I'm in the beginning phases of trying to sort out an Australia itinerary for the end of August/beginning of September. I'm thinking approximately 2.5 weeks including travel time. Any feedback is appreciated.

I'll probably get a Qantas Air Pass as it'll allow the most flexibility. I like the prices of Virgin Blue, but most of the routes require me to go back through Sydney which would probably be an inefficient use of time. And they don't go to Uluru.

Day 1 - Sydney - Time zone adjustment/walk around/random sites
Day 2 - Sydney - Sydney Harbor (climb)/Opera House
Day 3 - Sydney - Blue Mountains
Day 4 - Sydney - misc.
Day 5 - Uluru
Day 6 - Uluru
Day 7 - Uluru
Day 8 - Alice Springs
Day 9 - Alice Springs
Day 10 - Cairns/Port Douglas
Day 11 - Port Douglas
Day 12 - Cairns
Day 13 - Hamilton Island
Day 14 - Hamilton Island/Great Barrier Reef
Day 15 - Sydney
Day 16 - New York

Do you think this is too packed? Too much time in Uluru?

Interesting...I have a similar timeframe, but was mainly concentrating on Sydney and Melbourne. (I'm out of NYC as well)

At any rate, the people on this forum have given some good advice.

I'd suggest having 2 nights maximum at Uluru and 3 nights in Alice Springs. There are really only two main things to visit at Uluru: the Cultural Centre plus the rock itself (takes about 3-4 hours to walk round the base) and the Olgas (Valley of the Winds walk is about 2 hours).

Whereas there are far more places to visit in and around Alice Springs--the Desert Park, the Cultural centre, Olive Pink Botanical garden, Standley Chasm, Hermansberg, Papunya Tula Gallery, etc.

Hamilton Island is still quite a way from the reef. If you were going to splurge on one island go to Lizard Island; it is directly on the reef.

If you visit Hamilton Island please do not regard it as typical of The Whitsundays. It is the worst island in the group and locals very rarely visit it, there are much nicer. The GBR is around an hour from HI.

Lizard is not directly on the GBR, you still have a hike out to the ribbons and cod hole. Like all of the GBR islands there are nice fringing corals around the island. The best resprt island snorkeling and diving I know of is Heron in the Bunker Group a fair way south.
The Bunker Group of islands are the only island group that can be classified as true GBR islands.
Lizard like The Whitsundays are continental islands.
I'd be spending more time in the bush than the cities, much more to see. cheers airlian

Hmm interesting, Airlian, I haven't been to Lizard Island but it does claim to be directly on the reef:

http://www.lizardisland.com.au/great...r-reef-diving/

I agree with Susan7 about spending 2 nights at Uluru and 3 nights in Alice Springs.
Also, you've got a lot of moving around going on with Cairns/PD/Hamilton Island. I have not been to HI, but I have been to PD many times and I know you could easily base yourself there for 5 nights and never run out of things to do. Less traveling = more time to appreciate Australia.

So do the majority of Whitsunday Resorts. They all call themselves GBR islands and in a way they are. The outer GBR proper is a daytrip from the islands here as it is on Lizard.

The islands coral is very good though and shows a greater diversity than the outer reef so there will be no disappointment from that side with Lizard, it certainly has better snorkeling than Hamilton island.

TVI it is a long way out of your time to come to HI just to visit the GBR when you can do it from any number of places further north. I'd save myself some cash and do the GBR from Cairns/ Port Douglas. If you wanted to see the beautiful Whitsunday islands, well that is a very different story as they are unique and very special. You would have to stay longer than 1 night though. Enjoy your trip. cheers airlian

Seems crazy to backtrack to Hamilton Island (of all places!) after just two days in North Queensland. I suggest staying in Port Douglas the whole time or doing 2 days PD and 2 days Cape Tribulation. Lots of options for seeing the reef, more so than staying on Hamilton. Last year we took Rum Runner from Cape Trib to the reef - it was fantastic.

How long you spend at Uluru/Olgas depends on how much you want to explore. We spent 3 nights there, two full days, pretty relaxed. We devoted the first day to Uluru...walked around it, climbed it, went to the visitors center. We spent the second day at the Olgas - did the Valley of the Winds walk and Olga Gorge. Of all the walks, Valley of the Winds was the best...not to be missed!

The other place to consider is Kings Canyon, maybe 3-4 hours drive from Uluru. You would have to omit Alice, but it could be worth it depending on what you like to do. Kings Canyon is famous for the spectacular walk around the rim, which takes 2-3 hours. Best to spend two nights there for a full day.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Upon further review, leaving out Hamilton Island seems wise as I was just going there for the GBR. Maybe add a couple days in Hobart instead, but will see the feedback I receive on my revised itinerary below.

Also, as the Qantas pass makes you go in/out of the same location (ie, I can't fly into Uluru and out of Alice Springs...or at least I can't seem to figure it out if you can), any thoughts as to which is the better place to base my red centre trip out of? I see a greyhound tour that originates in Alice Springs and drops you back there:

http://www.greyhound.com.au/Bookings...rock-tour.aspx

Though I am a bit hesitant to use a tour package from greyhound?!? Does anyone have any experience with them? I'd probably add on another day for Alice Springs at the end (total 4 days)? Is this crazy? Should I have a better balance between the Uluru/Alice? Or should I forego Uluru for Alice (or vice versa?)? Also, as I live in a major city and am trying to spend as much time in nature on my trip, I don't think I'd be upset to lose a day in Sydney for another day in the red center if it is needed. Also , I'll be traveling alone and am looking to minimize how much I'm screwed by the single supplement.

Revised thoughts:

Day 1 – Sydney – arrive, time adjustment, wander
Day 2 – Sydney – Harbor/Bridge Climb/Opera House
Day 3 – Sydney – Blue Mountains
Day 4 - Sydney
Day 5 – ?? Alice Springs
Day 6 – ?? Uluru tour
Day 7 – ?? Uluru tour
Day 8 - ?? Alice Springs
Day 9 – Cairns/Port Douglas
Day 10 – Cairns/Port Douglas – Great Barrier Reef
Day 11 – Cairns/Port Douglas – Daintree Rainforest
Day 12 – arrive Hobart (brrr)
Day 13 – Hobart – Wander
Day 14 – Hobart – Mount Wellington
Day 15 – Sydney
Day 16 – NYC

Thanks everyone!

PS - esl, Qantas's travel stimulus package seems to have worked.

I'm sure you want to cover as much ground as possible on your trip, but I think you would probably enjoy your trip more if you spent more time in fewer places. Also, I note that you have 4 internal flights here (Sydney-Alice Spring, Alice Springs-Cairns, Cairns-Hobart, Hobart-Sydney) and, as I recall, the Aussie Airpass only provides for 3 internal flights. So, you'll either have to cut out a flight or pay extra.
I like Hobart but I'd like to recommend that you cut out this portion of your trip and, instead, add some time to Cairns/PD and Alice Springs/Uluru (if that's where you main intestests are). As I mentioned before, there's plenty to keep you busy in PD for at least 5 days and you haven't given yourself any leeway on your GBR and Daintree trips in case of poor weather or other problems. Also, I like the suggestion of going to Kings Canyon (which we did and enjoyed). Maybe you could fly into Alice Springs on your Airpass, stay there a couple of days, rent a car and drive to Kings Canyon for a night and continue to Uluru for a couple of nights. Then fly back to Alice Springs and continue on your Airpass to Cairns. (I don't know what a one-way car rental would cost, but you can book a one-way fare from Uluru to Alice Springs for around US$100.)
Finally, it might be worth a call to Qantas to see if you can, in fact, fly into Alice on the Airpass and out of Uluru. When we booked our Airpass a few years ago, the Qantas rep was very helpful when I had questions about various flight segments.

Yeah I was concerned about that. Still not sure what to do. I don't mind being exhausted when I come back from vacation...might as well do it while I still have the energy to do so. But OTOH, I understand leaving out Hobart.

I was in Peru last year for vacation and had a 3 day stay in the Amazon Rainforest. Given that, do you think it would feel redundant to do Daintree/Cape Tribulation while in Cairns? Someone told me that all rainforests are the same and I'm inclined to believe her. Any other suggestions on a similar type day trip I can do from Port Douglas/Cairns? Or I can just leave it blank to decompress and/or prep for GBR.

I don't know about Peru, but rainforests in Australia aren't all alike. A temperate rainforest such as you get in Tasmania is completely different to a tropical one: different trees, different vegetation patterns. That's before you even get to the question of fauna. Palm parrots are only in Far North Queensland.

Sorry, can't help but think of that famous Ronald Reagan quote: "you know a tree is a tree - how many more do you need to look at?"

Chuckle, Ralph. Reminds me of a US visitor in Cairns once who decided not to go to Daintree "seen one rainforest, you've seen them all". A bloke from Canberra who overheard said he dined out on it for year.

I almost spit out my tea a the "all rainforests are alike" comment. Do not believe your friend! Not only are the types of rainforests different depending on temperate v tropical, Australia has such unique flora and fauna that if you are at all interested in rainforests why would you want to miss it?

It does remind me of a young friend who drive across country with us from Missouri to Washington long ago. As we drove through the mountains, she commented how once you had seen one mountain you had seen them all. Sigh. of course, this is the same gal we convinced to go into the Pacific Ocean off the Washington coast in May (hint, the water is NOT warm).

There is a mate of mine who could bore you to death for weeks one end about the differences in the rainforest just north of the Daintree, or on the Atherton Tablelands or on the coastal strip further south but still in the tropics. Then you get the subtropical rainforests, the temperate rainforests, the cool temperate rainforests and alpine rainforests and that is without leaving Australia.

If you are interested in birds and mammals then visit the Atherton Tablelands for the 12 endemic birds and most of the endemic mammlas are to be found at altitude.

Your friend was either joking, a fool or very misinformed! A bit like the British sailor who stated that Australia only had two types of trees.

You might want to read this trip report http://www.fodors.com/community/aust...rip-report.cfm
It will show you that there are many types of rainforest.

TVI,
When in the Amazon did you just stay in one place and only see one type of rainforest? Was there any interpretation of the ecology available and if so did you make use of it?