Hi,<BR>We are a family of four (children's age 4yrs and 1yr) planning to go to Australia in August for approx 4 weeks. We are thinking of going to Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Auckland. Please advise on what to see and do and advise if the 4 destinations is too much for the duration of our holiday.<BR><BR>Appreciate your help!!

Are you flying into Perth from say South Africa or are you going there from Sydney? Because its a mighty long way just to see Perth and miss out on other places that you could see either en route or especially when in WA. Also I would have to ask you why you have chosed Perth and Brisbane before making a comment for or against them.

I would miss Brisbane and stop at Ayers Rock (Uluru)in Central Australia and do a tour of Ayers Rock, The Olgas, Alice Springs etc. It is a pretty amazing part of Australia and it would be a pity to miss.

Until we know which way you are coming into Australia we cannot give you any really good help with these areas.

Thanks for the responses. With regard to your queries, we were thinking of flying into Perth from say Singapore/South Africa, then onto Brisbane, Sydney and finally onto Auckland. <BR>With regard to LizF's question of choosing Perth and Brisbane, we are thinking of emigrating from the UK and Australia is one of our options, we have heard that these are nice places to settle, so would like to have a look.<BR><BR>

OK so now I understand. <BR>Yes do check out Perth as when I lived there there were many people from Enland who just loved it. To them it didn't matter living in the most isolated city on earth because they were already away from their families or they had brought them with them. <BR>I think that Perth is a lovely city, not as busy as Sydney or Melbourne and very open and clean. I had aging family in the east and being a Queenslander I also missed the eastern seaboard for a lot of reasons. <BR>If you enter Australia through Perth everything you want to do is doable and I would try and spend a week at each place and surrounds to get the best "feel" of the place. In Perth hire a car and drive down to the south west and visit the forests there and have a look at Albany and points south of Perth. Check out the Margaret River area and also the Swan River wineries. Take a long walk through Kings Park and drive around the suburbs. <BR>Sydney: get a Sydney explorer bus pass and let them take you around the sites of Sydney, take many trips on the harbour and take the children to the zoo and Darling Harbour. <BR>Brisbane: Hire a car there and drive up to the Sunshine Coast visiting the Australia Zoo on the way and going to see the Aquarium at Mooloolaba and most definately the Deer Park at Tanawa where the children can cuddle a Koala, pat a kangaroo and go and see the nocturnal house. <BR>Drive around the suburbs of Brisbane ( a very different city of the rest of Australian cities ) and try and get to Southbank parklands and the River Markets on the weekend. Drive south to the Gold Coast and come up to Tamborine Mountain and see what a mountain village with heaps of wonderful things to do is like. Check out our wonderful flora and fauna here. Visit SeaWorld on the Gold Coast and Currumbin Bird Sanctuary. Check out Sanctuary Cove for a different aspect/style in living!!<BR>There are flights from Brisbane to Auckland. I will leave the Kiwis to answer your queries on Auckland as its quite a while since I visited there.<BR>Finally REMEMBER that you are coming in winter, the weather will be mild and the rest of the year is different in all of these places so ask the locals about conditions for the rest of the year and talk to as many people as possible. <BR>Have fun