Cairns airfare getting too high
 

Family of 3 visiting Australia in June/July had planned an itinerary as follows
Arrive in Melbourne
Melbourne to Sydney by air for 4 days
Sydney to Gold Coast by air for 5-6 days
Gold Coast to Cairns by air
Cairns to Melbourne by air

Now the problem is that the airfares to cairns and back is costing USD400/ for the round trip which is getting too high for 3 tickets

What other options do I have ? Can I drive? Would it be worthwhile

Note : yes it is necessary to get back to Melbourne as I have very close relatives there

Should I drop cairns? If yes how and what are my options to spend 5 days

Thanks

Driving? 1780 kms Gold Coast to Cairns, 3,000 kms Cairns to Melbourne by the shortest route.

You don't say how long you will be in Australia, so it's a little difficult to say whether you should include/ omit FNQ. Only you can decide whether the cost is worth it to you - but I will say that it's a great time to go - and The Great Barrier Reef, rainforests & hinterland are unique. Its inclusion in the " Big 3" of Australian tourism ( with Sydney & Uluru) underlines its value in most peopl's mimds.

We skipped GBR because of the time of year. But I don't think it will be around for many more years, so consider that. https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/1...ge-dieoff.html
Have you looked and seen if you could fly on another day? Fares may be lower, you never know.

Qantas sometimes has a ‘walkabout pass” which allows you several flights within Australia for less than they would be individually. Not sure how often/when that would be available but worth a phone call.

Four flights are going to add up, no matter how you do it. Like Canada it is a large, sparsely populated country compared to Europe or the US, so there is not ta lot of competition on domestic routes.

What is it you want to see in Cairns? Would it make more sense to skip Gold Coast? It sounds like you have more than two weeks in addition to you Melbourne time so three different destinations in that time is doable if you can manage the cost.

You could also consider the Blue Mountains added on to your time in Sydney. No flights involved and it is quite a different landscape than you would see elsewhere.

Have you checked all the airlines? Jetstar and Tiger should be cheaper than Qantas and Virgin but there will be more add-ons like luggage etc. Keep clicking through, without buying, to see the final fare for comparison.

If it's still too expensive to fly to Cairns, I'd skip either the Gold Coast or Cairns. Too far to drive in the time you have.

Another option which would save money is to avoid flying to Melbourne twice, could you start in Cairns, fly to the Gold Coast, fly to Sydney, fly to Melbourne, then fly home?

Kay

I check the flight prices through skyscanner and they do find the lowest on different dates

With very high fares I have decided to omit Cairns

With 4 days , what other choices do I have close to my route ie Melbourne/Sydney/GC

You could spend some time in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney. Near Melbourne is the Great Ocean Road and from there you could go to the Grampians. We just returned from 6 weeks in Australia and our TR might give you some ideas.
http://www.fodors.com/community/aust...down-under.cfm

Look often on the Jetstar website. Gold Coast to Cairns is usually 100$. I paid even less for a trip in June during a sale they had.

Thank you all

I had the same target of $100/ in mind but I don't know how it has steeped so high

We had 5 days for Cairns + cape tribulation which I am now thinking as follows

2 days BM + 4 days in Tasmania, we would love to indulge in some natural beauty or are there any other options which we may explore?

Not to forget that we already are doing GOR during our melbourne stay

You do not have enough time to visit Tasmania with the limited time you had; I had 9 days and could have used more. Tasmania will also be the coldest among the places you would be visiting. You could go up to Noosa and Fraser Island from the Gold Coast. Canberra is also an option that is close enough to Sydney.

Qantas walkabout pass must be purchased simultaneously with a Qantas or AA trans pacific air fare .

Would like to explore more options as i have about 4 days extra. These options may be closer to

Melbourne ( + Mr Buller, GOR)
Sydney (+ Blue mountain)
Gold coast

Thanks

Here are two ideas to add to your Melbourne visit but really it depends on your interests. You could visit Ballarat which has some beautiful old buildings from the 1800's goldrush era as well as some history from that time. Also the Grampians National Park has gorgeous scenery and native wildlife, mainly kangaroos and emus and a koala if you are lucky. Lots of hiking, both easy and hard and a good choice of accommodation in and around the small town of Halls Gap.

Kay

Are any of your flights booked? If not, you may want to consider flying in one direction to minimize cost and number of legs. A straight line would be Melbourne -> Canberra (if you choose to go to add another city) -> Sydney -> Gold Coast, and you could drive from Canberra to Sydney so you would be looking at only 2-3 domestic flights.

No no off course there is a road way for back in Melbourne to Cairns. The steps are as follows,

1. Cairns to Mission Beach
2. Mission Beach to Airlie (510km, 6 hours)
3. Airlie Beach to Yeppoon (500km, 5.5 hours)
4. Yeppoon to Bundaberg (330km, 4 hours)
5. Bundaberg Hervey Bay (120km, 1.5 hours)
6. Hervey Bay (and Fraser Island) to Nossa (190km, 2.5 hours)
7. Noosa via the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane (137km, 2 hours)

Our flights are already booked and we have arrive and depart through Melbourne only, we did this cuz my brother in law lives in Melbourne and we have a longer stay there

You could a few days in Mount Buller - obviously it's ski season so you would need to move quickly to book. It would give you a very different look at Australia.