Hello Readers:

We were able to get airmiles into OZ for Christmas, specifically arriving 18, departing New Year's Day ex Melbourne.

We are grateful! We have been to OZ before, so have some flexibility as to best using our time.

We have secured a week's worth of lodging in SYD up until Dec 30, but the catch is NYE and the time before we reach SYD.

Our questions:

1. We have been to QLD in December and recall a lot of storms. Can you suggest a resort area (Noosa? Hamilton Island?) that might experience more ideal weather conditions that time of year? Our budget is $200 AUD anight with flexibility for somethin posh if it is drop dead fantastic. We're happy hunting on our own, we just don;t know where to look, weather wise, this time of year for sun, sand and swimmable sea, Dec 18 - 24? Or are we best off returning to Palm Cove/Port Douglas an enjoying the occassional rain shower and staying out of the water if we find accoms?

2. On NYE, we basically will have two options: trying for a room on the Mosman side at a holiday apartment and watching fireworks from there or getting a room at an airport hotel or a suburb. We just don't know what public tranaportation will be running and how crowded it might be...is your experience that public transport that night will be full of rowdy lads or Mums and Dads if we don't stay out late past the fireworks?

We do know there are many reasons to be pessimistic about the lodging availability, but we are going, so any advise appreciated.

We are quite excited to be going at all.

Cheers,
Peterman

I should clarify that crowds of course are anticipated, we're just not sure if going to public transport route (the train to an airport hotel, for example) is a no go that night for any reason.

Cheers

Public transport is fine on NYE, in fact there's a lot more than usual and it's a whole range of people using it. There are two lots of fireworks in Sydney--one at 9 pm and one at 12. this City of Sydney guide indicates the range of vantage points for viewing the fireworks.

http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nye/

Thank you for that fantastic resource. It answers all of the questions about NYE transit, which I now feel a bit foolish for asking.

I've only one more: we're very pale and not much for a full day in the sun in a park...would there exist any very large viewing station that would allow us to arrive more toward dusk rather than the middle of the hot day? We don't think we would last until even 9pm after hours in the hot sun.

Would anyone recommend a cruise that night as a way to enjoy it, instead of a viewing station?

Cheers,
Peterman

For the days prior to Sydney, there's http://www.twinwatersresort.com.au/ which is not too bad, having a huge lagoon, golf sourse and being across the road from the beach or if you want to try something different, a drive down the south coast from Sydney, there's http://www.murramarangresort.com.au/

Getting into airport hotels may be a possibility for the 30th but do not count on it and you would expect that there would be safety in numbers on a late train, though I'm not too sure that a lot would be using that line nor how close the train runs to the hotels for the staion for the airport is right at the airport whereas the hotels aren't and taxi will not be all that more than for two on the train and just a case of grabbing one.

As a fallback, I suppose it's miss the Sydney Fireworks and fly yo Melbourne or if you want to stay for Sydney, you make it an allnight affair, get a taxi to the airport for a first departure and book a hotel to get some morning sleep if your departure flight is a later one.

Cruises would be an option if you want to pay the several hundred $$$/h that they will be, a NYE dinner/party cruise being what most are that I've heard of.

You've got Hyde Park to hang about in during the day, or the area that runs down to Mrs Macquarie Chair adjacent to Botanical Gardens, if that suits but it is likely to be one of the heavier areas for crowds.
I've heard of people getting good relatively uncrowded vantage points on the northern side of the harbour, possibly a couple of spots as you head out to Kirribilli Point.

If you don't mind just standing, you can arrive at the last minute, that's what we usually do viewing from the inner west. I think the early birds tend to stake out a whole picnic area but usually people stand up anyway while the fireworks are shown.

The cruises look expensive, starting at $550 pp. But perhaps there are cheaper options.

http://www.captaincook.com.au/

Thank you- you are all very informative and I'll be following those "extra days" links.

Yes, a last minute standing viewing would suit us perfectly...I gathered from the official website that the viewing areas are somehow in lockdown beginning at 3 in the afternoon. If that is not the case, then we are quite happy to stand.

I did locate a cruise that seems reasonable, on one of the boats that is part of the parade, but I'm not sure that it explicitly states it would be on the harbour all night - I've emailed the operator, but wonder from your experience if these boats would stay out all night or just for the children's portion of the fireworks?

That is, my impression is that the parade is part of the family show and not the main event. If I'm wrong, I'll book it immediately as the rate did not include food but was reasonable (under $150 AUD each).

Thanks for letting me lean on you this way.

Cheers,
Peterman

I'm not sure, but I think the parade is after the 9 pm fireworks, whether the boat stays out all night you'd need to ask them.

Where I live, the 3 pm lock-down means that private cars can't enter the area any more, there are road-blocks into the area. Buses and taxis can still enter after 3 pm and of course anyone on foot.

Thanks for that clarfification.

I read it (incorrectly) as a lock down for the area- as they do in New York City where you are literally penned into place by metal gates at a very early hour and you literally cannot leave or you forfeit your spot.

So, were we to take the early kiddie/ family cruise, we could disembark at Circular Quay and still find standing room and not be turned away? That is a huge relief (to our pockets).

Cheers,
Peterman

Hi Peterman,

Talk about storms in Brisbane!!! We've been hit hard having experienced a storm on Sunday night equivalent to a category 2 cyclone and then we got hit with another storm last night. There has been a tremendous amount of devastation, mainly in the north western suburbs.

Last year it pretty much rained from October to February and I have a sneaky feeling it could be a similar scenario again this year.

Perhaps an island further north could be the answer but nothing can be certain with regards to the weather but just thought I'd give you a heads up on the situation at present.

Good to know, stormbird. Thanks for that.

Cheers,
Peterman

If you decide to go back to Palm Cove they do have a stingers / shark net in place all wet season at te beach to enable a swim in the sea .

You shouldn't have a problem finding a spot to stand along the foreshore around Circular Quay.

Another possibility for before Sydney is Heron Island (at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef), a bit more expensive, but there are cheaper last minute deals (see below). The snorkelling there is fantastic and it will be the turtles' egg laying season.

http://www.heronisland.com/pricing/

That's a fine idea if we weren't so prone to instantly burning to a crisp the first day and wincing the other 4-5.

Might I ask one more weather question to better guage our odds of a soggy trip?

Is it that once the bad weather starts in QLD, as it already has, there is a constant stream of it for the season, or is it something that shifts dramatically from day to day or week to week, as it can do in SYD?

Thanks if you know. I've done some Googling, but can't really get a sense of this.

Cheers,
Peterman

Oh, I forgot to say thanks for the reassurances about the Circular Quay foreshore.

That would really be awful to get all the way to SYD and get off the boat and be turned away from the viewing area just before the big show!

Hi Peterman,

Weather in Brisbane???!!! As I said in previous post we did have rain from November to February - it seemed to never stop. We didn't complain because this rain was drought breaking stuff!

So before that we had had years of poor rain fall. We have had 3 storms this week - all of them damaging. The first one a week ago was an absolute doozy whilst the following two weren't quite as bad they were still enough to cause damage and flooding.

I sense that you are keen to head to Brisbane but it would just be pot luck re the weather. Who can really predict? Sydney could just as easily have a severe, damaging storm as we have had.

This doesn't give you a definitive answer Peterman but I don't think anyone can.

I've lived either side of Brisbane for over ten years now Peter, be that in a drier era we have been having,

Re: "Is it that once the bad weather starts in QLD, as it already has, there is a constant stream of it for the season, or is it something that shifts dramatically from day to day or week to week, as it can do in SYD?"

It can shift, sometimes storms coming through overnight and it can be fine weather for a few days, other times you can get three, fours days or more in a week just like now.

You can have a week or so of stormy weather and then get a couple of weeks or more of clearer weather - they do not call it the sunshine state and the Gold Coast Australias premier holiday region and have built all the theme parks so it can rain all the time.

I think if stormbird did a check of records, it certainly did not rain nonstop from October or November to February nonstop and far from it and as she says who knows what this year will be like.

There is a London based meterology study group who predicted last summer was going to be a big year for cyclones, but it didn't eventuate.

The one thing that you can be sure of is the longer anyone place (with a reasonable rainfall average) goes without rain, it's a sure bet a good deluge is not far away - the last weeks rains no doubt having already helped the average.

And whilst Sydney way can also get its fair share of storms, Brisbane is in being closer to the tropics more renowned for being part of the tropical storm belt season.

They're still playing test cricket in Brisbane today btw and then the Rugby League World Cup for tonight looked like being postponed but latest I heard on tele is that it is still on.

If I was a betting man, I'd wager the weather will clear over the next week or so, and then there'll be follow up storms on and off but not continuously and as I indicated on your other thread Peter, if you want to get about and do some hiking/walks just be prepared for sweating heaps even if it has not rained for a bit - humidity is already high and likely not to come down much for a few months.

Well, you've cleared things up for us consideriably regarding the rain.

I've consulted some historic charts that show the norms year in and year out and I think NSW is the safer all around gamble. Kiama doesn't look at all like a backwater and those pics of the roos on the beach are a tourism bureau's dream (even if the man with the fishing pole looks pasted on).

NSW it shall be.

I've clicked on all those nice lodgings and it is just a matter of putting the pieces of the puzzle together, a couple of nights here a couple there and safely back to SYD for Chrissy as that was the smartest room lock down I have made these past few days, as it is crystal clear (to those future travelers stumbling upon this) that Dec 25 onwards is a no-go for accoms availability.

It is clear that we will find something, even if it means anchoring in one of the larger towns and doing day trips from there. Seems like plenty to fill our days.

What do you think of Mollymook beach if we have to go that far? Looks a bit like Manly in the photos.

We also might have time for a drive north as well...just as far as The Entrance, maybe, and save Bellingen etc. for another time.

We get less and less ambitious as the years pile on.

Thank you all again for this tremendous amount of detailed help. Now, if you can kindly hold your currency at bay for a few more months, we shall be much obliged.

Cheers,
Peterman

Interesting and close comparison that Peter and as far as the beach there between two headlands, though not one that too many aussies would have made in other respects.

It is certainly a lovely cove beach like plenty more in the area but is getting to be a fairly built up kind of place with its own popularity and that of a lovely older style village, Milton that you'll come to on the highway at the turn-off for Mollymook.

And then you have Ulladalla just around the corner so to speak where there's a lake and fishing fleet and the larger town of that particular region, though Batemans Bay is only another 50 km. or so down the highway.

I know Mollymook had a Golf Club but not much in the way of a village shopping centre, but have not been there for quite a while so perhaps with housing expansion they may have more shops/restaurants etc. by now, but you're only a few minutes drive from both Milton or Ulladalla.