Australia - trip of a life time...tips please

[GuestWW]

We are planning to travel to Australia in December for three weeks (will mean one week out of school for DDs). They will be 11&13 when we travel.

I love a plan and want to get started on where to go, what to see etc. We have something we need to be in Sydney for for one of those three weeks but have two weeks before then to explore.

Budget not limitless - hoping to do the whole trip for c£15000 and we have free accommodation for one week.

Would love to hear any tips please.

Booking flights with BA much cheaper to do multi flight, I only discovered too late.

Sorry just seen they are 11 and 13. Where did I get 8 from, doh.

Balloon The Cairns / GBR bit is recommended for our summer / their winter but not so much for December due to weather differences. I would definitely not miss that out in July, suspect it will be the best bit for the children if they love animals - there's tree kangaroos, possums, platypus, pademelon and loads of other creatures in the Atherton Tablelands and turtles in GBR. Mine love rainforest and in the wildlife parks there you can also cuddle koalas.

Cairns and far North QLD are oppressive in Dec really hot and humid and building up to the wet season.
I would fly in to Melbourne and hire a camper/car and spend two weeks driving up to Sydney via Riverina and the Snowy mountains. Australia is huge and trying to fit it all in will result in constantly being on the go

The Gold Coast is a bit tacky with highrise hotels near the beach which is quite unAustralian - I would not bother.
Far North Queensland will be very hot and sticky and I think this is the stinger time when you cannot swim in the sea.

I think a few days drive along the coast between Sydney and Melbourne staying at small beach towns along the way would be lovely - some German friends of mine did this in January and loved it.
Uluru is amazing. There is a low cost airline - Jetstar which flies directly to Ayers Rock Airport, only 2,5 hours flight from Melbourne and you are right there - you can see Uluru from the plane window. It is expensive to stay there but there is a range of accommodation from backpackers to 5 star and it cuts down on all the driving from Alice Springs. May be hideously hot but the sunrise and sunset are the times to see so you can sleep in the middle of the day.

1. In Sydney, Balmoral Beach is a hidden treasure - gorgeous beach and cafes - netted area for kids if preferred and beaches are safe - on bus route as well from Central Station.

1. Go up to West Head in Ku-ring-gai National Park (need car) for spectacular views. Beaches and drives around park and Hawkesbury River all up there. You can get a ferry ride as well along Hawkesbury or across it. Drive up through the "northern beaches"- literally a beach in every suburb and great coffee!!

1. Do a ferry ride around harbour or catch the Circular Quay - Manly return ferry is another favourite - Manly's the "old" beach resort for Sydney there's lots of ferries and lots to do at Manly for day trip etc - great food and coffee as usual... so do include one of those in your trip.

1. South of Sydney is Royal National Park and Bundeena - lovely quiet, beach resort not too far south of Sydney. There's a return ferry from Cronulla that connects with mainline trains from Central Station - I do the trip by car usually so haven't done that trip. The car journey takes you through the national park and lots to see on way….

1. Port Stephens (Nelson Bay) is great area to stop at - though it's near main school holidays so always expensive to stay / get camping trip etc in Dec. There's dolphins and whales and marine parks - can get a ferry and go swimming with them. Lovely accessible area - great safe beaches

Remember national parks in Oz are not like National Parks in UK - they are wilderness areas where people have died, even on day trip from Sydney. Always have water and don't venture off beaten track. Don't swim outside of flags or on beaches where there is no supervisor (surf clubs) - it's really easy to get caught in rip and drown.

PM me if you want more info - I live here in Oz (Brit)

Another saying skip the Gold Coast. It’s utterly revolting. It’s very spread out and hard to travel around. The beaches are not nice compared to other places in QLD. Maybe try the Great Barrier Reed if this is a special trip. Snorkeling, bound to be lots of family friendly resorts.

if you want to see the reef go to Lady Elliott island or Heron island. Both at the south of the reef near hervey bay and Gladstone so not horribly hot in December.

You don't need to dive to see the reef at either, you can just snorkel off the beach. Water is waist deep in parts so even though you are swimming with turtles and fish and over coral you can stand up so good if you don't have much experience. I think December is the time of year where the turtles will be laying their eggs on both islands too.

Hervey bay is not far north from Brisbane, close to Fraser island and Noosa, both of which are great places to go. Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin zoo) is near Noosa

I would do your week in Sydney, a week between Lady Elliot, Noosa and Fraser island, 3 days at Ularu (fly to Ularu don't do Alice Springs, it is the closest city but its still 400km away) and then Melbourne for the last few days.

You might be able to book flights so you fly into Brisbane for the Queensland part, fly to Sydney fly to Ularu and fly to melbourne then home

have a great time

Don’t go to the barrier reef in December! It is wet (tropical) season and you cannot swim in the sea at that time of year without being in a stinger suit

I’d either stay on the east coast and drive out and around Sydney and do some combination of Byron bay/hunter valley/blue mountains/Jervis bay with maybe a flight to Tasmania to do freycinet & cradle mountain

Or fly to the west coast and go south to Margaret river & surrounds.

I loved Tasmania - Port Arthur and the Tasmanian Devil sanctuary would be great for that sort of age group. We also drove Sydney-Melbourne (via Canberra, though if I were doing it again I’d go through the snowy river area).

Huge thanks to you all for some amazing suggestions. Will definitely be asking for some more help as there is so much knowledge here!

Gosh don't go to the Gold Coast, it's like an Australian Benidorm. If you want to go north of Sydney go to Byron Bay, Noosa, Fraser Island, Whitsundays, Great Barrier Reef, Cairns. Port Stephens is nice 2 1/2 hours north of Sydney, and endless beach places all the way up the coast but to be honest they all offer the same and look mostly the same- nice beach, nice walks etc.

If you like mountains head to the Snowy Mountains or the Victorian Alps, or Tasmania.

Plenty to do in Sydney to fill a week- Spit to Manly walk, Bondi to Coogee walk, Taronga Zoo, endless beaches, catch the ferrys (all day on Sundays for $2.60 unlimited). Ferry up to Parramatta, ferry from Circular quay to Watsons Bay- some pretty beaches there, nice fish and chips and a lovely walk to a lighthouse. Walk around the Rocks, Barangaroo, Darling Harbour (aquarium, madame tasauds, sea life, maritime museum), botanical gardens, Opera House. Go up to Palm Beach (home and away) and walk up to the lighthouse. Some pretty harbour beaches dotted around like Balmoral. If you go to the Blue Mountains you can get the train all the way there on a Sunday for $2.60.
You'll be here in summer so will be a nice beach vibe :)

OP, just out of interest why are your flights so expensive? We come back to the UK every other year, and my family come here to visit every other year and they have never cost nearly that much. My Mum recently came out to visit for £650 return with BA, we are going home this summer for $1100. Are you using skyscanner to check best ticket prices?

I would definitely recommend the Blue Mountains. Jump on a train from Circular Quay and stay in Katoomba in an AirBnB for a couple of nights. Lots to see and do there, and there's a beautiful town, Leura, close by which is lovely for shops and food.