my wife and I are scheduled to fly into sydney at the end of january. any thoughts on the pros or cons of renting a vehicle and just wandering up the coast towards carines.we have a month in austrailia, so any help would be appreciated. thanks

Hi onie1
do you have any pre determined schedule?
Sydney to Cairns is a pretty long drive. I wonder if your time might be better spent flying between these 2 places and hiring a car in Cairns. However if you have an itinary between Syd and Cairns let us know.
Muck

You are wise, I think, to keep to the coast at the end of January, which is perhaps our warmest month -- but the sea breeze keeps the heat and the flies at bay, somewhat.

I think I agree with Mucky that the drive from Sydney to Cairns is such a long one that you could use your time better by flying that leg and using your idea of a hiure car for a different route. Here's a suggestion:

The Great Ocean Road between Melbourne and Adeliade is supposed to be a terrific driving experience, and from Melbourne you can get a ferry with vehicle space across to Tasmania. Why don't you fly from Sydney to Adelaide, and, after a couple of days in this pleasant city, hire a car from one of the major companies that will let you drop it off in Sydney or Devonport (Tasmania), drive the Great Ocean Road and see Melbourne (another couple of days), catch the ferry across to Tasmania and spend a week in the comparative cool of Australia's most southern (and, apparently, most graciously beautiful) state, then hop the ferry back to Sydney, either with or without your car (depending on where they will let you drop it off). Then when you have returned to Sydney (by early to mid-February), you could perhaps take a comparatively short drive down the south coast to Narooma (or similar), and, finally, fly up to Cairns and have a look at the reef. With a month to use up, you could do this without too much rushing, I'd think.

Hi Onie1,
I agree you could do better with your time than the long Sydney-Cairns drive. Alan's itinerary, or variations of it, would give you a good look around in a month and you'd see a diversity which lots of people don't.

The only caveat I would add is that a friend did the Melbourne-Tas and Tas-Sydney ferry links with his car and said the Melbourne-Tas wasn't good at all, but the Tas-Sydney link was great. I can't remember just what the problem was, but have e-mailed him & will post his reply. They travel a lot (early retirement baby boomers in a meticulously renovated VW combi) and are not "precious" so must have been something.
Perhaps you could fly Melb-Tas & pick up another car there. There are often v.good fly/drive specials. You're coming at a good time as our school holidays finish end of Jan/beginning Feb and the rates/availability will ease up a little.

Tasmania is gorgeous, tiny and easy to get around, with dramatic difference between East & West coasts.

Have a look at: www.travel.com.au, Virgin & Qantas. Virgin has a "happy hour" sale each day; 12 - 1 or 1-2.

Tasmania is certainly tiny by Australian standards, but it depends where you're coming from - the state's area is about 68,000 sq km, a bit smaller than the Republic of Ireland, or a bit larger than West Virginia. Sorry, Bokhara, I'm having a sort of trivia day.

I just wondered if you realize how slowly they drive in Australia. There are no super highways like we have in the states. You are probably not going to go any more than 40-45 miles per hour. That plus the long distances make it much better to fly. Also, there are good fares if you book early - boomerang passes and such.

BFG (big fat generalisation) there, fbeifeld. You don't have to be Einstein to work out that Australia's population density doesn't encourage a large network of US-style interstates, but I've just completed a 1000 km-plus tour through country New South Wales and seldom had the need to drop below the default State limit of 100 km/hr (62 mph). There's also growing 110 km/hr (68 mph) freeway penetration.

My recollection of the US is that major highway limits are 65/75 mph and elsewhere often 55. Having said that, there's no clue in the OP's post that he/she is American anyway.

Your warning is justified up to a point, but to say that onie1 is going to be stuck at 40-45 mph is unduly alarmist. That said, I agree with the other posters that Sydney-Cairns is a very long haul indeed, and much of the Queensland leg is, frankly, dead boring. Perhaps driving Sydney-Brisbane and flying from there would be a reasonable compromise. Depending on budget, onie1, maybe you could consider spreading your wings as per Alan's and Bokhara's suggestions.

Well now - it sort of depends, onie1, on the sort of trip you fancy. The East Coast is the most obvious part of Australia to visit, and certainly the most used route for point to point itineraries.

You could, for sure, cover a lot more territory in a month if you flew from A to B. And Tassie is gorgeous. And taking the ferry from there to Sydney is on my personal wish list.

But there is a certain romance involved in a road trip. Once you've got the wheels and have started out, then it's all up to you. No fixed points in time (need to be in X to take the plane to Y) - no allotment of time between this and that place - especially if you just busk it as far as accommodation is concerned.

So, while some great itineraries have been suggested, wandering can be fun, and if you want to do a road trip, then do it.

I would head inland to start with from Sydney. Go to the Blue Mts first. You can cut across back to the coast via the Hunter Valley, or Barrington Tops. Then maybe the Myall Lakes area; Coffs Harbour: Byron Bay.

Brisbane, Fraser Island, Noosa, Gt Keppel; Mission Beach.

These are just some of the obvious stopping off places. There are loads of others which you would have the thrill of finding for yourselves. You could also venture inland (though it would be hot) to places like Carnarvon Gorge.

If you have wheels you can go anywhere.

But there are long stretches of just driving.

Your choice.

Are you flying into Sydney and out of Cairns?

cheers

Onie 1 we've done that trip, because we had to, more times than I care to remember, in 3-4 days with no nighttime driving. A month is a totally different kettle of fish and I envy you.
Yes, there'll be some boring patches, the worst is between Rockhampton and Mackay, Qld, but that's still only 4 hours. There's nothing wrong with the road, though. Other boring bits can be alleviated by diversions to many coastal spots and not-too-far inland areas. Do consider that the "coastal road", ie, Pacific Highway in NSW and Bruce Highway in Qld vary rarely come near the coast, most are about half an hour from hwy. But that's fine with the time you've allocated. And fuzzylogic's and other's suggestions are also worthy diversions.

Happy wandering!

Sorry, I meant most coastal towns are about half an hour from highway.

to all that have replyed, thanks for the info. we are rethinking our route, and would welcome any thoughts or suggestions on our new "tenative plan. fly into sydney, spend two nights in sydney, catch a plane to adeladie, spend 3-5 days in the area checking out the winerys ect; then driving the coast to melborne taking two to three days, drop off the car and take the ferry to Tasmania rent another car and spend a few days in tasmania, then flying to cairns renting a car and spend the last two weeks wandering down the coast to arive back in sydney on the 24th of feb. any thoughts or comments would be appreciated, we are coming from michigan near lake superior, and are really looking forward to seeing some of WARM austrailia. if anyone ever comes to the states and needs some help with the upper midwest please keep my address handy tnanks again onie1

That sounds like a great itinerary! It has the advantage that, if our feelings are correct and you decide that the driving from Cairns is a bit of a bore, you can get as far as Brisbane, return the hire car, and fly the rest of the way -- gives you a bit more time in Sydney, too, just when the weather is becoming lovely.

Have a wonderful holiday, and thanks for the offer about the mid-west!

thanks for the info alen, do you or anyone feel that we would have any problems finding our own acomidations from adelaide down to melborne and on tasmania. hows the fishing in this area. any0ne know a web where I can get some additional info on tasmania. thanks, onie1

Hi onie1, I think you'll be fine with accommodation at the end of Jan. All the schools will either have or will resume in the first week of Feb.

There's great fishing in Tasmania; particularly fly fishing for trout.
Google "Fishing Tasmania" and there's a wealth of sites. Here's one to get your line wet www.fishingtasmania.com

BTW, I think your new itinerary will be great.

Yes, the new itinerary sounds great, though you have to some extent rejoined the ranks of "let's cram in as much as we can".

I'm really not sure it's worth going to Tassie for 2 days. And only 2 days in Sydney and 3-5 in Adelaide (including environs, granted) seems lopsided.
And two weeks to travel the coast makes it more of a dash than an amble.

But it's your holiday and your choice.

And I'm wondering how long you have allowed yourselves to glory in FNQ once you get there. 3-5 days in Adelaide and only 2 in Cairns/environs would be truly eccentric!

All the best.

Be sure to read Bill Bryson's In A Sunburned Country (buy it used on Amazon) before you go. You won't be sorry --- things and places will be familiar and your experience will be enriched. It was a NY Times best seller.

Just a follow up on the Melbourne-Devenport ferry: My friends took a night crossing (9pm to 7am), with "cruise seats" as they thought the relatively short time didn't warrant the $ for a cabin. (About double, I think). However, they were extremely disappointed to find that there were not even shower facilities available for non-cabin holders. They described this leg as "very bare bones" with virtually nothing except the seats supplied, compared to the Devenport-Sydney leg which was just like a "normal" cruise ship with excellent facilities. Well worth the extra for the cabins (longer trip) and the bonus was coming through the Heads at Sydney on a big ship. They did say, though that if they did it again, they'd take a day sailing from Melbourne (leaves 9 am arrives 7pm) (and pack a picnic !). I've noticed that the day sailings are only in Summer and a bit ad-hoc through January/February. Just google "Melbourne-Devenport Ferry" and all the info will be there. BTW, there seem to be some good accommodation specials. The peak season appears to end 26 January (Australia Day) so you will do better $ wise after that.