Travel with teenager
 

My wife and I will be visiting Australia in early June of 2004 and are very excited about the trip. I met some Australian soldiers while serving in Vietnam and admire the Australian people. We will be on a Globus tour starting in Sydney for 3 days, Cairns 3 days, Alice Springs/Ayers Rock 3 days then finishing in Melbourne 3 days. Our teenage daughter is traveling with us and
she loves snokeling. Will it be too cold in June for us to snorkel? Can anyone offer any insight on this Globus tour? As it relates to age of the travelers and if there are typically any teenagers along?

Tenntomt, I've never been on a Globus tour, or indeed any guided tour (other than some day trips), so cannot comment on guided tours in general or Globus tours in particular.

Have you already paid for the tour? If so, I'm not sure why you're asking questions about it now because, regardless of the answers you'll get, you're committed to the tour.

If you have not yet paid and are not yet committed, I would suggest cutting out Melbourne and using those days elsewhere. I would recommend taking the 3 Melbourne days and devoting 2 of them to Cairns and 1 of them to Sydney (or perhaps even all 3 of them to Cairns, depending on what your interests are).

I lived in Melbourne for 2-1/2 years, absolutely loved it, and am a great defender of Melbourne on this forum. However, Melbourne's winter weather tends to be on the grey, drizzly and cold side. There is just no comparison between the Great Ocean Road on a sunny day and the Great Ocean Road on an overcast day.

Also, while Melbourne is a wonderful city in which to live, it is not a city in which you land and go "Wow!". It doesn't have Sydney's magnificent harbour and opera house. Melbourne's charm reveals itself to you during a few days of exploration. You just cannot tap into Melbourne's delights in a lightning visit.

Furthermore, many of the things I love about Melbourne, while they are indeed beautiful, are not necessarily uniquely Australian.

So, considering that (1) Melbourne is an awful long way from the other places you'll be visiting, (2) the weather very well could be unpleasant in Melbourne, and (3) Melbourne is not a city that lends itself to being enjoyed in a hurry, and (4) in many respects it lacks components that make Australia the unique place it is ...... I don't think you should go there.

Yes, you most certainly can snorkel in Queensland in June. We went to Port Douglas (a little north of Cairns) in July, and we snorkelled very happily. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the wonders of the world, no question about it.

The tropical rainforest ecosystem of Far North Queensland also is fascinating.

Many people who go to Far North Queensland choose not to stay in Cairns itself but rather in one of the seaside communities north or south of Cairns. The ones to the north that most frequently are discussed here are Palm Cove and Port Douglas. Each of them has its cheering section on the forum (with perhaps something of a preponderence towards Palm Cove). I don't think you could go wrong with either of them.

If you are a vet, you will notice that almost every Australian town, even one that is not much more than a wide spot in the road, has a war memorial. These memorials were built following WW I. Australia (and even more so New Zealand) lost a staggering proportion of its young male population in WW I.

I remember being in the tiny town of Tilba Tilba in rural New South Wales and reading the names on the WW I war memorial there. There were perhaps three dozen names (I confess I don't remember the exact number, although I did count them at the time). That may not seem like a lot. But if you consider what a tiny farming community Tilba Tilba is, those three dozen or so young men must have represented a huge loss.

hi tenntomt - June is a good month for snorkelling in Far North Queensland weather is nearly always warm - your daughter would enjoy a reef trip which caters to a younger group eg., Passions of Paradise out of Cairns to Upolo Cay. They have a new boat and am sure you and your wife would enjoy it too. Agree with Judy about missing Melbourne in winter - this is the time of the year when Aussies from southern climes start flocking to North Queensland.

Hi,
I have just returned from our Christmas/new Year's trip to AUS with our teenager (13-boy) If you have not paid for the trip, do it yourself. Globus tends to have more seniors (judging from the people who were gathering by the greeter holding the sign in SYD airport) Also, your itinerary includes a lot of places and a lot of running around, and of course, a lot of airports.
I would re evaluate and perhaps drop something out of your itinerary. I loved Palm Cove and would definatly recommend it. I would drop Melbourne or Ayers Rock. i would spend more time in Queensland and in SYD.
For info on my trip please see my trip report on the general interest section for Aus & the Pacific (it is posted under PatW's AUS report) There is a complete report on Queensland.
Cheers,
Pat

Just to agree with Pat's suggestion, tere are trips from Cairns, and Cairns and the area north to Port Douglas is a place I simply love!