HI everyone,
We are a family of 4 (2 of which are pre-schoolers)have planned a trip to Australia in Aug. for 24 days. The first 2 week we are going to be in gold coast and meet us with our relatives. we have 10 days left and need help deciding where to go. We are interested in going to sydney for a week and then perhaps melbourne for 3 days. I would love to go see the 12 apostles but is that far from Melbourne? How long of a drive would it be? Any other ideas would be very appreciated.

And you are not going to North Queensland and the GBR?????

Lizzy,
I do not swim so I do not know if I will still be able to enjoy the GBR? what can a non-swimmer do there?

Can you tell us a bit more about your interests, you'll get better recommendations that way.

Kubla - Even though you cant swim, you can all snorkle. I cant swim either (flunked swim classes), but have gone snorkling, white water rafting and sea canoeing, all the while relying on 'water wings'. So what if people laugh at you, just laugh back. You can get some that will hold an adult - and if your children cant swim, then the lighter ones will work for them. Plus the Quicksilver boats out of Port Douglas have life jackets for snorkeling.
Absolutely choose Cairns and north instead of the Twelve Apostles.

I love sceneries, taking the kids to child friendly places, shopping, history,antiques and having good food. I also like taking long drives.

kubla, in Cairns there is a great, accessible zoo that your kids would love. Also the rainforest and the GBR. Several companies (Reef Magic out of Cairns and Quicksilver out of Port Douglas) have pontoons with underwater viewing platforms and semisubmersibles are available with other outfits. The reef is really not to be missed. Melbourne will be colder in August--when we were in Cairns in July in 2004 we met up with all kinds of "southerners" who were going to Cairns for the sunshine. The Atherton Tableland has all sorts of adventures for a family including waterfalls, a crocodile farm with jumping crocs, places to taste all sorts of tropical fruit, and farther afield, there is a place with caves to explore in Chillagoe. The 12 Apostles (now down to 7 I think) are a far drive from Melbourne, I believe, and probably an eternity with pre-schoolers wondering if you were there yet (and it's a windy road if they get car sick.) Check out Lonely Planet's Queensland and the GBR and/or Insight Guide (Discovery Channel) with the same title. Good luck and bless you for travelling with your young children. If you do fun, active things they will remember this trip their whole lives.
Sally in Seattle

In terms of scenery, I'm sure your relatives will take you to Mount Tambourine behind the Gold Coast. Just, outside Sydney, many people go to the Blue Mountains, particularly Katoomba.

In the southern part of Sydney is the Royal National Park that has great coastal walks and, in season, it's a good place for whale watching. Going to northern Sydney, Kuringai National Park has good walks and views.

In Sydney some activities for children are: the zoo, the Aquarium, the Australian museum has quite a few exhibits geared for younger viewers. There is also an "Aussie Duck" tour (an amphibious vehicle) that goes around Sydney and into the harbour that is fun for children.

Both Sydney and Melbourne have very great restaurants. I think shopping in Melbourne is easier to navigate than Sydney, I find Melbourne a more pleasant walking city than Sydney.

AS Sally mentioned, August is the most popular month of year in FNQ because of its milder climate - this is when we're besieged by Australian southerners from colder climates as well as New Zealanders.

Many tourists who visit reef don't swim, this is why nearly all larger reef boats have glass bottom boats and several have semi-submersibles. The best for kids I think is Reef Magic; with pontoon, semi-submersible, glass bottom boat, kids's pool, - it takes far less people than the other boats with pontoons and is on a superb reef site about 90 minutes out of Cairns. Of course life jackets and other floating devices are available as they are on any reef trip.

If you're at all nervous about entering water from platform on side of boat, check Ocean Spirit to Michaelmas Cay. Snorkelling here is from a sandy cay, which is just like a sandy beach - you can enter water gradually at your own speed and kids can play in the shallows. Ocean Spirit also has a semi-submersible but no glass bottom.

Crew on both boats are used to non-swimmers and give help and guidance for snorkelling.

Both these trips are to outer reef and are full day; if too long a day for little kids, Green Island is far closer to mainland and has half-day trips from Cairns; morning and afternoon, or combination of both for a full day.

The 12 Apostles are about a 3 to 4 hour drive from Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road, one of the most scenic drives in the world. In recent years Apollo Bay has become a popular town for a stopover with various accommodations. After a stopover in AB you could return to Melbourne via the Grampians where the kids can observe kangaroos in the wild. Koalas can also be seen in that area. Melbourne is the shopping and restaurant capital of Australia, without a doubt.

One problem with Melbourne is that it is just another one of the World's cities and having said that if you are going in August it could be one of the World's cold, rainy, bleak cities. The GBR has just been listed as the World's top Natural tourist destination with so many, many things other than swimming to do and certainly many more things to see that the children would appreciate.
Weather should be wonderful and the scenery is fantastic. I know which place I would choose and it does not start with M.

You see that's the problem with Queenslanders, they are just so parochial. End of conversation!

Fail to see how "Queensland parochialism" comes into this when LizzyF lives in Tasmania.

I too find it hard to imagine having 24 days and not going to FNQ. And it's true you can snorkel without being able to swim but it would be best done in really calm water, and I am not sure you would get that in August. But you would get to see the rainforest if you go to the Cairns area, and yes, there are trips that go to pontoons where you can view the underwater world from glass bottom boats, etc.

But if it doesn't appeal - well, stick to your guns and do what YOU want to do.

As you like long drives, antiques and such, how about making your stay in Sydney 5 days (and you will I guess check out the Blue Mts while you are there); then hire a car and drive to Melbourne. Go for a bit of a wander. There are some nice small towns in what is called the Southern Highlands (do a google - Southern Highlands NSW); you could also check out the Snowy Mts - they might even be snowy in August. There is also Echuca in Northern Victoria that has paddle steamers on the Murray.

From Melbourne you could visit the 12 Apostles (not a highlight for me, but it might be for you). And of course the Penguin Parade at Phillip Island.

Happy travels.

OK I was being polite when I said that Melbourne is just another of the World's cities - what I could have said was that it is one of the World's cities, with a dreadful climate and as boring as you could find anywhere on the planet. I mean would you really make a trip to the USA and spend a lot of money to visit Detroit in winter?
As for the trip to see the now remaining Apostles - that compared with going to the GBR region is like going to the USA, not seeing the Grand Canyon but going to that rather boring little town of Kingston, Ariz - least I think it is called Kingston ( just drove through it). As for being parochial I might have spent a lot of time in Queensland but was born in Sydney, lived in the
Darwin NT, Perth W.A, NSW, Victoria both country and Melbourne, Canada, Britain and now live in Tasmania - doesn't seem too parochial to me.
NB I have made comparisons with the USA on the chance that Kubla is from there and would know what I am talking about.

Chimani's suggestion of going from Sydney to Melbourne via the Snowy Mountains just reminded me of a really interesting local history museum on the way.

It's the Pioneer Women's Hut in Tumbarumba, it only collects objects from the region and only with the full story about the object. Last time I went they had a great collection of objects referred to as "making do." Often made during the Depression, they are things like cupboards made from oil cans, or quilts made from fabric samples and so forth.

http://www.collectionsaustralia.net/org/744/aboutgood history location

Lizzy ,
Your view about Melbourne really intrigues me . I have read your dislike before about Melbourne on this site and a couple of years ago we had a run in about it . But that matters not to me . My observation is that you freely give good and generous advice about everywhere but Melbourne . I just cannot understand your intense dislike of the city and everything about it . I am curious to understand the root cause of it because I like to think that every Australian city and town has something to offer of interest . That is certainly my experience across Australia .
As such I cannot believe that you ,who are obviously well travelled , can dismiss the city entirely by using hackneyed old things like the weather , and find it "boring". So please, in all seriousness ,let us in on what it was that caused this extreme aversion and as result active discouragement by you of others to visit .
So , provided I am not being horribly intrusive ,I am genuinely keen to read about your experiences - recent or old , good or bad . Then I hope I will be able to understand what has informed your view .
John

OK John, I don't particularly like Cities so they have to have something 'really' special. However I will go back to the beginning actually where you say I give good advice about everywhere but Melbourne. I think I would have to say in my defence that I doubt you would read anywhere where I have given any advice about any city with the exception of perhaps Sydney - which in my view, and that of others, has something very special about it. I lived in Perth and I have never said anything about Perth, Darwin ditto, Brisbane ditto.
I don't see many largish cities of the World as International destinations with the exception of the following:
Paris, St Petersburg, Prague, Sydney, Hong Kong, New York.
Melbourne to the outside observer: northern suburbs... dirty, noisy, too much in the way of bunting and signs. City.....
noisy, dirtyish river, cluttered and smelly, and so on and so forth.
If you consider that Buenos Aires is on about the same latitude then it is much more of an International destination and a much nicer city in 100 different ways compared to Melbourne, so is Santiago ( 'cept it is far more poluted). I don't advocate those two cities as an International destination either tho'.
If in this particular instance where the poster was talking about going to Melbourne in August and doing the GOR when she could go to the GBR then there is absolutely no competition both in terms of weather & in terms of sightseeing and activities. Melbournians say that Melbourne is the 'cultural capital' of Australia but for this entire year I have not seen anything that I would go and see with the exception of one performance perhaps - hardly a cultural overload. Then we hear about Melbourne being the foodie capital of Australia - well maybe it is and maybe it is not - I think for instance that eating oneself around Tasmania is an experience that only the lucky few have done - and perhaps that is a good thing too - for those of us in Tasmania that is. I have eaten some fantastic tropical style meals in Queensland that would rank very, very highly in the culinery stakes, likewise in Sydney ( Bondi Icebergs) and then I can think of one particular meal in the middle of the East Aligator River that would be hard to beat too. However for my money you would have to go a long way in this world to beat the meat dishes of Argentina so again another reason that Buenos Aires is better. I keep trying to find a memorable meal in Melbourne but it defeats me to date.
I hope that this clarifies some of your questions. It was DownUnder who prompted me to talk further about Melbourne as I had not said anything prior to her post as follows:
Author: DownUnder
Date: 05/18/2007, 02:01 am
You see that's the problem with Queenslanders, they are just so parochial. End of conversation
...............
Up to that point the contest as I saw it was Melbourne in August v GBR. Please also note that I have not suggested that the poster come to Tasmania or Hobart in August either for much the same reason - though I hasten to add that I do prefer Hobart to Melbourne.

Please note that I have changed my name to the above seeing as I have been accused of being that person I feel I might as well give those who think that the satisfaction of being partly right - at least this time!
In case you are wondering though, yes I do have A1's OK to do so.
Finally JohnFitz I don't live in Hobart either because it is a city like place.

All joking aside JohnFitz, I think that Victoria is a beautiful and interesting state to visit at the right time of year and it has some of the loveliest countyside in Australia at the right time of year too. I am very glad that it has decided to rain and I hope that there will be some green grass next time I fly over it. I do like the Mornington Peninsular and I love the Bright/Mt Beauty area of the State as well - but again at the right time of year.