Australia, east coast- weather, month, direction advice?

Hi, I'm a 22 year old female from Scotland.
I'd love to take a 6 month career break and travel properly but unfortunately my works not keen so instead I'm hoping to take 4 weeks off and get a feel for it- starting with Australia!
My plan is to travel the east coast at some point this year.
I was hoping for some advice...
1.) when is the best month to go? I understand there are issues with rain and insects during certain months? I can go for up to 4 weeks any time between May 2016 and January 2017.
2.) is it best to travel north to south or south to northt? My brother was in Australians few years ago and absolutely loved cairns so I'm not sure if I should end my trip here if it's worth the hype?
3.) I'm planning on travelling alone and I'm not sure whether to do a planned 4 week trip privately with a company ( I don't really like the idea of it being so structured but I'm a bit concerned about travelling alone) or would it be best just hopping on and off of buses and hope that I meet some other lonely people on route? Haha

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks, Hannah

LP produces some good guide books for Australia plus there is a Destinations section. And don't forget " best" is subjective. Depends on what the traveller wants,

Re time of travel northern qld best in our winter (june /july) as far as weather. As far as travelling north to south or reverse its much of a muchness considering u only b here 4 weeks.
Travelling on own via buses.and rail easy in Oz dont need.to do the organised tour stuff.
Wat sort of things do u want to do? - eg party or bushealk or ski or fish or go to museums etc if we have some idea of ur likes may be able to help more

June/July is winter in austrlia in the South, but probably as good as a Scottish summer, well winter in australia is usually depending on where you go in the south around high teens in Celsius. Cairns is best in the winter also, in the summer it rains a lot and is not as good. for a month, north to south and south to north doesn't make a huge difference, but the closer to the Australian summer you are the better you are to head North to South (So October onwards I'd start North first). In June/July it doesn't make much difference.

It depends on how far north and how far south you are planning to go, and what kind of weather you prefer. Look at www.weatherspark.com for average temperatures/rain/humidity/cloud cover, to help you decide.

You don't need to travel on an organised tour - it's all very very tourists and structured, and with just four weeks you will find it hard to get off the well-marked tourist trail anyway.

Happy planning.

Just out of curiosity, what exactly is stopping you from saving up and just quitting your job and going for 6 months or more? You said your work is not keen on a career break which doesn't surprise me but don't let that stop you if it is what you really want!

As you are 22 and from the UK you can apply for a 1 year WHV which can be extended to 2 years if you do 3 months work on a farm. From there because of your young age you could do the same again in New Zealand I believe or visit SEA for a few months before returning home anywhere between 1 and 5 years after you left, free to resume your career with a different employer.

Unless your current employer is your dream job and you want to stay with them for a very long time then personally I would just save up and quit and travel for as long as you want rather than let them stand in your way (you can obviously work overseas and gain experience there). Im 29 and quit my job last week (been on my career path since Uni). I go to Australia for a year in 2 weeks time on my own before returning back to the UK in 2017 to no job and having to pick my career up where I left it. The way I see it, you will always be able to return home and find another job. If 6 months of travel, or longer, is what you really want to do, then will you regret not doing that?

Not really answering your question here, its just you sound like you want to travel properly and see a lot of things because you mentioned spending 6 months away. I just worry that trying to cram Australia into 4 weeks will leave you returning home wishing you had gone for longer because there is still so much you wanted to see.

4 weeks is a good amount of time to see a lot of the east coast.

Going north to south or south to north I don't see it matters given the duration of your trip (if it was 3+ months then that would depend on the seasons). What I would recommend though is minimise your back tracking and look for flights into one city and out of another (Cathay flies direct Hong Kong -> Cairns).

For when to go I would say September / October or November. The weather in FNQ is still pretty good (outside wet season), the days are getting longer(ish) in NSW, there is that buzz that yeah winter is over. It is incorrect to look just at temp levels to understand the feel for a city. June - July - August in Sydney has a warmer winter than Scotland but the sun is gone by 17:00, the trees have no leaves, and it lacks the joy that only the Spring / Summer season offers (especially on a day like today in Sydney, was just stunning down on the harbour).

Tour or no tour - yes easy enough to get around on your own using trains,planes (sign up for qantas au travel re emails), bus but socially nice to meet others. So perhaps do mixture, first week solo, a week on a short tour (possibly hop over to the red centre for Ayers Rock) and then the remainder solo. You may then meet up with people from the tour who will be in the same locations later on in your travels.

Cairns is nice enough, to manage your expectations it is a great base for the FNQ region - the reef, the rainforest, the tablelands. No beach in Cairns itself, but just a short local bus north there are some nice beaches outside of stinger season.

4 weeks is not a long time, try a hop on hop off bus tour. Look at oz experience.
never used myself though but you would be travelling with other travellers and not the local population.

must see places
Cape tribulation
Drain tree rain forest
Fraser Island
Hervey bay mission beach
Whitsundays
And as much time on the reef as possible.......try scuba diving

What's wrong with travelling with the local population. Anywhere? And by the way, " must sees" is subjective.

This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you.