Melbourne to Brisbane by car - in 7 days - real?

ditto westwood -

I think the question was, can this be done in 7 days and the answer is yes.

Thank you all for your hints, I see I need to rethink my itinerary. Anyway we will do some driving along the coast, but maybe we can plan a bit shorter trip. We plan to end up in Whitsundays anyway, so we will consider flying from Sydney instead from Brisbane to Townsville.
Thank you once again for your suggestions and good pieces of advice.
Michal

Without disparaging Townsville, it would be my third choice to fly to in North Queensland, after Proserpine (for the Whitsundays), or Cairns (for the true tropics).

Also - in August especially - the warmer drive Sydney > Brisbane would be my preference over the southern portion drive via the coast Melbourne > Sydney.

Planning to fly from Sydney is a reasonable option Micali and in August you will find the weather not being too bad, especially if Spring comes a bit early and you always have a milder coastal effect on the NSW south coast and it does by far offer much more of interest rather than being on a motorway and then making detours to get somewhere or take an alternate route.

Certainly, if you want to get to the Whitsundays, fly into Proserpine or Hamilton Island as Townsville is about three hours further north of the Whitsundays and so you would be doing a backtrack.

Also be aware that a cyclone made a direct landfall at Airlie Beach/Whitsundays and there is still substantial tourism infrastructure to be repaired.

If you are heading north to see the Great Barrier Reef, there has also been coral bleaching, it being worse the further north you go and there are options you can consider further south, Lady Elliot Island, Lady Musgrave Island, the former accessible from anywhere between Brisbane and Hervey Bay ( Whale watching capital btw ), Lady Musgrave from Bundaberg or 1770 and Heron Island from Gladstone.

Yes ... let us now what your Barrier Reef - diving - snorkelling - aspirations are, and we might have a view about the best way to currently meet them.

Thank you. After reading all of your pieces of advice I am still unsure of one thing. Should we end our journey in Gold Coast and have couple of rest days there or try to go north. As we really want to experience the reef what would be the best choice. I am not sure of Whitsundays now.
Is there any option t do reef from GC? Any other better option?
Thank you
Mike

No option to do the reef from down on the Gold Coast from my knowledge.

The best point south is probably Lady Elliot Island - http://www.ladyelliot.com.au which is just above Bunderberg.

Heron Island is another option.

The possible downside of Lady Elliot Island in August is that it can be rather cool, particularly if there is wind from the south, and so can the water.

You do need to get to at least the Whitsundays before you're genuinely clear of the temperate zone and its winter. Having said that we've holidayed on the Gold Coast in July for decades, and the weather is usually very good - even allowing for swimming.

It really depends on what you actually want to do, stopping at the Gold Coast being one option or travelling further north for as Lady Elliot Island is reached by air, you can book to fly there from a number of places as they show for day trippers on their site - http://www.ladyelliot.com.au/ - it certainly the most expensive of the southern GBR options and have a look under packages on that site and you also see that there is a combination LEI/Fraser Island deal which though costly at first sight is an all inclusive trip - flying from Hervey Bay and it is likely if you fly from anywhere else for a day trip you will be shuttled from Hervey Bay ( small light aircraft for island landings ).

For the other options of Lady Musgrave Island, you need to go to either Bundaberg or Town of 1770 and for Heron Island it is Gladstone, Heron Island being a moderately priced island stay whereas only camping is available on Lady Musgrave or a day trip and it is the lowest priced of the three at about $200.

Weatherwise, there are colder southerly winds right now as per usual for this time of the year but by August we are getting back into warmer days (always about 20C anyway and often a bit higher ), water temperature about 20C, there being people in the water and out of it on beaches all year around from Brisbane north.
( And yes, I live north of Brisbane, in summery clothes all year around ).
The difference between north of Brisbane to the Whitsundays in August is quite marginal.

Compared to what you would sometimes experience in Poland, I expect you will find it lovely without being too warm.

My point is very well made OP ... in Townsville-Cairns you will have genuine tropical weather (and corresponding water temperatures). We have had very cool weather in the Whitsundays (especially in a breeze out on the Reef), but it is still much warmer than the Southeast Coast can be in June-August.

The difference between July and August is marginal .. both months are true winter.

So in summary, you can have very good August weather on the Gold Coast (my favourite Australian destination), in Brisbane, and on Lady Elliot Island, but it can be breezy and cool in a way that is cooler than the Whitsundays, and much cooler than Townsville-Cairns.