lisa

DH & I are considering a 2-week trip in August 2007. Would probably spend at least a few days in Sydney (our second time there) and then 5 days someplace around the reef (considering South Long Island Nature Lodge). Where else in Australia would be likely to have good weather in August? We are very interested in aboriginal art, and we love wildlife viewing, nature photography, and beautiful scenery, so were thinking about Kakadu, but I'm assuming that might not be easy to get to? (Fly into Darwin then drive?) Also love wineries -- would any of Australia's wine regions have pretty good weather in August? Other suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Bill_Bolton

> would any of Australia's wine
> regions have pretty good weather in
> August?

The Hunter Valley is a major wine growing area that is less than 200Km north of Sydney and is an easy drive mostly under freeway conditions.

Its a great "get away" area and has many accomodation choices, lots of good places to eat and wonderful wine of course. My personal recommendations for Wineries to visit are Margan (a great place to have lucnch too) and Ivanhoe.

The weather conditions in August will be cool nights and warm, occasionally hot days. In general the weather will be similar to Sydney.

We were there last weekend, and had fine weather.

Cheers,

Bill

lancefan

Darwin/Kakadu would be a good option for you in August and you would get ticks for schenery, wildlife and photography. there's been some detailed posts recently about darwin kakadu and lichfield and you could do them all. you would probably want 4 days (pref 5) so that you could have 2 darwin, 2 kakadu. lichfield is fine for a day trip but I think 3 days is a good amount for kakadu - it's a very big NP and there are a LOT of beautiful spots. obvious ones would be cruise of some sort (yellow water) nourlangie rock for the art, ubirr at sunset (there's always lots of people, but it really is special) then lots of falls (barramundi, gunlom, jim jim for a few). you could do fly to darwin then drive yourself, or you could do a 2/3 day tour (there are a LOT of tour operators up there). I've done it both ways and both have their merits. whatever you do if you're up there at that time, don't miss mindil beach markets, they're great.

re wine regions, if you did go NT GBR and Sydney, hunter would be the most obvious choice to go to from sydney, although if you wanted to do something that was a little different, you could go to mudgee - you could go to the blue mountains, then on to mudgee from there. There are a lot of good wineries in mudgee and it's not quite as full on as the hunter. not as many people go to mudgee that go to hunter, but that doesn't mean it's not worth going to. http://www.mudgeewine.com/ depends on what you like I suppose.

if you didn't do NT, there are so many options for wine areas it's crazy! you could do adelaide and see barossa, clare valley, mclaren vale areas or Melbourne and do the Yarra Valley or head furhter afield to king valley; or you could do WA and go to Margaret River. Not to forget Tasmania, which would also fit your nature, wildlife and scenery bills as well as wineries aplenty!

for me, at that time of year, I probably would go to kakadu/darwin. but I love that area, it's magic to me.

Betsy

Have you considered Tasmania? Traveling there would nicely meet your need view wildlife, photograph nature, and view beautiful scenery. Haven't been there yet, but will correct that in October.

It would be easy to fly from Sydney to Launceston, drive around to see the sights, and then fly out of Hobart back to Sydney. Or you could do it the other way around. Check out Virgin Blue's Happy Hour fares at their website.

Do a search on the board for Tasmania and read the posts by oliverandharry, LizF, Pat Woolford and several others.

longhorn55

I've been both to Darwin/Kakadu/Litchfield and to Tasmania and I think the NT would be your best bet for August. The weather is fabulous that time of year and you'll have all the wildlife and scenery that you could ask for. While I also loved Tasmania and it too has lots of great wildlife and scenery, I think you might find it a bit too chilly in August.

lisa

Thanks for the responses so far. We would love to go to Tasmania but I think we'll do that another time when it's warmer.

Is Hunter Valley worth a night or two, or should we just do it as a daytrip from Sydney?

I will start doing some research on Kakadu and Darwin area -- sounds like it might fit the bill perfectly.

Would appreciate any additional suggestions, including places to stay, "don't miss" sights, etc.

jcasale

We were in Sydney in June (the weather was lovely, given that it was winter) and we spent a couple of days going down to Huskisson and the Jervis Bay area. It was absolutely lovely and we really wished we had more time to explore farther afield. There are some great national parks around there (Jervis Bay, Booderee, etc) and great drives (Kangaroo Valley). We rented a car outside of Sydney so that we didn't have to drive in the city traffic. We ended up renting in Campbelltown, but you could also rent in Woolongong. We took the train to Campbelltown to pick up the car and then took it back to the airport when we were done and heading off to Cairns. We stayed at the Jervis Bay Guesthouse which was lovely. It is under new ownership now, so I don't know if it is as great as it was, but I'm sure it is still a wonderful place to stay. Listening the the kookaburras in the trees was worth going there by itself! The walks that we took in Booderee National Park were stunning - cliffs, waves, rainbows, etc. It is very restful and peacful that time of year. Consider it.

jaimeGL

I think you're wise to put Tasmania off till their summer. We went there in August and whilst we absolutely loved it, the weather was very iffy.

lancefan

you could easily do 2 days in the hunter and if you can afford it, that's how I'd do it. Also, try and go during the week, it's cheaper and not as busy. Also, you'll probably get a 1 night stay from www.wotif.com.au for mid-week, but weekends is all 2 night minimum. maybe do 2 days and 1 night - it's about 2 hours drive, but as you're leaving and coming back to sydney, it depends a little on the traffic! another reason for mid-week. leaving sydney on friday, returning sunday is to be avoided at all costs, unless you leave before 2pm friday afternoon.

lots of nice places to stay and eat up there, have a look at http://www.winecountry.com.au/ If you have a car, you could also look at doing some of the wineries around wollombi and broke and coming back that way - it's a nice drive, more pleasant than the freeway!

the other thing you could do if you have 2 days would be to do an organised tour on the first day, then do your own thing on the second. that way you can both enjoy tasting to excess one day without driving then the second day just have one main taster. I've done it this way a few times.

What sort of wines do you like? that way people can give you some recommendations.

lisa

We like almost all wines except sweet dessert-style wines and also don't care for reds that have overwhelming tannins. Love most shiraz, sauvignon blanc, and chardonnays. I also love sparkling wines although DH is less fond of those than I am.

wally34949

In August, I would hit the northern areas like Broome, Darwin, and Cairns. Perhaps you could do a stopover at Ayers Rock.

lisa

My husband is very interested in adding Ayers Rock. What would folks here recommend, 2 nights there? Then I think we'd be looking at something like:
3 nights Sydney
2 nights Ayers Rock
2 nights Darwin w/ day at Litchfield
2-3 nights Kakadu, drive back to Darwin
Fly to Hamilton Is., 5 nts South Long Island Nature Lodge

Sounds like more hopping around than I would like but would let us see a lot. What do folks here think?

lancefan

yes, it's moving around, but i don't think it's too much. adding uluru at that time of year is probably worth it. breaks the trip from sydney as well.

SnRSeattle

Hi, lisa, have you checked the plane schedule from Darwin to Hamilton? It may leave at an ungodly hour that you will have to factor in to your plans. Also where does it stop? You might want to do Sydney-Darwin, then Darwin-Uluru if the flights are better. I don't know, I just know that we tried to work around the Qantas schedule and still had to leave at 0600 so had to plan a night in Darwin after Kakadu to get it. Also, be aware that you can't drive at night around there (outside the city) in a rental car because you won't have any insurance from pre-dusk to after dawn. Just a heads up.
Sally in Seattle

lisa

No, I haven't even begun checking the plane schedules yet. Thanks for the heads-up on not driving at night (which is fine by me!).