Thanks margo and ksm for the kudos !

As for making Melbourne a base, I doubt if that is possible for any location in Australia at all. Australia is a continent, and distances are large. You pretty much have to fly to get from one place to another. You have to decide which parts of Australia you wish to see, and I doubt if you can cover any of them by using a single "base" city. Not like Europe, where this is frequently possible. Besides, I don't think that Melbourne is very touristy in terms of attractions - the Great Ocean Road outside Melbourne is of course great, but cannot consume more than 2-3 days of your time atmost. If you wish to visit Barrier Reef, or Ayers Rock, or the Gold Coast, or the Whitsundays, or just about anywhere else in Australia, you will HAVE to move from one place to another.

Thank you indiancouple for the wonderful trip report! My husband and I will be in Australia next March-early April for 23 nights. We are going to most of the same places except for Port Douglas, and not sure about the Great Ocean Road yet. We will be spending 6 nights in Tasmania instead. This will be my 6th trip to Australia, and my husband's 4th, but it has been about 17 years since our last trip. We will most definitely eat at Zafraan in Sydney. We love Indian food and really do not have it often enough. I'm sorry you had such an expensive ride in Victoria, but grateful that you posted about it. We will make sure to keep to the speed limit when driving in Victoria!

Thanks for the appreciation Laurieco. I am sure Tasmania will be wonderful. Have been there on work in 1998-99 several times, and it was very very pretty. Have fun, and drive carefully !

Just found this and enjoyed it tremendously. Thank you, indiancouple for all the detail. Getting to Australia from the U.S. is probably as daunting as from India--no way to avoid a long air trip?

I, as annhig, loved the name Ayers Wok. The first time I ever heard of the rock was in a Dick Francis book. And the characters visited art shops in Alice Springs.

Where to next?

I forgot to say thanks for a new (to me) food--gozleme. Looks really great. I googled it and will share a link on the What's for Dinner? thread.

Thanks TDudette for the appreciation ! As for the long air trip to Australia, you can certainly avoid it by taking the boat instead, but I would not recommend it !!

Where to next ? Probably South Africa in November - in planning stage presently; hope it works out.

We had consumed a lot of gozleme during our Turkey visit in 2011. Wife had even tried her hand at making it while we were at Cappadoccia ! Fairly common street food in various parts of Europe too, with Turkish ladies cooking it everywhere. Try it sometime - it tastes great.

Indiancouple,

Excellent report. I was fortunate to live in Australia for 6 years both in Melbourne and Sydney. I have been to GOR many times and its always windy. Thanks for bringing back memories.

TDudette - we have gozleme food trucks around Melbourne - the one at a market near is always busy .

I've just read your Trip Report again & what a lovely read it is, IndianCouple.
Thank you so much for your detailed descriptions, observations & wonderfully open hearted attitude.

I'm glad you enjoyed your stay with us & hope the memories stay with you until you come back again!

Thanks everyone for the kind words of appreciation. Writing these reports is a tedium, but your words of encouragement keep spurring me on every time !

Great report, interesting to read about Australia from a tourist's perspective.

I thought you might like my koala photos, he visited during a drought, desperate for a drink

https://flic.kr/s/aHskctTEHC

not quite sure how to do these Flikr links, sorry if it doesn't work :)

it worked, Adelaidean - so sweet! I know that they are flea-ridden [and worse] but the photos are irresistible.

Thanks for letting me know :) haven't done Flikr sharing/ links before.

Great TR,thanks so much for taking the time to write up all those details.

Nice pics Adelaidean. Thanks FromDC. We aim to please !

Hi!

Thank you for your trip report! We are headed Down Under in November. We are doing much the same as you, but with a extra week.

I noticed you didn't really stay in Cairns - just Port Douglas. Would you suggest that? It does look like there is lots to see up in PD, but we had planned a day in Cairns as well - but would happily give it up if that was the suggestion...

Hi Comet60. To the best of my knowledge, Cairns is just a city, with nothing to offer to a tourist. Port Douglas is just an hour away, with excellent transfer facilities between PD & Cairns, and in my opinion PD is just a wonderful place to stay.

There is not a whole lot to see in Port Douglas; it is a base town to cover the GBR, Mossman Gorge, Kuranda etc, which can all be done just as conveniently from Cairns, I guess. However, PD is a more relaxed place for a tourist, a lovely cute town with loads of eateries within walking distance. For anyone going in that direction, I would certainly recommend staying all nights in PD instead of Cairns.

I agree with everything indiancouple has said, Comet60; our aussie friends said that Palm Cove is also a nice place, and closer to Cairns, but we never got there.

We had 5 nights in PD which would have been about right had I not got sick on the first night and spend 24 hours plus out of action; but even a week would probably not be too long.

on the way back to Cairns I strongly recommend exploring the Atherton Tablelands - wonderful bird and wildlife to experience. We did a private tour with Alan Gillanders [one time fodorite] for about 24 hours, and it was worth every penny.

http://www.alanswildlifetours.com.au

Namaskar! Very well written,Indiancouple. I am soo glad I came upon this report whilst planning for our upcoming trip in Dec. PD which was missing from our itinerary is now included! Since we will be doing NZ as well on this round, I am headed to read your NZ report! Thank you for sharing !!

Hi Indiancouple -- I am going there soon , very important question , can we use Indian license to drive in Aus ? I live in Canada bt never got a license here but I got one in India when I was there cuz its so easy.

Thanks indiewanderers & webrahul. And yes, an Indian driving license is perfectly acceptable in Australia, as long as it has your photo on it (which it probably does). No needd for an international driving permit here.

Thank you

Greetings indiancouple. I thoroughly enjoy all of your trip reports.

Full disclosure: I haven't been to GBR but I have been whale-watching. Brother was very keen to do this in a Zodiac, but one look at his wife's face and I knew that wasn't on. I have never regretted taking the 'tamer' cruise in consequence, so I think you were very wise to switch. I am sure your wife thanked you!

Melbourne remains in my heart as the locale for the National Gallery of Victoria. But I know about choices having to be made for trips.

Thanks for your comments Sue ! We have interacted before on this forum, I recall well.

Somehow, Melbourne did not excite us as much as we had expected, although the Great Ocean Road was excellent. As a city, Sydney had more to offer to a tourist.

Port Douglas, of course, remains my favourite in Australia.

Hi Indiancouple. thanks for your reports. I was earlier planning to do New Zealand over 14 days, but am plannning to now extend to 18 and have 11+7 between NZ and Australia. As per you, which parts should i skip in either place : I think South Island esp West Coast is a must and cities in Aus. Any thoughts. And yes, while i am putting it here, the NZ report was extremely wonderful. Or should I only cover NZ?

I think that combining NZ + Aus in one trip would be just too much. I don't think you would do justice to either country.

Would strongly recommend that you cover only NZ, and leave Australia for another trip. An 11+7 combination would be too rushed in my opinion. If you can extend NZ to 16 or 18 days, even better. Lots and lots to do there, and certainly a fabulous place to visit.

<I think that combining NZ + Aus in one trip would be just too much. I don't think you would do justice to either country.>

I couldn't agree more. In 18 days you could just about give justice to one island of NZ.

Agreed. Am planning to do only NZ and Melnq8 has been a great help. Thanks.