Hi<BR>I'm a pretty regular participant on the Europe message board, new to this one. In Europe I am an independent traveler.<BR><BR>I'm starting to consider a 12-day package tour, solo, to Australia. I know longer would be better, but I have time constraints. (A Trafalgar brochure piqued my interest.) I've tried searching here on tour, package tour, and Trafalgar and got zip.<BR>Any ideas of how to evaluate tour deals?<BR>The one I was looking at includes Sydney, Melbourne, Alice Springs I think, and Ayers Rock. Transport from place to place is by plane. I know it's only a taste of a large place, but I'd like to try that taste, or one like it. Any suggestions of where to look or what to consider?

I don't know about Trafalgar, but I do know several people who have been very happy with AAT Kings (http://www.affordableaatkingstours.com/). I have not been on one of their tours myself, but I have run into several of their groups in my travels, and it seemed to be well-run operation.

Elaine, we went to Australia almost ten years and used an agent to organize our trip. We &quot;did&quot; Sydney and the Cairns area for about 10 days and couldn't imagine adding on any more stops. We had considered Ayers Rock but the travel time was just tooo much. I'll look for information tonight and let you know. Out of Sydney we took three day trips i believe and two out of Cairns, including a day trip to the Great Barrier Reef. You won't beleive how exhausted you'll be just from the flight, bobbie

Hi Elaine,<BR>I agree with bobby.<BR>so &quot;If you want to eat a large elephant cut it up into smaller chunks and take your time to eat it&quot;<BR>12 days is really not long enough to dash around oz. You will be tired frustrated and all hot 'n' bothered.<BR>I would suggest you split your limited time between just two main areas.<BR>for example Sydney and Cairns areas, believe me there are plenty of things to fill your time in these two places and by keeping North Queensland till last you have time to chill before the loooong flight home.<BR>Look upon it as the first course of eating that huge elephant , you can always come back for more.<BR>Have fun<BR><BR>Muck<BR>UK<BR>

Hi Elaine,<BR><BR>Try this site, www.scenictours.com.au they have tours over Aust and NZ. I have been on one of their tours to NZ and it was fabulous. <BR><BR>Jenny

Sorry forgot to suggest...consider direct booking with hotels, you may have more freedom to explore than a package might give you.<BR>Whatever you decide.<BR>Have fun,<BR>Muck

Also, consider buying a &quot;Boomerang Pass&quot; from <BR>Qantas. We made an independent Australian trip two years ago, flying from Sydney to Cairns to Alice Springs to Hobart back to Sydney using the pass. We took several one- and two-day tours from each area, since we did not want to drive.<BR> You must purchase it before leaving the U.S.

I think that a package tour will actually be more time consuming than what you would like and need. I would fly into Sydney and stay for 5 days or so then fly to Cairns and get accommodation in Port Douglas and &quot;do&quot; that area - this will be more than enough for 12 days, it will cost less and you will see more. <BR>Do a search on this site for accommodation and tours in the Cairns/Port Douglas/Daintree/Cape Tribulation area and the various islands around there. Also do a search for things to do in Sydney on this site because there has been a wealth of information given over the years. <BR>I don't think you can fly into Ayers Rock and stay 2 days and do either yourself or the area justice and just getting in and out of that area is time consuming.

I did a budget escorted tour a few years ago with Cosmos to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji that was great. They probably offer tours solely within Australia as well. If you want to upgrade a little, check out Globus, which is the &quot;first-class&quot; branch of the Globus/Cosmos family.<BR><BR>You should also check out the Australian Tourist Commission at www.australia.com. They offer several different packages to Australia. I also suggest you check the websites of Qantas and United for deals and packages. <BR><BR>When evaluating packages, please pay close attention to what sightseeing is included, and which you will have to purchase as an &quot;optional tour.&quot; Also pay attention to travel times. Even though you are flying, depending on the time of day that you travel, transit times could greatly diminish the amount of time you have to actually visit the various cities. Also keep in mind that from the US, 12 days may actually only be 10 nights (the first night being spent in transit). Also,the day you arrive you may be too tired and jet-lagged to do any extensive sightseeing, which would decrease your actual sightseeing time even further. <BR><BR>Unless you are dead set on seeing the outback, I suggest you skip it and only do Cairns, Sydney, and Melbourne. If you want to do the outback, then I would combine it with perhap one other city.<BR><BR>However, you say you want a &quot;taste&quot; of Australia, and I understand and respect your desire to see as much as you can on your first trip there. Whichever option you choose, I don't think you will be disappointed because Australia is a fantastic place to visit. I hope you have a wonderful trip!

Hi Elaine<BR><BR>My hubby and I toured Australia and NZ last year (we were there at this time period) and fell in love with both countries. You can do all that you would like but it could be exhausting. My thoughts are with Sydney and Great Barrier Reef and I say that because those were two of the truly high spots of our trip. You can get around Sydney so easily and, if necessary, hire a tour for the day. When you get to the barrier reef (Port Douglas probably) you can book tours right there from your hotel.<BR><BR>I'll also say - if I had to add a third spot in - then it would be Melbourne and, unfortunately, Ayers Rock is such a long way to go to see a large rock. Sorry folks, that's how I came away feeling.<BR><BR>We used the Boomerang pass to get from point a to b and so on. The passes must be purchased before you leave the states and right now both Qantas and air New Zealand are having fare sales of around 850 round trip.<BR><BR>In Sydney tour around by ferry boat - it's truly marvelous - go out to Manly beach by ferry and have lunch/dinner there. Take a dinner cruise/sail on Sydney harbor (we loved it) see a show at the Opera House. Visit and see as much as you can while you are there.<BR><BR>Trafalgar and Collette had some really great looking tours - and they appeared to do a lot. <BR><BR>I hope Alan will also give you some ideas cause he's great with Sydney.<BR>Ellen

Hi Elaine,<BR><BR>We are researching travel to Australia as well and we have narrowed it down to a few travel agencies one being Trafalgar. <BR><BR>The thing that we like about Traflgar is that for Sydney, they have their 'easy go' tours which basically get your room/board + airfare but don't constrict you to be hussled and bussled with a group. Also, their Rainforest/Reef tour of the GBR is good since it includes the things we would like to do up there. The other tour packages we checked and we didnt like them becuase they seemed very busy. The Trafalgar options for us make it both lesuirely at our own time to do things plus giving you many accomodations. It seems like their 'easy go' packages are a mixed indpendent and mixed tour package.<BR><BR>Also though, we have on our final list a Independent itenerary which is just paying for room and board and airfare. The only difference with this one compared to Trafaglar is that we would have to pay for the attractions ourselves. This would give us more freedom to do what we want to do but also is more expensive than the Trafaglar method. I believe though that both methods even out at the end cost wise.<BR><BR>But right now we are leaning towards the Trafaglar package since it is somewhat of an independent package + a non busy like tour. Also we had an option through them to extend the easy go for 2 more days in sydney and that will give us ample time to go see more attractions.

Hi Elaine...saw your request on the Europe board! <BR><BR>It's been ages, but I had a wonderful 2 month work assignment to Melbourne 15 years ago. I then spent 2 weeks in touring in Australia and 2 in NZ.<BR><BR>I absolutely loved Melbourne...it is a beautiful city. I actually didn't enjoy Sydney as much, but as I recall, I only had three days there and I had a cold. I'm sure if I had been feeling great it would have been better!<BR><BR>4 days in Brisbane (World's Fair was there then)... on your limited time, I'd skip it (it was great because several of us spent time at the WF).<BR><BR>5 days in Cairns...best part of the trip! Did the Quicksilver trip to the Great Barrier Reef, did a rafting trip on the Tully, and just hung around for a few days. Some friends stayed in Port Douglas, and they really enjoyed it.<BR><BR>During the months I worked, we did several weekend trips... 2 best were the drive along the Ocean Road, and a hot-air ballooning trip in a small town that begins with an &quot;S&quot; about an hour away from Melbourne. Sorry, can't remember the name. That weekend ranks right up there in my top &quot;great times in my life&quot; list!<BR><BR>I did Australia independently, using the Quantas pass (I think it was called a Kangaroo pass then). I bought it before I left the US. On your limited time, I wouldn't try to do more than Melbourne, Syndey, and Cairns/Port Douglas, and that might even be pushing it!<BR><BR>Have a great trip!!<BR><BR>Anne

thanks to all for great information!

Hi Elaine, You've gotten some good advice especially limiting the areas you want to go to. We really regretted not getting to New Zealand while we were in the area since how often will you get there but there just wasn't time and I can't stress how exhausted you will be (more so coming back ugh). The agency that we used was Swain Australia Tours 1-800-227-9246 in PA which we really liked, finding them to be thorough and aiming to put a package together that met our needs and desires (I never expected to be met by limosines!). The only regret we had was that the resort where they had us stay, although lovely and relaxing, was quite isolated. It was 12 miles away from Port Douglas and if I had a chance to do it again would stay in that area. Let me know if you're interested in more details in our itinerary to give you ideas. I think you still have my email address. One other thing:we needed a visa which I would imagine you would too and one of the nicest moments of looking forward to the trip was sitting in the Australian office (NYC) and watching their videa of what was to come! Would have loved to buy it.

During my research and planning, I've found Goway tours at Goway.com is flexible and reasonably priced. Will arrange add on packages for you.