Our family of four including two girls (16&19) will spend 24 nights in Australia in August and I am driving myself crazy to plan this trip.
We love nature, wine ,animals and big cities for the girls
Arrive at Sydney-stay 5 nights
Fly to Adelaide- stay 3 nights
--Do Kangaroo Island & the wine country
Fly to Urulu-stay 2 night
Fly to Darwin-stay 3 night--do kakadu
Fly to Carines-stay at Silky Oaks 5 nights
Fly to Hamilton --stay at Hayman island for 5 nights.
Fly to Melbourne and stay for 1 night and then fly out to LA and then to Philadelphia.

Adeleh, I have no idea what this would do to your air fare. I'm looking at it only from a logistical point of view.

Rather than spending that 1 night in Melbourne at the end of your vacation, how about spending it in Auckland, New Zealand?

Reason: My understanding is that flights from Melbourne to LA in any case stop in Auckland. By spending that night in Auckland, you cut out the Melbourne to Auckland leg of the journey on the day on which you fly homewards. That is such a long homeward-bound journey you're doing, I can only think that anything that would cut down your flying time that day would be worthwhile considering.

I definitely agree with Judy - you would spend a whole day flying from Hamilton Island to Melbourne. Can't you arrange your flights to fly out of Brisbane to Auckland? It would make your homeward flights easier and more relaxing.
Other than that, your itinerary sounds great. Be aware that Adelaide and Kangeroo Island will be cold and probably windy so bring some warm clothes for that leg of your trip.

We used our ff miles to get these tickets and that means we didn't have much choice and our flights are non stop to LA. at this point I really have not looked at the flying time within Australia. I posted my itinerary so I could hear what you think.
Thanks for the help.

Hi Adeleh, Last year our family did a similar trip to the one you are planning here. We left every thing up to an air charter company which specialises in tours all around Australia. ( they booked every thing ) Very private and personel,we ended up seeeing and experiencing things we would never ever have been able to organise our selves.

The kids loved it and there was not a moment during the whole ten days where we were not enjoying our selves. We did every thing from horse riding to scuba diving, canoeing, wine tasting, 4wd driving and even swam with whale sharks. From what we experienced I could not recommend them highly enough.

You will find them at www.daintreeair.com.au

Have a great trip!
Jessie.

Hi, adeleh!

I gather that the Melbourne bit at the end is non-negotiable, so I won't urge you to change it.... you are already aware, I am sure, that the distances involved make this the weak link in your otherwise-excellent itinerary.

You are seeing a great variety of sights on this continent, and I envy you. Really, there is only one important omission.... whatever happened to Canberra? It's the capital city of Australia, as important to Oz as Washington DC (to which it is not dissimilar) is to the USA. It is a beautiful and quite compact city full of interesting buildings, and the best museum in the country. Also the National Art Gallery, the National Library, and a Parliament House that is almost as unique, architecturally, as the Sydney Opera House. I really think that you should take a couple of nights off somewhere else -- maybe Silky Oaks -- and "plug in" a visit to Australia's capital. Can you fly from Cairns to Canberra instead of to Melbourne, and then bus or train it the rest of the way to your point of departure?

In all other respects, I think yours is the nicest itinerary I have seen on this site in a long time, and I am sure you will have a marvellous time. Happy holidaying!

Hi! We have just come back from A 27 day trip to Australia with 2 boys aged 15 + 17 similar intersts to yours. It's quite different to your plan but it has been the best holiday ever! This is what we did: Flew to Sydney - 5 nights in Syd including day trips to Blue Mountains and wineries (Oz trails is good). Flew to brisbane visited Koala /kangaroo sanctuary 2 nights. Drove to Noosa beach 2 nights, very hip and fun, surf lessons, shopping, beautiful beaches great place for teenagers. Drove to Fraser Island - spectacular! 2 nights. Back in the car to Airlie beach via Rockhampton and Mackay (not very exciting) and sailed the Whitsundays on Siska - racing yacht lots of fun young crowd, snorkelling GBR etc. 2 nights. Drove via Palm Cove and Cairns to Cape tribulation - beautiful, rainforest, horse-riding beaches etc 2 nights. We then flew to melbourne from Cairns and stayed 4 nights - did Great Ocean Rd and wineries without the kids as they were fed up with driving and preferred staying in town. We could have gone to Uluru instead I suppose but it was very hot in January whereas it'll be ok for you in August. You also won't have any trouble with stingers up north. That's it! Hope you find it helpful and not even more confusing!

Melbourne is a fantastic city with more character than Auckland!
Jump on and off the free circle tram and see the sights. Or hire a car and head out to the Yarra Valley for a spot of wine tasting. In Sydney you can climb the harbour bridge or take a jet boat tour on the harbour. Sydney also have a fabulous zoo. We Australian's are happy to help, just throw on a smile and ask!