mdm3f

This is a repost from a topic I posted in the Asia forum. I'm considering options for a honeymoon July 2012 and have narrowed it down to Australia. My loose plan is below. We're both in our late 20s and will have ~2 weeks for the trip. We're looking for a mix of cities, beach resort and also seeing some of the natural attractions that the country has to offer. Because of the time of year, we'll plan on spending most of our time in the North.

Fly into Sydney and spend a few days there touring the city and maybe including a visit to the Hunter Valley wineries.

Go to Cairns and go to an island resort in the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef. We'll plan to stay there 4-5 days plus a day in Port Douglas and visiting the rainforest.

Fly to Alice Springs. Spend a day in Alice Springs and visiting the mountain ranges, maybe drive or fly to Ayer's Rock and spend a day there. Then fly back to Sydney for the return.

If anyone has any thoughts on this or other activities/sites I'm not thinking of any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Peteralan

Sounds a good plan especially for that time of year. If you get as far as Uluru, I would add an extra day at least to see other areas such as Kata Juta. Your time will be tight but it is doable.Good Luck!

AlanJG

I don't think that you've room to add things as you'll only be scratching the surface of the places you go to.

Have a wonderfully romantic and memorable honeymoon.

longhorn55

It's a good, do-able plan. Have a great trip.

Susan7

If you only have a few days in Sydney, I wouldn't go to the Hunter Valley. It isn't a particularly scenic area and personally I don't think the wines from that region are among Australia's best. If you want a side-trip the Blue Mountains are easily accessible by train.

shanek

Have you been to Australia before or are you likely to come back?

Could you possibly add another week?

I ask these questions because I feel it would be unfortunate to come all the way to our Country and miss out on seeing the "Top End".

I have recently returned from a 2 week Darwin-Kakadu-Katherine-Litchfield-Darwin trip, my first visit to the region and was absolutely "blown away" by what this fabulous part of Continent had to offer. The weather during July is close to perfect.

You could drive from Uluru to Darwin, comfortably, in a week with some time at each of these fabulous "Natural Wonders".

I also agree with Susan, that the Hunter Valley would not be good use of your time with only a few days in Sydney.

AlanJG

If you can add a week spread it around the three places ytou are going but if you can add two then add a fourth destination would be my advice.

photopro08

It does not get any better than this for a special event such as a honeymoon. I posted this years ago,We still talk about it.I think the link will still bring up my report.
Enjoy. !!!
http://www.fodors.com/community/aust...o-remember.cfm

mrsmayers

photopro ,your on the money , we travelled with daintree air services some time ago. Fantastic experience. If your interested in swaping stories my email is [email protected]

We would be happy to exchange email.

Barbs.

swintonian

Hi,Sydney is a fantastic city,you must walk the bridge,also we took a coach trip to the blue mountains,bacause you are only there a short time it will show you so much.Cairns is a wonderful place,,and to eat at Piccolo Cucina it is one of the best restaurants in Cairns,its on lake st.Hardys hotel is ok its clean,the cable car ride at Kuranda is fantastic especialy if you like waterfalls the Barron falls are somthing else.the great barrier reef is a must,we hired a car and drove the table lands especialy Milla falls,you will have a great time,just to much to tell you.Mike

swintonian

Hi,Just to let you know i got the hotels name wrong,its called Hydes,its not 5 star but its ok right in the middle of town.Mike

Vivid01

mdm,

I applaud your desire to see as much of Australia as you can, it IS an awfully long trip to get there and I felt the same way a few years ago. However, I listened to other posters here who advised me not to do that much flying over 2 weeks and I'm so glad I did. I spent about 5 days in Sydney, visited all the highlights, Manley Island, Blue Mountains, etc..then flew to Townsville and drove up to Port Douglas over the next few days and had a really lovely time doing that. PD is a really great little beach town with a gorgeous beach (4 mile beach), nice places to eat and a perfect spot to visit the GBR. Try to resist the urge to fly all around, Oz is HUGE and there is no way to see alot of it in 2 weeks. Enjoy!

Little_Miss_Flighty

Just remember that if your planning to fly from Cairns to Ayres Rock that most airlines don't fly direct. You will more then likely have to fly back to Sydney ( over 2 hours or so) then out to Ayres Rock (about a 4 hour flight) so one of your days will be spent traveling or maybe two depending on connections. I know that Virgin Australia fly to both those locations though!

mdm3f

Thanks for everyone's input! I'm still trying to figure out which hotel is best for the Great Barrier Reef portion of our trip. My fiance and I get sea sickness so we'll probably only spend one day on the reef snorkeling (and hoping for calm seas). The rest we'll just want to be on the beach, in PD or visiting the rainforest. I'm considering the Thala Beach Lodge versus a more traditional resort in PD or on Palm Cove. Has anyone had a good or bad experience there? Is it easy to get to other locations from the resort such as Cairns, PD, Kuranda, etc. if you don't have a car? Thanks!