We will be in Sydney in December. I would like to see more of the country and see the Great Barrier Reef too. My husband said the Sydney beaches are the most beautiful in the world. (someone told him they read this) I need some input. We like to snorkle, walk the beach, sit and have a beverage with the local folk, enjoy the flora and fauna. We don't dive and this part of the trip will be low budget for us.
Our other option is spending 4-5 nights in Auckland. low budget there too. Beach options?
Thanks bunches for the help...Sun

Sydney beaches are very nice but are not up to some of the beaches in the rest of the country. Cairns does not have any beaches per se but there are lovely beaches on some of the islands BUT December could be too hot that far up north.
For beautiful, sit and relax, watch birds etc beaches then you would have to think of Byron Bay NSW( however too many people there at that time of year) Fraser Island, Morton Island, Stradbroke Island in Queensland and are nice quiet beaches. No resort areas a quiet as December will be the start of the School holidays and therefore everyone is at a beach somewhere. Perhaps an Island in the Whitsundays would be nice and quiet with views, flora and fauna. I don't know much about the areas south of Sydney so others can help there, however I think that there are some nice beaches around Jervis Bay with a lot of wildlife too.
Of course if you wanted to you could fly to Tasmania and go to Freycinet National Park and perhaps Coles Bay where not only would you have a spectacular beach but you would not have more that 1 person per 10 square miles around most likely and there are many areas like that in Tasmania!

Hi sunswhtdog,
Cairns does not have a beach.
Sydney beaches of course are nice but the very very best beach in the areas you describe is Palm cove.
It has awards to prove it.
Not sure about December though perhaps someone will be along soon to talk about swimming at that time of year. Stingers etc..
We spent last christmas day on Moreton island and it was heaven.I am confident LizF has listed so many lovely beaches you won't know which to choose.
Good luck

Muck

Liz & Muck, have given you excellent advice & ideas. I think School holidays in NSW start around 17th December? and once school holidays start, the beach locations can become crowded with families, so you need to find a "secluded" beach location, on a low budget as you pointed out.
I think I would concentrate on one of the NSW south coast beach areas,eg, Jervis Bay(snorkelling in the Bay), Narooma, Merimbula or NSW north coast beaches, eg. scenic coastline between Ballina & Tweed Heads, has some very nice little towns/beaches. Byron Bay used to be one of my favourite beach areas, but it does get a bit crowded around late December, as Liz so rightly said. Also Byron now seems like a backpacker town.
To see the GBR, I would suggest flying to somewhere like Brampton Island, which has day trips out to the outer barrier reef, but also Brampton has fringing coral reefs in the channel between it and Carlisle Island, which is ideal for snorkellers. To reach Brampton Island fly with either Qantas or Virgin Blue to the city of Mackay, then either boat out or fly out on a smaller twin engine plane. Brampton is a much quieter island, than those in the Whitsunday region, and maybe to your liking.

sunswhtdog - Beaches around Cairns are not for surfing as the Great Barrier Reef forms a barrier so water is still, and in December, it's box jelly fish time again on coast (not on GBR). Sydney has some well-known surfing beaches, Palm Beach to the north with Pittwater on the other side of the peninsula is particularly lovely (don't confuse Palm Beach Sydney with Palm Cove Cairns - they're 3,000km apart!) They are both beautiful, but in different ways. Cairns/Port Douglas avg temp in Dec is 23C-32C, with an average of 11.6 rainy days (most rain falls evening or late afternoon) - sea temperaturate 27C with slight possibility of cyclone.

One advantage of Sydney beaches are that they are actually in Sydney. You can get to most of them easily by public transport. And there are heaps of them as well.

Sure there are some fabulous beaches outside Sydney - but they require some time / effort / money to get there.

True Margo_OZ, there are lovely beaches in Sydney and some of the northern beaches would be worth sitting around on for a couple of weeks
in my view if being in Sydney is the poster's desire but they would not see much of the country that way. 'Twas not my intention to infer that Sydney's beaches were not great - they are.
Auckland 4-5 nights? ( this will bring 'em out) Auckland is my idea of a boring city - not big enough for any great interesting things to do and see but too big to be an interesting quiet small town with any heart!

Thanks for the great information. We are just putting the other parts of the trip together. I do want to see more of the country than just Sydney. We do not surf or dive but we do snorkle. My husband likes deep sea fishing too. Tropical temps are fine. (Costa Rica is one of our favorite spots). I have received some info about the Port Douglas area. Travel early December. What do you think?
We are also looking into a Harley rental? But, that will be another question.
Thanks Bunches again!
Sun

Of course the GBR area is great and Port Douglas is nice BUT you will not be able to swim up there at that time of year because of the nasty little things in the water. If you want beaches and want to swim then you will have to find something south of Rockhampton or Bundaberg actually to make sure that there are no stingers around.
I would head for Tassie myself because its not going to be infested with heaps and heaps of people. Otherwise the destinations that have been mentioned previously on this post.

The Sunshine Coast Beaches (Queensland) are the best beaches in Australia

Tasmania for a beach holiday is always a risk IMHO - we were in Hobart in early December a few years ago, and it was freezing cold, with snow falling on Mt Wellington the day after we left - Brrrrrrr!

Sunshine Coast in general, and Noosa in particular, has some stunning beaches.

I was under the impression that these people wanted somewhere nice and quiet, with snorkling available, being able to walk along the beach without too much trouble and enjoy flora and fauna.
If that was not the case then I would have included the Sunshine Coast beaches, the Gold Coast beaches, Byron Bay and points in between but as there will be Schoolies around at that time and the first of the private schools will have started their holidays & this will effect the beach "enjoyment" for anyone over the age of 22 quite significantly.
If they wanted good snorkling then Morton Island is a great place to go as is North Stradbroke but the Sunshine Coast does not have anywhere to snorkle and at last look ( this week ) at Noosa, I would give it a big miss. It is too small for the population, too crowded, no where to park a car and even less places to park your bottom - not my idea of relaxation. Sure Tasmania could be cool in December but it could equally be absolutely beautiful and as for the eastern coast of Tasmania, well that is one of Australia's most magnificent coast lines. If the weather is not warm then there are so many other areas that you can have a great time in Tassie, particularly if one has not been before.

Hi sunwhtdog - if tropical temperatures and lack of surf aren't a problem and your husband is after deep sea fishing then Cairns and north is ideal in December and is one of the most famous Black Marlin fishing grounds in the world. Black Marlin season runs September - late December - you'll need to book in advance for this and there's plenty of info on websites if you do a search. Alas, the fishing won't be low budget. Of course, snorkelling is fantastic from nearby GBR, it's just coastal areas that are affected by box jelly fish and irukandji in warmer months.

In Sydney to go Manly instead of Bondi. Go to both just to say you had, but plan on spending more time at Manly. I, unfortunately, waited until my last day to go to Manly ... and forgot to bring my swimsuit! It's much less hung on its own image, and you can still rent surfboards there if that is what you want. The prices at the shops in Manly are also much more reasonable.

We just got back in May from our second trip to Sydney, where my mother-in-law lives. We stayed in Coogee this time and loved it. It really felt like we were staying in a smaller town, with several nice restaurants. Also liked Manly, but I preferred staying in Coogee.

So can you tell me about these stinging little jelly fishy things?

Sun

Hi Sun
Liz and I just did tell you about "Stingy things" - under your other posting

Your husband must have read this in a New South Wales Travel blurb. Sydney beaches are ok, but if you want "real" beaches you will have to hop on a plane and come over to Western Australia. Perth beaches knock spots of off Sydney and those down in the South West, Esperance and Albany are awesome. Also best kept secret in the West is Coral Bay which is one of a few "fringed" reefs in the world. This means you can swim over the coral from the shore. Does not have the glitz (or tourists) of the Barrier Reef, but you do not have to get a boat out to it either.

I often travel to Western Australia, and I must agree with the last post, WA's beaches are okay, but not the best in Oz. Perth's beaches usually have a dumping shore break, which can be quite unpleasant. The signs at many of the beaches, warn of this dumping surf. In addition, WA's beaches have another problem, that of shark attacks, eg. Cottlesloe, and one recent attack down in the Margaret River area, all from the great white shark. Even in Geraldton, there is a plague to a windsurfer in a rock near Point Moore, telling of a shark attack.
Also the water temperature of the ocean at Perth's beaches, and southern beaches, can be quite cool, downright bloody cold sometimes.
As for Coral Bay, which is up near Exmouth, yes, the water is warm and good for snorkelling. But the further north you go in summer, the air temperatures can be downright hot, up in the mid 40's. The desert extends right down to the beach, its that dry & hot.
My advice, would be to stick to the eastern side of Australia, for good beaches and good summer temperatures, which rarely reach 40 degrees.