kgriff01

Hi there -

We're planning a delayed honeymoon trip from 24-Nov to 11-Dec to Australia,* and since I relied on these forums to formulate a bare-bones itinerary, I figured I should post what I came up with so you all can tell me where went wrong.

A few things to note about our interests, in case that helps:

- We live in Manhattan, so while we want to see select urban highlights, spending a long time in cities isn't a priority for us
- Not especially drawn to Uluru (but could be swayed if there's time and truly a must-see)
- We like beautiful scenery and experiencing things intrinsic to our destination
- We'll try just about anything
- We're used to traveling and dealing with major jet-lag, etc.
- We like having a mini-vacation-within-a-vacation where we take a few days and relax, read, sleep in, indulge, etc.

So here's where we netted out:

26-Nov: Arrive Sydney early AM; explore
27-Nov: Sydney
28-Nov: day trip to Blue Mountains
29-Nov: Bus? to Hunter Valley/vineyards; stay overnight
30-Nov: Vineyards (anyone tried a wobbly wine tour? May only be a day trip from SYD)
1-Dec: Fly to Melbourne; explore
2-Dec: Rent a car; drive Great Ocean Road to Port Fairy
3-Dec: Return car to Melbourne; fly to...somewhere in QLD (Cairns?)
4-Dec: Bus? to rainforest
5-Dec: Rainforest
6-Dec: Fly? Cairns? to GBR/Whitsunday Islands
7-Dec: GBR/Whitsunday Islands
8-Dec: GBR/Whitsunday Islands
9-Dec: Fly back to Sydney
10-Dec: Sydney
11-Dec: Head home : (

All right...have at it! Thanks so much for any suggestions, advice, recommendations, etc.

*Yes, 2010. I know. I procrastinated. But in fairness, I was planning my wedding and couldn't very well do both.

Bokhara2

Hi Kgriff,

Planning a month before departure is very often 3 weeks earlier than normal for me

On the surface, your itinerary looks ok for someone used to moving fast, but we'll need to look at flight times to make sure it'll fit. From memory, I'm not sure you can fly from Cairns to Proserpine or Hamilton Island (gateway for the Whitsundays).

I'm off to the gym - so your homework is to check out our local airlines.

www.qantas.com.au
www.jetstar.com.au (budget subsidiary of Qantas)
www.virginblue.com.au

You'll have of great advice from people here. Congratulations on your marriage.

Susan7

For me, the Hunter Valley is not a must see, it's not especially scenic and wines from that region would not be on my top ten list. If you are going to have an overnight, I'd spend it in the Blue Mountains which are beautiful.

If you want another day trip out of Sydney you could go to the Southern Highlands and/or the South Coast. Hopefully it will be beach weather by the end of November so you would combine visiting the beach round Kiama with a short but fantastic bushwalk in the rainforest at Minnamurra Falls.

longhorn55

Not that I see anything especially wrong with your itinerary, but have you thought about going to Tasmania? The weather in Far North Queensland is going to be pretty hot and humid in December. On the other hand, Tasmania's weather will be temperate and a lot less rainy (for most parts of the island). Several years ago, we spent 5 full days in Tasmania and had a great time and would have loved to have spent even more time there.
BTW, don't worry about skipping Uluru. While I've been there twice and enjoyed both visits, December would not be the time to go there. It would be extremely hot with lots of flies at that time of year.

kgriff01

Thanks so much, all!

Bokhara - I did my homework as directed, and it looks like the flight can be done nonstop. Might have to rejigger the return to Sydney due to timing, but that's okay. I still need to work out times for the rest of the flights within Australia, but...I have a month. : )

Susan - good to note! We may look into a different wine-tasting destination (a few friends have recommended places outside of Melbourne - not sure if you have any thoughts on that), but if HV is popular more due to proximity to SYD than for being great in its own right, I won't feel bad about dropping it from the list.

Longhorn - VERY much want to go to Tasmania, actually! The five days you had sounds amazing, but apparently I have to go back to my job - would you think 2 nights in Tasmania would be sufficient? Not sure what I'd drop to fit it in - I hear you about the temperature in Queensland, but I think I may feel like I was missing something by not seeing the GBR.

Perhaps the answer is cut out the rainforest in Queensland and just do the beaches - maybe do Susan's suggestion of the rainforest near Sydney (replacing HV wineries) and getting to Tasmania.

Peter_S_Aus

If you were thinking of a wine tour to the Hunter Valley foe a day, this might work for you:

http://winetourswithjason.com.au/

JackDarcy

Hey friend!
I think you did a great job that you planned before going to trip. Now you will be able to visit maximum places from your plan. Hope you have a great trip. If you need any chauffeur service then chauffeursgenteel can assist you.

Bokhara2

Hi again,

Thinking about the wineries; I agree with Susan7 that you can do better than the Hunter Valley. Maybe I'm a little jaded by its proximity. I wondered whether you might be able to combine the Great Ocean Road trip with some wineries, and came up with this link on Google.
http://www.greatoceanroad.com.au/Wine_Food/

Haven't plotted it on a map to see distances etc., yet - but maybe someone else who knows the area better might comment.

If that doesn't work, you might consider adding a day to Melbourne & going to the Yarra Valley/Dandenong Ranges

http://www.visitvictoria.com/display...D80C476A90318/

While you're in Sydney, there's a great place to sample Australian wines & learn something of the various wine regions. www.wineodyssey.com.au Wine Odyssey is in The Rocks, very easy to find and quite close to the Sydney Tourist office. There are markets in The Rocks each Saturday & Sunday.

Gold star on the homework!

starruby

I'm with Susan7 I'd spend more time in the Blue Mountains. We always stayed at The Carrington in winter and it was so lovely.

http://www.thecarrington.com.au/

haven't stayed there for a couple of years but it has character which I love though its not 5 star or anything. Its so central in Katoomba.

The Southern Highlands have rain forest bits and has nice little towns to stop at. Both beautiful places.

I hope you have a great trip and enjoy Australia no matter where you end up.

Sandra

AndrewDavid

in our experience the diving was more accessible and beautiful. we spent 3 nights sailing on a restored tall ship but cairns does offer pat and mike

cheers
AndrewDavid

Kriol

The GReat Barrier Reef is furthwer out formn the

Kriol

Sorry, I hate this message board, does it's own thing.

The Great Barrier Reef is not in the Whitsundays at all. The Whitsundays are a fantastic experience but for seeing the reef best to leave from Cairns. So do both as very different.

It is the best time to see rainforest and the worst time for beaches in northern Queensland. Overall the Blue Mountains are not a rainforets but have rainforest type micro climate. Also the Blue Mountain hiking in summer can be horrid and hot, dry, fire risk while in the rainforest are so much cooler, with many streams and waterfalls. I wOuld hike in the in rainforest in height of summer but never in tinderbox forests that surround Sydney and have a habit of catching fire that time of year.

So I would do rainofrest in Cairns and beaches in Sydney, makes way more sense to me.