Best time of year for visiting Australia
 

What is the best time of the year to visit Australia especially the GBR in regards to best weather. We are flexible and plan to spend about 16 days. We would like to include NZ. Our paricular interest is in wildlife.

Dorthy<BR>i'm planning a trip myself and have read that November through February is the best time to visit the GBR, since that will be summer and temperatures are moderate.<BR>

Hi, Dorothy and Melissa!<BR>Since the GBR is in the tropics, the summer and winter climate differences don't matter much.... it is going to be HOT from November to February and VERY WARM for most of the rest of the year. What is important about your choice when visiting tropical areas is the rainfall, and other posters on this forum who know more than I have warned that the January-February season is the wettest season of the year in the GBR. Check this out before you finalise your plans, won't you?<BR>Really, November to February is going to be very hot wherever you go in Australia, even in my city, Sydney, where we avoid the extremes of some of the other top tourist centres. The best times to visit Sydney are the "in-between" season times: mid-March to mid-May and mid-September to mid-November. I would suspect that many other places in Australia would follow suit.

We went for the month of August, visiting Sydney, Alice Spgs/Uluru, Brisbane and Cairns. <BR><BR>We are from Miami and used to "hot" weather. We found Cairns to be very pleasant - 80's during the day and dry. The locals told us this was the coolest and driest time of the year. <BR><BR>The rest of the country was a bit cool - 60's or so in the day and 30's/40's at night. We're planning to go back and will do so when it's a little warmer, probably in the southern Spring or Fall. As for NZ - keep in mind that you can experience all four seasons in one day there!<BR><BR>John in Miami

Anything north of Townsville (Qld) is going to be sticky, hot and uncomfortable from November to March. Darwin in February for example will fog up your eyeglasses moving from airconditioning to outside, it is that humid. April to September in the north is wonderful. The rest of Australia is very hot in January, February. South of Townsville you will get some rain in June, July but it wont get cold enough to stop you sightseeing. Tasmania can be cold in Winter (June/July) but still lovely.

We visited Australia this April and it seemed like a good time for seeing several different parts of the country but you do have to look fo a compromise. The first weekend of the month people were at the beaches near <BR>Sidney with the weather warm enough for swimming.The weather was beginning to cool off then. It was cool enough for a jacket at night.<BR><BR>It was the beginning of the cooling off up in North Queensland with temperatures in the 80s. The water was still warm enough that you could swim only in the nettted areas of the beaches because of the jelly fish.They're supposed to be gone by May. We had a great trip snorkeling on the GBR around 4/20 but the winds are often strong in April. The reef trips were very pretty uncomfortable the week before we got there.<BR><BR>We visited Ayers Rock in mid April. It was warm but tolerable for walking around Ulluru and the Olgas with plenty of water and appropriate headgear.