We are flying in from California to Sydney in December. We (2 parents and 2 older teenagers) are thinking about staying in Sydney 3-4 nights, then staying on Lizard Island for 2 nights. Here is my question...
Do we stay in Sydney and get adjusted to the time difference or go right up to the GBR. Should we stay one night in Cairns to see Kuranda and take the skyrail?

In my opinion, stay in Sydney first. You can check into the hotel, then decide if you want to walk around, just go to Darling Harbour for a couple of hours, or rest. You'll probably be so excited you'll just want to walk around and see the sigths.

I can't comment about Kuranda and the skyrail. The skyrail was down when we went there, so we skipped Kuramda. We did go to Tjapukai, the aboriginal village, and it was very interesting, for a couple of hours.

Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions. Regards,

Enrique

You should stay in sydney first...the last thing you will want to do when u arrive in sydney early am is hop on another domestic 3 hr flight to cairns.

I think you should stay on the mainland in far north qld.A day for kuranda and a day for daintree...you might consider palm cove as it fairly close to the airport and the base of the skyrail.

However the night life for youngsters is more active in cairns...lots backpackers.

We arrived in Sydney at 10pm from LAX. Had a good night's sleep and caught a 10am flight to Cairns. No problem.
You can sleep when you get home.
Do Kuranda. It's worthwhile.
John

I agree with John_au - stay in Sydney first - you'll arrive early morning, so shower to get the "eau de Boeing" off your body, change cloths and get out into the daylight which should adjust your clock. Stay out and up at long as possible till dark, then sleep. You'll be fine the next day.

When you've finished with you time in Sydney you can fly onto Cairns. I would recommend staying in Palm Cove or Port Douglas as most tours leave from either of these. We stayed in Palm Cove and found lots of young people around the beach at night, but I can't guarantee what teenagers might find of interest in either PC or PD.

The transfers for Kuranda and the Skyrail would be easier from Palm Cove.