saradipity

Hello - Please post your suggestions for a 5 week visit in March. We're beach people(not so much into City stays - 4-5 days max in Sydney) and hope to cover from Melbourne to the GBR. I guess it's not the best time of year for the North but that's when we're coming. Can anyone comment with itinerary suggestions? Jervis Bay looks nice but the Military use it in March for exercises? Whitsundays of course but where to jump off from? and how to see the best of the reef that time of year? Thanks

Bushranger

Do you fly into Melbourne/, and if it is not too late to arrange it that way, it'll be ebst for at least you'll just have a one direction trip without doubling back.

If not, then just book a connecting domestic flight - www.webjet.com.au to give best pricing - about A$100 and a few days down there, a trip down the Great Ocean Road[possibly a loop of sorts to Phillip Island - see a recent report by nelsonian] but the coastal or coast/alpine mixture is a great drive from Melbourne to Sydney over three/four days and you could do Phillip Island on the way along with Wilsons Promontory and plenty of other idyllic beach villages.

That'll take say two weeks between Melbourne and Sydney, giving three to head north and that's not too bad, taking about a week to get as far as Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane and I will not bother to list them all for there are heaps of smaller places and larger towns and cities to pick from - no need to prebook accommodation as Easter break commences 10 April.

After the SsC your beach places becomE further apart and another two weeks will allow reasonable time to take in places like http://fraserisland.au.com/ and http://www.gkiholidayvillage.com.au/
on the way up to http://www.whitsundays.com.au/ and depending on your budget, there's a heap of GBR access options from down near Brisbane to fly to Lady Elliot Island [quite expensive] though reasonable packeages combining Fraser Island and a bit further north out of 1770[500 km. north of Brisbane] you can do day trips out to Lady Musgrave Island which sits in a pristine lagoon.

You can also get to the reef at Great Keppel and while in that neck of the woods if you want to see a Croc up close for free, head to the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens [very nice there too] and Lee Kernagan's (Country and Western Singer) Great Western Hotel is not a bad p;lace for a cold ale or two either.

By the end of March, the wet season weather will have nearly sorted itself out, either not much more on the horizon or you'll be looking at heading right into the midst of it and you're best of to plan accordingly - one things for sure though is that you'll be sweating heaps and swatting mossies so have some good light loose long sleeved/legged clothing for evenings if outdoors and get yourself some Bushmans repellant [ no relation nor pecuniary interest]

www.queenslandholidays.com.au is a general site with a heap of info on it too.

saradipity

Thanks Bushranger
We're flying into Sydney and out of Brisbane so a little backtracking will be required to do Melbourne et al.Thought we'd drive south and then fly back,maybe to Brisbane as I think the southern Sunshine coast might be more our cup of tea than the Gold Coast. It's stinger time isn't it - I hadn't counted on that. Are the beaches south of Sydney totally safesafe for swimming - no stingers, etc?
Your suggestions confirm what I was thinking and that we probably shouldn't try to go too much north of Rockhampton. But what do you think about a flight to Airlie Beach/Prosperpine for a sailing trip to the GBR from there if the weather is settled? Hoping for a quick end to the rainy season! I've read that the further out on the reef you go the better it is?Can you comment?
In your post you mentioned more reasonable tours of a combo with Fraser Island.Can you point me in the right direction there with a web address?
Thanks for your help.

Bushranger

Hello Saradipity,

And you can still do the Sydney- Melbourne bit in reverse, and a flight to Brisbane will give you more time further north and whilst there are some good locations between Sydney and Brisbane, there's also plenty north of Brisbane and yes, the Gold Coast can be a bit overpowering with the concentration of high rises, people subsequently and traffic.

In normal times there is no significant problem with the worst of stingers from the Sunshine Coast south, all the way to colder waters of NSW and Victoria for they are a warmer tropical waters problem.

You can still get different forms of more harmless jellyfish and I've seen some gigantic types looking like mastigias or lions mane (see pics link) in colder southern waters, mainly in estuaries and they tend to hang about near piers.
http://www.kaphoto.com.au/aaKaphoto/...ish/index.html

You cam also get the Man of War or blue bottles washed up on southern Queensland, northern NSW beaches(their bodies expand like an inflated sack but they're only relatively small) and their single tentacle can give a burning like sting but not usually too serious for most.

The Box Jellyfish are the fatal ones but they are more a northern tropical waters issue in coastal habitats and I know of places up to 500km. north of Brisbane that do not or rarely have aproblem - lets say there is not a seasonal warning for them until you get further north and some places have netted beaches to attempt keeping some areas OK for swimming.

Because of known danger of the Box and precautions people take, you hear less of it and in more recent times the following one:
http://www.barrierreefaustralia.com/.../irukandji.htm
Because of reports like the guy at Hamilton Island who died of you could say other problems, it now gets mentioned that there is a possibility of Irukandji out on the GBR, but Hamilton Island is not really on the reef and chances of anyone getting stung by an Irukandji at somewhere like
http://www.ladyelliot.com.au/ [package details there] or http://www.spiritof1770.com.au/ or probably Hamilton and other Whitsunday Islands is probably far less than a lot of worse things happening to you in life.

The Whitsundays is a delightful area to experience, mainly for the islands and sailing about them, there being many trips available from day cruises to several days and bare boat hiring where you sail one yourself - http://ozadventuresailing.com.au/ gives an idea of some cruises, and rather than book ahead too far I'd leave it until a few days before you went just to see what the weather was like and/or also to take advantage of any standby deals, and if nothing bad looks to be on the weather horizon and you want to allow a week that way, just get there and see what deals are on offer.

Weatherwise, though it'll still be warm and humid, The Whitsundays rarely gets as much rain as further north for the real tropical weather and greeness starts more from north of Townsville up, and a couple of places worth considering staying a couple of nights and definitely to see are www.hookislandresort.com and http://images.google.com.au/images?h...5&ct=title and again, for it's worth it - http://www.whitsundaytourism.com/pla...aven-beach.cfm

And there's many other enchanting island coves and one thing you may want to consider while there is an overnight camp just by yourself - http://www.campingwhitsundays.com/

Depending on if/how you'd go to Rockhampton, Whitsundays is another 500 km drive on, but if looking to spend time on islands, having a car ashore is going to be dead money and so you might be best to drive as far as the Sunshine Coast and then look at flight options, Brisbane to Rockhampton and return and then Brisbane to Proserpine and return.

One way or another, plenty of places to have a good time.

DownUnder

And March is definitely the best time of the year to be in Melbourne.