'Nuff said. <BR> <BR>*I have only been to Cairns once (for one day) so I can't really help you there. However, I did live in Brisbane for 5 years so I do know that area pretty well. <BR> <BR>Although I personally love Brisbane, I do know that it's not very touristy. It's highlights are the Sunshine Coast, a couple of hours drive to the North and the Gold Coast, an hour to the South. <BR> <BR>Brisbane does have a pretty good animal park called Lone Pine that allows you to pet & feed the kangaroos & hold a Koala, which is rare. If you spent a half-day in Brisbane & a half-day at Lone Pine, you'd probably be ready to hit the road south. <BR> <BR>Let me know if you want some ideas for either coasts. <BR> <BR>Steve <BR> <BR>

Steve, <BR> <BR>Thnks once again for yor input, our itineray has completely changed for the better, thanks to your suggestions. <BR> <BR>A few ideas on the sunshine/gold coasts would be good, we have decided basically to fly everywhere and hire a car once we get into brisbane. <BR> <BR>Thanks again <BR> <BR>Colin

<BR>Colin -- Excellent! Please send me an email & let me know how it goes. I know it will be a blast. <BR> <BR>I don't think I answered your question about Hamilton Island. I think it's worth a 2-day trip -- although it may be hard to leave. If you're interested, they have a great tropical cocktail there called the Heavenly Hamilton. Have one for me! <BR> <BR>Steve