Those who have been to Australia - advice needed

ionapaul

Hey folks,

I'm currently based in Sydney (have been since November) but will be doing some travelling at the end of this month and throughout May before heading to NZ. Got some questions:

1: Will be flying into Brisbane later in the month on a Monday and staying until the Friday - had planned to stay two nights in Brisbane and two somewhere on the Sunshine Coast. Any suggestions of what to do in Brisbane / what to see on the Sunshine Coast / where (town and accommodation) to stay in either place?

2: Want to spend five nights in Northern Queensland later in May and include snorkeling on the Barrier Reef as an activity during this time. Should we fly into Cairns or the airport on the Whitsundays Coast? Where should we base ourselves and what are the main attractions? Probably want to avoid renting a car if possible. Willing to spend enough cash to do it well. All advice gratefully accepted!

3: Any cool weekend / four-day trips you can think of from Sydney (flying or driving) that are worth doing? What were your favourite things to do and see while in Australia? Just throwing this question out there if anyone has the time to answer it! The first two are more pressing right now.

Thanks - will have more questions on NZ in a week or two - just bought my flights there yesterday! Then on to Thailand...and China...then home

daveg

ionapaul wrote:

2: Want to spend five nights in Northern Queensland later in May and include snorkeling on the Barrier Reef as an activity during this time. Should we fly into Cairns or the airport on the Whitsundays Coast? Where should we base ourselves and what are the main attractions? Probably want to avoid renting a car if possible. Willing to spend enough cash to do it well. All advice gratefully accepted!

We stayed in The lakes in Cairns. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It was superb.

Bear in mind you will not see the "real" Barrier reef on a day trip as it is hundreds of miles offshore. However we went snorkeling on Quicksilver which was quite good.

Glowing

Have you considering getting your PADI? We did a 3 day liveaboard on the reef with Prodive who operate from Cairns. We did 11 dives in that time, and there were loads of people doing their PADI and advanced PADI courses onboard.

Anyway, its a great way to see a wide variety of dive sites on the reef, and is great craic on the boat in the evenings. The food is fab too, and their equipment is top notch! I'd highly recommend it!

The Whitsundays were absolutely stunning - we did a one day sailing trip on a boat that previously won the Sydney-Hobart race. It was fabulous. You won't however get to the Barrier Reef easily from here since it slopes away from the coast the further south from Cairns you get. If its just a snorkling day-trip you want to do, then I don't see the need to go onto the reef. There are loads of other sites where you will see a huge variety of coral and sealife. I would recommend it for diving however.

Edit: China is FAB too!

ionapaul

I defo won't be diving, snorkling will do for an old fella like me! So it seems the consensus is to head to Cairns rather than the Whitsundays if giving a choice of either?

Glowing

ionapaul wrote:

I defo won't be diving, snorkling will do for an old fella like me! So it seems the consensus is to head to Cairns rather than the Whitsundays if giving a choice of either?

Well I don't think theres much to do in Cairns thats not adventure-oriented! Like I said, its the place to go if you want to spend time on the reef, but if you're not diving, its not really worthwhile to go all the way up there just for a day trip. Unless you specifically wanted to explore Northern QL up past Cairns, then maybe you'd be as better off going to the Whitsundays.

P.S I saw plenty of 'ould fellas' diving!

Ausdubliner

ionapaul wrote:

Hey folks,

I'm currently based in Sydney (have been since November) but will be doing some travelling at the end of this month and throughout May before heading to NZ. Got some questions:

1: Will be flying into Brisbane later in the month on a Monday and staying until the Friday - had planned to stay two nights in Brisbane and two somewhere on the Sunshine Coast. Any suggestions of what to do in Brisbane / what to see on the Sunshine Coast / where (town and accommodation) to stay in either place?

Well Brisbane is a good place to see but the Sunny Coast has plenty to see and do. In Brisbane there is Southbank (in the city) and the Botanic Gardens. Plus a day trip out to Stradbroke Island. A trip to Mt Coot-tha gives a great view of the city. On the Sunshine Coast there is Steve Irwin's "Australia Zoo" and beautiful beaches all along the coast. A nice trip would be to Noosa, at the northern end of the coast, as it has a great beach and walks around the headland and forest plus a trendy cafe scene. Mooloolaba is in the middle of the coast but i would almost be inclined to stay in Noosa.

2: Want to spend five nights in Northern Queensland later in May and include snorkeling on the Barrier Reef as an activity during this time. Should we fly into Cairns or the airport on the Whitsundays Coast? Where should we base ourselves and what are the main attractions? Probably want to avoid renting a car if possible. Willing to spend enough cash to do it well. All advice gratefully accepted!

I would suggest either is a good option. Cairns gives you a number of options to visit a few islands (Fitzroy and green islands) plus a trip up to Port Douglas. The area is great and has tropical rainforests. Day trips are easily organised from Cairns to the islands and they all over great opportunities to snorkel. I went scuba diving at the end of last year and it was an amazing experience. The Whitsunday Coast is spectacular with some brilliant islands to visit. One in particular is Hamilton Island. Its a good base for travelling in the region. Plenty of watersports and snorkelling right off the main beach.

3: Any cool weekend / four-day trips you can think of from Sydney (flying or driving) that are worth doing? What were your favourite things to do and see while in Australia? Just throwing this question out there if anyone has the time to answer it! The first two are more pressing right now.

It depends what you are after. A wine tour: see the Hunter Valley. Canberra is 3hrs down the road. and you have 100s of kilometres of coastline to explore both north and south. My favourite place is a little fishing village called Narooma...its about a 5 hr drive south of sydney. As for things to do in Oz...the place is a real outdoors country..so be prepared to see as much as you can....ive always wanted to see the country a little more (im a coast dweller) and Ayers rock/Uluru and Arnheim land in the Northern Territory.