My husband and I would like to spend two to three weeks in Australia this January and are wondering if we could do it on our own or wether we need to go on a tour. We are not interested in nightlife or fancy hotels, but like the water and beaches but are really interested in seeing the real Australia and learning about its people and history. Also, how is the weather at that time? Any help is appreciated.

January is the middle of summer, so you might be best avoiding the Centre (very hot) and the North (very hot, wet and humid). It will be hot in the south also, but bearable. Sydney in January is great (festrivals, beaches, etc) and its also a good time to visit Tasmania for scenery and history.

You should also keep in mind that January is the major school holiday period and therefore the time when a great number of families take their annual holidays. Needless to say this causes prices for accomodation and attractions to rise at most destinations for the whole month.

<BR>Do it yourself! <BR> <BR>It's going to be hot in January, but that's why you're going to the beach. You could do a lot worse than Sydney, Byron Bay, the Gold and Sunshine coasts of Queensland and a Great Barrier Reef Island. All have beaches but are different enough that you'll get a flavor of the locals. <BR> <BR>The best part is that you could go the whole time in shorts, T-shirts and sandals! <BR> <BR>As has been pointed out, it is the peak of Australia's own vacation period so you'll appreciate having advance reservations in most places. <BR> <BR>You don't say how long you are planning to go for... you don't want to bite off more than you can chew.

hi gisela, <BR>we went to australia this past january and the weather was pretty good just about everywhere we went, although it was really hot in alice springs/ayers rock (100 deg. F). before my trip, people were trying to talk me out of traveling to the gbr area because it's typically cyclone season, but we went anyway and the weather was fabulous, about 80 with humidity (but not too oppressive). <BR>as for booking ahead, we had a few hotels lined up, but you could pretty much get last minute accomodations at the airport (as we did in sydney) or walk in to town and look around and compare. the same goes for tours. we never really hit upon hordes of traveling australians except at toronga zoo (where we were bombarded by ferries of scouts). <BR>good luck & have fun!

Have a look at the Australian / Queensland Tourism sites on net - will contain heaps of imfo and links. <BR> <BR>January would be a great time of the year - sun sand surf - and the beers real good. XXXX ( yes thats called 4 x ) is a great Queensland brew - but there are plenty of choices.