This board has been so helpful, I am hoping to get some advice on our planned itinerary. We are traveling in October with two kids ages 11 and 4. One thing we have had to work around is that have a 7 night Marriott certificate, so we need to stay in one place for 7 nights. We picked the Gold Coast as it seemed to have a variety of things to do and the Marriott Surfer's Paradise sounded very nice. Here is what I have sketched out so far:<BR><BR>- Arrive in Sydney, Fly to Gold Coast<BR>- 7 nights in Surfers Paradise (Marriott)<BR>- 4 nights at Club Med at Lindeman Island (I am pretty set on this one after a bunch of research)<BR>- Then we will either stay in Airlie beach and do a reef cruise from there (on the Fantesea) and then spend 2 nights in Cairns or go to Cairns earlier and do the reef trip from there (Quicksilver). Any thoughts on whether it is better to do the trip from Cairns or from Airlie beach? We like the idea of a bigger boat like the Fantesea because of our 4 year old. <BR>- fly to Sydney for four nights (Four Points Sheraton - very cheap with our Starwood Points)<BR>- trip to Jenolan Caves with night at the Jenolan Caves House<BR>- spend night back in Sydney and fly to Melbourne for 3 nights<BR>- go home (boo hoo) <BR><BR>Biggest questions:<BR><BR>1) Where to do reef trip from<BR>2) Is 4 nights enough for Sydney, or should we shorten Melbourne by one night?<BR>3) Is three nights in the Melbourne area enough to do the Great Ocean Road and the Penguine parade <BR><BR>Thanks in advance for your help.<BR>

This is sounds great fun actually. I don't think that you need to worry whether you do the reef trip from the Whitsundays or Cairns because there are many, many trips from both places and you can take your pick when you are there. <BR>I am sure you will love Linderman Island and I am equally sure that you will enjoy the Marriot at Surfer's Paradise. October is usually a wonderful time to be in Queensland ( however I am can only hope that around the S.E. here we get some rain AND SOON as we are in the grip of a drought.<BR>The Gold Coast has several web sites which you can search on for those things your are interested in. <BR>The only thing I think I would do is to add nights to Sydney and shorten Melbourne. I am sure that those in Melbourne will not agree with me but perhaps those people who have been to both and are not Australian can answer that without bias.

If you want to go to both the Great Ocean Rd & the Penguin Parade that's your 3 days in melb. You could say fly down from Sydney in the morning, go to the penguin parade that night, spend the night in Melb then down to the GOR the next day, spend one night there (it is too far to get very far down the road and back in a day - particularly with children), back the next day and that leaves you one night in Melb. It will mean that you'll see very little of Melbourne itself though! I'd probably suggest choosing between the Penguins & the Great Ocean Rd. I'm sure the penguins would appeal more to the children but you'd probably enjoy the GOR more!

We have just had a 6 week holiday in Queensland and did both the Reef trips that you mention.<BR><BR>They are virtually identical, down to the food that is given and what can be done at the Reef, but we preferred the Airlie Beach trip (leaves from Shute Harbour) for two reasons:<BR><BR>1. the coral off Cairns is darker, more even in colour, whereas the coral off Shute Harbour is more varied in colour and hence more beautiful<BR><BR>2. the Shute Harbour boat was rather smaller (I'm guessing, but about 100 on board as against about 180) - we preferred the less crowed boat as it gave us more opportunity to go on repeat trips in the semi-submersibles, and was less crowded in the snorkelling area.<BR><BR>Whichever you do, you'll love it.<BR><BR>Scott

Hi<BR>I think you would enjoy an additional day in Sydney - I know we did! Melbourne is great but it is also very much like NYC or Washington DC (our home) big and quite cosmopolitan. We took the tour of the great Ocean Road and it was sooooo looooonnnnnngggg, (you can see how long it was) the bus kept taking this cuve and that curve and thank goodness it was not a huge tourist bus. My point is this - if I had know that I could take a helicopter out to the Twelve Apostles I would have done that and had all that additional time to myself. The zoo in Melbourne is very well done and your children would like that. <BR>With all that said, I still would opt for extra time in Sydney - taking it particularly around Circular Quay - much goes on around there - street actors and musicians - the ferries to all parts of Sydney - please take one to Watsons Bay, Manley, or perhaps to Darling Harbor as they're a great mode of transportation. The Rocks area is unique and special with some great little restaurants. Enjoy your trip - it is well worth it!!

Hello<BR>It is interesting to read your request. it seems you could come work for us. ahha <BR>We are a national US tour operator /wholesaler and have outstanding pricing for the South Pacific since it is our area of specialty . We put together individualized itineraries designed to best fit your needs. We can make some slight adjustments to your idea and go from there.<BR>Please call us or email us and we'll help you through it. The 3 nights Melbourne is fine, The Ocean road is splendid and you need the time here.<BR><BR>I look forward to hearing from you soon.<BR>Best regards<BR>Peter<BR>A&A Holidays,Ltd<BR>tel: 1-800-611 7783<BR>[email protected]

TO THE ABOVE WRITER: Are you the original writer or are you Peter who is trying to make himself some money advertising on this site - a site that does not allow advertising in any way.<BR>If you are Peter then why have you used the original writer's name? <BR>I would not use an Australian based tour company to arrange an American tour for me - I would ask the people who live there i.e. Americans, so if you are Peter from some tour company in the USA please butt out and get off this site.

Thanks all for such helpful replies. Our trip is really coming together thanks to help from all of you. I think we will add a day to Sydney and give up on the Great Ocean Road. I think it is just too long to do in the time alloted with the kids, and I know they'd prefer to see the penguins.<BR><BR>Scott: I wanted to confirm whether it was the Fantesea cruise that you did as I thought it was more than 100 people. It sounds particularly nice to me, and I think we will do that one. They have a 25% discount on right now and they are significantly cheaper to begin with anyway.

Yes it was Fantasea. My guesses about size of the two boats were just that...guesses. Certainly, though, the<BR>Shute Harbour boat was smaller than that came from Cairns and we picked up at Port Douglas.<BR><BR>Whatever, you'll enjoy the Reef, a truly memorable experience.<BR><BR>Scott