buster_munster

I'm planning on visiting Australia in early may. We haven't decided yet how many days we will stay, we are thinking 14-20 days max.

Where should we visit and how many days do we need?

We will be flying for sure to sydney, perth and Carins. Is there anywhere else we should visit. melborne? tasmania?

any info would be greatly appriciated

Peteralan

Sorry buster, stop right there!! You are thinking of doing FAR too much in 14-20 days max here. Sydney-Perth -Cairns are thousands of kilometers apart without considering Melbourne, Tasmania etc. Sydney and Cairns would be manageable,although a long way from each other too. Do you have any particular reason for Perth?...it is on the other side of a huge country! Grab a book on Australia and stick to two places and work out what interests you. Sorry to sound negative but you are being way too ambitios.

BellaZ

i agree completely. you could spend that time in sydney alone and not be tired of it. i would say spend 10 days in sydney and spend the other 10 driving up the coast to cairns. these 20 days will just scratch the surface of this HUGE country. in queensland i would recommend staying in port douglas - it is a beautiful area (we just returned) and far less touristy than cairns. the important thing is that no matter where you go you will have a blast. it is the BEST country with the most fabulous landscape, people, food, and wine. good luck!

Pleiades

Based on our recent journey (see today's trip report), I would fly from Brisbane to Cairns & return. If you are on a limited itinerary, the flight will give you more in Cairns / Port Douglas eg could then try a Reef overnighter rather than a day trip. We picked up amazingly cheap fares with Virgin Blue.

buster_munster

we will be flying from each place and do no driving. The things is we have friends living in perth and sydney so we will be visiting thoes two places for sure and want to go see the great barrier reef. We are planning on purchasing the qantas air pass, seeing we are planning on visitng places which are really far from each other.

any advice?

Peteralan

Well since you will be flying I guess you could manage a few days at each of the three places as long as you are aware that each flight between places will be very long. For the GBR you might think of staying in Port Douglas. Ask anything else if we can help out and enjoy whatever you decide on.

bhuty

Lord Howe Island as the fourth place?

Port dougie is a good option too.

Don;t do tasmania cos even though its a small island you will need to drive everywhere and in the end you'll just be dissapointed that you missed so many wonderful things there so stick to "what you don't know won't hurt you" thinking and you'll be ok.