My Australian Itinerary...comments?
 

Hello! Well, I believe I have my itinerary set for our upcoming trip March 7-21, 2008.

Travellers are myself, husband, 16 year old daughter and 15 year old son. Hubby and kids are SCUBA divers, but I am not and get boat sick easily.

Flights and hotel are not changeable, but activities are flexible. Many things are being done with some sort of point system or other. I think I am ready for some restaurant suggestions now. Thanks for your help these pase few months in helping me plan this epic trip,lol!

March 7: First class Toronto to Sydney in those groovey new pods!!

March 8: Lost travel day (exactly where does this day go?)

March 9: Arrive Sydney at 10:00am. Marriott (overlooking the harbour). Spend the day trying to adjust by easy stuff like the Rocks and a Harbour Cruise. Not sure if we'll be up for more than that.

March 10: Spend day in Sydney and continue to adjust. Visit Koala Sanctuary/zoo and Shark dive at aquarium (them not me,lol). Hotel: Marriott

March 11: Fly to Ayers Rock. Arrive 10:30 am. Trying to arrange for the short camel tour. Spend day visiting AR (open for suggestions here). Evening is the Silent Dinner. Hotel: Sails in the Desert.

March 12: Is it possible to just watch the sun rise on the rock or do we have to join a tour? Our flight out is at 2:00 pm and I am open to ideas for what to do for the day...is King's Canyon too far?
Fly to Cairns at 2:00 pm and arrive at 5:20. Get car rental and drive to either (1) Tj---Aboriginal Park and do the night show/dinner OR (2) Cairns night zoo and take nocturnal tour. After either 1 or 2, drive to Port Douglas. Night at the Sheridan Mirage.

March 13: Private tour with Pete Baxendell 4WD of Raintree Forest. 7:30am-6:00pm. I am really torn between this tour (which is penciled in) and the canopy flying zip line tour at Cape Trib. After Raintree tour, drive to Cairns and stay at Hilton. Quiet night for early flight next day.

March 14: 6:50am flight to Hamilton Island via Brisbrane, arriving at HI at 11:30ish am. Take launch to Hayman Island. Spend 5 nights on Hayman Island for SCUBA/spa. Any comments?

March 19: Fly back to Sydney at 3:00 from Hamilton Island to Sydney. Depending of 'tired' level, we will have a quiet dinner that night or something more adventurous like finding a bar that is typical ozzy with music and good times. Other suggestions? Hotel: Marriott

March 20: We are either taking a day trip to Hunter Wine Region (my choice!) OR, day of shopping, OR Blue Mountain, Or...Or....Or???? This day is our 'buffer' day to decompress before going home, but open to ideas. Night at Marriott.

March 21: fly back to Toronto in those groovey pods again at noon. Arrive Toronto same day (is this when I get March 8th back? lol).

So...what do you think? Give me the good, bad and ugly, but remember I can't change flights or hotels.

Thanks so much!!!

Anita...are you renting a car at Ayers Rock? If so, you could get up early and drive to the sunrise viewing area for sunrise. King's Canyon is way, way too far away. But afterwards, you might be able to squeeze in a drive out to the Olgas (about 40 miles west) with a walk into Olga Gorge. The Olgas are arguably even more interesting than Ayers Rock.

I second the suggestion to rent a car and take a drive to Kata-Tjuta (the Olgas). From Sails, you can climb up the hill and watch the sunrise on the rock (in the distance), or you can drive about 15 minutes to the sunrise viewing area. We did both. I can also highly recommend the day with Pete Baxendell. We did this last June with our 14 year old daughter. The 11th/12th/13th sounds a bit tiring to me, to be honest, and I'm not sure how I'd feel about arriving in Cairns at 5:20pm, taking in an evening show, and then driving to Port Douglas in the late evening. We found it to be a pretty challenging road (lots of twists and turns) the first time through, on the other side of the road, in the daylight.

Trip report, in case any of this is helpful:
http://www.onelittleworld.com/australia_1.html

You get the day back when you return, it's only a temporary loss!

19th March is a Wednesday so I'm not sure about bar/music venues mid week. You could get the weekly guide Time Out Sydney for a full listing of possibilities.

In general, pubs with music in Sydney are much less commom now, ones that still do have music include: the Woolhara Hotel (Friday and weekends), Unity Hotel Balmain (great contemporary Jazz on the weekends), Cat and Fiddle also Balmain (I think that might be Wednesday-Sunday live music). http://www.thecatandfiddle.net/live%20music.html

As you are staying at Circular Quay Marriott Balmain might be easiest to get to, you take a ferry to Balmain, Balmain East or Balmain West. Balmain East might be the best stop as you can take a bus to the pub from there.

The Hunter Valley isn't very scenic, I'd recommend the Blue Mountains if you want a side trip.

As a resident of Sydney I think that you will find the trip to the Hunter Valley disappointing. It is a fabulous area and we go there often but we stay overnight. But you will spend a minimum of two hours each way travelling, probably more like three hours from the Marriott. Why not another day wandering around the Rocks/Opera House,take a guided walk over the Harbour Bridge (FABULOUS views) or catch a ferry to Taronga Zoo or Manly. If you want to shop, stroll up George Street and wander around the Queen Victoria Building and the Strand Arcade for a few hours. For the evening when you return from HI there are lots of pubs in The Rocks that you may enjoy. Hope you enjoy our lovely city.

Not sure if you know but the Harbour Bridge walk is over the top of the arch. Don't worry if you are scared of heights, my husband if phobic about heights, but loved this experience.

Thanks to all for your great suggestions and ideas!

Ralph and MS...it never occured to me to rent a car at AR, but of course that makes SO much more sense! I appreciate the Olga's suggestion and think that I will do that the day we arrive at AR and then the short camel tour the next day...gotta do the camel, as kichy as it sounds,lol.

MS...yes, I agree that the schedule sounds very hectic and tiring, but believe me, I agonized over visiting Ayers Rock for months before taking the plunge. My only hesitation was 'cramming' it in there and thus creating a tiring schedule. However, i figured we could go nuts those first few days as we are 'relaxing' at Hayman for the last 5 nights (at least, that's how I justified it). I know alot of posts warn people about trying to do too much in such a short amount of time, but with 2 teens, there plenty of energy to spare.(still trying to convince myself) lol. I appreciate the warning of the drive to Port Douglas and wish I could get to cairns earlier than 5:20, but there just aren't any flights. I will show DH your comment and let him decide if he's up for the drive or not.

Cathies and Susan...thank you for the suggestion for not bothering with Hunter Valley. I think you guys are right and that we'll just kick back and enjoy a leasure day in Sydney...that bridge climb looks right up my son's alley!

Thanks all!!!!!

Just in case anyone else is planning a Cainrs -Hamilton Island flight. There is a direct one of less than 1.5 hours as opposed to the nearly six hour roundabout. It flies five days a week.

Great rain falling in the north of Queensland at the moment. You can't have rainforest without rain. Also fantastic for the 2 000 trees we planted this morning in a restoration project.

anita63, i would suggest forgetting the Port Douglas leg and do the Kuranda skyrail which features rainforest walks, white water rafting or Barrier Reef scuba tour from Cairns. As said the trip to Port Douglas is windy and the further trip to Cape Trib takes a few hours. Blue Mountains are beautiful, take the train to Katoomba and use the tourist shuttle bus to visit sights.

Also could you possibly change your flights to Hamilton Island six hours is outrageous and you'll be flying over it on your way to Brisbane. You could just about drive there from Cairns in that time. Are there bus or train alternatives?

I think anita has explained her rationale for Cairns and Port Douglas on another post.

anita, just a suggestion, it would be easier to keep all your queries on the same post, then new readers coming in would be aware of the background and there'd be less repetition in answers.

Anita..as you probably realize, with just over 24 hrs, you will have to plan your time at Ayers Rock and the Olgas very carefully. Your flight arrives at 10:30 but you will need to allow time to pick up the car etc (have lunch?). Probably a good idea to check in to your hotel later that day, after dark, to allow more daylight time for sightseeing. If you drive out to the Olgas, I wouldnt expect to get there any earlier than midday.

The most popular (and the shortest) walk in the Olgas is the one into Olga Gorge. Very nice, but it can be a bit of a zoo if your timing coincides with the tour buses. The Valley of the Winds walk is longer (allow 2-3 hrs for the circuit) but would be my pick if you want to go for walk - it is fantastic, one of the best in Australia in my opinion.

Depending on the timing, you could either watch sunset on the Olgas or get back to Ayers in time for the event, maybe having a little time to walk to the base of the rock, where you really get a feeling of just how enormous it is.

Maria, yes, I realize what a silly fight I have from Cairns to HI, but there were absolutely no other alternatives for that date. I am absolutely perturbed to not be on a direct flight...does a direct flight not exist on Fridays?? I considered driving it, but having a hard time pin pointing exactly how long it would take...any ideas?

I thought we'd stay in Port Douglas so that we were closer for Pete's tour which only picks up in PD, at 7:30 am. It's more of a location thing than actually visiting Port Douglas, sadly. The ONLY 'must' for me on this trip was seeing the rainforest since I don't dive. As for diving tour from Cairns, we are actually spending 5 nights on Hayman for diving purposes (them, not me). Salteraius, any driving advice from Cairns to Hamilton Island??

Ralph, I will take your advice and research our short time in AR well. We're not going to drive ourselves nuts for seeing everything, so if it turns out that we just stay at the rock, do the silent dinner, and enjoy the resort, then that's ok...the goal was to see the desert and have a peek at the 'outback' and see some landscape that is different than in Toronto. (I think that big old rock qualifies as 'different',lol).

Yes, Pat, I agree it would have been smarter of me to have kept it all on one post, but I made so many changes to my itinerary, that the title of my last post was limiting responses (I thought) since it had nothing to do with what I ended up deciding on (did that make sense?). Still a novice here, and will be more careful with my postings :)

Thanks all for your great help, as usual!

No Friday flight but the Saturday one is 07:15 Cairns 08:40 Hamilton Island QF2503 1h 25m .

anita, it's about 600km drive from Cairns to Airlie Beach - then you've still got to get over to Hamilton Island for launch to Hayman.

Its not the greatest road, mostly only two lanes (one in each direction) with not so many overtaking areas, it usually takes us about 8-9 hours including a stop for something to eat. And the Bruce Highway is prone to flooding in parts in March and some are delayed for days!

Yikes, thanks Pat...I guess i will take the flight I am on, even if it's the milk run...sigh.

Still can't believe that there aren't any direct flights on Friday's...gee!