1

canberra better u use the train its cheap enough. about $20 rtn or so and u get off right in city and had a free bus to city shopping last time i was there few years ago. but be prepared to walk a bit. plus without car no parking tickets to worry about. in sydney saw quite a few tickets on cars over 25$

2

Hi,
Australia Zoo near Brisbane worth a stop.
Drove Brisbane to Cairns in 6 days.
Not many places to stop and pitch a tent for free!

3

Drive to Canberra because you'll need the car when you get there - not easy to get around to the major attractions without it.

4

Between Cairns and Mackay I'd stop at Mission Beach and Airlie Beach (for the Whitsunday Islands). Maybe also Townsville/Magnetic Island and Paronella Park. If you're into nature walks you could take a detour to Wallaman Falls (near Ingham). It all depends on your tastes and how slow you're wanting to go.

5

canberra better u use the train its cheap enough. about $20 rtn or so and u get off right in city
I don't know where you got that idea from. The railway station is very inconveniently located. The Murrays and Greyhound buses, on the other hand, have very cheap internet fares, and do arrive in the middle of the city. I travel to Canberra regularly, and unless I need my car for something, and have plenty of time, Murrays coaches are my preferred transport, over train or plane, which both arrive in inconvenient places.
The road to Canberra from Sydney is very boring, unless you take detours to some very picturesque Southern Highlands towns, like Mittagong Bowral, Berrima, Moss Vale, Wombeyan Caves and Goulburn.

6

did that years ago with my brother . we had a rental and stayed at laybys. only fly is we had to wait until dark. be sure to visit kuranda. at night the cane toads congregated under the lamps ugly buggers the layby near kuranda in evening gave us our first glimps of the flocks of flying fruit bats thats a sight for sure.

7

i went from sydney by train yes the train station a bit of a toddle but they had a free bus service to fthe to city centre. keep in mind parking tickets are a major source of revenue and its well worked. your first ticket will ruin your day for sure. i got aroundfine without a car yet at home i have 2 so cars are a way of life for me. if i can do it you sure as heck can. plus great weight loss exercise. that walking. kinda bonus to have your slim figure back as i sure as heck did 50lbs in 6 months. cured my gimpy painful knee as a bonus.

8

how i travelled australia wide EVERYWHERE. was with the train pass GREAT SOUTHERN RAILWAY back packers AUSTRAIL PASS best deal imaginable PERTH MELBOURNE sydney cairns darwin alice broken hill blue mountains snowy river area as often as i wanted darwin 3 times i got the 6month one last 4 times in oz, plus yha hostel membership. grey hound at times but liked the red kangaroo AUSTRAIL better since more room to move arounds. rode the ghan great southern overlander unionnpacific trains aah the memories are flooding back when i got my first pass the train guy looked at me and kinda doubted i was a back packerr so i simply showed him my yha card lol. ok kinda old aint you no i replied CHEAP.

9

Hi, I recently did Melbourne to Cairns by campervan. I'll whack in my 2 cents below your questions.

1. where are the places along the way I should definitely stop

My top highlights for stopping are Carlo Sandblow at Rainbow beach, Hyams beach, blue mountains national park, Daintree river, Byron Bay and Port Douglas. Airlee beach was overcrowded and "touristy". Sydney of course was amazing, and Brisbane was pretty cool albeit very busy. I also recommend Fraser Island.

2. where are the places somewhat along the way but worth a detour

Depends what you want to see? If you're into the wildlife, you'll have see what's in season. For example, Whales migrate at certain times in the year. I managed to catch humpbacks off cape Byron in September, which is the most Easterly point in Oz.

3. what's a realistic amount of time to cover this journey

I managed to do Melbourne to Cairns in 5 weeks exactly, due to camper time constraints. However I'd say I managed to fit in pretty much all of the major things to do. Again, depending on what you like doing you might spend more time at one location than another. I'm not into big cities, but due to bank issues I had to make Sydney a base for almost 5 days. Frustrating but I managed to see some countryside around it and got to know a lovely little town called Richmond.

4. can i safely park anywhere and sleep in the car or pitch a tent

You can safely park anywhere unless stated otherwise. Signs are everywhere, usually in regard to wildlife, but there will be parking signs telling you what you can do. Try not to park in totally remote areas for those just incase reasons.

5. is the journey to canberra worth a drive from sydney, or should i take a bus instead
any contributions much appreciated!

I actually missed canberra out and chose to visit the blue mountains national park in instead so I can't comment there. However a nice lady at a tourist centre advised that the war museum in Canberra was worth a full day on its own merit. How true this is, I'll never know.

places to avoid in my opinion
Bowen town- very much a hick Australian town. I stopped here in search of some food and found only one Chinese takeaway and an overpriced convenience store.
Most of the Whitsunday Islands apart from Whitehaven. I went to Daydream island because Whitehaven tickets had sold out for the following week. Daydream was very much a classic middle-ages tourist hot spot, beer by the pool on a sunlounger, bingo in the main centre and cheap nasty food. By cheap ,I mean pricey, just cheap looking.

Other than that, I had an enjoyable time on the east coast, have a great time yourself and try not to get eaten by crocodiles. (lol)

10

one thing regarding so called overpriced store. consider they purchased and shipped the item which is not cheap plus one must pay for ones lack of preparedness no. and the store has money tied up not getting interest so i do not critique in this case the prices when in outback i was paying 5$ a bottle 2 ltr water but just accepted it.

11

I'm talking about expensive compared with what I'm used too.

For instance, a coke in my home country of the UK can be as cheap as 50 pence, (80 cents). However, in Australia I would pay maybe 3 times as much, and in some areas such as Perth it would be even more.

I was told that the reason for the extortionist prices was because of the really high wage rate.

So you can live like a king if you have a job, but not so much if you're a backpacker.

btw, $5 for 2 litres was pretty good going!

12

You can get coke much cheaper in supermarkets, as long as you have somewhere to keep it cold.