Australia Itinerary - Comments please?
 

I am in the planning phases for a trip to Australia. Thanks to all those whose tips I have been reading over the past couple of months. I am at the point where I need to decide total number of days to spend. (trying to get Business Class Frequent Flier tickets...had planned on going this October, but no luck with seats, so have adjusted plans to go next April instead. As recommended by this board, I will start calling for seats 330 days ahead of time, so have to decide total days soon)
Specifics will be decided later, but so far I am thinking the following:

Sydney - 3 days (stay at Lord Nelson Brewery based on reports from this site)
Katoomba (Jenolan Caves, abseiling) - 2 days...main reason for two days is because I would like to see the caves, but have also heard the abseiling (rapelling) is quite good here....comments?
Uluru - 2-3 days (first and last days would be travel days with 1-2 full days in between)....need some help here. Would definitely like to see Uluru and Kata Juta including Valley of the Winds walk. I am thinking two days for that. Question whether we should add a day and go to King's Canyon?
Daintree Area - 3 days (see below)
Lizard Island - 3 days....thinking about the 6 night 7 day P&O package which would be 3 nights Silky Oaks and 3 nights Lizard island. Anyone had experience with this package? I am typically not a package person, but it sounds like it includes the accommodations/activities I would want to do anyway for a better price than putting it together myself.
Last Day in Sydney prior to return flight.

I realize it is a lot of movement, with only a little time per area, but I need to keep the itinerary under 18 days (darn that whole having to get back to work thing) and since I don't know if I'll ever get back, there are certain things I really don't want to miss (i.e. Red Centre and Great Barrier Reef are non-negotiable). While I enjoy metropolitan areas, I would prefer to stick to the Natural Wonders of Australia.

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help.
Kevin

Definitely add some extra time and go to Kings Canyon. The rim walk takes about 3-4 hours and is really spectacular.

At least plan to book the maximum number of days for airfares - and then you can worry about the details. Sounds good to me.

Thanks for the help.
Any idea how long it takes to drive from Uluru to King's Canyon? Could one leave early in the morning, go to King's canyon, do the rim walk and return all in the same day? Or better to stay at King's canyon and return to either Uluru or Alice Springs the next day? Thanks.

A practical few notes...

I don't know what the weather in Uluru is like in April - I imagine it's cooling of some. We were there Dec. 1st, and the high was 36 -37C. Beware - if the weather is HOT, they can close the Olgas walks early. The Olgas trails are blocked off at about the 1/2 mile mark at 11AM, so you want to be there early. (If you're already on the trail, that's OK.) Keep in mind that you're in a valley that's slowly baking in the sun, so there's a good reason NOT to be there past 11AM. The circle walk is about 1.5 to 2 hours, depending on how energetic you are.

If you had plans of climbing the rock, they find any excuse to close it. If the predicted high is 35C or higher, the climb does not even open. Ditto with strong winds, rain.

Also, the car rental we had does NOT have unlimited kilometers - why should they, they've got you by the short and curlies out there. We used up our 200Km/day allotment just driving out to the Olgas twice and to Ayers rock itself a few times - the resort is about 30km away, if I recall. Driving to Kings Canyon could get expensive, but if it's what you want to do... go ahead! We didn't have time. Maybe next time...

The car park for sunrise and sunset viewing fills up very quickly.

Truly, the scenery is so different from anywhere else I've seen in N.America. Worth the visit for sure.

Also...

We were VERY lucky to get 2 Aeroplan tickets on 3 months notice. I think there were about 2 choices for November/December, then nothing until March. The lady at the Air Canada ddesk said the same thing - tickets come on stream 330 hays early and people snap them up immediately!

Also, the Yulara connection was the most difficult. The earlier you book, the more likely to get the "cheap" fares.

We did the circle - Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, Yulara, Sydney. By the time we made up our minds 2 months before, the price of the DIRECT flight Cairns-Yulara had jumped from $A220 to $A350. Similarly, we couldn't get a direct Yulara-Sydney, we had to take Qantas to Alice Springs and Virgin Blue to Sydney.

I think from memory it takes about three hours to drive from Yulara to Kings Canyon. You would have a very packed day to drive there, do the canyon rim walk, and drive back. Also bear in mind that after dusk you will get wandering animals on the road. There is a very nice resort at Kings Canyon with motel rooms, camping ground, restaurants etc. You would enjoy if much better if you stay overnight, then do the canyon base walk the next day (about 45 minutes) and then drive onto either Alice or Yulara. There is another small walk (Kathleen Springs???) between Kings Canyon and the main highway which is also nice.
Temperatures in April shouldn't be too hot to walk - just make sure you take water and sunscreen and a hat with you.

... continued .. have never understood how the workers in the US just ACCEPT that they only have those 2 weeks.

When I wanted to travel - way back - I asked for 6 months off. Granted. If you don't ask you'll never know.

Recently acquired 2 Business Class LAX to BNE returning SYD to LAX in October. It was very difficult, but called every day and sometimes twice a day. It took about two weeks. You can hold the outbound (for two weeks) while you look for a return. I had no luck on the 330 day-out calls. There is no way to tell when Quantas will open more seats to miles. Keep trying, you might get lucky! Also, being flexible with which cities you go in and out of and adding the option of going through Aukland helps. If you are using American miles, they have a new partnership with Air Tahiti (I have no experience with them). You trip looks awesome!

Hi Alice,
6months sounds great but for one minor point...no salary during this time.
Some people inluding me may find it difficult to justify losing everything for a 6 mth holiday.

Muck

To all...thanks for the help.

To cantwaittogo...I called once or twice a day for four weeks before giving up (and was flexible with routing/arrival/departure cities) You have encouraged me to continue trying for October.

To Alice13...would love to take longer, but as Mucky said, no job, no salary...and I would like to continue my salary so I can take many more trips in the future :-)

folks - I wrote a much longer message - the first part of which I thought had been posted but hadn't been. Look - 6 months is an extreme example - what I was trying to say is that if you are going on a trip of a lifetime you could maybe ask for an extra WEEK. It isn't a question of throwing it all in - just one of saying "I'm going on the trip of a lifetime - I will come back and work even harder cos I will be refreshed in mind and body". Some of the trip itineraries posted here are so manic that I'm breatheless reading them.

I'm just an ordinary sort of worker - just can't understand why you guys don't ASK.

>>>>>>what I was trying to say is that if you are going on a trip of a lifetime you could maybe ask for an extra WEEK<<<<<<

I may be mistaken, but I get the impression that, for most of the people posting here, their proposed visits to NZ and Oz are not trips of a lifetime. Their messages suggest to me that they've been overseas before, and will go overseas again.

>>>>>>just can't understand why you guys don't ASK<<<<<<

Because in many cases it would be a career limiting move.

Canada's labour laws generally are regarded as more favourable than those in the U.S., and we get more vacation, longer maternity leave, etc., than Americans do.

Yet, even here in Canada, it's a big deal at my office that I asked to take my entire vacation entitlement of 3 weeks in a single block this year. In my case this really will be a trip of a lifetime. My husband and I will join my mother on a trip to her birth place in Hungary. It will be my husband's and my first trip to that country, and we'll meet several of my second cousins for the first time.

In the previous three years I've spread out my vacation time in single week chunks, and this has made it easier on my employer.

I know if I made a habit of taking my vacation in 3 week blocks, it would strain the relationship between my employer and me, and the next time they were downsizing, I'd be the one on the chopping block. (Well maybe that'll happen anyway, but making "excessive demands" in the vacation area will only hasten the demise of my job.)

I agree with Judy in the previous post -I don't think in terms of a 'trip of a lifetime'. I've travelled before and will continue to travel. However, that's not to say that I wouldn't ask for more time off! I get 5 weeks vacation a year because I've been with more or less the same employer forever. I say more or less the same employer because our division was sold a few years ago, however the new company gave us credit for service. However, if we had stayed with the original employer, I'd have 6 weeks at this point (and a pension, but that's another story). This company has a maximum of 5 weeks. I have taken 3 weeks at a time - I did it in 2000 when we went to Turkey and Greece and I'm doing it again next month to go to Australia. However, it does take planning. I have to book the time several months in advance so that I'm not assigned to a project that's going live right when I'm away. (Even then it's no guarantee.)

Well - if it's not the "trip of a lifetime", why cram so much into such a short time? If you guys travel all the time then I guess you can visit anywhere more than once? Yes? So why try to see all the 'major' sights of the E Coast of Australia in 18 days? If you can come again - why not go more slowly?

Hmmm, didn't realize I was stirring up quite the pot. For clarification (since I started all this) I can take up to 30 days vacation at a time. My travelling companion is only supposed to take 14 at a time, but we knew that we wanted more time than that since we'll be flying halfway around the world. We compromised by taking an additional 4 days without pay.
Personally, I would not call this THE trip of a lifetime, but I am very excited about going (and have wanted to go for some time). Guess I would consider it ONE of MANY trips of a lifetime. Trouble is, I love to travel and have done so extensively throughout North America, Europe and the Mid-east. But I still have Asia, Africa, South America, the South Pacific, Scandinavia etc, etc, etc. to see. Soooo, while I would love to take more time in Australia, go at a slower pace, or make a return trip, it may be some time before I ever get back. Hence, I want to get in all my personal "must see's" this time around and hope that I make it back some day.
Which brings me back to the original intent of this string...Any other suggestions for what to add/delete or if I am truly crazy for trying to pack all that in the allotted time?
Thanks again for all the help.

>>>>>>Any other suggestions for what to add/delete or if I am truly crazy for trying to pack all that in the allotted time?<<<<<<

Kev1561, your pace will be fairly fast but, IMO, it will be doable. Your itinerary strikes me as well balanced. It seems to me you must have done a good deal of research before you floated out your proposed plan and asked for feedback. Hope you have a wonderful trip.