Australia - December or June, July , August?
 

I just started reading the reports and posts on this forum. I know weather quetions are hard to answer, but help me out with some generalizations so I can start planning a basic framework for this trip. I did read a recent thread about this with great interest.

We want to visit Australia for about 2 weeks. The main reason at this point is to spend time snorkeling the GBR. I imagine we will spend some time in Sydney and then go off the north to veg, snorkel and travel a little.

Because of my job, the times of the year I can go are either two weeeks in late December/early January OR mid June through early August.

When should we go?

We would want warm weather and warm water. A little rain is fine, as long as we could still get out in the water. I know it will be hot with rain in December/January, but what is the rain pattern like. Sunny mornings/afternoon showers?

Thanks a lot for your help!
-Bill

December/January is part of The Wet season in tropical Oz, while June-August is in The Dry. I would definitely take the latter time.

Thanks ALF.

Anyone else?

-Bill

Hard to say as you are talking about Summer (Dec/Jan)which is great in Sydney but wet up north and winter (June-Aug) when it is great up north but can be cold in Sydney.I think if you are doing both areas perhaps June would be best ( August can be very windy).Enjoy what ever you decide!

"Cold" of course is relative - Sydney's winter would seem pretty mild to people from most parts of North America.

I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area so I know about mild winters.
We really want to focus on the water and snorkeling, so I'd be more worried about the weather not being conducive to spending time in the water with the fishies up north than what the weather would be like in Sydney so maybe June would be good.
Thanks a lot of your feedback as far!
Anyone else?
-Bill

iamq - in that case, definitely December for northern GBR. I live here and right now reef weather is superb. Ok its still early December, but so far very little rain, maximum temp today 31C with a gentle off-shore breeze. It's humid, but who cares when you're in the water. July and August can very windy months here and can make reef conditions rough and reduce visibility -next choice would be June, less chance of wind (but still some) and before the main tourist season starts in July. Wet season rain usually falls in short, intense bursts with brilliant sunshine in between. There is always a slight chance of a tropical cyclone (hurricane) - usually later than Dec/January. The surrounding rainforests are at their best in wet season summer - and the rivers and waterfalls are in full flow.

Thanks pat.
-Bill

I agree with Pat because I hate the June July August time mostly because it can be so @$&$#%&%^# windy and cold in Sydney at that time and very busy on the GBR then. I hate it that the winter brings dry grasses and the country, especially in Queensland is not at its best and I cannot wait for the rain to make it lush and wonderful again.
December should be fine in the GBR but any later could be risking the odd wet day. Having said that we have had a lot of rain in the south of Queensland this year for the last month - which I am not complaining about in the least as I love it.
Sydney would be great in December too so I opt for a December holiday.

Your only disadvatnage with Dec into Jan is that is when all families in Australia are on holiday because that is our annual 5/6 week Christmas school holidays (eguiv' to your summer vacation, but not as long for us). So both Sydney & FNQ will be busy.
If that's not a worry then I'd go with December then June.

Btw, you live in my favourite US city.

Enjoy,
Doug

Doug and liz,
Thanks. December/January sounds like the time that would work the best. It would be great to have a vacation in the middle of winter.
Yeah, I consider myself very lucky to have been born in San Francisco and able to live here.
I can't wait to visit your beautiful country though!
Thanks,
-Bill

iamq - you won't find it all that busy in FNQ December/January. As Doug says, it is the time of year when many Australians take their annual leave, but they don't come here in summer. They (particularly Mebournites) certainly do in FNQ's winter (July-Sept) to escape the southern winter but at this time of year its usually hot enough in southern states. It's also the longest school holiday break in the year so many locals leave town for their annual holidays and small businesses such as B&B's and family run restaurants often close. Right now I know of 2 land-based tours offering special prices, they have not needed to discount all year up until now.

pat,
We are thinking of doing 4 or 5 days in Sydney and another 5 or 6 on Heron Island. Any thoughts about that as a basic plan?
Thanks much.
-Bill

Hi iamq - well, its a good basic plan but with your time constraints and if your main reason for coming to Oz is GBR I think I'd give a little less time to Sydney and Heron Island and spend at least 4 days on GBR in Far North Queensland. I'll be jumped on from certain people for saying this, but there is more reef diversity in true tropical FNQ (Cairns, Port Douglas, etc) than you'll find on Heron, which technically is in SE Qld, some 1200 kms south of Cairns. Do a search for Tusa's Spirit of Freedom out of Cairns- its essentially a live-aboard dive boat, but a very good one for snorkellers as well - a 4 day trip will take you a variety of reefs north of Cairns and Port Douglas, which include ribbon reefs and famous Cod Hole. There's also a flight over reef - Lizard Island to Cairns included.

Thanks pat. You and the others have been very helpful. I like the idea of a liveaboard trip for a few days...sounds like a lot of fun!

I sent Tusa's an e-mail inquiring about their trips and how appropriate for snorkelers they are.

I'm not totally wedded to visiting Heron. I might be guilty of generalizing, but I thought that since Heron is further south, the weather there at that time of year might be less dicey than areas further north. Is this a wrong assumption?
Thanks,
-Bill

Generally speaking, and from the experience of living in Queensland for 40 + years, if you are going to hit wet weather in December you are just as likely to get it on Heron as further north. In fact this year the South East of Queensland has had far more rain than the far north has had - by about 2 feet of it!
I agree with Pat that for greater diversity the you must go to the far north, also then if there is bad weather there is a lot more you can do with your time too in other tourist activities. Cairns is a great base and Pat's suggestion of the live abord would be great. There are many, many different dive spots, coral cays, tropical islands, rain forest explorations, rapids, etc etc in the far north and usually it is actually cheaper to get to Cairns than to Heron because you are on a major flight route and therefore prices will be lower. Do not book your flight up there till nearer the time and then check out the different airline sites.

Thanks lizF for the first hand information. I REALLY appreciate it. I am just beginning to figure what questions to ask.
Thanks,
-Bill

Hi Bill
You may be interested in a cruise on the reef captian cook do 3or 4 or 7 days criuses that give lot of chances to dive and do island short stays they leave Cairns you can look them up on there web site l would not go in Dec Jan time you said because if it rains up there it rains and you will not get to the reef go May to Sept

Chubby, Bill has already stipulated the months he can travel and May and September do not feature.

Captain Cook's Reef Endeavour is a luxury cruise boat which takes many passengers. Its 4 night northbound trip from Cairns does not visit as many reef sites as Spirit of Freedom's 3 night trip to Cod Hole and Ribbon Reefs, which takes 28 passengers only. Spirit of Freedom is not a daggy old dive boat - its very well appointed and has had a recent refit - although primarily used by divers is also suitable for snorkellers. It's also about AU$300 cheaper for twin share cabin than Capt Cook.

Meant to add that have been going out to GBR for past 12 years and the very best trip I can remember was one in January. This was a 4 night trip in our own boat with camping on Hope Island - off Cooktown and in the same waters as Spirit of Freedom trip. Sunny blue sky, water surface was like glass half a mile out to sea with rainforest to water's edge on coast side, the sea was a brilliant aquamarine on shore, merging into turquoise further out, loads of turtles, didn't even have to stick head into perfectly clear water to see all sorts of fish, huge blue marlin leaping into the sky in front of boat. Yes, January can be wet, but when its not it's my favourite month for reef.