Smeagol

Ok so its the usuasl questions can you please critique my itinerary>

This will be our first trip to Australia and whilst i want to see LOADS i want to have time to enjoy the places we are going too. A couple of years ago we went Thailand and Singappre and went to way too many places so last year we stuck to 2 and enjoyed it some more

Ok so here's what i have so far i will fleash it out later)

We will be flying from the uk straight to Sydney Dec 14th
4 nights Four seasons Sydney
Next day pick up car and drive to Blue Mountains and stay 2 nights at lilianfels
Then (this is the sketchy bit) i was thinking of driving to Brisbane (4 nights in total stay along the way? is this do-able)
I would then like to fly from Bne to Cairns ( it will be Christmas Eve by now) then plan to stay 5 nights at Thala beach lodge port douglas where we can relax, get some sun enjoy Christmas day and visit daintree,the ref etc.
Then fly to Sydney spend 3 nights (incl NYE) at the Shangri-la then on to Hong Kong for 3 nights.

So does this sound do able? I realise i havent included Uluru but trying to add it in has caused me some headaches. I REALLY want to spend christmas somewhere nice and not be on the move for a few day. NYE in Sydney is an absolute MUST. We also like the spontineity of driving up the coast. (will romms be an issue do you think that close to Chritmas?
I plan to book all my hotels except the 4 coast road nights.

So what do you Australia experts think?

Really appreciate your help on this.
Smeagol

Susan7

Concentrating on one coast for this trip sounds sensible. The only thing I'd query is why drive from Sydney to Brisbane? Last time I drove up the Pacific Hwy to the north coast of New South Wales it wasn't a particulalry nice or scenic drive. The traffic out of Sydney round December can also be pretty bad--particularly just round Christmas.

Smeagol

It was a recommendation by a couple of travel agents and i thought it would make the trip less organised.(also my other half isn't big on flying so am trying to limit flights)

What do you think would be a good alternative?

Smeagol

also want to apologise for the terrible typos and spelling its been a long day

Susan7

If you are not keen on flying, how about the train? I haven't taken the train Sydney to Brisbane for years, maybe others can advice you on that, but when I did I really enjoyed it.

I also enjoyed driving Brisbane to Cairns, Perhaps you could drive part or all of the way to Cairns. Queenslanders might be able to suggest how to divide up that trip into 4-5 days--although there may be the same holiday season traffic heading north out of Brisbane. You could take side trips out to various islands on your way up.

stormbird

Hi Smeagol,

I like your plans a lot. Don't worry about excluding Uluru as December is just way too hot, too many flies etc to head out to the middle of Australia.

I vote yes for driving up to Brisbane. But then again, I quite like touring holidays in a car. There are some fantastic little places along the coast as well as the biggies like Coffs Harbour, Byron Bay, Evans Head, Lennox Head, Kingscliff, etc. I suggest you go to www.travelmate.com.au and then click on the maps link and it will give you distances between towns and prepare maps for you.

This would be a great 4 day trip, IMHO. However, I would think that a lot of coastal places are going to be quite busy and accommodation may be a bit of a problem.

I agree with you thoughts about flying to Cairns and just getting there quickly so you can sit back, enjoy the weather, sit by the pool, a glass of champagne and lots of seafood for Christmas lunch.

Sydney for New Years Eve should just be a great experience for you. So I think you're plans sound great and yes, slowing it down a bit will allow you to enjoy yourselves even more.

I hope you have a really great time!

vervid

It looks good to me. Instead of driving Sydney Brisbane on the Pacific Highway, how about the (slightly) inland route on the New England Highway, which is also usually quieter. Places to see or stop include Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. Tamworth, Uralla, Armidale, Tenterfield and Warwick.Google some of these places and see what appeals to you. But it would give u a slightly different view of Australia than the usual big cities, beaches and big sites. Four nights should be more than enough

Bokhara

Hi Smeagol,

I think you have a great plan. It'll give you an opportunity of seeing the icons as well as some of the "real" Australia.

I drove Sydney to Gold Coast at almost the same time last year and traffic wasn't a problem at all. Like you, I stopped here & there along the way and it was fantastic.

To take in some coastal and some inland, you might like to think about something like this:

Sydney - Forster (Pacific Highway) (O'night here)
Forster - Wauchope (Pacific Highway)
Wauchope - Walcha - Bendemeer - then south 30 mins or so to Tamworth (New England Highway)(about 3 hours) or North about 30 mins to Armidale (O'Night)
..... and continue up the New England Highway.
This way, you'll experience quite a lot of different areas and have a view of the way we live away from the tourist areas.

I can't find my favourite website for driving directions, but this one's not bad:
http://www.multimap.com

Agree - fly BNE to CNS. Book early as it's very high season.
Qantas, Virgin & Jetstar (QF Budget subsidiary) all fly to Cairns and you can very often get great specials.

www.webjet.com.au is a useful link for comparing prices.

Virgin Blue has daily "lunch time" specials (Noon - 1 or 1-2 (sorry, can't remember which))

pat_woolford

4 days Blue Mountains to Brisbane is easy and gives you time for some nice stopovers. As it'll be summer you'd probably find the coastal route more appealing than the inland, although as stormbird says will be busy at that time of year. You'll have enough time to make some deviations from Pacific Hwy, eg Bellinger Valley west of Coffs and the very scenic Byron Bay hinterland - head to Brisbane from there to Murwillumbah, Mt Warning and Gold Coast hinterland. Much nicer than the coastal road between Byron and Brisbane.

di2315

Hi Smeagol
If you're going to drive the Pacific Highway to Brisbane, I'd suggest avoiding travelling on a Saturday. December / January are the busiest holiday times on the coast, and a Saturday is generally the 'change over' day for people travelling to and from accommodation. On these days the traffic can be horrendous!
Happy travels, Di

Smeagol

many many thanks for all your responses.
I am glad you like my plan, it's really given me a lot to think about and i have had all sorts of routes before i settled on this which felt most comfortable.
Do you think then i would need to book my coastal/inland stops in advance? the nights i will be looking for accomadation will be 20th to 23rd Dec?

Will check out the web sites when i get a chance. Am sure i will be back with more questions.

Bokhara

Hi Smeagol,
I don't think you'd need to book your accommodation in advance. I didn't and didn't have any trouble. I think the advantage of not being tied down to a particular place in advance is worth the risk of perhaps needing to be a bit flexible in where you stay. It's only one night, after all.