Australia Itinerary help/advise

[LoobyLou2709]

Any Australians on here or anyone who has been? I was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to have a look at our 3 week rough itinerary and pick it apart for me! Make suggestions or advise against! Family of 4 (children 10 & 8!) both myself and husband have been before in our early 20’s and done the typical backpackers East coast route and Uluru, so this is more of a family holiday with the children with very limited time!

Day 1 - Flying in the cairns from UK 1 night in Cairns.

Day 2 - 6 (5 full days with car hire) Possibly to include Port Douglass, karanda, Barrier Reef, Mossman, Daintree, Atherton Tablelands, Harley’s Crocs, drifters, (not sure if we will have enough time to do all of this! Nothing booked and not sure yet in what order and where to stay!) Any recommendations would be amazing!

Day 7 - 10 early morning flight to Brisbane and over to Moreton Island, 3 nights at Moreton Island to include lots of activities for the children!

Day 10 - Pick up campervan in Brisbane, Outback Australia Show in the evening.

Day 11 - Australia Zoo!

Day 12 - 19 - Head South towards Sydney, any must see places? We are including a couple of days in the blue mountains and 1 or 2 days in Sydney to finish. I know this isn’t long in Sydney but we’ve both done it before and the children are not fussed with cities, so would like other suggestions on the way down possibly?

Day 20 - Flight back to UK ☹️

Thank you if you’ve managed to get this far! 😁

Honestly that sounds like a good trip!

I think you're doing Australia Zoo and the Outback show the wrong way around? Australia Zoo is north of Brisbane and an easy hop from the airport while I think the show is Gold Coast (though at the Coomera end) so a better starting point for your trip south. So I'd swap those around.

On the way south you really have a choice between inland or coast because you don't want to be faffing around going over and back on the range repeatedly. Down the coastal way I love Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie. I'd also consider a stop in Lamington National Park. I'd choose Lennox Head over Byron if you're headed down the coastal way.

If you go down the New England I'd do Tenterfield - Armidale - Tamworth though you could go as far west as Dubbo.

Throughly approve of your Blue Mountains idea. Katoomba is v mainstream but so easy to get to everything.

We did a similar trip and it was great though flew between Sydney and Cairns and longer time up in Cairns area and not Brisbane. Places we stayed that were great were Lumholtz Lodge in Atherton Tablelands, lady rescues tree kangaroos, bettongs etc and we took full board and had lovely homemade cooking. There we saw tree kangaroos, pademelon, possum, handfed bettong and got to feed pademelon and possum and we saw a platypus she told us where to find. And there as a tree house we stayed at around there as well with called Canopy Rainforest I think which had cassowary and wallabies on site and more pademelon and possum. Went on Seastar small boat on Great Barrier Reef. In Daintree saw crocodiles. Went to Kuranda. Other place would have liked to have done would have been Magnetic Island to see koalas. Went to Port Douglas and drive along coast. We were there in August and was a good time for there.

We did Sydney quickly and had breakfast with koalas at the zoo, saw key sites and also went to see Blue Mountains and saw kangaroos there. Also visited Port Stephens and did whale and dolphin trip and saw about 150 of them.

Have a great time.

What time of year are you travelling? Remember if it your long school holidays it is Winter here which is fine up North but Sydney can get cold (and the Blue Mountains will be cold but they do a Winter Fest which is fun if you can line it up). Scenic World just outside Katoomba is a must do with the kids. I would also spend two nights at your first stop wherever that is to allow you time to get over your jet lag, especially if you will be driving long distances. Have a great trip.

Sounds generally fine but I’d mix it up a bit.

Why Moreton Island? It’s nice but it’s an odd choice for a limited itinerary.

What time of year are you going as this makes a massive difference to your itinerary. You would be mad to do the northern part in summer, it’s too hot and it’s the wet season in the Daintree. April or May or June would be nice though.

Day 10 you’re collecting a camper somewhere in Brisbane and heading south to Outback Spectacular, this drive south depending where camper is and traffic will take 1-2 hours. Gold Coast traffic can be sometimes ok and sometimes banked up on the motorway, check google maps for live updates.

Day 11 you’re doubling up by heading north again, Gold Coast to brisbane will take about 2 hours, then after that you’re driving south to Sydney.

Swap these days around, do Australia Zoo first (you need a full day), then head to Gold Coast and do the show which is just a few hours.

If you want more time at the Sunshine Coast after Australia Zoo then staying at Mooloolaba would be worthwhile, the beachfront area is beautiful and the kids might like the aquarium.

If you like the outback spectacular on the Gold Coast then the kids might also like Paradise Country (although they might be a bit old), or Currumbin Wildlife sanctuary.

I do sort of think you’re trying to do a bit too much in too many locations but without knowing what time of year you are going it’s hard to recommend what to do, not to do.

Wow thank you for all of the advice and suggestions, yes I know the Zoo and show are not ideal, that was the bit I was struggling with as the show isn't on the day before, and we really want to see this! I think we will give the zoo a miss and do the koala breakfast at hartleys and crocs at daintree instead!

@ClickClack1 oh no!! Would you not recommend Moreton Island? Originally we wanted to do Fraser but time wasn't really on our side and the travel up and back from Brisbane would have been a bit much for the children, so a bit of googling and checking out Australia pages lots of people suggested Moreton island, the resort we are looking at has loads of activities. Just wanted I bit of down time / beach time before the drive south! Any reason why you don't recommend it? Thank you

Also we are travelling at the end of March and through April, so peak Easter holiday time!

That sounds like a lot of travelling! We went when ours were similar ages and we had a 5 year old too.
we had a few days on the Gold Coast, stayed at sea world - ours loved paradise country, we fed kangaroos and rode on a camel 😊
Then we stayed on Heron Island which was amazing. Flew down to Sydney, watched some cricket and saw the new year in, then flew to New Zealand to stay with friends

I spent a month in Australia last year in April/May which included the Easter holidays. I would advise that you book any camper vans in advance as they get very scarce and expensive. The same for internal flights.

I went from the Brisbane up towards Townsville and back with a camper van, and I would say don't be too ambitious with thinking how long it takes to get between places. Google maps might say 2 or 3 hours but once you've factored in packing up the van in the morning, stopping for toilet breaks, stopping for lunch, stocking up at the supermarket, finding your campsite and setting up, then it is more like 5 or 6 hours, and it doesn't give you much time to do anything else that day.

Also, be prepared for it to be a bit chilly first thing in the mornings and in the evenings.

In that case yes I'd ditch Australia Zoo and maybe do Currumbin instead?

Where are you staying on Moreton? It's less flashy and spectacular than eg the Whitsundays but I like it a lot and it will be lovely at Easter. My niece and nephew love Tangalooma.

But equally you could stay somewhere on the Gold Coast instead - we've always liked Coolangatta but these days prefer the Sunshine Coast which wouldn't work for you.

What are the things you really want to do and what is filler? Are North qld and the outback Spectacular the only must do’s?

Why the zoo, was it because of Steve Irwin or do the kids enjoy the animals?
If it’s zoo then as you are in Sydney at the end why not go to Taronga Zoo, it’s spectacular as it’s overlooking the harbour.

Are you more into Australian animals, theme parks, beach, rainforest or short bush walks etc? Do the kids enjoy swimming and are they confident swimmers able to swim 50m easily etc, would they enjoy swimming with dolphins, will they snorkel on the reef? Is the plan with the camper to stay in caravan parks along the way? You’ll find the bigger caravan parks have school holiday activities for the kids.

Qld school holidays in 2023 I think are first two weeks of April. NSW school holidays are 2nd and 3rd week of April, so you’ll need to book everything in advance as popular spots will usually be fully booked by then. If there is any way to change your dates to outside these times you’ll save a heap of money and have more choice.

I don’t not recommend Moreton Island, it’s just that I find it an odd choice for a short one off trip to Australia, because a lot of things you find on any of the islands you can find on the mainland too, easier, quicker,cheaper, less hassle etc.

You might want to ask this over at everybump OP you'll probably get heaps of great suggestions.