kernelguy

We are a family (DW, two kids 10 and 8) planning to visit Australia in end-April. We have cousins who stay in Sidney and we plan to spend 2-3 weekends there. We had a decent itinerary in mind and were about to make the various reservations when two 'scope creep' items happened. I give below a somewhat rambling list of queries that I still have not found answers for.

1. We reach Sydney on Apr 25 evening and would start our 'walkabout' on Apr 29. Two major plans are a 5-day visit to the Cairns area (Barrier Reef and forests) and a 14-day campervan trip to Melbourne, Adelaide, ending at Alice Springs.

Query 1: Considering the onset of winter, which one of these should be done first. (We are from South India and aren't really used to freezing temperatures.) My research so far doesn't indicate a strong tilt one way or the other.

2. Scope creep 1 - My father may join us and this would make it a 5-some. We drive a reasonably large car and the Britz Voyager, Mighty Double Down, etc. are just a bit bigger than my car and seemed like great choices. They would give us the campervan experience, without having to worry about a larger vehicle. Unfortunately, these have only 4 seats. Jucy Condo is supposed to have 5 seats but I can't find any availability for them.

Query 2: Are there other companies that have a not-so-large (< 6 m length) campervans that have 5 seats. It is not necessary for them to sleep 5, but that would be a good bonus. Camperman seems to have a decent range but they don't have an office at Alice Springs - neither does Jucy.

3. Scope creep 2 - We didn't have Brisbane in the itinerary, but that is a strong vote-in from the kids - thanks to Australia Zoo. Both Cairns and Brisbane can be included in our plan, but it would take out Ayers Rock from the plans. I was trying to find if there are any reef trips possible from the Brisbane area, but couldn't find any. We can skip the rainforests, but the Barrier reef is a must.

Query 3: Is there any possibility of a reef trip from the Brisbane area? We would have a car and can go a few hundred kms north of Brisbane if needed.

4. Issue - I had recommendations for the Big4 chain of campgrounds. The few that I looked at seem to require a 2-night or 3-night stay. I had believed that we could just do this - start from point A, drive 200-300 km, take in some sights, reach a campground at point B by late evening, sleep, and repeat.

Query 4: Is a 2-night stay the practice in all grounds? In the timeframe of our trip (late Apr, early May) are reservations required well in advance?

Thanks in advance.

marg

Re query 1 - you shouldn't strike any really cold weather although Alice Springs can get very cold at night in the winter.

Point 2 - if you are doing Cairns and Brisbane, delete Alice Springs from your itinerary.

Point 3 - the best way to access the Great Barrier Reef is from Cairns or Port Douglas, much further north than Brisbane.

Re point 4 - most caravan parks will accept bookings for one night only, the exception being on holiday weekends. You could also check out Top Tourist parks and Family parks. You shouldn't have any difficulty getting in at that time of year.

AlanJG

kernelguy, congratulations on the cricket and thanks for not bringing it up yourself!

The cold weather at that time of year in southern Australia is associated with frontal systems which cannot be predicted this far out.

Rather than add two transit days plus your time in Brisbane why not take the kids to Taronga Zoo in Sydney?

margo_oz

R
This is a huge country and that's an awful lot of driving. You'll see more roads than anything else.

Consider narrowing your scope and/or flying.

I'd hate to be driving that much with a couple of kids - and they won't enjoy it that much either.

kernelguy

Thank you all for the responses.

margo_oz: I missed mentioning in my email that the campervan trip is one-way. We plan to fly back from Ayers Rock/Alice Springs to Sydney. If we travel only till Adelaide, we would fly back from Adelaide. I am trying to keep the driving to about 300 km in a day, except for the possible long haul from Adelaide to Ayers Rock.

AlanJG: Thanks for the pointer to Taronga zoo. I would 'encourage' my kids to swap that for Australia Zoo. With the information at hand, we would finish the QLD trip first (Apr 29 onwards) and then do the campervan trip - May 2 week onwards.

marg: Yes, we have decided that we can do either Brisbane or Alice Springs, not both. Also, we have been told very strongly that it would be 'stupid' to miss Cairns - which was the essence of my query 3.


Thanks again.