Australia trip

[Summersoul]

We are planning to do Australia next summer. We have never been long haul before mainly just Europe so its a big trip, once in a lifetime kind of thing. Does anyone have any advice on where to go? It will be next July for 3 weeks and we need to factor in Sydney to see family in the Blue Mountains. Which airlines are best? Is a few days in Singapore on the way out a good idea? Where to stop on the way back? Il have my MIL DH and my girls 17 and 15 any guidance very welcome

I agree! We did so much in our 4 weeks and really felt like we'd seen most of the east coast! Next time we go back we'll head to the west!

Its like anything though isn't it.

People come to the UK and "do" Cornwall in a day, London in a day, etc or drive all around.

I too prefer 1 or 2 bases and then to explore from there. There's so much!

We did 3 nights Singapore, 4 nights Brisbane, 3 nights Cairns, 4 nights Brisbane and 3 nights Sydney and travelled home (with a few hours at Singapore airport).

100% recommend stopping in Singapore and Cairns. Sydney I didn't really like, it was lovely round the harbour and the blue mountains were fab (will be chilly!), but I would never have wanted to spend a week there! (Just read back about family, so you may need to spend longer there!)

Brisbane was because we had friends there, lovely but not worth going to - maybe the Sunshine Coast depending what you're after.

I think Marmaladeslade’s itinerary is pretty much perfect and would also highly recommend Fraser Island.

I live in the Northern Beaches. Going up to the Palm Beach lighthouse is a must in this season for whale watching and bloody gorgeous even without whales. Stopping at the Newport Arms for dinner is the perfect conclusion of the day.

Another day, there is a beautiful walk from Freshwater to North Curl curl. If you have the right shoes, you can continue through the path next to the Surf life saving club and go though it until you reach Dee Why. There you start walking on the beach and keep going until you reach the end and start the walk on the path next to the golf and keep walking up until Collaroy point, another famous whale watching spot. From there, don't take the paved footpath, but go down the stairs towards the beach, and take a left, you will get to the boat ramp, and if you are lucky see the pelicans on the beach eating scraps. If you see a pelican on a lamppost, leave a good 2 meters , because those bastards take great enjoyment in shitting on you head!

Nobody warns you about the pelicans! It is always snakes and spiders!

I’d do a few days in Sydney (harbour bridge, coogee to bondi beach walk) etc and then head straight for Queensland where it will be much warmer but not too hot. I backpacked the east coast at 21 and hope to go back in a few years as my 6 year old is obsessed with Australia

My trip will likely be at a similar time due to school holidays so I plan on flying up to Brisbane and then take in Fraser Island, noosa, magnetic island, a ranch with a bit of horse riding, whitsundays multi day boat trip, cairns/northern beaches, daintree national park/great barrier reef

I’ve looked at doing the train in between the Queensland stops which look quite efficient and will spend a few days in each place using a backpack to travel with ease

Australia is an amazing country with so much to see and do but that time of year the weather is not on your side so a northern trip will fare the best weather conditions

If you go o the Sunshine Coast, make sure you visit Fraser Island. Personally though I don’t think the Sunshine Coast is that exciting. There are some lovely beaches but fairly average towns. Noosa is nice but a couple of days is more than enough there.