Byron Bay is not on the Gold Coast (thank god) It is 2.5 hrs drive south of brisbane airport and an hour south of the gold coast.If you go to byron you can visit the gold coast on your way back to Brisbane.<BR><BR>If you like wakiki,atlantic city,copacabana you might like the gold coast.<BR><BR>If you like big sur,cape cod you might like byron.<BR><BR>If you are interested in Byron visit<BR><BR>www.byron-bay.com and<BR>www.byronbay-online.com<BR><BR>As for motels in the bay the Holiday Inn looks good. <BR>You might like to have a look at the Broken Head Leisure resort. <BR>The places at Wategos beach are classy and expensive.<BR><BR>check out the dolphin kayaks etc at the websites above.

johhj au, <BR>remind me never to follow one of your itineraries, but thanks for the laugh anyway.<BR>As for the poster's comments I thought we were answering quite well,<BR>the question being, 'Is there a beach trip short of the Great Barrier Reef?', well if you want an honest answer there's about 2,000 miles of beach, which one would you prefer. We gave you some good answers with the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast, now the choice is up to you. If you put up some search engines yourself you will see lots of photos of these areas to give you an idea of what to expect. And it will probably be too cool to swim anyway.<BR>

I live on the Sunshine Coast, and it will be DEFINITELY SWIMMABLE FOR SOMEONE FROM BOSTON !!!!or even the Sunshine Coast!! We currently have 29 degree C (maybe 85 deg F?) days and 21 deg C nights, although the nights may cool down a bit to about 18 deg C. The water temp is about 23-24 degrees C. This would be the same for the Gold Coast. Kathy is a kiwi and obviously lives nowhere near here!<BR>A LARGE word of warning here - those dates are QLD and Melbourne obviously, SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY HOLIDAYS, so you will need to book where you're staying and I hope there are some flights left - should be ok on the internet - virginblue.com.au or qantas.com.au. Byron Bay will be absolutely packed at that time ( we go there occasionally ) they have a blues festival over Easter, and school hols and great weather means it will be full. <BR>There are plenty of beaches on the Sunshine coast from Caloundra to Noosa -Caloundra, Mooloolaba, Alexandra Headlands, Maroochydore, Mudjimba, Coolum, Peregian, Sunshine and Noosa. There is Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo with many kangaroos,koalas, and other Aussie and international creatures,which most Americans are familiar with from TV, National parks to walk through - the one at Noosa is great - beside the ocean but with native Australian bush around you - you may see koalas and goannas in the trees. There are also many &quot;mountains&quot; to climb. Also there are interesting hinterland towns such as Maleny and Montville. The Sunshine Coast is pretty laid-back and easy to get around as is the Gold Coast anywhere south of Surfers Paradise. Brisbane is a 2 hour plane trip from Melbourne - I have a son studying medicine at Uni of Melb too ! You can fly direct to the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast ( might be called Maroochy ) airports from Melb too. <BR>April 25 is Anzac Day hol when everthing is shut until at least lunch time. Shops may be open on the coast.<BR>Gold Coast has &quot;theme parks&quot; - Sea world, Dreamworld etc with lots of rides but again it's school hols - expect large queues for rides.<BR>Try this website http://www.sunshinecoast.com/visitorinfo.html Fraser Island is a bit too far away for a day trip, although they do operate and they're good but a 12 hour day, but maybe the flight over Lady Elliot Island is a good idea - it is part of the Great Barrier Reef and you can snorkle right off the beach, but not sure if you can do day trips.<BR>There are also kayak trips and so on at the Sunshine Coast.<BR>Try the Byron Bay Hotel - it's quite nice but beware the crowds!<BR>Have a good holiday!!!