sroyston

Hi,

I have been reading the very useful information contained on this forum and wondered if anybody could advise me on an itinerary for a forthcoming visit to Australia. Apologies in advance for the long post!

My partner and I will be flying into Melbourne in late February and flying out of Brisbane 13 days later in early March 2010. We have opted to hire a campervan for the 13 days.
We would like to see and do as much as we can but are primarily interested in nature, wildlife (particularly endemic species and marine life) and ‘the great outdoors’, although we will probably go wine tasting and visit Melbourne and Sydney as day visits. We are happy to stay at interesting locations for longer and drive for long periods, swapping drivers, provided we see a variety of natural settings and wildlife and get an essence of Australia. We don't have time to visit the GBR and so on; we will visit those places on our next trip!

I was thinking of driving the GOR before going north, but I am not sure whether to take the coastal road the whole way or drive inland to visit parts of the Great Dividing Range or to save time!

Is it worth driving through either Snowy River and Errinundra NP in VIC or Kosciuszcko NP in NSW (noting we will be in a campervan)? Are other parts of the Great Dividing Range just as spectacular and perhaps more easily accessible?

Would visiting the Mornington Peninsular be worth the extra mileage, if we take the coast road, or is the coast road through Gippsland just as spectacular and remote?

Is the Phillip Island penguin parade and seal colony a bit commercialised? Would it be better to see marine life on the NSW south coast (e.g. Montague Island)?

How likely are dolphin sightings in Jervis bay, NSW or Port Stephens, NSW and how often do trips see dolphins and dugong in Moreton Bay, Queensland? Is it possible to sea kayak the shallow areas around Moreton and North Stradbroke Islands to see dugong?

Is it worth the extra mileage to visit Warrumbungle NP and the hot springs in that area or can we see as much interesting geology, vistas and wildlife if we concentrate on the coast? Similarly, along the Rainforest Way, is the landscape and wildlife of the National Parks around the NSW / Queensland border sufficiently different to warrant visiting different parks (e.g. from the Border Ranges to Girraween or beyond) and where is best to see endemics, like platypus?

I would like to stay in campsites that are likely to have visiting wildlife (i.e. kangaroos at Murramarang NP, NSW or Glenbrook campsite, Blue Mountains) and at a remote and quiet beach site that can be accessed by campervans, so recommendations would be great.

Also any recommendations for more gentle hiking (say 5-15 km circular routes) and mountain biking activities (although 25-30km off-road is about my limit!) and good locations to try out surfing and sea kayaking for complete beginners (i.e. warm water and gentle water conditions)?

Thanks very much for any suggestions!

Sam.

sroyston

Please note I meant Wilson's Promontory, not the Mornington Pensinsular, as a place that has been recommended for pristine beaches and wilderness walks on the coast!

Sam.

Treepol

SRoyston,

I suggest you purchase a copy of Wildlife watching : Australia, now sadly out of print. There are some used copies available through Amazon.com

Cheers,


Pol

Susan7

Wow, you take the price for the most researched questioner of the year!

I can only answer the NSW bits of this. First up an exellent guidebook to the national parks of NSW is this book below, it has the trails marked in it so you can use it once you get here as well as for planning. Gleebooks do international deliveries.

http://www.gleebooks.com.au/default....31&from=search

Dolphin sightings are very common in both Port Stephens and Jarvis Bay. Whale trips from Jarvis Bay are also very reliable for seeing the southern migration but that's September and no use for you. Near to Port Stephens is a very good place of sighting koalas, Tilligerry Peninsula:

http://www.nelsonbaygetaway.com.au/t...ora-fauna.html

Montague Island is fantastic! You are taken to the island which has a very beautiful lighthouse, given a couple of tea, then you wait for the penguins to emerge from the water on a small landing. There are also seals on the island, that often come to investigate the boat.

There's a great walk inland from Narooma (the stepping off point for Montague Island) at Tilba Tilba, it's about 3 hours return. I've seen lyre birds there on a couple of occassions. Also on the walk is an amazing Aboriginal women's sacred site that you can visit: it's lots of granite boulders in amazing anthropomorphic shapes.

In Murramarang NP, there's a camping ground right on the beach at Pretty Beach and there are lots of kangaroos there. I think you can hook up a van. Just checked, yes you can:

http://www.wildwalks.com/camping-in-...ng-ground.html

I would think this beach would be relatively quiet by February. Just a cautionary note, there are very strong rips in the ocean on the south coast of NSW, so where possible swim at beaches where there are flags indicating the safest part of the beach.

Susan7

Whoops, that should read "prize".

ivenotbeeneverywhere

Possibly your best chance at seeing wildlife would have been a trip through Tasmania as there are lots there including marine life. However you seem to have it down well but I do note that your time is not that flush so I think I would not be doing the GOR and its too long since I spent a lot of time in Victoria so I will leave that area to others.
I think you should pick one or two special places in each state and then fill in the gaps in travel time. One of the best areas for wildlife would be the Lamington area in S.E. Queensland and a lot of that can be done by yourself with a flashlight. One particularly lovely spot is Natural Bridge where you can picnic then walk down when its dark to the large pool and into the overhanging cave and see all the beautiful gloworms there. It is free to do this yourself. Around that area which you would come through say from Murwillumbah, through the back way to Natural Bridge then on to somewhere like Tamborine Mountain or up to Lamington National Park. You are missing the most prolific animal region which is of course the GBR area where nature abounds but hopefully you can come back some day and do that area properly. Staying on Morton Island is another option too and yes you can kayak around the island and yes you can play with the dolphins at
Tangalooma there. Its a beautiful island and worth a visit. However I am concerned about you only having 13 days.

sroyston

Thanks very much for your responses, your time is much appreciated!

Looks like I will be purchasing a few more guides before our travels. And yes, I know that 13 days is very short, but I am confident we will be back to Aus many times in the future; we bought these flights because they were very cheap and allow me to have a 'taster' of the country.

Thanks again,

Sam.

ivenotbeeneverywhere

13 Days from Sydney to Brisbane would be better or 13 days from Melbourne to Sydney but not Melbourne to Brisbane IMO. Don't try to do too much because its not worth it and you skip far too much that way. Alternatively if you really want to include those three cities then I would suggest flying in between them and getting a van at each location for short trips around. The very least amount of time you would need in S.E Queensland is 5 days and that would not include going to Morton Island. Think hard and long on this though and make the most of your trip - quality is better than quantity.

marg

I can only answer some of your questions so here goes. The coastal road from Melbourne to Sydney doesn't become interesting until you reach the NSW border where the road starts to follow the coast. The caravan park at Pambula Beach has dozens of kangeroos wandering around, also the golf course at Merimbula (Pambula and Merimbula are side by side just over the border) - nice place to visit late in the afternoon to watch the roos and have a pleasant dinner.
If you do the Great Ocean Road, have a look at the Anglesea golf course for kangeroos and try to visit Port Fairy - very pretty old town.
The Grampians National Park is a good place to see kangeroos, emus and koalas but may be out of your way.
Healesville Sanctuary (about an hour from Melbourne) is a good place to see Australian animals and birds.

Bokhara2

Differing opinion here: I've just had a great trip to Melbourne & back to Sydney over the Christmas/New year break.

Stayed in Port Albert one night on the way to Melb and San Remo (near Phillip Island) two nights on the way home. I've spent some time wandering around Gippsland, Mornington Peninsula and Wilsons Prom at other times and think there are some very beautiful and interesting places along (or just off) the coast road. True, you need to weave along the coast from Frankston to get these little gems, but I think it's very worthwhile.

Sam, you asked about the commerciality of the penguins etc., on Phillip Island. To the extent that you're viewing them in company with a lot of other people, yes it is. However, it's extremely well run, IMHO, and I think you'd be very lucky to spot them coming ashore by yourself. Shy little birds, they don't emerge from the sea until dark. and I just wouldn't know where to look and am not sure whether I'd be able to see them without some form of lighting anyway. Once out of the water, they march across the sand to their burrows, which can be clearly seen almost the full length of the boardwalks, and there are plenty of opportunities to view numbers of them walking, chattering and, last week anyway, feeding their chicks. I could only get $20 "General admission" tickets and was more than satisfied. If you're there early enough, you can sit on the sand and and the viewing stands are well raked so everyone can see. Do, whatever the weather might be during the day, take a rug and/or warm clothing. It can be quite/very chilly.

While on Phillip Island, there are lots of other things to see and do, as well as some lovely spots to do not very much at all. Good eateries too, including one I tried at Rhyll whose name will come back to me. Someone else will know.
To mention just two other things I enjoyed: A boat trip around the coast to Seal Island (Australian fur seals) and Churchill Island, accessible by bridge just near Newhaven. There's a koala conservation centre that I'd have liked to see, but .... next trip!

http://www.travelvictoria.com.au/portalbert/

http://www.penguins.org.au/

Bokhara2

I'm not entirely sure I'd shy away from the Melbourne-Brisbane drive, either. It is a long way but, if you like driving, and are prepared to do a few kms/miles a day, I think it might be quite good as an "intro" for you. Sure, 13 days isn't forever, but I managed to see quite a bit with 2 overnight stays Sydney-Melbourne. It's roughly the same distance Sydney-Brisbane and with 2-3 nights, you could also see a reasonable amount, irrespective of whether you took the Pacific Highway along the coast or the New England through the inland.

Google's a great tool and pretty reasonable with estimation of driving times. I make better time, but I'd expect to; I'm a local and experienced with long distance driving.

With an open jaw ticket such as yours, I think I'd probably give it a go. After all, your only fixed dates are arrival & departure, so if you linger a bit longer and need to skip a bit elsewhere, what does it matter?

There's a one-way relocation campervan site that offers great deals. I plug it so often, I'm sure someone must think I'm the owner I'm not, haven't even used it yet myself, but their rates are too good not to share. If you're interested, click on my name and it's one of my topics. (Can't remember the name now and will probably lose all this if I try to get to it).

wlzmatilida

Hi,

I agree with Bokhara about the penguins @ Phillip Island, this is a very popular place and is on every tour company's itinerary, so think of many, many 50 passenger tour buses! Susan's suggestion of Montague Island sounds much better; for dolphins, if you're just watching then Port Stephans and Jarvis Bay are good, if you want to feed them, up close and personal, you'd have to ditch the camper to get over to Moreton Island.

I agree, you've done an amazing amount of research and by the time you go, you'll be an expert!

Hope this is helpful!

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Aussie Specialist