Travelling to Australia 25th July, spending 3nights in sydney, 2nights in the Blue mountains, 2nights in the Hunter Valley, 3nights arounds Ayers Rock/Alice and the rest in Cape Tribulation and Cairns area.
What is the weather going to be like in each of these areas, so I have some idea what to pack for. Will it be cold in Ayers Rock.

For a start, I'd look up www.weatherbase.com, referencing Sydney, Katoomba, Singleton, Alice Springs and Cairns - that will give you basic temperature and rainfall information. Allowing for the fact that these terms are subjective, the Blue Mountains will be cool to cold, Sydney and the Hunter Valley cool to warm in the daytime and cool at night, Alice Springs/Uluru warm in the daytime and cold at night, and North Queensland mild to warm to hottish (Pat might like to comment on the last). In summary it will be cold, cool, warm and hot, quite possibly wet and dry. "Layering" and casual is the way to go.

smarties, Neil's given you a good general guide but who knows what mother nature will throw at you. Last week around Cairns weather was sunny, albeit windy, daytime temperatures up to about 25C-26C, yesterday it was pouring buckets (in so-called "dry" season), very cool and windy with gloomy grey skies. Very heavy rain around Cape Tribulation in particular, which resulted in closure of Daintree ferry for the day. For extended forecasts (7 days out) I use www.weather.com.au/qld/cairns temperatures are in Celsius of course. Good luck!

IT IS WINTER IN AUSTRALIA - YOU KNOW - WINTER - THE COLD TIME OF THE YEAR!!!!

We have no way of knowing whether Australia's winter fits smarties' definition of "cold" or not - as a Canadian said recently on this forum, you can't take Australia's winter very seriously. I have a friend in Cairns who sits in front of a heater wearing jeans and a sweater when it gets down to 18. To me, that's just laughable. Right now in Canberra it's 11 - to me, just cool. To him, unendurable.

Hi - just don't make the mistake of thinking that because Cairns is up there in "Tropical North Queensland" that it will be warm. It may well be during the day, but as soon as the sun sets it's cold (all relative of course).

So layers, for sure - T shirts, long sleeve overshirt, fleece. For Blue Mts if you are planning any early starts, I'd take a woolly hat (doesn't weigh much after all!!).

But to go back to Cairns - if you are going out to the reef - and wetsuits are optional extras - go for it!!!

Maybe I'm just nesh (and don't have much body fat) but your enjoyment will be enhanced enormously if you are not looking at the fish and the coral and thinking "beautiful, amazing" but freezing to death and just wondering how long you can hang on in there!

Hope you get a wind free day when you do go.

Well, Neil, they say your blood thins when you live in the tropics, so you feel the cold more, and whilst I wouldn't huddle around a heater at 18C nighttime temperature, I wouldn't consider it a balmy starlit tropical night, suitable for outside dining under the gently swaying moonlit palm trees. More likely food would blow off your plate or become too cold before you could eat it comfortably. And wintertime nighttime temperatures can go a lot lower than 18. Many overseas tourists, some hardy Canadians nonwithstanding,(have seen Swedes appear for breakfast in fleecy lined jackets) are very disappointed with winter weather as they're led to believe that its a winter "dry" season tropical destination with perfect sunny, calm days. Local paper today shows shots from yesterday of deserted, cold, windswept outdoor eating areas, an abandoned reef terminal and an empty lagoon.

fuzzy, we must have posted at the same time, yes, for heaven's sake hire a wetsuit for winter reef trips.