I am headed to Australia for 4 wks for the month of January...spending the first week in Sydney and trying to plan after that....Any intinerary thoughts? Am thinking: fly to Brisbane for a couple of days, rent a car, and cruise up the coast towards the GBF hitting a couple of islands, flying from Cairns to Melbourne for a few days then home... Any thought for single girl? Places to avoid (honeymoonish) or better islands to hit? Thanks!

Firstly forget driving up from Brisbane to the GBR - its 2- 3 days non-stop driving with nothing particularly wonderful on the way at that time of year. <BR>Sure - fly to Brisbane ( or better fly into the Gold Coast for a few days) and then fly to the Whitsunday Islands from Brisbane and spend a few days there in or on some of the islands and the outer reef. For interest if you like try and get on the "Sunlander train" from Prosepine ( town near the Whitsundays ) to Cairns and stay there and around there for as long as you can. <BR>Please don't hit our islands - they are precious

Thank you LizF! I have read all your previous helpful responses and am honored you replied! No worries on the "hitting"...and I heard precious is an understatement! Many thanks

Hi Caroline!<BR><BR>I did the solo single traveler thing in Oz for 3 weeks, and had a great time. My trip report is titled "I didn't kill myself so here's my trip report" and it's somewhere on this board, probably not too far down since I only came back a couple of weeks ago. It may have some things of interest to you.<BR><BR>I will tell you that I really didn't love Melbourne...mostly because I didn't love to shop, and because I didn't explore the city as much as I should have. Sydney is a lot of fun for the single gal, is easy to navigate to great spots by ferry. I stayed in Port Douglas instead of Cairns, mostly because Cairns is a larger city, and I wanted something simpler. Port Douglas had its share of young travelers (I don't know how old you are, but I was 28 when I was in Oz) but it's not the party party town that Cairns can be for the young backpacker type. Either way, it will be hot and rainy up there in Jan.<BR><BR>I didn't want honeymoonie places either (in fact, I requested exactly that when I posted on here asking for help) and my itinerary ended up being perfect. Feel free to email me if you have questions on Port Douglas, Sydney, or Melbourne. Have a lovely time!

Bear in mind that January is the wet season in northern Australia so be prepared for humid and sometimes wet weather anywhere in Queensland. If this worries you, you may be better off staying south of Brisbane and visiting some of the beach resorts along the NSW coast.