Howdy Ags! I have been to Australia several times, but will be taking my wife for her first visit in April. We will be spending 8 or 9 nights there.

Quick questions, perhaps you can help:

• Cairns vs. Hamilton Island (looking for warm weather): going to spend 4 nights somewhere besides Sydney, which would be a better choice?
• Suggestions as to lodging in either location.
• Sydney: is 3-4 days enough?
• Any tips that only a local might know?
• Any suggested day trips from Sydney?

Thanks!

Paging Hollywood BQ!

CanyonAg77 said:

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Paging Hollywood BQ!

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I'm supposed to be following an A&M game now

Seriously though for the OP - when are you planning on being in Australia? I've got plenty of free time around Christmas - New Years if you want a tour of the Northern Beaches.

Hollywood, we'll be there mid-April.

Can you send me your email address via text? 713.478.0950

Or PM me.

Thanks!

Timely thread! In the next month going to book tickets for Oct '19. Thinking 5 nts Sydney, 3-4nts Adelaide, and 5 nts Melbourne.

Sydney: Going to stay at the Sheraton on the Park. Maybe fool around with learning to surf at bondi beach. Head up to the blue mountains for a day trip. Eat around a lot.

Adelaide: Planning on hitting up a bunch of wine. Not sure where we're going to stay since there aren't any Marriott properties.
Melbourne: No ideas yet. Might stay at the Melbourne Marriott.

Wife is a big fan of the "Man from Snowy River" movies. Not that we are likely to ever get there, but is that area a big tourist destination?

I just text messaged you so you can take your mobile number off TexAgs now to avoid trolls.

If you're going to be in Sydney around April 21st, we'd love to see you at Muster.

Highly recommend the following in Melbourne.

The Great Ocean Road with these sights along the way:
-Bells Beach
-Anglesea
- 12 Apostles

I suggest staying on Collins St, particularly the Westin. It has lots of high end shopping establishments.

Flinders Lane has lots of bars and restaurants.

South Bank bars and restaurants along the Yarra Four River

Highly recommend visiting the Yarra Valley, and particularly, its wineries. Beautiful rolling hills with some of the most scenic wineries you'll see anywhere in the world.

At one time Autralia had a nice air package for non nationals which included 3 cities east of West Australia. Not sure if it is still around.

Hollywood, I did not get a text. Please re-send if you don't mind.

Noted.

The best Asian cuisine I've ever had was in Australia, and I just returned from Japan a couple of weeks ago. Melbourne is a foodie's paradise.

Bump....just saw business class flights with Air New Zealand round trip from Chicago for under $1,500 round trip. So we're debating booking for 10-12 days in June or July.

Problem is, we want to book quickly to get these rates but haven't done any research yet.....

What would be the recommendation? Stay in Sydney, do Sydney and Melbourne?

htxag09 said:

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Bump....just saw business class flights with Air New Zealand round trip from Chicago for under $1,500 round trip. So we're debating booking for 10-12 days in June or July.

Problem is, we want to book quickly to get these rates but haven't done any research yet.....

What would be the recommendation? Stay in Sydney, do Sydney and Melbourne?

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Are you serious? That sounds like a mistake. RT Airfare in Economy Class for $1,500 is a good deal.

I've never seen Business Class RT to/from Australia for less than $6,000 - each.

HollywoodBQ said:

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htxag09 said:

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Bump....just saw business class flights with Air New Zealand round trip from Chicago for under $1,500 round trip. So we're debating booking for 10-12 days in June or July.

Problem is, we want to book quickly to get these rates but haven't done any research yet.....

What would be the recommendation? Stay in Sydney, do Sydney and Melbourne?

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Are you serious? That sounds like a mistake. RT Airfare in Economy Class for $1,500 is a good deal.

I've never seen Business Class RT to/from Australia for less than $6,000 - each.

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Yeah. Already corrected.

Barron Falls if you go to Cairns and maybe rent a car and drive up to the tablelands and visit all the volcanic ruins.

Lake Eacham being the best of them. Formed by an old Volcano, its crater is now a lake. Gorgeous!

I stayed for 3 nights on Hamilton Island. Let me know if you still need any input/review of the island!

Din Tai Fung is the best Xiao Long Bao in the world. without a doubt.

Thinking of flying United IAH - SYD in August using miles. Would have to be a quick trip (arrive on a Sunday, depart on a Saturday). Would the weather be too cool to enjoy? Thinking it would be fun to spend part of the time doing city things and part of the time doing nature things.

Will be starting to warm up towards end of the month. Average temp is probably gonna be like 65F.

It's hot AF right now (as the kids say).

August is usually the coldest month in Sydney. But bearable if you're a tourist. Temps in the range of 40-65 degrees F.

We're going to Europe instead. Thanks for the 411!

Bumping instead of starting a new thread.

Will be traveling to Australia at the end of April for a couple of weeks and am trying to decide on how to spend a few days in or around Cairns. We will be doing a liveaboard scuba trip that will get back to Cairns the afternoon of 5/4. We will be flying out of Cairns to Ayers Rock the morning of 5/7, so that gives us two full days.

Any suggestions on how to spend those couple of days? Should we stay in Cairns or travel up to Port Douglas for those two days? I was thinking about taking the jungle skytram to Daintree Rainforest and spending a day there and back to Cairns. Then renting a car and driving to Atherton Tablelands and spending some time there.

Wife would also like to "snuggle" a Koala and get her picture taken.

TIA

Silky have you booked in Atherton yet? I have taught a family from there and they own a Bed and Breakfast there. Happy to pass on their details!

Make sure you check out all the Volcanic Craters etc. Lake Eacham is my favourite

Cairns! Loved it!

Have not booked yet but was thinking Atherton would be a day trip from Cairns. Send me their info in case we decide to make it an overnighter.

Can't seem to DM you.


athertonbluegum@gmail.com is their details.

https://www.athertonbluegum.com/en-us for their website.

Cheers

We are planning a vacation for mid-October, and Australia is on the short list of our options. If we do 10 days or so, where would people recommend going?

For whatever reason, Sydney does not appeal to us much. We have talked to a few people who said not to spend more than 1-2 days in Sydney, if you go there at all. So we are thinking the Gold Coast area may be more to our liking. We are also interested in doing Cairns/the great barrier reef for part of the trip.

We are generally beach people and can have a great time at a beach resort all day. But other activities are always a plus (renting a boat, whitewater rafting, scuba/snorkeling, seeing wildlife, good restaurants, cool towns, etc). For example, we went to the Amalfi Coast last year and loved it because it had great beaches but also had plenty of other stuff to do. We are not big into visiting museums or famous architectural achievements while on vacation.

Sorry for all of the questions, but below are some of the questions we have.

1. Given what we generally like to do on vacation, is Gold Coast the best area to visit? Should we do Gold Coast for 5-6 days and then do the Great Barrier Reef for 3-4 days? Or should we be looking to stay at one of the islands for a long period of time?

2. If we do Gold Coast, what all is there to do other than the beach? Any good recommendations?

3. If we don't want to do Sydney for an extended amount of time, should we still fly into Sydney and stay there for 1-2 days?

4. From looking online, it seems like there aren't many beach resort type places in Sydney or the Gold Coast. If we are wanting to spend alot of time on the beach, should we look elsewhere?

5. If we go to Australia, what are the "must-dos?" Everyone I talk to always says that they love Australia, but I never get a good idea of exactly what they love about it and exactly what they do. I'm also having a hard time finding specific information online.

Thanks!!

mavsfan4ever said:

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We are planning a vacation for mid-October, and Australia is on the short list of our options. If we do 10 days or so, where would people recommend going?

For whatever reason, Sydney does not appeal to us much. We have talked to a few people who said not to spend more than 1-2 days in Sydney, if you go there at all. So we are thinking the Gold Coast area may be more to our liking. We are also interested in doing Cairns/the great barrier reef for part of the trip.

We are generally beach people and can have a great time at a beach resort all day. But other activities are always a plus (renting a boat, whitewater rafting, scuba/snorkeling, seeing wildlife, good restaurants, cool towns, etc). For example, we went to the Amalfi Coast last year and loved it because it had great beaches but also had plenty of other stuff to do. We are not big into visiting museums or famous architectural achievements while on vacation.

Sorry for all of the questions, but below are some of the questions we have.

1. Given what we generally like to do on vacation, is Gold Coast the best area to visit? Should we do Gold Coast for 5-6 days and then do the Great Barrier Reef for 3-4 days? Or should we be looking to stay at one of the islands for a long period of time?

2. If we do Gold Coast, what all is there to do other than the beach? Any good recommendations?

3. If we don't want to do Sydney for an extended amount of time, should we still fly into Sydney and stay there for 1-2 days?

4. From looking online, it seems like there aren't many beach resort type places in Sydney or the Gold Coast. If we are wanting to spend alot of time on the beach, should we look elsewhere?

5. If we go to Australia, what are the "must-dos?" Everyone I talk to always says that they love Australia, but I never get a good idea of exactly what they love about it and exactly what they do. I'm also having a hard time finding specific information online.

Thanks!!

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If you aren't into activities in a city then Sydney doesn't do much for you. Spending a day can be worth it though just to see the Opera House and the Royal Gardens. Since you sound into physical activities you could climb the Harbor Bridge. Its $150+ though. I haven't done it during my visits. Sydney is also a great city to see from a helicopter because it has some pretty dramatic geography.

I have been to the Gold Coast personally, and my parents just took our daughter to the Sunshine Coast when they were in Australia in March. From talking with them, the two locations are similar, but have some differences depending on age of kids and what kind of feel you want overall. Sunshine Coast is more low key and a little better overall for families. The Gold Coast is a little more built up and has more restaurants, night life, and shopping. Both have top tier stretches of beach and a ton of outdoor activities.

During our honeymoon trip to Australia my wife and I spent the last week of the trip on Hamilton Island in the Whitsunday's. We were worried it might be too much time isolated on an island, but it was an amazing week. We stayed at the Reef View hotel, but when we go down there again in the future we will rent a townhouse or apartment on the north side of the island. There seem to be some reasonable deals for those on HomeAway. There are plenty of restaurants on the island, but it would have been nice to have a full kitchen. An extra bonus of renting an apartment or house is they usually include a golf cart to help get around the island. There are rental places too if you want to snag a cart. We spent several days just messing around on the beach there on the island. One day we did a jet ski tour and another we took a boat over to Whitehaven Beach which was incredible. We didn't do any snorkeling or diving, but I think that area is a great spot for those activities.

Thanks, that's really helpful. And I'll look into Hamilton Island.

hbc07 said:

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Timely thread! In the next month going to book tickets for Oct '19. Thinking 5 nts Sydney, 3-4nts Adelaide, and 5 nts Melbourne.

Sydney: Going to stay at the Sheraton on the Park. Maybe fool around with learning to surf at bondi beach. Head up to the blue mountains for a day trip. Eat around a lot.

Adelaide: Planning on hitting up a bunch of wine. Not sure where we're going to stay since there aren't any Marriott properties.
Melbourne: No ideas yet. Might stay at the Melbourne Marriott.

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Got the tickets booked a few months ago: DFW/IAH/SYD//MEL/LAX/IAH/DFW with the international legs in business. going to book the intra-australia tickets in the next week or so. hotels booked for syd and mel, currently looking at airbnb/hotels around barossa for the adelaide leg.

All airfare and the syd/mel hotels covered through points, so the only real expenses will be food and we're ready to eat.

i enjoyed sydney, but i was at a the park hyatt sydney with an opera house view, which was nice. did the bridge climb, which i definitely enjoyed and recommend. saw a rugby game which was fun. did a day trip to the blue mountains, which was pretty scenic, even if its not a sydney thing.

my favorite thing though, was a 4 day hiking/camping trip, leaving from alice springs, seeing uluru, kata tjuta, and kings canyon

I highly recommend Hamilton Island. We had a great time there. Anyone looking for recs, this is what I'd say;


For outdoor activities:
Beaches:
- Hanging out in Catseye Beach is the biggest attraction but depending on your fitness level/desire for adventure, there's actually a pretty good hiking trail (forgot the name) but it leads to Passage Peak. It's a pretty taxing climb but not technically difficult as there are actual 'steps' that lead to the top which has amazing views. My wife and I did it at Sunrise and it was beautiful (i 'think' it was about a 2 hr hike to the top).

couple pics from that hike:
https://ibb.co/PD6WDs1
https://ibb.co/f923TXg

- Escape Beach is another long walk but less difficult. What makes it worth it is the seclusion. So if you're looking for a spot to relax in peace and quiet, this is the spot.

- Google 'Whitehaven Beach.' You've probably seen photos of it before. It's the picturesque white sand shores that looks fake in real life. To get there you have to book a boat (there's usually a couple to choose from) but it's definitely worth checking out if you have the time.

Golf: There's a smaller island called 'Dent Island' that you can get to by boat where the golf course is. I never got a chance to do it but it looked really cool. The whole island is literally a golf course. You'll have to reserve your tee time way in advance though.

Zoo: They also have a small zoo that's definitely worth checking out (takes like an 45min-1hr to walk through leisurely. The real draw is that if you or anyone in your group wants to 'cuddle' a Koala this is the place to do it. You can pay a fee (think it was like $50/person?) and a zoo employee will personally escort you into the Koala exhibit and let you hold one and take a picture.

Great Barrier Reef: You can also sign up to snorkel the great barrier reef. Similar to Whitehaven Beach, you need to book one of the boat 'tours' to get there but due to weather conditions I'd advise pre-booking until a day before. There's usually still room and you'll know if the weather will cooperate to do it.

Golf cart: Lastly, just enjoy the island on your golf cart. One of the most fun things we did there was just cruise around the island. Drive as far as you can and see as much of the island as you can. It's one of the most beautiful places in the world and you can explore it with the wind in your face.

Food/Drinks:
Definitely go have a cocktail on the 'Bommie' pier and 'One Tree Hill' at sunset (different spots with great sunset views). Beautiful.
Any restaurant that isn't on your resort you'll want to make a reservation for. There's only a handful of sit-down places and tables go fast. My personal fave was Coca Chu (pronounced "Koo-ka Choo"). There is a grocery store and take away fish n chips spot too though if you want something quicker or cheaper.

Thanks man, great info. The beaches and the golf course looks great. A few more questions:

1. Did you stay at a resort or did you rent a house/condo? Where do you get the golf cart from? Are the resorts larger type places with pools/bars on the beach, or do you just take a cooler to the beach? It looks like the Reef View Hotel and some of the other hotels/clubs are all on the same website, so I guess they are all somewhat related.

2. If we do Hamilton Island, or some other island, for 3-5 days, any recommendation on what other area we should try to visit? I've had someone recommend the Gold Coast area and someone recommend the Melbourne area. If we have 10 days total, should we stick to one spot before we go to the island/reef for 3-5 days? Or would y'all recommend trying to hit two different spots before going to the island/reef? The Broome/Kimberly area looks really cool (beach and outback), but that's probably too long of a flight for the amount of time we have.


3. What would you say is the big selling point on Australia? I've always wanted to go and know most people love it. I know the beaches are great, but I'm having a hard time convincing my wife we should fly 20 hours to go to great beaches when we could take a much shorter flight to Europe and get great beaches as well. She is not much of a hiker/camper, so I'm wondering if she will feel like the travel time/$ to Australia was not worth it compared to Europe.