We are an active couple in our mid 60s planning a trip to Australia for the first time. We would like to see the sights in Melbourne, including the Great Ocean Road outside Melbourne, Sydney, Alice Springs, The Great Barrier Reef, and Fraser Island. Would you all recommend booking a tour, several smaller tours, or exploring on our own?

We will be going in October for about 15 days. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

It is a very big country and fifteen days to do all of the above will be rushed. Fifteen days divided by six locations give you 2.5 days at each location. Assuming you have 15 full days and are not counting them in getting here and leaving. So with flights etc. gives 2 days at each place. Not much really. I suggest you pick 3-4 places.

What are your interests? Can you spend longer?

I would recommend exploring on your own, but I don't like tours.

The great ocean roads starts about two hours out of Melbourne then it is a full day of driving just to do it one way without any stops at all the wonderful places along the way.It is really a 3-4 day trip at least.

There is not much at Alice Springs and it is a 400km drive to Ayers Rock each way. I assume you want to see Ayers Rock so Fly straight to the airport there and spend a couple of days there with a tour or hire car. The resort is not in the National park.

You could easily fill a week at either of Melbourne or Sydney. But to do the basics 2-4 days each would be good.

I have not been to the GBR or Fraser Island so will not comment other than to say the FI is 300 km from Brisbane and Cairns is 1500km from Fraser Island.

Unless you rent a 4WD for Fraser Island, you will need to take a tour - the entire island is sand, in fact the world's largest sand island, so no sealed roads.

You must also take a tour for Great Barrier Reef, and there's a huge choice. Just to narrow it down a bit, what part of the Great Barrier Reef are you thinking of?

peterSale,
Our thought was to go to Alice Springs to see the Olgas and Ayers Rock. Somehow I missed the great distance between Alice Springs and Ayers Rock. Where do the Olgas fit into the distance? I will check into a tour for this area.

We plan to take at least two days on the Great Ocean Road.

Pat,
Thanks for the info on Fraser Island. I will check tours and the time required to get there.

I think we will take the Quick Silver Cruises for the GBR. We are not snorkelers but would like the semi-sub view.

Thanks for your help.

I did the Quicksilver semi-sub. It was FABULOUS beyond my wildest expectations. Don't know if you've read my GOR trip report -- but I loved that as well.

The biggest surprise for me was that the area with proximity to the GBR was so beautiful. If it were me I'd spend more time based in FNQ and see Mossman Gorge, the Daintree, Cape Tribulation, the wildlife park -- AND the reef. If money is not an issue check out the Thala Beach Lodge in Pt. Douglas. It was fantastic.

But I do feel you're trying to cram in too much. These places are far apart! I'd skip Alice Springs -- and maybe Fraser Island. After the GOR we stayed two nights at Hall's Gap to see the Grampians en route back to Melbourne. Beautiful!

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

As everyone has already mentioned, you are trying to do too much in the short amount of time you have. For 15 days, I would recommend a maximum of 4 destinations, with the Great Ocean Road counting as one of those destinations since you need to devote at least 3 - 4 days to it.
I recommend you get a map and a couple of good guidebooks to help you select the destinations that most appeal to you and to help you see where each place is located within Australia. (FYI: Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) are far from Alice Springs, but they are very close to each other.)
Remember that travel times will take up a good part of your 15 days, so if you don't want to spend a lot of your vacation sitting in airports, you'll try to visit fewer places but for more time.

Hi ColleenT,
Whilst organised tours aren't everybody's cup of tea they do have pros and cons just as organising your own trip does. Just to give you an idea I have posted a link for a 13 day Australian Tour which visits Sydney, GBR, Uluru, Melbourne.

http://www.bestcoachtours.com.au/web...lasia/e13.html

So it is a bit hectic but it ticks just about all your boxes. If you are going to do your own trip I think you would definitely have to cut out some of your destinations on your wish list.

Whilst I have camped on Fraser Island many times and obviously love it I think if you just did the GBR you'd be a happy camper. I'd suggest Melbourne, GBR and Uluru/Kata Tjuta/Alice Springs for your 15 days.

Colleent,

There are other reef boats out of Cairns which include semi-submersibles, and don't take as many passengers as Quicksilver (out of Port Douglas, although it supplies coach transfers to and from Cairns and its northern beaches). One is Reef Magic, www.reefmagiccruises.com and another is Ocean Spirit to Michaelmas Cay - www.oceanspirit.com.au

Michaelmas Cay provides very easy snorkelling for a beginner - I know you say you're not snorkellers, but you could easily change your mind when you see how easy it is. Especially from a sand cay, as you can enter water at your own pace and comfort level. Ocean Spirit has a high crew to passenger ratio, there's always experienced crew to help.

October is usually a top month to visit GBR in Far North Queensland, but its always wise to give yourselves some "wriggle time" for any reef trip, weather being the most important element.

The Olgas are about 40km from Ayers Rock. A tour from the resort will take you to both. It would be easy to do both in day, although a day at each would be preferable, having come so far.

<<The Olgas are about 40km from Ayers Rock. A tour from the resort will take you to both. It would be easy to do both in day, although a day at each would be preferable, having come so far.>>

I'm not sure that I would entirely agree with this statement. The Valley of the Winds walk at Kata Tjuta is a 7.4km circuit and they allow 3 hours to do it. This is a fantastic walk but it is a little challenging in places but well worth the effort. I couldn't imagine you wanting to do that walk and a walk around Uluru in the same day.

If you narrowed your trip down to 3 destinations you could have the luxury then of seeing a Sunrise and Sunset at Uluru, Uluru walks and then Kata Tjuta walks. Our red centre is certainly worth some time - it is an absolutely stunning area.

I'd second Pat's recommendation of Ocean Spirit - or rather, I took her advice and had a great time.

A tour would take you both the Olgas and Ayers Rock. As with all tours how much time they give you and whether this is enough/too much time is another matter. It all depends on what you like to do. I spent five hours just on top of the rock, plus about the same around its base.


A quick search and I found this company. They offer a five hour trip in the morning and a four hour trip in the afternoon. What they are like I have no idea.

http://www.ecotours.com.au/exec/1400...CALREGION=1457

Thanks everyone. On your suggestion, we have decided to add a week to our trip. Since my husband really wants to go to Ayers Rock, we will fly there rather than Alice Springs, again on your suggestions.

Thank you for the great Ecotours and Best Coach Tours websites. Any suggestions for hotel/resort near the Rock?

In Cairns, in addition to the GBR, we plan to take the scenic railway and the skyrail. Having a tough time deciding if the culture park is a must see.

There is only one Hotel/Resort at Ayers Rock, but it covers everything from camping through to 4.5 star.

There is a small supermarket, news agent, cafes and souvenir shop as well.

Be sure to visit the tourist information centre at the resort. It is far more informative than the one in the National Park. There are examples of the wildlife, great pictures and detailed geological information about both Ayers Rock and The Olgas (sadly missing from the National Park)

http://www.ayersrockresort.com.au/

I would suggest that you hire a car at Yulara (Ayr's Rock). it's nice to be able to set your own agenda there. A small car is all you need, and the road from Yulara to the Olgas is sealed.

DH and I used Discovery Ecotours the last two times we were at Yulara. We had a great time taking their tours. The Sounds of Silence dinner is expensive, but fabulous.

Colleen, Tjapukai is well worth it. http://www.tjapukai.com.au/ They use a wonderful mixture of technologies to present their stories.

If you are interested in wildlife in the wild then you should include the Atherton Tablelands as that is were you find the greatest diversity and the wet tropics endemics.

My husband and I did a 21 day trip to Australia in 2006. The areas we covered were Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Adelaide and Kangaroo Island and the Cairns area. We did our touring on our own and had a fabulous time. I would second the suggestion of going to Michaelmas Cay. I was 55 at the time and had never snorkeled before, but with the help of a instructor from Ocean Spirit, I was soon snorkeling around easily. It was so cool! There is also a submersible available on the Ocean Spirit, but I was having so much fun snorkeling, that I didn't take the time for that activity. I also second the suggestion about seeing the wildlife in Tablelands. We went to the Daintree and enjoyed our time there, however we saw so much more wildlife in the tablelands, including a platypus in the wild. We also went on a private tour with a local guide that started at sunset and included spotlighting for possums. You will love Australia! We are hoping to go back within the next couple of years.

Sara

If you want to take a tour of the Great Ocean Road outside Melbourne, I highly recommend A Tour With a Difference

http://www.atwad.com.au/

We used them in July and were extremely pleased! PamT

Hi, ColleenT. We did an afternoon tour to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) which gave us time to walk in Walpa Gorge, which gave you the feeling of the sheer size. Afterwards the tour went to Uluru for the sunset viewing. The next day we did a sunrise tour to Uluru then did a cultural tour at Uluru, and in the afternoon a trip to the waterhole and drawings, followed again by the sunset tour to Uluru. All trips were well worth it. You will find all these tours plus others on the ayersrock website. We stayed at the Outback Pioneer for the two nights - adequate accommodation.
Loved the Cairns area. Atherton Tablelands is a fascinating place to travel through with its changing flora. We did take a tour through this region. We like to get the local knowledge so we take trips, although we do drive ourselves too.