We're just a few days away from leaving for our trip and I'm trying to nail down a couple details. Coming from LAX and arriving in Sydney on a Monday morning.

SYDNEY- We're staying in the Rocks area and it seems a train is the best way to get to the hotel from the airport....true? Planning to spend the first day (Monday) just staying awake....walk around, use the rail, nothing set in stone. Planning to visit the Blue Mountains on Tuesday...idea is to take the train to Katoomba, then walk around on our own....any advantage to taking a tour once we've arrived at Katoomba vs. going self-guided? Climbing the Harbour Bridge on Wednesday, with the rest of that day open for whatever. Haven't planned Thursday out, thinking we should leave it open in case one of our previous plans gets postponed due to weather, etc. Leave on Friday for Cairns (where, thankfully, everything seems to be set).

MELBOURNE- We get into Melbourne on a Tuesday evening and plan to spend the evening with dinner, perhaps tour South Bank. Friday is spent with friends from Geelong. That leaves Wednesday and Thursday wide open. My wife has her heart set a bit on seeing the penguins at Phillip Island, so we may book a tour for that on Wednesday or Thursday (any specific tour operator recommendations?). That would leave us with a full day for whatever. I keep thinking maybe we should have more booked plans for Melbourne, but perhaps it's better to leave it more open-ended.

Would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions on these things. I remember when we first booked our airfare 8 months ago that it seemed we had forever to plan this trip. Now it's 8 days away and I feel like there's so much left to arrange

While in Melbourne, you should plan a visit to the Melbourne Gaol. (This is where the outlaw Ned Kelly was hanged.) It's a fascinating self-tour, but I believe they also do guided evening tours on some nights which sound like spooky fun to me.

My wife (a sucker for outlaw history) would love that. Thanks for the suggestion!

Greetings, we took the train up to the Blue Mountains from Sydney and toured ourselves. It was fantastic. A bit of a walk between the various lookouts. Its pretty spectacular.

we were still a bit tired our second day in Sydney, but our trip started from Florida.

Cheers

Steve and Andrea

Just some suggestions for the Melbourne leg of your trip.
A ferry trip along the Yarra to Williamstown is a pleasant way to spend a day - Williamstown is an older part of Melbourne, interesting shops and lots of restaurants.
Queen Victoria market is worth a visit.
Use the free City Circle tram (old brown trams)to get around the CBD.
Good museums and art galleries - Victorian National Gallery (international art) and the Ian Potter Gallery (Australian art) are both excellent. The Immigration Museum in Flinders Street is interesting.
If you want to see penguins and don't want to take the long trip to Philip Island, you can take a short evening boat ride from Southbank to see penguins near St Kilda - I think they also have a BBQ.
There is a last minute theatre ticket booth in the Bourke Street Mall.
Melbourne Zoo is a short tram ride from the CBD - could give you the opportunity to see Australian animals and birds.
Hope you have a great holiday.

Sydney

I would say get a taxi from the airport. Train is expensive. When 2 or more passengers the taxi works out at about the same or less and takes you right to your door.

Blue Mountains

They have a trolley hop on /hop off loop if you wish to. It costs $12 AUD. I recommend if you wish to do the trolley to take the train to Leura and have some coffe in this cute little town and a browse then pick up the trolley and work your way around to Katoomba. As they only pick up hourly it saves an hour only doing Katoomba once. It still means some research on your behalf and choosing whether to walk from one stop to another along the cliff walk or whatever but is kinder to the feet. You need to walk through a whole town just to see some sights otherwise.

http://www.trolleytours.com.au/html/welcome.html

Sydney

I agree catch a taxi directly to the hotel.

You are staying in a great location, it is central to everything.
If you are animal lovers maybe a trip to Taronga Zoo. Catch a ferry from Circular Quay which only a few minutes walk from where you are staying. http://www.zoo.nsw.gov.au/content/view.asp?id=39,

Possibly catch a ferry to Manly Beach, take the 5 min walk along Corso with an ice cream in hand until you get to the surf beach where you can get your feet wet - or take your swimmers and jump in. Again catch the ferry from Circular Quay

Shopping at the Queen Victoria Buidling, located on George Street, about 15 minutes walk from the hotel, or you can catch a train to Town Hall.

Walk in the Botanical Gardens and take in the Opera House.

The weather is warming up, you will have a great time. Get some fishing in in Cairns if you can

If you take the train from the airport, you have to change at Central for trains to Circular Quai. You'll probably be in the morning rush hour, no fun... With luggage and being tired you should splurge for the taxi - hang the expense, it's not that big a difference in money but a huge one in comfort. Tip the driver about 15% if he's at all nice, they make lousy wages.

Whenever you have an hour or so without a plan, hop on a ferry, even if it's just the one down to Darling Harbor - it cuts across first under the bridge, then over to East Balmain, and you have great and changing views all the time. I've found that the views and impressions from the ferries are the ones that last the longest - probably because the ferries move at a pace slow enough to let the visuals sink in.

Climb the Harbour Bridge Pylon, it's not nearly as involved and expensive as the entire bridge climb but very nice for views and educational about the construction of the bridge. It's just up from the Rocks, it's the south-east pylon, there are stairs all the way up, anybody will point them out to you.

Go see the Sydney Aquarium at Darling Harbour, it's fantastic, the plexiglass walkways "through" the water bring you into immediate closeness to all kinds of fish, even sharks, it's great fun and very well done.

Take the ferry to the zoo, not just for the animals but for the great location, you walk and enjoy million-dollar views.

Walk from the hotel at the Rocks across to the Opera House, and around the back through the Domain and Botanical Gardens past the NSW Art Gallery down to Wolloomoolloo, have a hot dog at Harry's Café de Wheels (no longer the landmark cart on wheels, it's now a concrete shack but still a beloved landmark).

Then walk up to Williams Street (but not at night...), turn right, up to Hyde Park, and right again along Macquarie Street (THE street of A-list doctors and lawyers - look at the shingles by the doors...) past the government buildings down to the Circular Quai and across "back home" to the Rocks. About a two- to three-hour walk, depending on stops and photo taking - it'll be a great afternoon.

That's only the beginning - you could just stay in Sydney for a month and not miss any of the outlying areas, it's that kind of a city (but you'd need someone to give you the inside scoop, of course).

Enjoy!

WK