I'm trying to work out our itinerary for an upcoming trip (planned departure is late February 2004). We originally thought of flying from Toronto to Sydney, spending a couple of days there, then going on Tasmania for maybe 5 days, then back to Sydney for a few days, then to a beach (we're thinking Byron Bay) for 5 - 6 days. The idea was to break up the time in Sydney (we'll be visiting my mother-in-law), but now I'm thinking we may not want to be always on the move. So now I'm thinking we'll go first to Tasmania, then Sydney and then finish up in Byron Bay. Or the reverse, but Sydney would be the middle part of the trip. Any advantage to going to Tasmania earlier in the trip rather than later? Possibly better weather? We actually spent a lot of time (12 days) in Sydney on a previous trip, but will probably spend about 6 days there this time around. Total trip won't be more than 3 weeks. If we planned Tasmania for the start of the trip, I think we may end up with a night or 2 in Melbourne. As I said, I'm just starting to look at the itinerary in more specific terms, so would appreciate some advice.

The concept sounds good..
go to Tassie as early as possible.

fly sydney-brisbane,get a car and go to your choice of beaches between rainbow and angourie.Personally I like byron and hinterland but there is good scope.You could fly brissy-nth america I think.

Just avoid school hols and/or easter hols.

I would agree, by flying to Brissy and picking up a car you have lot of options: Byron, Noosa, Fraser Island..

PS When do the school holidays finish in Jan?

Thanks for the replies. We're now thinking that my husband can spend a week with his mother BEFORE I go to Australia. He's taking a 'break' from work, so has a lot more flexibility than I do in terms of vacation time. So it looks like I can fly over to Sydney, spend a day or 2 with him (to get over the jet lag), then head to Tasmania as early in our trip as possible. I'm starting to look forward to this! Then we can take more time heading back to Sydney - maybe not just fly from Tasmania back to Sydney, but take a bit of time. Any recommendations on where to stop would be useful.

We would like to limit car rentals as much as possible. I know we'll rent one for our time on Tasmania, but neither of us find driving in another country all that relaxing. So I'm hoping that we can take alternate means of transportation back to Sydney from Melbourne (assuming we go to Melbourne after Tasmania). But we'll see.

Thanks again.