Still working on our trip to OZ. At least we now have a time frame
October 15 leave until end of November 5 to 6 weeks
We are stuck with these due to work and other factors.

Prior to Oz we are doing a ships tour of New Zealand. We are not 100% certain if we will fly to Auckland and cruise to Sydney or vice-versa. It depends on what kind of Aussie Pass “Q” is doing then or if Air New Zealand and Virgin Blue work out better.
So here is the refined plan the group of 6 has agreed on.

Fly to Sydney day one – Arrive day 2
Day 3 board Ship 12 days to New Zealand.
Arrive Auckland early am spend day and evening or possible fly evening to Brisbane
Then we start our 4-5 weeks in OZ.
Fly from Auckland to Brisbane – 3-4 days someone wants to go to Tiger Island
Fly Brisbane to Cairns 5 days 3 of them want to dive a couple days, one wants rain forest.
Fly Alice Springs early am spend day and night 1 day
Bus (crazy I know but someone wants to do it) to Ayres Rock
Spend afternoon and night leaving in afternoon to
fly to Perth – 3-5 days open here, visit friends here
Perth to Adelaide – 3-5 days here, Kangaroo Island
Train to Melbourne 2-3 days
Train to Sydney 7 days Blue Mts. Etc.

The plan is to rent cars in Cairns, Perth and Sydney. The ship stops at Melbourne so if we had enough of it we will be cutting down day. Thanks
Joanne

Open for any and all suggestions, changes etc along these basic lines.

One point that I noticed is that you are thinking of going to Ayers Rock when it will be November and it will be HOT with flies etc and uncomfortable unless your in airconditioning. You may want to rethink that part of your trip at that time of year.
Another thing is that when Australia's railways were made I think they tried to put them through the most uninteresting country they could find just so people would not discover the nice bits. So I hope you won't find those trips too boring.

I have done that bus trip in January when it is very hot. As long as you are prepared for it, take plenty of bottled water, you will cope. The rest of your itinerary looks good.

Could you let that crazy person take the bus by themselves and spend more time in the Cairns area? There are so many things to do there that 5 days barely covers the highlights. The divers might consider a liveaboard and if the others snorkel, they could go, too.
Sally

Thanks for all your input.
As to ARock we all live in central Ca. where days of 112-115 are not uncommon but I will show them your post re the heat. What do you think about flying from Cairns to A Rock? instead of doing the bus number the bottom line is the group only want to spend 1 night there due to the cost of the hotels - dumb I know when we are already spending bucko's on this trip but thats the case. That way we could meet up with the bus person if they still want to do the bus number.

I think just going there is a big waste of time actually because all it is is a big rock - and its not the biggest in Australia in any case anyway. The only way to capture the "feeling" of that type of area is to do the whole of the Northern Territory and the North West of Western Australia - a trip for one day is absolutely stupid and a great waste of money which is better spent on more time around Cairns etc as Sally from Seattle said in her post on this point.
Ask yourself this question: would you fly all the way to South Dakota for one night to see Mt Rushmore when you were in say Yosemite National Park and could spend a lot more time on interesting things there before going to Philadelphia at the beginning of summer?

Its 34 degrees celsius in Alice today, so really that is not too bad. As to whether the trip to Uluru is worth it. Of course it is because no matter how wonderful the Cairns area is it is not The Outback. A trip to Uluru is unique and is part of what Australia is famous for. Go for it and I would agree flying would be better, but then I will never forget my bus trip and a town like Alice!

I might add that I have also seen Niagara Falls which could be described as "a whole lot of water running over a cliff" and The Grand Canyon "just a big hole in the ground", but they were great wonders and also great adventures. Much of what travel is all about.

Ask yourself this question: would you fly all the way to South Dakota for one night to see Mt Rushmore when you were in say Yosemite National Park and could spend a lot more time on interesting things there before going to Philadelphia at the beginning of summer?
I most likely would not but its a dream to see it, for some of a trip members and we all try to fit in everyones goals even if one of us would rather skip something. I am showing them all your posts that way they can choose. Some might just want to skip and we meet up in Perth where we all have a couple of friends.
Keep advice coming.

As an aussie who has travelled all over Australia....your itinery is very good...you will certainly get a good look at the contasting country that is australia....

Hi JoanneH,
If you're used to 112-115F, you'll be fine in Alice Springs/Uluru. As others say, take plenty of water & insect repellent.

If you can fly into Uluru & out of Alice Springs from Cairns (or vice versa), I'd be tempted to take the bus one way, because you'd then see Kings Canyon on the way and get some perspective of the landscape & colours that makes this part of Australia unique. I'd stay a night in Alice Springs as well; there's lots to see, including the excellent Dessert Park, Royal Flying Doctor & School of the Air bases, Aboriginal art galleries. It's not all "pretty post card" and although it has a lot of tourist attractractions, you will see something of life in the raw.

So, IMO .. do it! Yes, it will be hot and the flies will drive you nuts at times. But if you're up for a mini experience of the "Red Centre", you'll be well rewarded.
Ayers Rock & the Olgas have a quality beyond being big rocks to many of us.

Enjoy your trip