annhig - of course it depends on your interests, but 5 nights in PD seems a little long to me. Maybe split your time with a couple of nights on the Atherton Tablelands? PD is nice, but it's very touristy, hardly typically Australian.

Sally - great to hear from you! Glad you enjoyed my report - it was a wonderful trip! We grappled with the same dilemma you mention about continuing on the GOR to Adelaide. In our case, we decided to loop back to Melbourne because of limited time (not enough to show our friends around the Adelaide area) - plus we wanted to see the Grampians, which we had not seen before. I think it depends on how much you like to drive - backtracking to Melbourne is not as far, but you'll have to deal with dropping off the car, waiting for a flight etc, etc, then picking up a car at the other end. By that time, you wouldn't be that much further ahead of where you'd be had you just continued along the GOR.

Happy planning for 2015!..always willing to lend advice... Ralph