Hi All,

Any tips/advice welcome, Plan to fly to Melbourne arriving 30/12/05 4 days in Melbourne then drive to Sydney stopping twice at yet undetermined locations. Four nights Sydney before driving to Port Macquarie for one night then to Coffs Harbour oe night here before going onto Coolangatta 2 nights then on to Noosa/Mooloolaba drive to Hervey bay 3 nights on fraser island then Brisbane for 3 nights. ok hotels in mind are Sebel Suites Melbourne Shangri La Sydney Outrigger Coolangatta Sebel Noosa Kingfisher on Fraser Quay West suites Brisbane. Any advice or proposed changes to itineray the must sees the must avoids. Sorry for the novel
Thanks in advance for all the help
PS anywhere you can suggest where my wife says OMG i just Have to live here would be welome

Have been to Melbourne 4 times & love the town! The zoo is quite good as are the Royal Gardens. Do not miss the Great Ocean Road which runs west of Melbourne. It took us about 6 hours to drive to Port Campbell, but it was more than well worth the drive - stay there overnight if you can and drive back to Melbourne. Next time, consider taking the Spirit of Tasmania (the over night Ferry which has state rooms) over to Tasmania - it really is Australia's best kept secret! Happy trails, Debbie

Hi Debbie,

Thanks for the advice, we will try to fit that in it does sound wonderful. We did consider Tassie but as usual it's the time aspect. take care, Mike

someone had suggested Dorrigo as a place to saty in stead of coffs any thoughts ? please

Dorrigo is a nice little place but I note you are doing this is December and it will most probably be HOT anywhere other than the coastal areas. Dorrigo has a great pub with accommodation and great meals and it certainly is a way to see an Australia you probably wouldn't if you stayed in Coff's. An Alternative to that is the Urunga Pub which is opposite where the rivers reach the sea. A verandah room is the best and the breezes are wonderful and the Pub food is great.
Instead of going up the coast from Coff's to Grafton may I suggest that you drive inland through Dorrigo and check in Dorrigo if the road through to the Ebor - Grafton Road from Dorrigo is now sealed - if it is take that and head up to Grafton that way as that is one of the nicest drives I have been on in a while in NSW. Alternatively drive on into Ebor and turn north to Grafton from there.
Do you have relatives or friends in Brisbane? 3 nights is far too long as you can see the "sights" of Brisbane in an afternoon. You are missing some of the best scenery in Australia by bypassing the Northern NSW / S.E Queensland area though by going into Coolangatta ( unless of course you are into beach swimming). My route would go Byron Bay-Mullumbimbi- Murwillumbah ( with perhaps a detour to Nimbin) -though to Chillingham - Numimbar Valley - Springbrook from the back way - back down again and up to Tamborine Mountain then to Brisbane ( if you must). I would go to Fraser Island from Noosa but check that you can get to Kingfisher going that way. The reason I suggest that is that they go via the beach and through the coloured sands to Fraser Island.

The north coast of NSW has some beautiful little towns and beaches. I suggest spending a couple more days in that area and less time in Brisbane. I would ditch Coffs Harbour for Byron Bay and spend 2 nights at Byron. If you do stop there make sure you do a side trip to Nimbin (go there for lunch one day, it's a scream).

If you've got a car in Melbourne, one thing you might like to do is go to the picnic races at Hanging Rock on New Years Day - a great Aussie tradition. It's about an hour's drive from Melbourne. Check it out at www.hangingrock.info.