3 week Australia Trip, our first time
 

My wife and I will be traveling to Australia for 3 weeks in September. I need to be in Carins Sept 19 - 21 for a conference. I am panning to leave from Minnesota USA (MSP) Sept 1 and return Sept 22nd. We have never been to Australia so have no idea where to go or what to do. We are both divers so plan to spend some time diving the great barrier reef and love wine, so visiting some the great vinerys would be cool. My questions are:
- What other must do things are there?
- Should we flyin to somewhere else and work our way over to Carins so we are there by the 19th.
- Any agenda suggestions would be great
- Would love to base camp (hotel) in an area for a few days and then move to the next and so on
- What can we expect to pay per night for hotel (in US dollars). In Europe we usually stay in a 50 - 80 Euro hotel, so nothing real fancy but has private bathroom
- Will we need to fly from city to city, or are there trains like Europe?
- Suggestions for airfare, so far looks like $2000 per person

Really need help, thanks!

Hi, we also live in MSP...

If either of you are students, under 26, or teachers look into STA travel. They helped us book our first trip down under and saved us a lot of money on our flights. (There is one at Coffman Union at the U).

Otherwise I think you will be able to get MSP-SYD airfare for less than that... $1400-1600 is normal outside of peak times (Christmas).

You should also check out the Qantas Aussie Air Pass since you will likely be taking internal flights.

I have only been to SYD but I can answer a few questions...

It will take you two days to get to Sydney (cross international date line).

Sept 3-9: Sydney with daytrips to the Blue Mountains and the Hunter Valley wine region (possibly an overnight or two there if you love wine.)

Sept 10-12: Uluru (JMHO because we really want to go there)

Sept 13-18: Fly into Cairns and visit Far North Queensland-- diving, daytrip to Lizard Island, Undara lava caves, rainforest (Daintree) trips, lots to do...

You could cut a few days from Sydney if you need more in FNQ.

You should be able to find hotels in your price range although you might have to up it a bit...

Definitely fly from city to city. There are trains but you don't have time for them.

Hope that helps. Have fun planning!

Thanks! My wife and I are not students anymore. I will look at flights to SYD.

Happy to help--

Also, for more itinerary and lodging ideas you can search "australia trip report" using the search function.

One more thing...

You can possibly find a flight with a free/inexpensive stopover in Fiji, which has good diving. Fiji is obviously different than the GBR but if you want to dive in two places, it's an option. We loved the Fijians, and the reefs (we only snorkel) were amazing.

Liz

That's a good itinerary suggestion from Tim and Liz. There's so much to see and do in Far North Queensland (Cairns environs), it might be worth staying even longer - 5 free days does not seem like enough to me. Undarra is a great suggestion, not just for the lava tubes, but also as a place to enjoy wildlife and experience the Gulf Savannah outback. This can be done in a long one day trip from Cairns, but I think it's best done overnight, staying in the lodging there. Going to/from Undarra, you can also see the sights of the Atherton Tablelands - all up a trip taking 2 or 3 days. Now add a day or two diving on the reef, a day up to the Daintree and Cape Tribulation, a day driving south to places like the Boulders, Josephine Falls and Mission Beach, and you're nearly filled up a week.

As for wine, why not take your remaining time and fly out to Adelaide, touring the Barrossa, Clare and MacClaren Vales? Arguably Australia's best and geographically most extensive wine growing district. (Spent 10 days there last year and had a wonderful time).

So my suggestion would be:

Sept 3-7 Sydney (3 full days)
Sept 7-11 Adelaide and surrounding wine areas (3 full days)
Sept 11-22 Cairns and environs (7 full free days).

Lucky you "having" to be in Cairns for a conference! We are now planning our second trip to Oz and spending most of the time in the Cairns area. If you want to spend some time on the tableland, go to www.yungaburra.com/accommodation.htm
We are staying at the Gables which is quite inexpensive. We are also staying in Port Douglas at a place we stayed at in 2004. It is quite nice and very well located and is $140/nt AUD called Le Cher du Mond (www.lecherdumonde.com.au) We are also staying in Cairns at Pat Woolford's B&B which is praised highly on this forum and rated as the best B&B in Cairns in the Frommer book. See at www.lilybank.com.au Cant' wait. I would recommend going to Uluru also, we loved it. We stayed for three nights and did some of the Aborigine led tours. We got upgraded there, so I can only recommend the Sails in the Desert (-: Since you are divers, you might want to go on a liveaboard. We are booked on the Spirit of Freedom out of Cairns for three nights. They also have longer trips. See them at www.spiritoffreedom.com.au Do some searches on this board, there are lots and lots of posts of good advice. BTW, good books include the Lonely Planet East Coast, Lonely Planet Queensland, Insight Guide (Discovery Channel) Queensland and the GBR, Eyewitness Travel for Sydney and Australia. A quick check of possible places to go can be found in the AAA book (sold in regular bookstores too) Australia. Happy searching!

Here's another vote for Qantas' Aussie Airpass. We used it a couple of years ago and it's certainly a money-saver for those wanting to visit several places. You can fly in and out of either Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne, so it might make sense to fly into one city and fly out of another in order to maximize the places you can see. The fare from LA to Australia plus 3 internal flights (including Cairns) is $1399 from September 1 - 21. The fare jumps to $1699 beginning September 22, so you may want to come home a day early and save yourself $300 per ticket. If you add about $300 per ticket for the add-on from Minneapolis, you should be able to do all your flying for $1700 per person.
For your stay in Far North Queensland, I recommend you look at staying at a serviced apartment. There are lots of them (especially in Port Douglas where we always stay in FNQ) and at reasonable prices. The advantage of a serviced apartment is that you have kitchen facilities for breakfast, etc. and many of them have washers and dryers which will sure come in handy. (Ask about the W/D since not all apartments have them.) We stay at a nice place in Port Douglas and a 2-bedroom apartment for our family runs about U.S.$150.00 per night. So, you can probably find a one-bedroom apartment within your price range.

Based on the feedback, maybe we should do this:
Sept 2nd Leave MSP
Sept 4th Arrive SYD
Stay till Sept 7th
Fly Sept 7th to Adelaide (wine)
Stay till Sept 13th
Fly Sept 13 to Canies
Stay Canies for vacation till Sept 19th
Conference Sept 19th - Sept 21
Fly home Sept 22

Thoughts? More concentrated time in the wine area and Canies for diving and the outback

Are there service apartments in Canies? Where do you find informaiton about them?

I haven't been to Adelaide, or Cairns but I think you may be staying too long in the former and not long enough in the latter. (And I have a friend from Adelaide who would agree...)

So longer in Canies???

Areinert,

As you are both divers, I agree with Tim and Liz that you should plan on spending more time in CAIRNS/area and less in Adelaide. (it's not like you can't drink wine while IN Cairns, ya know)! :)

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Aussie Specialist

I was thinking 3 full days in/around Adelaide would be just about right for the wineries. I would imagine it will be very beautiful there in the spring, based on what we saw last August when flowers were just starting to bloom.

Does anyone have suggestions for hotels at our three stops?

Anyone have informaiton on the service apartments?

Lots of info on serviced apartments - just Google.

Here's one site for serviced apartments in Cairns -

www.cairnsapartments.com.au/

This site is also very helpful regarding general info and accommodation -

http://www.totaltravel.com.au/

Going to Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the outback is definately an expensive detour for a couple days, but IMHO very worth it. We did this "Sounds of Silence Dinner" there that was the highlight of our entire trip in Australia. It sounds like you really like wine, but I think it's important weather you want to spend $ on an extra flight to go do it, vs. a day or two in the Hunter Valley near Sydney. What every you choose, you really can't go wrong in Austraila, it has something for everyone.

I think you need at least four full days in Sydney (not counting the morning you arrive). It's a great city, tons to do. Don't shortchange it.

you need to check out contiki www.contiki.com

I'm Australian and grew up in the Hunter Valley. I agree with a PP you're wasting your money going to Adelaide. I say spend more time in Sydney and go to the Hunter Valley (Pokolbin) for a couple of nights. You can catch a bus http://www.rovercoaches.com.au/wine/...FR4QYQodkj1fZQ
I've stayed at the Hunter Valley Gardens for a wedding and it was beautiful (and a great base for the area)
This is a fantastic site - http://www.winecountry.com.au/

Cairns - I definitely recommend a liveaboard. I'm currently living in Central Queensland and Airlie Beach is our weekend getaway. Love diving! Sydney Harbour has some interesting dive sites I've heard.

I agree on the liveaboard. I went to Oz in 2003 and spent 3 weeks. Five days in Sydney and the rest in Cairns. Went on a 5 day liveaboard on the TAKA. http://www.taka.com.au/index.html. I had a great time, the diving was SPECTACULER. One thing not mentioned yet ins a trip by gondola to Kurunda. They say take the gondola up anfd the train down, but I would recommend the gondola both ways. The train is slow and somewhat boring (IMHO). I'm sure you will enjoy the trip.I loved Oz and can't wait to get back

Visiting the Hunter Valley from Sydney from Sydney makes some sense but in no way would a visit to Adelaide and the South Australia be a "waste of time". For example, read Bill Bryson's book "In A Sunburnt Country" - Adelaide was one of his favorite places on the continent. It seemed like a solid suggestion considering areinert's interest in wine and openness to visiting somewhere besides Cairns and Sydney.

Definitely check out qantas.com I am leaving for Australia for 3 weeks and got airfare from LA for $1500. That was the flight to Sydney PLUS 3 flights within Australia. I go from Sydney to Ayers Rock (Alice Springs is 4 hours away from Uluru), Ayers Rock to Cairns, Cairns to Brisbane and Brisbane back to LA.

For your time on the Atherton Tablelands have a look at www.yungaburra.com . This lovely little village does not have serviced appartments but some wonderful delux cottages, a health spa, four great restaurants and some other OK eating places and is the place to base yourself to see the wildlife. Some you can easily see by yourself but for the nocturnal mammals, and most of them are, it is best to take a tour. Ask at the local information centre for up to date info and there is a local naturalist who is woth contacting through the site above.

Hi, i live in Australia and i have met a lot of American tourists that come visit.
Let me start off by saying Cairns is very boring, there is not a lot to do there, its very pretty and all but just nothing much to do.
You have to visit Sydney, that is the place to visit when you come to Australia. So so many things to do and see in Sydney. Most travelers always prefer Sydney. Try this http://www.sydney-australien.de/_english/

bernyzz, if you culdn't find much to do around Cairns you can't have been trying very hard. The attractions of Far North Queensland are well enough documented not to require repeating here. In any event, areinert has already explained that Cairns is not an optional part of the itinerary.

areinert, a good guidebook, e.g. the Lonely Planet, would be a very good investment.

bernyzz, before you embarass yourself even further, suggest you find out a little about Cairns and FNQ. Are you actually suggesting that international tourists should go no further than Sydney?

The serviced apartments where we stayed in Cairns this past January were called Shootingstar apts. They were not luxury in any way, but were clean, neat, and centrally located. We stayed there a week and found plenty to do in the Cairns area. We used public transportation and booked a few day tours. For us, this method worked out fine, and we really enjoyed the area. You really don’t need a car in the city, since there are tours for any place you’d care to go.

In Adelaide on our first visit a couple of years ago, we stayed at the Quest (serviced apartments) on King William St. These were excellent apartments and, again, clean, neat, centrally located. (We’ve since stayed at another Quest apt in Christchurch NZ. It was similar in quality so I would recommend them in any city). On our recent visit to Adelaide, we stayed at a Best Western, also good, as usual.

I personally would not skip Adelaide. Been to Australia twice now, and each time I fit Adelaide into the itinerary. The town is lovely, very walkable, and a day tour (or two) to the nearby wine regions is highly recommended. If you really love red wines, it’s a more desirable destination than the Hunter region, IMHO. Although, wine tasting in any region is, of course, very nice.

If this was my trip, I would add more time (a week) to Sydney (a phenomenal city), cut Adelaide to four days, and spend at least a week in the Cairns area.

Enjoy your trip to Australia. It’s a wonderful country. Be sure to try some Timtams for dessert.

Well in some defense of bernyzz, Cairns is more of a tourist base than a destination unto itself. From what I recall (having been three times), there isn't really that much right IN Cairns to do. The big attractions (the Reef, the Tablelands, the beaches, the rainforests, the waterfalls and so on) are mostly outside the city. Sydney, on the other hand, has much more in the city center (the Harbour, the Bridge, the Opera House, the Botanical Gardens, Sydney Tower, etc).

Bottom line: if you visit Cairns, you need to get out and about. If you visit Sydney, you don't, though it too offers lots to see outide of city limits.

For tourists, Cairns city doesn't pretend to be anything other than a base for its many nearby attractions. For locals, its a pleasant little city to work in. Cairns is a small regional city of 130,000 people, and that population of Greater Cairns stretches along a 50km strip of coast, from Gordonvale to Palm Cove, backed by the foothills of Great Dividing Range. Sydney is the largest capital city in the country, with an enormous suburban sprawl, obviously there's more to see within its city.

steve1213, its a pity you found the Kuranda train boring, its not meant to be a fast train, but with its 15 tunnels, bridges and steep terrain, 90 minutes from Cairns (or 75 from Freshwater) isn't bad. You need 90 minutes for Skyrail if you take advantage of the two stops enroute and why do a Skyrail return when gondolas go over the same area? Kuranda train has enormous historical significance for the area, and the hardships suffered by those who built line back in 1880's are legendary.

"Bottom line: if you visit Cairns, you need to get out and about. If you visit Sydney, you don't," but if you want to see it all on your hotel room television why travel? ;-)

Hi, I have been in Australia for 3weeks & half. Perhaps you can use the same route than I:
(http://corretge.110mb.com/australia/australia.html)
If yor need to reduce the number of days I suggest that you forget Kuranda day or Brisbane & Fraser Island excursion.

Have a nice travel

we are doing almost the same thing except in July....we are flysing straight into cairns via auckland with air NZ--found some GREAT fares (and you can add stops in fiji, cooks of NZ) so far we have planned on 5 days in daintree/cape trib, then a couple of nights in yungaburra to see the atherton tables lands region, then south to cardwell (we will stay on hichinbrook island) my husband has a meeting in cairns from the 8th-11th so i will stay in Cairns and do day trips (Tjapukai, kurunda, etc) then we were thinking of a few days at mission beach after the meeting--not surre on that yet--we looked into getting from Cairn to uluru, and YIKES quantas seesm to ahve a lock on that route and it was 700/rtn to get there!(and we have two kids as well) one thing i really wanted to get to do was whale watching at hervey bay--they will be in the midst of their migration when you are there and it is suppsed to be fantastic --if you are coming from sydney fly to brisbane (or directrly to hervey--but probably cheaper to fly in to brisbane then on to Cairns from there) in terms of flights in aus try jetstar or virgin blue--both budget carriers--if you want i can give you a heads up and a trip report when we return just email me,
lori48oak@yahoolcom

Thanks so much to everyone for the GREAT info and links.

Our plans have changed, my conference is in Townsville now.

Is it correct that I need to be in Cairns for scuba diving?

So with this change, I was thinking Sydney, the Adelaide, Cairns, and then Townsville.

A focus for us would be wine tasting, scuba diving, and then the conference in Townsville Sept 18 - 21, flying home Sept 22.

Is there a bus tour that would take us to the wineries and back again? Since this is so new to us for the first time I was considering a guided tour.

Thoughts?

Looks like the extra flight to Townsville is adding alot to the airfare, should we leave something out like Brisbane or Adelaide? Reminder that our focus will be scuba and wine tasting

Leave Adelaide in if wine is a priority, you could cut Sydney and Brisbane. Alternatively, there are wineries near Sydney you could visit (Hunter Valley) but it really depends on your wine preferences, as a lover of cab sauv I'd take Adelaide over Hunter Valley any day!

Is there something in Adelaide where we can take a bus that will take us to the different wineries, or do we have to get a car and drive to the different places ourselves?

There are many options to experience the wineries around the Adelaide region - the Barossa Valley can be self drive from Adelaide (about 1 1/2 hours), Mclaren Vale (1 hour), Clare Valley a little more.

Or, you can go on a bus or private tour, for example, http://www.barossatours.com.au/welcome.html.

If you do a search on this forum there are lots of suggestions for itineraries and places for lunch etc.
Just be aware that we have very strict drink/driving laws which are enforced strongly - so if you self drive the driver needs to take care with their consumption!

We have enjoyed staying at the Majestic Roof Garden in Adelaide - car parking available - have a look at wotif.com.au and lastminute.com for cheaper rates.

We have had very good rain after a period of drought so September will be glorious with the springtime gardens and flowers. Don't miss the Botanical Gardens, both in the city and in the Adelaide Hills. You could combine a trip to the Hills (20 minutes from the city) with a lunch at the glorious Bridgewater Mill and a few of the wineries in that area, too.

Enjoy!

Sticker shock!

We got a price qoute from Quantas and for roundtrip airfare from St. Cloud MN to Sydney, then Adelaide, then Brisbane, then Cairns, then Townsville, and then home. Also 13 nights hotels as a package. The price for two was $7,000 WOW

Any suggestions?

Here are a couple of suggestions, and maybe others will chime in: You could search out a relatively inexpensive fair from MSP to San Francisco or LA (Priceline or Southwest?) and take Qantas from there. You may have to overnight in SF or LA, but it may be cost-effective (Priceline?)

Book your internal flights through Virgin Blue's Happy Hour:

http://www.virginblue.com.au/bookings/happy_hr/

Alternatively, compare internal flights at:

www.webjet.com

Book lodging through www.wotif.com Be sure you're aware of the cancellation policy of the property you're thinking about booking.

You have learning curves to climb at Priceline, Virgin Blue, and Wotif, but I can assure you that if you're willing to take the time to do the research you can save a huge bundle.