Is this possible in 3 weeks????

Hey sal, I like your driving idea. you'll see a lot of different landscape, and you'll miss out on the adventure if you fly. What do you plan on driving? Some sort of sleeper van? I think it'll be great for you.

Thanks, Andy, that sounds positively wizard. It's very kind of you to offer but I'm afraid I have absolutely no intention of role playing a Southern Cross adaptation of Brokeback Mountain with you or any other man. You have about as much chance of pulling this off as me voting for Team Gnome at the next election.

OP have you looked at this on a scale map at all??
There are practically NO ROADS through the centre of Australia for starters.
Your average hire car would consume about 10 litres per 100km of highway driving and petrol is currently $1.32 per litre here.
You will spend your entire trip staring at hundreds on thousands of kms of bitumen and red dust - but maybe that would be an experience I guess?
There is a site called travelmate.com.au which will give you the hours between the places you are looking at, distances in Australia are massive and there's not much in between the various attractions except on the more populated east coast.
Have you looked at FAQs on this branch ?

Flights - well you can' t fly from ayers rock to anywhere except Sydney or ADelaide I don't think - you need to check out Qantas.com.au for some proper information.

Thats the funniest thing ive heard in ages DD. No problems. By the way DD, do you know if that wreck is still in the river half way to beauty point?

There are direct flights between Sydney, Uluru and Cairns - the Australian Golden triangle.

3 weeks =
a few (say 4 )days in and around Sydney
fly to Uluru 2 - 3 days
bus to Alice - 2 days
fly to Cairns 5 days
fly to Brisbane. Choose 2 or at a pinch 3 places - either Fraser Isand, Gold Coast, Noosa or Byron 2 -3 days each
Fly home.

Sal,

This may sound a tad crazy but driving in Oz on country roads is NOT fun .. after 10 hours of nothing much except dead kangaroos and broken windscreens it can get a bit boring .. and then you have 3 days of the same from Cairns .. so my suggestion is prioritise thus ..a dn if you want country roads then an hour west of Sydney and you'll have them .. so ok

1) Do Sydney (3 days - just to recoup from the flight etc)
2) Virginblue flight to Fraser Coast (daytime flight - should have great views) to do Fraser and then fly Fraser Coast (Hervey Bay airport) down to Ballina (which is 15 minutes from Byron Bay) and rent a 4WD to do Fraser or just go with a tour group and party. Noosa and Byron are similar but Byron has more beaches (I'll explain) and is distinctly more alternative but the water is a bit colder (like its 22 instead of 24C) . PM on Byron or Noosa if you like as know both well but given your timeline .. I'd just spend 3-4 days at one and enjoy the time .. from Ballina Virgin has a flight direct to Cairns ($335 ouch).

Brisbane to Cairns is 20 hours. Sydney to Byron is about 10 hours. Flying even for two on advance fares is probably similar cost to flying. Cairns to Uluru to Sydney is 6 days of (exhausting) driving and flying would be almost as cheap due to the fuel costs and car hire etc.

Cairns to Uluru is AUD $360 with Qantas but qantas have air passes not available in Oz to foreign travellers. My friends have usually found this the cheapest way to get around but you need you ask travel agent where you are about it ..

Uluru to Sydney with Qantas starts at AUD $240.

If you were to drive then the round trip is about 10,000 km about would require approx 100 hours of driving. As dusk and morning are dangerous times to drive I'd recommend at most 10 hours a day .. 10 days out of 21 in a car ... hope for comfy seats ..

Personally .. I would do Uluru by bus so both can look and not have to worry about anything .. book it.

If this blows the budget .. I'd rethink and negotiate on the what to see list as there is really only beach outback and reef in Oz .. in may.

Oops .. just had a quick squiz at fares and lot lot cheaper to fly Sydney Brisbane ($110) & Brisbane Cairns ($180) with Qantas .. than what is said .. so maybe you can hire a car in brisbane and do Byron ( 2 hours south) and Noosa ( 2 Hours north) + Australia Zoo too. There are plenty of Fraser trips available from Noosa .. car hire is usually quite expensive if you dont return to the same place so sydney to sydney and brisbane to brisbane would be the go.

OK thats enough for now ..

Cheers

Have you looked at the likes of Oz Experience with overnight bus trips etc along the east coast .. may work for you ..

Virginblue flight to Fraser Coast (daytime flight - should have great views) to do Fraser and then fly Fraser Coast (Hervey Bay airport) down to Ballina (which is 15 minutes from Byron Bay) and rent a 4WD to do Fraser or just go with a tour group and party.

Why would the OP fly to Ballina to go to Fraser Island?

Ok .. 4WD sequence is a bit odd .. you cant fly to Cairns from Fraser but you can from Ballina. And you can fly from Fraser to Ballina .. so you do one flight north from Sydney to Fraser - do Fraser a short 400 km fly south to Ballina to do Byron ( OP wanted to see Byron Bay and the bus takes about 8-10 hours - a whole day!) and then fly the 1800 km to Cairns from Ballina.