mczinpdx

In an effort to balance quantity and quality, if possible on an 18-day trip, this is the itinerary I have planned: (1) Sydney (Four Seasons or Observatory), 5 nts.; (2) Southport, Gold Coast (Palazzo Versace), 3 nts.; (3) Great Barrier Reef (Dunk Island Resort), 3 nts.; (4) Melbourne (Park Hyatt), 4 nts.; (5) Sydney, 1 nt. Leaving Portland, Oregon 10 Oct., returning 28 Oct. Plan is to fly between various destinations. Any glaring omissions? Hotel choices seem sound? Comments from Australia travel vets and residents much appreciated.

fivestargirl

Hi mczinpdx, (1) unless you have some kind of affinity with Sydney you will find 3 nights is enough

(2) (Palazzo Versace), 3 nts.;
This place is luxury plus.
Three nights here is fabulous.
You will love it.
And lots to do on the coast each day.
Great beaches, fishing, activities of all sorts close at hand.

(3) Great Barrier Reef (Dunk Island Resort),
Think about a stay over in Cairns or Port Douglas for three nights in some really nice accommodation.
That way if the weather plays up you will not be Island bound.
Take a day tour to Lizard with Daintree Air to swim on some of the worlds most beautiful reef, take a day tour to the rainforest with Oz Tours or David A. to see some of the worlds oldest rainforest, then hire a car for the day to see the high country in behind Cairns and maybe take a balloon ride at sun up.

(4) Melbourne (Park Hyatt), 4 nts.;
Well even though I love Melbourne, two nights will be enough unless you want to go to the footy. Then you will need three or even four.

Now you have a few nights up your sleeve to do some fishing or some bird watching, or some serious relaxing of a house boat in the Hinchinbrook Channel.


fsg

Judy_in_Calgary

>>>>>>unless you have some kind of affinity with Sydney you will find 3 nights is enough<<<<<<

Respectfully disagree. Five nights in Sydney gives 4 days, which means you can spend 3 days looking at Sydney and 1 day on an excursion to the Blue Mountains. Three days in Sydney will allow you to see not only the area that's focused on the harbour, but also Manly Beach, Palm Beach and the Pittwater. In the event that you've had enough of Sydney proper (which strikes me as unlikely), you could allocate one of your Sydney days to an excursion to the Hunter Valley.

>>>>>>Well even though I love Melbourne, two nights will be enough unless you want to go to the footy.<<<<<<

Respectfully disagree with this too. Ideally, in my opinion, Melbourne deserves a day to check out "The City" (downtown) and Southbank, 2 days to drive the Great Ocean Road, and a day to drive into the Dandenong Ranges and Yarra Valley. That's 4 full days (probably 5 nights).

Generally speaking I think your itinerary is pretty good as it is, Mczinpdx. Something you might want to consider, though, is reducing your destinations from 4 to 3.

You might consider eliminating Melbourne. This would allow you to check out the Gold Coast and GBR area more thoroughly.

Alternatively, you might cut out the Gold Coast and see the GBR and Melbourne areas more thoroughly.

If you decide to include Melbourne, there was a recent discussion about the Park Hyatt and alternative hotels in this thread:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34502213

RalphR

I agree with Judy....seems like too much for just 18 days. I'd focus on quality rather than quality. This proposal is similar to one posted recently. You might want to check out the responses:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34502306

Alan

Hi, mczinpdx!

Purely as a personal opinion, the destination I would be leaving out would be the Gold Coast. If you must go there, you can get a pretty good idea of what there is to see there --US-type theme parks, overdeveloped beach areas,mile after mile of crass commercialisation -- in a single night.

I think the destination you have left out is Canberra. Great buildings, interesting museums, the National Art Gallery -- and in October it's really beautiful. I think I would take a night from Melbourne and BOTH nights from the Gold Coast and substitute three nights in Canberra. I wouldn't fly there, however -- it's only 3 hours from Sydney by car, so I would use this as my chance to see some of the inland areas of Australia. Alternatively, you could catch the train from Sydney, and then proceed from Canberra to Melbourne.

I would think that the Four Seasons in Sydney would give you a better chance of a harbour view than the Observatory (which, I think, looks not at Sydney Harbour, but at Darling Harbour, which is another experience altogether, and not one I'd want to be looking at for four nights).

Have a great holiday!

mczinpdx

Thanks to all, so far, for your thoughts. Of course, I am torn whether to eliminate a destination and focus on three places instead of four. Have always fancied myself a traveller rather than a tourist, so I'd rather see fewer places better. OTOH, it is hard to contemplate going so far and missing something. In short, I am hating the thought of cutting anything. What about simply cutting GC by a day and adding an extra night in GBR or Cairns? BTW, thanks for the references to related threads which I have reviewed.

Alan

You really struck a chord, mczinpdx, when you mentioned how you hate to leave out ANYTHING when you travel -- I feel much the same, always (pessimistically) thinking that I will never pass this way again. On the other hand, if you think of yourself as a traveller rather than a tourist, you have another good reason to reduce your exposure to the Gold Coast, for surely this is a place designed to attract the tourist; there's nothing there that would make you think of Australia, but lots that would make you think of Miami!

I think that your revised schedule, with an extra night at the Reef, is an improvement; I think you could certainly cut Melbourne down by a night also, and even Sydney, so there's two nights to see more places. Cut one more night from the Gold Coast and you have three nights up your sleeve to do the Canberra detour that I mentioned earlier.
Have a great holiday!

Mucky

Hi mczinpdx,
we took a similar trip the same time 3 yrs ago.
We had 3 places in the same period of time as you andit was enough. You have 4 plus sydney on the final night (if I read it properly.)Too much travelling in my opinion. I would reduce by one place. I suspect you are flying into Sydney and out. It seems strange to me to fly back to Sydney to fly home. Can you not fly home from Melb and have an extra night somewhere?
Or change round to have Sydney as your last stop and fly home from there, flying into Cairns at the start.
I agree with fivestargirl GBR mainland would be a good choice and I would also consider Palm Cove.
Not sure of the weather differences but Sydney may be slightly warmer later and GBR slightly better in early Oct. But our australian friends will no doubt comment on that.
Other than that your accommodation looks delightful.

Have fun

Muck