Hello Everybody,

I needed all the valuable help, insight and advice for my trip to the OZ this December. Here are my plans and the hotels I was thinking of:

10th Dec: Sydney - we land at 11pm
11th - 15th Dec - Sydney at Hotel Ibis World Square (are 5 days too much????)

16th Dec - Leave for Cairns

16-20th Dec- Cairns at the Kewarra Resort (is it worth the extra price???)

21st Dec - Leave for Melbourne

21st - 24th Dec - Melbourne at Hotel Ibis Little Bourke Street

I would really appreciate any advice and insight into this trip.

Thank you everybody in advance

Kewarra is a little outside of Cairns in a more quiet location. I have never been there, but it seems to be a nice place.
During your time you should definitely visit the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest. Kewarra Beach is very close to Skyrail, so you might wanna do this too.
I am not too familier with reef trips out of Cairns, Pat will be able to help you with those, but if you want to go from Port Douglas, I would highly recommend the Wavelength for snorkelling only, the Poseidon or Calypso for Snorkelling and Diving. They are all smaller operators and go to 2-3 different locations on the reef during the day.
For the Daintree I could recommend Pete's Daintree-Specialised-Tours or if you rather join one of the regular tours, there is Trek North from Cairns or Gary's Safari from Port Douglas.

For Sydney, you wanna check out the Sydney Explorer Bus. Takes you to all the sites in Sydney for a reasonable price.

Two websites to help with your Melbourne stay - www.visitvictoria.com.au
www.thatsmelbourne.com.au

I note you are arriving before Christmas. You may be interested in going to Carols by Candlelight which is held in the city gardens just before Christmas.
Myer (department store in Bourke Street) is known for it's store windows at Christmastime.
Hope you have a great holiday here in Australia.

Kewarra Beach Resort actually is in a very quiet location, Kewarra Beach is residential with little or no other tourist infrastructure. Its towards the southern end of a long beach which ends at and includes Palm Cove. But a very long beach walk. By road, PC is about 10 minutes drive, (the beach suburb sequence going north from Kewarra Beach, is Clifton Beach and Palm Cove, and just south of Kewarra is Trinity Beach). There are no interconnecting roads between northern beaches, you have to go back to Capt Cook Highway from where each beach has its own access road. But the resort is lovely and recently updated. It's convenient for all Cairn's northern beaches tour pickups and many Port Douglas trips pick up there too.

Thank you everybody!!!. I am actually planning on now staying at the Archipelago Apts in Port Douglas. Any advice on that?? Also, does the itinerary look good as per the days in each location or is it too much?. Do you all think I should try and squeeze another place in??

Thanks again!! You all are awesome!!

Archipelago is a good place to stay, conveniently located. 2 minutes to the beach, 5 minutes into town.
Make sure to book tours ahead of time as it can get busy during that time.
Do NOT squeeze too many things into your itinerary. For 2 weeks, I think you have enough in it. You don't want to rush. Rather come back another time and do things like Ayers Rock, Kakadu, Perth, the Kimberleys.
Have a great trip!!

As far as Sydney is concerned I don't think 5 days is too much. There is plenty to do. Have fun!

Thanks everybody!!! One more advice..I have narrowed down my Sydney Hotels to these three choices. Which one should I pick?
1) Metro Apartments - Pitt
2) Meriton Rialto
3) Old Sydney Holiday Inn