Hello everyone. We are trying to plan a three week trip to Australia for the end of Sept - beginning of Oct and would like advice on itinerary. We would like to do the Gold Coast Highway, Melbourne, Sydney, Uluru (Ayers Rock), the Whitsundays, Barrier Reef and Darwin. We are considering flying into Melbourne and out of Darwin but are not sure of the best way to organize the itinerary as to not spend time going back and forth. We want to drive the Gold Coast Highway, but would probably do everything else by plane (the cheapest flights possible) to save time. Any suggestions or help that you could give us would be greatly appreciated. TIA
1
gregs3071
21 days -> 6 destinations (combining the GBR with the Whitsundays), subtract 1 day x 5 for transfers (or a significant portion thereof)= 16 days into 6 destinations, roughly 2.5 days per destination. That's a good pace if you are a professional travel writer, but way too rushed for an enjoyable vacation, IMHO.
I'm not sure why you are so keen on driving the Gold Coast Highway, but that would be the first destination I would cut from the list. Also consider cutting another one at least so that you have enough time to experience the other places on your list.
2
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travoyageur
Hi lilishanghai and it could the the Great Ocean Road you mean you want to drive, that being south west of Melbourne.
If that is so, then you could either drive it or there are three day/two night tours tat can take you from Melbourne to Adelaide via the GOR and the Grampians.
Either way, with flying in to Melbourne, I would spend a few days there to see any jetlag pass, the city itself a pleasant if not spectacular location and another day tour you could do would be to Phillip Island if you wanted to see fairy penguins that come on out of the ocean each evening and there are many wineries about Melbourne too. So you could do something like:
. Melbourne -3 days
. Melbourne to Adelaide - 3 days
. Fly Adelaide to Uluru - 2 days
. Fly to Sydney - 4 days
. Fly to Proserpine or Hamilton Island for Whitsundays - 4 days
. Check on flights ( wwww.webjet.com.au ) from Proserpine to Cairns but you may need to use a Greyhound Bus from Airlie Beach or Queensland Rail train Proserpine to get there.
Cairns and Great Barrier Reef - 4 - 5 days including travel.
. Fly to Darwin ( you are up to 20 -21 days ).
If you want to allow a few days to see Kakadu and/or Litchfield National Parks ( though October is not a great time to be ding so as it can be getting dry and hot ) , you could drop a day off each of Melbourne, Sydney, Whitsundays and Cairns.
3
Jingili
Do you wish to clarify whether you mean the Gold Coast (and its highway), or the Great Ocean Road out of Melbourne.
You can check domestic flights with www.iwantthatflight.com.au - JetStar and Tiger are our budget domestic carriers. Late October I recommend dropping Darwin altogether, and flying out from Cairns if flights-fares work for you.
5
Thorn Tree
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