Planning a Trip to Oz, can you help? I have no idea where to start....

[OneLieIn]

Planning a Xmas time trip to Oz, but I don't know where to start.

How do you book flights with a stopover? We want to break it up with a stop somewhere....where?
Where would you go? Sydney, Barrier Reef are definites, where else?

Argghhhh so complicated.

How long are you going for?

3 to 4 weeks ish?

Well, you need to decide whether you want to dash about spending a couple of nights in lots of different places and lots of internal flights, or whether you want longer quality time in fewer places. For example, if you want to learn to dive or stay on a boat on the Great Barrier Reef then you'd need to spend a few days there. That might mean just travelling down the East Coast eg Cairns/ Port Douglas/ Daintree, then Whitsundays, Brisbane and Sydney. I've done that twice and it easily takes 3 weeks. But maybe you are desperate to see Uluru or wine country or the north of the country. You could buy a DK guide book with lots of photos to help you make up your mind.
Re stopovers, I've stopped in Tokyo and in Hong Kong. Both fab. HK slightly easier for a novice traveller.

We went last Xmas for 3 weeks and had a fantastic time.

Helium is right though - you need to decide why you are going and what are your must dos and then plan around that.

This was our itinerary in case it helps

Flew Cathay Pacific from London to HK to Sydney - we decided the main aim of our holiday was to see Australia so we decided not to stop of just keep going. It wasn't as bad a trip as I thought it was going to be ( we have 3 DCs who were 8, 6 & 2)

We stayed in central Sydney in an apartment hotel for 3 nights and saw the (child friendly) sites, Taronga Zoo, Aquarium & Darling Harbour (on mono rail), Sydney Opera House (didn't go in), the bridge and the Sydney Eye. One thing to bear in mind is that it is vvv expensive at the moment so take plenty of spending money.

We then picked up a camper van and started our journey down the coast to Melbourne over 10 nights staying in camp sites along the way.

One in Melbourne we stayed in a central Melbourne hotel and again like Sydney did the sites we could in a couple of days - aquarium, St Kilda beach, trams.

Then we flew to Perth to visit friends for Xmas. Boxing day we flew back to the UK the way we came.

It was a fantastic holiday and I would happily do it again.

Went to Oz 2 years ago for Xmas and spent 3 weeks there. We went with our 4 year old son to visit relatives who live in Oz. Started with 3 days in Sydney and started in darling harbour area (very child friendly) and visited Sydney bridge and did the climb (not for children) boat trip on harbour to Manley spent day on beach, saw outside of opera house, bondi. Then flew to Melbourne where stayed with my dad for a week and did various Victoria attractions (zoo, parks, City tower etc) then flew to gold coast and did water park, theame park, Steve urwin's zoo and spent Xmas day on the beach, flew back to Melbourne for 1 day then flew home. We choose not to do stopovers as just wanted to get to Oz so picked the shortest stopover possible which has 1.5 hours we flew with cathy pacific via hong kong and literally had to run to the next plane but was better then staying in the airport for longer. Also picked a night flight from Uk which meant child slept the night on the plane which was a great help. Felt we saw plenty and had an excellent time. Didn't feel like it was all crammed in and son still talks about the trip now 2 years later. We took internal flights which where cheap and to Australians are like taking a train or coach. Hire cars are easy and bonus is they drive on the same side as us. Found things to be a similar price to Uk if slightly cheaper although not by much. I would say do as much as you can in your trip as you may never get to go back again (due to distance, cost etc)

I think the exchange rate 2 years ago was much better for us than it is now! Meant to say we booked our holiday through Trailfinders - they were brilliant! Our internal flight was with Qantas and somehow it was free!!!

When I say us I mean the British rather than my family!

I would say try not to do too much or it is more stress than it is worth. Maybe decide on 3 to 4 places to go and stay a week in each. I would do Sydney for 5 days, Cairns for a week (stay in the Northern Beaches if you can as Cairns itself is a big crap) to do diving/see rainforest etc, Ayres Rock for 4 days (expensive but lovely) then Melbourne or Perth for the final week - or in another order if it works out well.

Try Austravel and they can sort out all flights including internal ones. I stopped in Kuala Lumpar for a night and stayed in the departure lounge hotel but you could go to Bali for a few nights maybe?

Oh actually you should really try and do the Whitsundays on the way to Cairns - so lovely.

I was in Aus for a year and the best parts for me were:-

Diving on the reef - best ever
Whitsundays
Sydney
Brisbane but more because I have lots of friends there - several lovely islands nearby like Moreton and you can feed the dolphins
Ayres Rock
Fraser Island - lovely swimming spots but hated the 4WDing - so bumpy and accommodation is expensive

If you have a Trailfinders near to you I would really recommend that you go and talk to them - they were brilliant when we were planning our trip, and made really good suggestions for trips/hotels/flights, etc.

We did Sydney first, for a week (stayed in an apartment hotel which was fab and gave us more flexibility than a conventional hotel), then went to Tangalooma resort, off the coast of Brisbane, for 3 days - it's a resort with a dolphin research centre, and you can feed the dolphins every night. Then up to Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays for a week. We flew home via San Francisco where we had another three days.

Thanks - it all looks so complicated.

What I think we want to do is....

Stop somewhere on the way there (beach, maybe sightseeing) 3 days
Sydney 7 days
GBR (Whitsundays sound lovely) 7 days
(is Ayrs Rock worth going to????)
(Maybe NZ?)
SF or LA 3 days
Home

What do you think?

Any recommendations on airlines?

Ayrs rock was worth doing 12 years ago, not sure how close up you can get these days, I know you cannot climb it any more.

Fraser Island will either be the best part of the holiday or awful depending on the weather, it can be wet.
Magenta island i think it's called is amazing.

Airlines - I'd suggest Singapore airlines. You can stop in Singapore - and although it's not 'beachy' there's plenty to do and see in 3 days. And then continue on your journey to oz. think the other posters have given you good ideas.

We did Singapore on Singapore airlines then off to nz for a week (Auckland and bay of islands). Then to oz (Sydney and Melbourne). Sydney we stayed at the Marriott. Melb we hired a car and went to the blue mountains and stayed in a lovely house (which we had all by ourselves) in the middle of some forest ... Lovely!!

When we went, we stopped in San Francisco on the way, and Singapore on the way back - that way you are going the 'right' way round and don't get jet lag.
Barrier Reef is a MUST. Absolutely fantastic experience, but not a lot else to see or do in Cairns. However, you've got hundreds and hundreds of miles of beautiful beach between there and Sydney if you want to chill on a beach for a bit. Bondi Beach is the biggest diappointment ever!
Canberra is really interesting - I'd definitely recommend staying there for a couple of nights.

So going to the west you get less jet lag?

Also, dumb question...does going to the west mean you have more time? As in if you go to the east you go forward a day?

Or am I getting confused with Back to the future?

We came back via San Francisco, but I wouldn't do it that way again - by the time you get there, the time difference is something like 17 hours. It meant we weren't getting to sleep until around 3-4 in the morning, and thus not waking up till lunchtime, so we really only had a couple of half days there rather than full days.

You are trying to do too much. I'd stick with Singapore on the way out for a couple of nights (if you really must do a stopover). Get yourself to the Australian cities you really want to see.

Sydney - good for 5 days
Brisbane - ok - might be better at gold coast with young children.
Cairns - 3/4 days max. Choose your trips carefully here. Some are cheap and nasty and some are more expensive but will give you lifelong memories. You could look at driving from Brissie to Cairns.
Melbourne - good
If you want to do Perth, do it last so you are cutting your travel time home.
Ayres Rock take it or leave it. Not worth anything more than one night.

Taking in NZ and SFO will take up days of your 3-4 weeks so I'd stick with Australia.

Have a read at some books and list exactly what you want to see and then plan from there.

Your plan with what you want to see would be

Leave london and arrive Singapore 1 day.
add 3 nights for Singapore
Get to Sydney which is 10 hours so another day.
Sydney 7 nights = 12 nights of holiday gone already.

To get from New Zealand to LA is 14 hours I think then you need to connect to SFO which is another hour then you are 12 hours back to the UK so that lot is another 2 days at least. You really need to work our your flying time.

I also recomment a chat with trailfinders being new to Oz.

If you want to spend some time on stopovers on both the way out and the way back then you won't have time to get to NZ, as others suggest. Australia is a big big country!

hmmm, am beginning to think i need 8 weeks!

Magnetic island I think, not magenta

I'd agree that if you've only got 3-4 weeks, then a couple of days for a stopover each way and 3 or 4 'centres' would probably be the best way to do it - Do you have kids? That will probably affect your choices.
I'd say probably a week for Sydney and surrounds - Hunter Valley if you like wine, Kuringai Chase NP, etc.
A week/10 days for GBR/Cairns/Whitsundays - but there are big distances here. If you like getting out on the water, a 3 day boat trip around the Whitsundays is pretty beautiful.
The Red Centre is fascinating - I'd say you'd probably be looking at about 4 days to do Alice Springs/Uluru/King's Canyon/the Olgas.
Then do you do Melbourne/Great Ocean Road, Perth/some of West Coast, or Darwin/Kakadu?? All great choices, but quite different. Oh, and don't forget Tasmania - properly beautiful!
I'd second Trailfinders, or the Flight Centre. Flight Centre are now owned by Qantas, so can get you some pretty good deals. I usually find you can get a decent Qantas deal via Singapore/Bangkok/Hong Kong or the likes, and including a couple of internal flights as a good deal. They'll also price match anything you can find online.
I lived in Australia for 4 years, and also my DP is a Kiwi/Aussie hybrid so we're over there every 18 months/2 years, so if there's anything I can help with, please do give a shout.

Wow, thx. Going to the library to get a book out!