OZ in October ??
 

We are starting to plan our once in a lifetime trip to the Land Down Under. Late September or early October would be the most convenient for us but we have flexibility since we are both recently retired. My question is--what kind of weather can we expecct that time of year? We are hoping to start our trip in Melbourne (visiting friends there) on to Canaberra, Sydney and finishing up with as much snorkeling as time and $$ allows near the GBR. We are leaning towards a tour that will take us from Sydney to Cairns with stops at various islands and stops along the Gold Coast and north. Advise, suggestions, must do's are all appreciated.

How much time will you have?

You also might want to check the dates of school holidays for Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales. I believe they generally run sometime between mid-September and mid-October. (Glad you're visiting Canberra. Their big floral festival, Floriade, runs from mid-September to mid-October and it's lovely!)

Typical Spring weather in the South, with snow on the high mountains between Melbourne and Canberra. Lovely time of year in Sydney: could be cold or hot but typically twenties Celsius. Warm but not hot on Gold Coast, without the humidity of summer. Further north,it's probably the best time to visit.

Thanks for the responses. We are hoping to use the Qantas Airpass, which has a 21 day limitation otherwise more $$. I think that should be OK for us.
What is the drive time between Melbourne to Canaberra and Canaberra to Sydney? Are there important things to see between these cities?

We went the first of November, using the Quantas pass. LAX to Sydney, Sydney to Cairns, Cairns to Melbourne, Melbourne to LAX.

Weather was fantastic all the way around.

It's been awhile since we've done the drive from Canberra to Melbourne, but I think it's something like 6 hours. We would generally drive it all at one time, with a short stop in Gundagai to stretch our legs at "The Dog on the Tuckerbox" and in Holbrook to walk around the submarine. But if you have some time, consider stopping in some of the Victorian towns such as Beechworth.
The drive from CBD Sydney to CBD Canberra is almost exactly 3 hours. I've done it many times and as I'm always anxious to get to my destination, be it Canberra or Sydney, I've never made any stops along the way.

melbourne to canberra on the highway is a very boring drive, so if you can allow a night stopover, you'd be able to find many nicer routes such as:
- melbourne, marysville, close to mansfield, up to near wangaratta (call in at milawa for wine and cheese) then to wondonga, tallangatta, corryong, then nsw high country - jindabyne, cooma, canberra. You could even stop and walk to the top of Mt Kosciusko this way.
- similar to above, but you go melbourne to bairnsdale (not so exciting), then up through omeo (pretty valley) which meets up at tallangatta, then continue as above.
- or if you like the coast, couple of options:
- go melbourne to bairnsdale (as above) then to lakes entrance (pretty) then up to nsw and eden, merimbula tathra, then inland to bega, over brown mountain and cooma then canberra.
-longer version, keep going up nsw coast from tathra to batemans bay, then over clyde mountain, braidwood, bungendore, canberra.
victoria's tourist website www.visitvictoria.com is quite good - will give you an idea of regions and you'll find when you get here that they have a great range of brochures for all the different 'sections'. they also have a section on touring routes (travel info, maps, then icon on the side, link: http://www1.visitmelbourne.com/displ...24ED/vvt.vhtml

many drives in Australia are boring. However I would not advise splitting up the 7 hour drive from Melb to Sydney but maybe that is because I live in CBR. CBR to Sydney is an incredibly easy (boring?) 3 hour drive.
The weather Sydney and further north should be lovely - spring in CBR is the most unpredictable season - could be nice but could be cold - we had heating on last Nov.