Australia Visit - Advice Please
Discussion
Hi folks,
I stuck a post in the P&P but was also advised to put one in here.
We have a family holiday booked in Oz this July (I know it is the middle of winter but we have to fit in with school holidays, etc.).
We arrive in Sydney where we will be staying with my Mrs Sister for 5 nights, then flying down to Melbourne for 4 nights to stay with my family.
Back to Sydney for a night then we basically have 9 days or so to kill - followed by back to Sydney for 3 (tearful goodbyes, etc) before flying home.
We want to have a really nice relaxing time, somewhere to do the beach thing (we are used to Scottish Winters so temp should be nice for us) and we have a 7 year old girl to keep amused as well.
Places that have been discussed include:
Cairns
Townsville
Mackay
Torquay
Brisbane
Can any of you recommend any of these, pros/cons of them?
Is Cairns the barrier reef whereas Brisbane is more the Gold Coast?
Any info is greatfully received.
Regards,
71Notout
I stuck a post in the P&P but was also advised to put one in here.
We have a family holiday booked in Oz this July (I know it is the middle of winter but we have to fit in with school holidays, etc.).
We arrive in Sydney where we will be staying with my Mrs Sister for 5 nights, then flying down to Melbourne for 4 nights to stay with my family.
Back to Sydney for a night then we basically have 9 days or so to kill - followed by back to Sydney for 3 (tearful goodbyes, etc) before flying home.
We want to have a really nice relaxing time, somewhere to do the beach thing (we are used to Scottish Winters so temp should be nice for us) and we have a 7 year old girl to keep amused as well.
Places that have been discussed include:
Cairns
Townsville
Mackay
Torquay
Brisbane
Can any of you recommend any of these, pros/cons of them?
Is Cairns the barrier reef whereas Brisbane is more the Gold Coast?
Any info is greatfully received.
Regards,
71Notout
OK, 71, here's the story.
Cairns. Large city, with 13Ft tidal range. Outlet of a mangrove swamp. Muddy foreshore, occasional crocodile, & dangerous [occasionally deadley] box jellyfish. No swimming at the mud beach. OK beach 10 miles up the coast.
A couple of island boat day trips, & a reef trip.
Hinterland white water rafting, & other interrests.
Townsville. Large City, with 12 Ft tidal range. Beach OK, but box jellyfish mean you swim only in netted enclosure. Large resort/residential Island just off shore with regular ferries, with many beaches, townships, & outer reef trips.
Mackay. Medium city, with 20Ft tidal range 6 miles up river from the beach. Box jellyfish still a problem. A couple of boat day trips to resort islands.
Airlie Beach. Resort township, with 14 Ft tidal range. 60 miles north of Mackay. Jumping off point to 7 resort islands in the Whitsunday Islands. Box Jellyfish still a danger.
At least 20 different boat day trips depart Airlie, or adjacent Shute Harbour, for the resorts, & the outer reef, daily.
Sail your self yachts for weekly charter with in the sheltered waters of the islands. Dozens of attractions, all after your patronage, & MONEY. Probably the best choice.
Torquay. Surburbia by the sea, but quite nice. South of the jelly fish problem, & has a 10 mile shallow safe beach, in pravailing weather, with a ribbon of townships, all the way along.
A few boat trips, & other attractions. A place where a car would be worth while, with some good places to visit.
Brisbane, forget it. 50 miles to a beach, & nothing you don't have at home. Plenty of attractions within 60 miles, so OK with a car.
Gold coast/Sunshine coast. Ocean beach resort areas, south & north of Brisbane. Great surf beaches, no jellyfish, but surf can be dangerous for those without experience.
Sunshine coast a bit lower key, but much to do, [its 40 miles long of beaches] with a car really required.
Gold coast 50 miles of tourist trap, with really great beaches. Thousands of operations after your last dollar.
Both have many theme parks like little Disney land things. Even as chilled out Scots, you might find the water more comfortable further north.
No one should come to Oz, without seeing the real outer great barrier reef. That means Mackay or the other 3 further north. It really is something you will marvel at.
I would say that, of course, I ran tourist boats, including reef trips, for 12 years.
If you come in the later half of July, you could just book for a couple of days, & have a couple of days, on one of the island resorts, after seeing them on day trips, to pick one. They all usually have daily vacancies, other than school holiday periods, [27Th June, to 12Th July, this year]
If I can help, with any specific questions, just ask.
Cairns. Large city, with 13Ft tidal range. Outlet of a mangrove swamp. Muddy foreshore, occasional crocodile, & dangerous [occasionally deadley] box jellyfish. No swimming at the mud beach. OK beach 10 miles up the coast.
A couple of island boat day trips, & a reef trip.
Hinterland white water rafting, & other interrests.
Townsville. Large City, with 12 Ft tidal range. Beach OK, but box jellyfish mean you swim only in netted enclosure. Large resort/residential Island just off shore with regular ferries, with many beaches, townships, & outer reef trips.
Mackay. Medium city, with 20Ft tidal range 6 miles up river from the beach. Box jellyfish still a problem. A couple of boat day trips to resort islands.
Airlie Beach. Resort township, with 14 Ft tidal range. 60 miles north of Mackay. Jumping off point to 7 resort islands in the Whitsunday Islands. Box Jellyfish still a danger.
At least 20 different boat day trips depart Airlie, or adjacent Shute Harbour, for the resorts, & the outer reef, daily.
Sail your self yachts for weekly charter with in the sheltered waters of the islands. Dozens of attractions, all after your patronage, & MONEY. Probably the best choice.
Torquay. Surburbia by the sea, but quite nice. South of the jelly fish problem, & has a 10 mile shallow safe beach, in pravailing weather, with a ribbon of townships, all the way along.
A few boat trips, & other attractions. A place where a car would be worth while, with some good places to visit.
Brisbane, forget it. 50 miles to a beach, & nothing you don't have at home. Plenty of attractions within 60 miles, so OK with a car.
Gold coast/Sunshine coast. Ocean beach resort areas, south & north of Brisbane. Great surf beaches, no jellyfish, but surf can be dangerous for those without experience.
Sunshine coast a bit lower key, but much to do, [its 40 miles long of beaches] with a car really required.
Gold coast 50 miles of tourist trap, with really great beaches. Thousands of operations after your last dollar.
Both have many theme parks like little Disney land things. Even as chilled out Scots, you might find the water more comfortable further north.
No one should come to Oz, without seeing the real outer great barrier reef. That means Mackay or the other 3 further north. It really is something you will marvel at.
I would say that, of course, I ran tourist boats, including reef trips, for 12 years.
If you come in the later half of July, you could just book for a couple of days, & have a couple of days, on one of the island resorts, after seeing them on day trips, to pick one. They all usually have daily vacancies, other than school holiday periods, [27Th June, to 12Th July, this year]
If I can help, with any specific questions, just ask.
Edited by Hasbeen on Thursday 12th February 17:03
Edited by Hasbeen on Thursday 12th February 17:05
www.jetstar.com.au
www.webjet.com.au
www.virginblue.com.au
www.qantas.com.au
www.tigerairways.com.au
Not sure you have your travel sorted already. Tiger and Jetstar are the low cost ones. The other two tend not to be too far behind. Tiger are Singapore Airlines connected. Jetstar are Qantas connected. Virginblue are not hard to guess connected! Tiger don't fly from Sydney or they don't at present. Be careful with Jetstar as from Melbourne....they can go from one of two airports about 60km apart.
www.webjet.com.au
www.virginblue.com.au
www.qantas.com.au
www.tigerairways.com.au
Not sure you have your travel sorted already. Tiger and Jetstar are the low cost ones. The other two tend not to be too far behind. Tiger are Singapore Airlines connected. Jetstar are Qantas connected. Virginblue are not hard to guess connected! Tiger don't fly from Sydney or they don't at present. Be careful with Jetstar as from Melbourne....they can go from one of two airports about 60km apart.
If you haven't visit - WWW.Tripadvisor.com
All the info you'll need
I loved Surfers Paradise - Stayed in the Marriot Courtyard & it was near the Beach & very central (Cavill Av has some really nice cars cruising around)
Did most of the theme parks while we were there (5 nights), great with the kids.
All the info you'll need
I loved Surfers Paradise - Stayed in the Marriot Courtyard & it was near the Beach & very central (Cavill Av has some really nice cars cruising around)
Did most of the theme parks while we were there (5 nights), great with the kids.
I would advise getting out of Sydney asap as once you've seen the sights it's not really any different to any city in Europe (although with a local guide it'd probably be a lot better). Bondi is nice and it's good to go because it's famous but it is really just an incredibly busy example of a billion other beaches all around Oz.
It's also cold there at that time of year so you definitely want to go north. Airlie beach is beautiful and the Whitsunday islands are stunning there. Bear in mind that a trip to the reef from Airlie Beach is a 2+ hour boat trip which can be pretty rough, so if seasickness is an issue you would be better from Cairns as it's closer. From Cairns you can go up north to Mossman and Port Douglas and also go crocodile hunting on the Daintree river. Well worth a trip.
I can't say we thought much of Surfers Paradise but the Aussies love it and it's probably better if you have kids as there's a lot to do. It's a bit like going to Spain or Greece.
Also note that when hasbeen says "large city" for Cairns and Townsville, it actually means "large town" in English terms
And finally it's worth bearing in mind that Cairns is a really long way from Sydney, so it's pretty much a full days flight to get there and back (I guess it'd be a 3/4 hour flight).
It's also cold there at that time of year so you definitely want to go north. Airlie beach is beautiful and the Whitsunday islands are stunning there. Bear in mind that a trip to the reef from Airlie Beach is a 2+ hour boat trip which can be pretty rough, so if seasickness is an issue you would be better from Cairns as it's closer. From Cairns you can go up north to Mossman and Port Douglas and also go crocodile hunting on the Daintree river. Well worth a trip.
I can't say we thought much of Surfers Paradise but the Aussies love it and it's probably better if you have kids as there's a lot to do. It's a bit like going to Spain or Greece.
Also note that when hasbeen says "large city" for Cairns and Townsville, it actually means "large town" in English terms
And finally it's worth bearing in mind that Cairns is a really long way from Sydney, so it's pretty much a full days flight to get there and back (I guess it'd be a 3/4 hour flight).
Edited by durbster on Sunday 15th February 12:54
take yourself and the kids here, hour from brisbane, www.tangalooma.com.au and feed the dolphins, then do dreamworld and movieworld. also depending on when try the whalewatching.all in close proximity
Dave
Dave
If you're used to the odd Scottish breeze, then you'd melt if coming now...
Oz Mid winter, top end of the country ave 20-30Deg C, bottom 15-20Deg C
Canberra - there's a tower, and you can look at some 'lowlands' - that's about it...
Melbourne - trendy and young, like Brighton or Edinburgh.
Sydney - too big like London, impersonal, without the ethnicity.
Hobart - lovely.
more to come - it's starting raining...
Oz Mid winter, top end of the country ave 20-30Deg C, bottom 15-20Deg C
Canberra - there's a tower, and you can look at some 'lowlands' - that's about it...
Melbourne - trendy and young, like Brighton or Edinburgh.
Sydney - too big like London, impersonal, without the ethnicity.
Hobart - lovely.
more to come - it's starting raining...
Ignore Cairns and Townsville -- go to Port Douglas 1 hour north of Cairns...
nice pubs, restaurants, extremely mellow town...
good place to use as a base to explore the Daintree, Reef, take a drive up to Cooktown
or just chill on the beach!
can't say enough good about there, and that time of year it is usually low/mid 20's and fabulous, sometimes wet, but well worth it!
make sure to stay within 1 mile of the town centre, then you don't have to worry about drink driving or the Cassawary's.....
nice pubs, restaurants, extremely mellow town...
good place to use as a base to explore the Daintree, Reef, take a drive up to Cooktown
or just chill on the beach!
can't say enough good about there, and that time of year it is usually low/mid 20's and fabulous, sometimes wet, but well worth it!
make sure to stay within 1 mile of the town centre, then you don't have to worry about drink driving or the Cassawary's.....
ajg31 said:
Am i the only one that likes Sydney? 
I doubt it since so many people fly in and don't leave until their Visa expires! I didn't dislike Sydney but we had booked 10 days there, expecting the city to provide us with all sorts of wonders.
On the first day we saw the Opera house, the bridge and took a ferry across the harbour, and then we had 9 days left with no idea what to do. Going to the shops or the pub is exactly the same as it is in any western city, Bondi was a packed beach and the public transport system is pretty average.
So after 10 days of trying to fill our days we were desparate to get out and see some stuff that we couldn't get at home.
Having been out on holiday there twice now (whoooo). I would agree Port Douglas and the witsundays are very nice places.
Carins was only for diving although we did have a nice couple of days on a yacht out in the reef.
Didn't like surfers and byran Bay was a bit to quite for me. Sydney is just a City but I did like Melbourne.
I have been in the summer and winter and the winter was best. only becuase during the summer it rained every ware we went (including Ayers Rock, along with lightening, rainbow and ten the sunset. was awsome).
Bondy
Carins was only for diving although we did have a nice couple of days on a yacht out in the reef.
Didn't like surfers and byran Bay was a bit to quite for me. Sydney is just a City but I did like Melbourne.
I have been in the summer and winter and the winter was best. only becuase during the summer it rained every ware we went (including Ayers Rock, along with lightening, rainbow and ten the sunset. was awsome).
Bondy
Gassing Station | Australia | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff