My brother and I, in our early 60"s and active, are planning a trip. We will fly into Brisbane on November 10th and out of Melbourne 15 days later. Here is the rough outline and we are looking for suggestions. I often stay in hostels and less expensive hotels. I like to do some day hiking and enjoy riding a bike to cover more ground and see the countryside.
Our interests are natural things and animals.

Day 1- Arrive Brisbane. Rent car. Koala sanctuary. Drive and sight see to area near Fraser Island. Try to stay awake and fight jet lag.

Day 2- Fraser island
Suggestions for a vendor? Would prefer a smaller vehicle as opposed to bus I see in some brochures

Day 3&4 Drive to Airlie Beach
Suggestions for sights along the way or unusual things to see.

Day 5 & 6 Take snorkel tour/boat to Whitsunday Islands
Suggestions for vendor. I owned a small day sailer for 30 years and love to be on the water.

Day 7 & 8 & 9 Drive inland and circle back to Brisbane. Would be driving through Clemont, Emerald, Carnavon National Park, Expedition National Park.

Suggestions? This is a less traveled route but I didn't feel the need to go to Uluru to see the outback. One source said there might be a farmstay possible but I am not seeing any near my route. I doubt we will hit all the parks but would welcome feedback.
Is it worth stopping at any of the gem mines in the area?

Day 10 & 11 &12 &13 Fly to Hobart Tasmania. Rent car and drive counter clockwise loop
stopping at Maria Island, Freycinet, Launcestin, Cradle Mountain. Might consider extra day or fly back to Melborne early on Day 14 and drive small portion of Great Ocean Road.

Day 15- Fly home from Melbourne.

I know I will see Kangaroos & wallabies. Would love to see some other critters like
Dingos, wombats, echindas, penguins,platypus, tasmanian devil, kookaburra. There are such unique mammals there and I prefer to see them in the wild vs a zoo or area where they are on display.

This is a pretty ambitious agenda and I realize I will not do 100%, I have pretty full days and don't sit around much. My goal is to come back pretty exhausted but feeling like I saw as much as possible in the short time away. What else is there to do on a 23 hour flight back to Ohio?

Thank you in advance. The suggestions on this forum have helped me on many other trips.

ttt to pick up tips for our stay in Brisbane.

as far as wildlife in Tasmania, you should see wombats at Cradle Mountain and Maria Island. Narawntapu is also excellent for wombats and other wildlife (I saw an echnida there) but your schedule is already very full. Penguins can be seen at various locations in Tasmania, Bicheno might fit best into your itinerary. I've seen platypus at Warrawee. Devils are extremely difficult to see in the wild unless you go with a tour operator that baits them which I would have reservations about. If you have no luck in the wild, you could consider visiting Devils@Cradle. Good luck!

I recently did your loop of Tasmania (though I started from Launceston) with three overnight stops and it was a seriously rushed. I'd recommend a minimum of five full days.

The Whitsundays are a long way from the reef, if your intention is to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef you will need to take a boat from the Whitsundays.

If you only have 4 days in Tasmania, then I would follow Someotherguy's advice and limit yourself to 2-3 stops maximum. You could do Launceston and Cradle Mountain, or at a stretch Hobart (1 night), Freycinet (1 night), Cradle Mountain (2 nights, fly out of Launceston.

Day 2- Fraser island
Suggestions for a vendor? Would prefer a smaller vehicle as opposed to bus I see in some brochures
We went with this tour operator last year. They were great. Just us, another couple and the driver. He summed us up quickly and adjusted the tour to suite. Well worth paying the extra. Good plain food for the lunch nothing fancy and not much time wasted. Beer and wine were free.
http://www.fraserexperience.com/guid...ay-hummer-tour

Day 3&4 Drive to Airlie Beach
Suggestions for sights along the way or unusual things to see.
Backtrack to Tin Can Bay and feed the dolphins at about 8am.
http://www.tincanbaytourism.org.au/
We stayed at the hotel in a room with no en suite for $50 including dinner for the two of us. They have some good deals

Is it worth stopping at any of the gem mines in the area?
Yes, but I didn't go to any.
If you like geology then visit the mystery craters near Bundaberg. They are not far from the highway.
They have quite a collection of rocks and gems as well.
http://www.mysterycraters.com.au/contacts.htm

Day 10 & 11 &12 &13 Fly to Hobart Tasmania. Rent car and drive counter clockwise loop
stopping at Maria Island, Freycinet, Launceston, Cradle Mountain. Might consider extra day or fly back to Melborne early on Day 14 and drive small portion of Great Ocean Road.

Spend an extra day in Tasmania. The best part of the GOR is a very long day trip away.

Day 15- Fly home from Melbourne.

I know I will see Kangaroos & wallabies. Would love to see some other critters like
Dingos, wombats, echindas, penguins,platypus, tasmanian devil, kookaburra. There are such unique mammals there and I prefer to see them in the wild vs a zoo or area where they are on display.

You might see dingoes on Fraser - we didn't. You are unlikely to see them anywhere else.
Penguins - Bicheno does have a tour.
We got our closest encounter on Maria Island near the Fossil Cliffs - which are brilliant. Look for the white streaks of poo, follow it inland and gently lift up a shrub and you will be within a foot of a penguin. Don't use a flash.

We did a trip with East Coast Cruises www.eastcoastcruises.com.au/. It is a great all round trip. The morning is spent visiting a sea lion colony and eating morning tea watching seals metres away. Then they drop you on the island with a boxed lunch - nothing fancy but plenty for you to explore for a few hours. Plenty of time to get to the fossil cliffs and back. Then they pick you up and take you around to the painted cliffs and then back to base. I couldn’t see it on their web page.By the way it is pronounced "Mariah" in case you were not aware.

Platypus and devils are very shy and predominantly nocturnal. We did see one devil running across a road at night. They are becoming rare due to the disease ravaging the population. One of the parks will be the best place to see them. We like the Park on the Tasman Peninsula as it also had other animals and a bird show where a peregrine falcon came swooping in.

I have two trip reports for Tasmania.

What else is there to do on a 23 hour flight back to Ohio?
Don't ask such a loaded question.

Thanks everybody, especially Peter. I will check out your tips and probably have more questions.

OhioRob:




If your goal is to see a much as possible in the short time you have, then your Queensland plan is pretty lacking:



- Fraser Island is huge, hard to see very much in less than a day. Remember you'll have to time your arrival and departure with the barge schedule.


- the drive from Fraser (Hervey Bay) to the Whitsundays (Mackay) is notoriously unexciting.


- with all the driving, your stay at Carnarvon Gorge will be very fleeting. You would want to spend a full day there - it can only be seen by hiking



Suggestions - spend more time around Brisbane! The mountains and rainforests of SE Queensland are beautiful, e.g. Lamington National Park. For the Barrier Reef, why not spend 2-3 days on Heron Island or Lady Elliot Island? Much closer to Fraser Island than the Whitsundays.




If you do see dingoes on Fraser Island, stay away from them and don't even think about feeding them.

Lady Musgrave Isalnd is a great day trip. One of the best I've done. They were excellent with people who got sea sick.
Great snorkelling/diving - huge numbers and types of fish, plus turtles. Great bird watching on the island, glass bottom boat. Southern most island of the GBR
http://www.lmcruises.com.au/