Need help with dream Australian vacation
 

Ever since my wife was a little girl, she has dreamed of seeing Australia. So on our wedding day (23 years ago) I promised her that if she could put up with me for 25 years, she deserves to go. So I have 2 years to plan the perfect vacation for her and I would like some help and suggestions. I'm leaning towards a 3 week escorted land tour. There are hundrens of them available provided by dozens of tour companies on the 'Net so I'm looking for suggestions from anyone who have been on one and any providers to look into. Plus an escorted tour is not written in stone so I open to any and all recommendations and all will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Consider arriving a few days before the tour and leaving a few days after the tour is over to do a few things alone together, if going with an escorted tour.

Do you want hot or cold weather? What parts of Australia do you want to go to. Great Barrier Reef? Sydney. How about including New Zealand.

Avoid Christmas/New Year's as the airfares double and even triple if you can.

Americans drive on the right side of the road but Australians drive on the left. Do you feel comfortable with that? Public transportation is pretty good there. Do you feel comfortable using it?

If you are a "control freak" (everything has to be done your way) you may want to avoid a tour. Australia is pretty easy to do on one's own--They do speak English.

Since you have two years to plan this trip, I suggest you consider doing it on your own as opposed to doing an organized tour. You've got plenty of time to research locations, transportation, accomodations, things to see and do, etc. and it's so easy to do with a good guidebook and the Internet. That way you can tailor your trip to the sorts of things you and wife like to see and do. Have fun planning this trip and remember that the only "must do" is what YOU want to do.

Thnaks guys for the suggestions. As for location I was was thinking of the east coast and central Australia, from the north shore to the south. As for NZ, I don't think so. This most likely be our one and only trip and my wife has her heart set on Australia. Out 25 anniv will be in 2010 and our daughter will be graduating college that year so May is out of the question, which happens to be the month we got married. Any other month is open. Is there any month that would give the best shot of good weather throughout Australia? I have given much thought of planning our own trip. I'm just scared that I would mess things up and I don't want to ruin it for her. I would think that covering such a wide area, many different means of transportation would be needed which I thught would greatly increase the cost of the vacation. That's why I thought of an escorted tour. I don't want to spend the entire vacation driving from place to place. I would rather let somebody else do that. Any ideas in that area? Thanks for everything guys.

I agree with longhorn in planning it yourself. It will also be waaaaay less expensive. That's not to say that you shouldn't take a tour in certain areas where you are visiting, but to go to an agency and say, "I need an Australian trip planned for X amount of days", you will pay much more.

I spent about6-8 months planning our trip (we got back last Friday) and I found that I probably should have started earlier, or at least been more decisive so that I could have booked the airfare that I wanted at better prices ahead of time. Some places won't let you book more than a year in advance, so my advice to you is to spend the next year reasearching and coming up with a plan...no waffling! And then a year before hand, start booking.

One piece of advice that I can give you if you decide to do this yourself, is be patient with emails and getting your questions answered. I am not insulting the Oz way, so please no flaming, but my experience consistenly showed that any emails that I sent with 2 or 3 questions were returned with maybe 1 answered. It proved to be very frustrating to have to send 2-3 emails to get ALL the information that I was originally asking. And it didn't matter if it was the Koala Sanctuary or Sails in the Desert hotel, the lack of completed answers was everywhere!

I should also mention that my husband thought all my work was crazy and that we should just go to a travel agency. So, we took all our research (Plan A, Plan B, and a Plan C) and had the travel agent price it out. Each plan came back (on average) 4 thousand dollars MORE than if I just did it myself. It wasn't even the 'paying for the expertise' or 'paying for their time'...I DID the research, I had the flight numbers, I had the dates...it was just a matter for the agent to plug them in, but what happened was, alot of the hotels didn't pass on the savings to the Travel Agent as they would to me...for example, I got a quote for Hayman island for X amount of dollars which, in speaking with them directly, included a free night, breakfast and the launch from Hamilton Island. When the travel agent called their OZ agency (I was sitting infront of her) no breakfast was included, they charged 400.00/person for the launch, and there was no free night. And this just represents 5 days out of 14, so you can imagine how much I saved doing it myself overall.

I think you can do a fine job...you have already chosen to start at a great starting place...HERE!

Good luck and happy anniversary!

As a fair dinkum Aussie I tend to agree with the previous posters and suggest you devise your own itinerary. Firstly I think it is best to identify the "must see" areas of this vast Continent. You will get many opinions, but I would suggest the Great Barrier Reef and environs, The Outback, the Coastal areas and of course our wonderful flora and fauna. The major cities are also exciting and should not be missed.Certainly keep it to the East Coast and the Centre as the West deserves a journey of its own. The distances are vast and flying is the best option unless you have plenty of time available. As a rough Itinerary I would start with Sydney, head north for Cairns and the GBR then Darwin and Kakadu, south to Uluru, futher south to Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road across to Tasmania and depart Melbourne. Now this might sound daunting, but you have plenty of time to research and individual tour operators at the different destinations can show you all the sights if you don't wish to drive. Believe me you would have a wonderful experience. Qantas Aussie passes are an economical way to cover the distances.

The best time of the year to travel? March/April or October/November.

DownUnder mentioned the Qantas Airpass and if you are unfamiliar with it, you should definitely check it out. Basically, for one price you get airfare from LA to either Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane and return from either of those cities. So, you could fly into Sydney and out of Melbourne. It also includes 3 flights within the country. The price of the Airpass depends on what regions within Australia you travel on your internal flights. On our last trip to Australia, we used the Airpass to travel from LA-Brisbane-Cairns-Darwin-Sydney-LA. It worked beautifully! Everything you need to know about the Airpass can be found at www.qantasusa.com

You haven't said whether this trip is a surprise for your wife. If it's not, why don't you ask her ?! Why has she been so enthralled by Australia since her childhood - the scenery, wildlife, beaches, history, what? That would help you to plan your activities and where you should visit. In two years time you can read some guide books, look at maps, plan routes, search the internet and ask questions here. Like Anita63, while I loved my travel agent, I do a much better job for less. We will celebrate our 20th in 2010 on the Barrier Reef - and if anyone offered me an escorted tour let alone a three week one, I would shoot them. Different strokes and all that, but I'm certain with this amount of time you can come up with something spectacular!

Scudam- I am in the midst of planning my dream vacation to Australia for January 2009.
Let me know if you want me to send you my itinerary.

If you have the time, doing it on your own is so much more cost effective (and more exciting).
And, it is 100% doable.

Have fun!!!

Am in the process of planning trip in Sept/Oct. Used a travel agent for basic planning and paid $100 plan to go fee. Received info on 9itinerary, flights, hotels, a couple of tours. Could not help checking quotes, and in most cases cost is less if you do it yourself, particularly flights in Australia. Was quoted cost of 3x more for flights than if booked on my own. Needless to say, booked on my own. You can book with Qantas on the phone for $15.

We are going on our own, and booking tours in certain areas.

Reading the posts here has been really helpful.

Scudam, I wouldn't worry that you'll mess it up if you do your own thing. If I can use an analogy, our first big trip after raising a family was in the reverse direction, 6 weeks in the US. We were not experienced travellers, and hadn't even driven on the "wrong side", but it all worked out pretty well.

This was in 1996, when the resources available on the Net weren't anything like as extensive as they are now (no Fodors site either), so we used a travel agent to book hotels in three cities and winged it the rest of the time. We also pre-booked our first two rental cars, and that was about it. We did however collect tour brochures and wrote away for state tourist booklets etc. and used this material to put together our own itineraries. This helps to ensure that you don't miss anything you really should see.

As it happens our agent, a branch of Thomas Cook, was pretty hopeless - for example, with a month's notice they told us that there was "no accommodation in NYC". This simply meant that the Cook hotel list was booked out. Faced with this absurd statement I found a US booking service on the Net, phoned them and got a good deal within minutes - a valuable lesson learned there.

Apart from minor glitches, we had no problems and found America an easy to navigate and friendly destination. I'm sure you'll find that the converse applies.

Unfortunately the above TA experience isn't uncommon - if they can't sell you something off a brochure they're not too interested. If you use an agent you need one with Australia-specific expertise who's prepared to tailor a package that might or might not include escorted tours. You can contact your local specialist via the official tourism site www.australia.com. Don't forget also that every state and region in Australia has tourism websites that provide a mound of information and recommendations.

My advice, it's never too early to start planning. I'd start with a spreadsheet showing a tentative itinerary (which can be varied as you find out more) and use it as a checklist, with columns for hotel and transport names, bookings, costs etc. Make a list of useful websites, starting with...

Domestic airlines - www.qantas.com.au www.virginblue.com.au
www.jetstar.com.au

Discount hotel bookings -
www.wotif.com.au

What a sweet husband! Here's my two cents--put the words trip report in the search engine on this site and read the ones that interest you. You'll find lots and lots of places you just HAVE to go to! Also, check out this book at your library: AAA spiral guide Australia. It has highlights of different regions and help you plan what you really want to do. Thirdly, I suggest you sit down with your wife and decide what priorities you want to place on where you want to go. Australia is a big, big country and you don't want to waste your precious time sitting in airports and travelling. Also, check out the itineraries of the tours that sound good and then do it on your own. Australia is soooo easy to get around on your own (if you aren't afraid of driving on the left--which is easy there, they don't have much traffic except in the cities where you won't want a car, anyway.) However, don't make the mistake we almost made of wanting to fly here, there and everywhere. Focus your attention on fewer places (although they ALL sound FABULOUS and it is quite difficult to XX anything out) and you will have the time of your life in a wonderful country. We went in 2004 and went to Sydney (with a side trip to the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves); Uluru for 3 nights; Kakadu NP for 3 nights; Cairns and Port Douglas; and back to Sydney. that was 3 weeks. This past October we went for 5 weeks: south of Sydney in Narooma, Whitsundays, and Cairns area including Yungaburra, Chillagoe, Cooktown, Laura and Port Douglas and 3 days on a liveaboard snorkel boat (the Spirit of Freedom) and 5 days in Sydney. If you have lots of FF miles, start calling Qantas 355 days ahead of time and you might be able to score 1st class seats if you call frequently. Now THAT would be a great 25th extra!
Happy planning,
Sally in Seattle

Hello Sudam,

Ivory palms resort is perfect for you and your wife.

Last year we were there with my family and friends and i cant wait to be back on that resort.

There website is www.ivorypalmsresort.com.au

Actually the place is better than what they are saying on the website itself.

Have great vacation!

What a special trip it's going to be! Have to say agree with pretty much all who have posted so far.

Do your own thing is best, cos it's easy to fly, and there are so many offerings by way of organised trips from different centres.

You must decide where you want to spend the most time, and that is up to you and your interests. June is a brilliant time for the Centre and the Top End, so-so for Northern Qld (Cairns). Sydney is wonderful any time. June misses the wonderful autumnal light but is a better bet than July/August.

Come in June - Sydney, Cairns, Darwin, Alice, Sydney in that order.

Cheers.

Wow, the responses has been overwhellming. Thank you all so very much. When my wife's grandfather retired, he traveled the world and wrote in his journal of his trips. And what he wrote of Australia made a major impression on my wife. She knows all about the vacation as we talk about it often. Everything we have done over the past 23 years have been for our kids. With my son graduating college this year and my daughter graduating in 2 more years, this vacation will be the first thing we will be doing for ourselves. I have worked a second job for over a year to help us save some money for this vacation.
All of you have convinced me to plan this vacation on my own. I thought planning things 2 years in advance might be pushing things too much but from what I've read from everyone I guess it's not. One last question, once we have an itinerary, how far in advance should I book things? I assume I do everything over the Internet? Again, thanks for all of your help and suggestions. We thought of going sometime mid March to mid April. I would greatly appreciate suggested itineraries and places to see. Thanks again everyone

Glad to hear that you have decided to plan the trip yourself, Scudam! I just returned from a three-week trip (March 1 to 21) that my friend and I organized entirely on our own, relying on forums like this and various guide books. We couldn't have been more pleased with the way everything turned out. Planning is easy, and fun!

I booked everything online. We flew between all destinations on the Aussie Air Pass (Qantas) and our itinerary was as follows:

Melbourne - 3 nights
Kangaroo Island - 2 nights
Adelaide - 1 night
Port Douglas - 5 nights
Uluru - 2 nights
Sydney - 5 nights (included day trip to the Blue Mountains)

We booked our hotels about six months in advance, but waited until we arrived at each destination to book most of our individual tours. This gave us more flexibility to plan things according to the weather, or our mood. There are so many tour operators and tourist-oriented businesses, we never missed out on doing something we wanted to do. In fact, we were often part of a very small group. Exceptions to this were Kangaroo Island, where we booked ahead for a two-day private tour and B&B stay; and Uluru, where we booked the Sounds of Silence dinner and a sunset camel ride about four months in advance.

We felt March was a good time to travel to Australia, even though we encountered a record-setting heatwave in Adelaide and record-setting rainfall in Port Douglas. The "wet season" in Port Douglas did not prevent us from enjoying everything the area has to offer - snorkeling at the reef, exploring the Daintree Rainforest, etc.

Scudam. I agree with everyone - - plan it yourself!! So what if you "mess up" a part of the trip. My experience has been that some of my best travel memories are the parts that get "messed up" because it creates an unknown.

The Australians are very friendly and helpful so if something doesn't go right, you just ask for help.

Good for you! Nothing is worse than being bogged down by an escorted tours itinerary. One thing you'll find out is that pricing for flights and hotels usually don't get finalized till six months to a year out, so you have a lot of time to plan an itinerary. There are a lot of websites that specialize in non-escorted Australia vacations. www.seeanz.com is an example. Use their ideas or call them and have them do the legwork. They used to have an ultimate australia trip that included Sydney, Ayers Rock, and the great barrier reef. Since its your 25th anniversary you might want to look at Hayman Island or some other nice resort for a few nights as well. Good Luck!

Australia is a big country with lots of wonderful places to see but beware it is not like the US as most of the people live in the big towns on the coast and unless you fly which takes time you will waste a lot of the holiday getting places.

I have lived there and visited for holidays 4 times in past 2 years. I would recommend Sydney, stay in centre hotel and use public transport about 5 days. Day trips to Blue Mountains and Wine country worth the effort.
Port Douglas 5 days, take escorted trip to rain forest and must visit GBR even if you do not dive, the snokerling is awesome.

Melbourne is very civilised and makes good exit airport. Alice Springs and Uluru is intresting.

Driving is easy in all areas. Do discuss what it is your Wife wants to see. Feel happy using the web and search for good deals. Enjoy.

I'll tell you what you do. You stay home and send me your ticket!!!
Two years?!! I have not had good luck with escorted tours. To many people and their hang ups to contend with.
Remember opposite seasons.

Dear Scudam,
I have never replied to one of these before but I will "give it a go". My husband and I lived in Australia from 1971-1974 and loved every minute. We returned in 1989 and again in 2000 and will go back again in a couple years (retired teachers and business owners). We have had many Aussies come here to stay and as many have commented they are "a very friendly lot".
You are very intelligent in researching ahead of time and know the country is very big (only slightly smaller than the U.S.). We lived in both Brisbane, Queensland and Adelaide, South Australia. We loved them both. We toured the outback with 2 busloads of high school kids on a bus - so we REALLY had an experience which will never be forgotten - my point is that, like others said, everything you do will be a worth-while adventure. Three weeks is great / definitely get the airpass through Quantas or whomever / definitely do: Sydney, Brisbane,
Cairns/Great Barrier Reef, Melbourne and Adelaide (most people do not do Adelaide but it is a great one-story city - also has not only famous wineries but the area behind Adelaide is worth a day visit (the "REAL" country).
Sydney has, of course, the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House - they also have a magnificent zoo (I would choose the Sydney zoo and then the Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane if you are wildlife people). Behind Sydney is a great drive up to the Blue Mountains. In Brisbane I would recommend a bus tour (or rental car) and travel up behind Brisbane to the rain forest and Gold Coast - eventhough the Gold Coast has become more "touristy" the ocean scenery and beaches are definitely worth it. At the Gold Coast DO NOT MISS the Karrumbin Bird Sanctuary - you will NEVER forget this experience...... You will also be able to see kangaroos, koalas, wombats, etc. Definitely do the Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane as I mentioned above (you could miss it if you go to the Karrumbin Bird Sanctuary instead although whenever we return we return to Karrumbin and whomever we take with us always enjoys it (no matter what age). If you have time, drive up North on one day-if not, give it a miss as you need to go to Cairns/Port Douglas/Great Barrier Reef area and you can see that instead. In Cairns be sure and do the aerial tramway!!! even if it is 'touristy'. Again, you would not come to the U.S. and miss the Golden Gate Bridge because it is a "tourist trap" - don't miss the aerial tramway - you CAN miss the aboriginal "show" at the bottom of the tramway (definitely miss it, in fact). We stayed at a great Bed and Breakfast in Cairns. If you can, take a tour boat for the day to GREEN ISLAND - you can snorkel right off the shore and you can walk around the island in about 20 minutes (but you will want to take longer because it is so pretty - it is a true coral cay. You can then fly to Uluru - we were there when it was actually "empty" - no hotel/lodge, etc.- it is still worth seeing but I noticed no one mentioned taking a flight over the OLGAS (if it is still offered). They are outcroppings of Uluru and we found them a fascinating piece of geology-evidently most people are not aware of them (maybe they don't offer flights anymore). It is definitely worth the money (and we were on teacher's pay). If Adelaide is your next stop (or you may have to give it a miss) - go to Port Noarlunga to see the water (we were scuba divers so we did a lot of scuba there) - it is shallow at the shore and there is a great breaker so you can snorkel if you like (or do that in the North in Cairns). Downtown Adelaide is a great friendly place. There is a community around Adelaide up in the hills - Hahndorf - which is worth a visit (day or 1/2 day trip). The Barossa Valley is the wine country area which many people like (at the time we saw it, it was not very developed but still very pretty - but, since my parents live in Napa, CA I guess we didn't take much notice of "another wine area" so get someone elses opinion on that.
There are 3 places NOT to miss if you go to Melbourne: 1)the fairy penguins and wild life (free roaming koalas & kangaroos) on Phillips Island and 2)Bill Rickets Sanctuary and 3) The Great Ocean Highway. Even most Aussies do not know about Bill Rickets. It is one of the most unusual places we have seen (and we are not real "artsy" people) but this is worth visiting. The drive to get there is beautiful anyway (hills behind Melbourne). I guess you will do the "Great Ocean Highway" on the South Coast with the "Twelve Apostles" (12 large rock outcroppings from the ocean) - very scenic drive and dEfinitely a must do. I hope this is not too much info and I hope it is helpful. By the way, my husband and I had been married only one week (june, 1971)when we moved to Brisbane - we are so glad we did. We loved Australia and the people... let me know if you want any specific info. P.S. If you had to miss out on one of the cities I guess I would miss out on Brisbane (eventhough we love it) because you can do the "ocean" stuff up North in Cairns) - or miss out on Adelaide although it is really different than Sydney or Melbourne. BUT, you can always return another time if you like it that much......... Sydney: 3-4 days Brisbane: 3 days Cairns area: 4 days Uluru: 2 days (1 night) Adelaide: 3 days Melbourne: 4 days
That already adds up to 20 days!!!! so some decisions will need to be
made - also you lose a day going but gain it returning - 2 total days going and returning.... GOOD LUCK - YOU WILL LOVE IT....

O.K I will give them a plug as they sent me a free one, but honestly Fodor's Australia 2008 is a very comprehensive guide with some excellent itineraries and lots of info. Combined with this forum and you will be able to plan a dream holiday.

I just wrote a long message but forgot to comment on months to go - remember, Christmas is summer (hot-which we like) and also remember: school holidays are SIX WEEKS AT CHRISTMAS (about December to 2nd week of Jan if I remember correctly) - 2 weeks in June and 2 weeks in August or something - find out for sure. Aug, Sept, Oct (spring) or Feb, Mar, Apr (fall) would be fine -

I noticed that someone mentioned Hayman Island for your anniversary...if you get a chance, read my trip report that I just posted from my trip 10 days ago. It's a nice place for anniversary, but there are things you should know about hayman that isn't mentioned in the brochure (Like the ocean closes,lol).

The Christmas school holidays vary by State, but typically start mid-late Dec and end late Jan/early Feb.

Scudam, can I just say, try not to see all that there is to see in Oz, as so many overseas visitors do.
Pick out about 3 major regions, then consider flying between each to allow more time in those regions.
Consider getting a rental car at each region to explore in depth for one week.
On this chat board, you will get heaps of advice, with everyones personal favourite regions or places.
Possibly the 3 regions could consist of :-
1. Great Barrier Reef & Hinterland

2. Central Australia.

3. ??? Now the last could be tricky, some will say Sydney or Melbourne, others will say Sunshine Coast of Qld, or Tasmania. If your not into cities, then I would pick Tasmania, for a number of reasons, colonial history, great seafood, lovely villages, good seascapes, excellent wines, small on people population, quiet roads to drive on, excellent walking trails, short or long.

I want to thank all of you for such terrific advice. My wife and I greatly appreciate it. Thank you for convincing me to do this trip myself. I wouldn't have had the confidence to try it without you guys. Everybody on this site has been great. I will have my wife start reading her Fodor's that I gave her for Christmas and start deciding on what she would like to see. After we decide on our itinerary, I'm sure I will be asking more questions. Thanks again

The advice about picking 3 key areas is excellent and there's tons of good advice here.

My guess: For 95 percent of the folks headed to Australia, planning your own trip is better than any tour.

It all depends on what the wife wants (where's the understatement font)but a good basic three-part trip might include Far North Queensland (for the reef, Daintree, etc), a trip out to Ayes Rock and sometime using Sydney as a base.

I've heard some folks who favor outdoorsy travel say "a city is a city is a city," but Sydney is not only a fantastic place to visit, but you can also do trips to places like the Blue Mountains. A ferry trip out to Manley with a return at sundown is a simple, but wonderful excursion.

BTW, I think the advice that is posted on Australia is one of Fodor's most reliable boards.

Greetings All,
Again, I just want to say thank you for all of your great advice and being so friendly. You have convinced me to book my own trip and given me some great suggestions for itineraries. The one the most intrigued us the most was ARay's itinerary which is as follows:

Melbourne - 3 nights
Kangaroo Island - 2 nights
Adelaide - 1 night
Port Douglas - 5 nights
Uluru - 2 nights
Sydney - 5 nights (included day trip to the Blue Mountains)

We are going to use it as a starting point for our plans. I now have one more question for all of you: budget. I goal to have a minimum of $15,000, shoot for $20,000, and be happy to fall somewhere in-between. Is this a reasonable budget for this kind of trip? We are planning on flying out of JFK using the Aussie Air pass (thanks for the recommendation). We are very simple people and don't need to stay the 5 star hotels or eat at the 5 star restaurants. We would much rather spend the money on seeing and experiencing Australia. Is my budget doable? Your help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I think your budget is more than fine. We have never spent more than $11,000 for a month long trip, including airfare, but we also travel in Australia's winter as a rule. Expensive choices on the Barrier Reef like staying at Lizard or even the more moderate Heron, will push it up, or pricey excursions. Some complain here about more expensive food costs than the US, but we don't find that to be the case. If you don't have to have a $100 meal everyday, you'll be fine. I like your itinerary, but hope you'll consider Tasmania - hard to get all that in in 3 weeks, so go with the wife's preferences - lucky girl!

When you start planning your accomodations, I recommend you look for "serviced apartments". You should be able to find nice 1-bedroom serviced apartments which would fit in the budget you listed. The good thing about serviced apartments is that you get a separate bedroom, a living room and a full kitchen. We always liked having the extra space and we always used the kitchen to make breakfast and often, picnic lunches. It certainly saved us some money which we could then use for fun activities. Also, many serviced apartments have washers and dryers in the room and that's a big bonus when you are traveling for 3 weeks!

Your budget is totally doable, Scudam. We spent about $6,000 each for three weeks, including airfare, airport transfers, food, tours, shopping, etc...

Other than the "splurge" for the private tour and apartment on Kangaroo Island, all of our hotels were in the $100 per night range (except Uluru, where everything is more expensive).

Along the lines of what longhorn suggested, we stayed in an UNserviced apartment in Port Douglas (Port Douglas Retreat) that was A$516 for five nights. We didn't have anyone clean our room, but it had a beautiful pool and was less than a five-minute walk to the Four Mile Beach and the main street (Macrossan). No washer and dryer in the room, but we had access to one and it was five bucks to wash and dry a load of laundry. It also had a small stovetop, microwave and fridge, so you could take some meals in the apartment.