I've been to Australia twice, the first time though was just five nights in Sydney on our way to New Zealand and a part of a round the world trip, we had a 2 night stopover in Singapore and flew with Singapore Airlines. The second time was for a month and this time I flew with Malaysia Air and had stopovers both ways in Kuala Lumpur and Penang. Though some people do fly direct with just a change of planes it would take me a week to recover from the flight so I like a stopover. Two weeks isn't a lot of time, Australia being so huge and although it's best to fly from place to place it still takes up lots of time.
As for an itinery it really depends on how much of the country you want to see. Sydney is a must, the Great Barrier Reef was one of the highlights of my trip, I loved the Outback it was great to be in the middle of nowhere with not another person around for miles. Ayers Rock is another place to visit, though I have read trips reports where people were not particularly impressed I found the scenery awesome. There is so much to see and I think it is important not to want to do too much as you will be shattered on your return.
If you only have two weeks I would fly into Sydney have a few days there then fly to Ayers Rock where you only need a couple of days then maybe to Cairns or Port Douglas for a few days to see the Great Barrier Reef and do a bit of relaxing. You may want to vist Melbourne and you could fit that in after Sydney.
I wouldn't even think about Perth and West Australia, to far away given the limited time in country.

We could have almost 3 weeks( I'm adding on days to that for stop-overs and travelling). We are stuck with that due to husbands work.
You have travelled all over the place Judith- where does Australia rate in your travels?

It's number two, New Zealand being number one, but only just.
Australia is such a huge country I think I could go back there many times and still see something different and I would like go there again.
Though I do love India and another visit is long overdue as I have just realised it is ten years since I was last there, but there are so many places I want to visit and the list doesn't seem to get smaller.

well- thats some recommendation! A colleague of mine just used the Xmas fortnight off to go to Australia, with only a change of planes and travelling with a baby. If only I didn't suffer so much from jetlag.

We went in 1993 for a month which included 5 days in Hong Kong on the way out and 3 days in Singapore on the way back.

We landed in Brisbane and stayed with a family we had met the previous year on a safari in Kenya while they were on a 6 months round the world trip.

We stayed with them for 9 days and visited the Gold Coast, Surfer's Paradise, Lennox Head, Byron Bay and many other places. We then had a night in Brisbane before flying to Sydney for 2 nights. We only had 1-1/2 days there with the flight times and it was bucketting!

Went on the Manly ferry, across the bridge by train by accident when we got on a train going in the wrong direction, walked the bridge (there were no bridge climbs back then), went to a musical at the Opera House, visited the Victoria Buildings, visited the Rock and Darling Harbour, went on the monorail and did an afternoon tea cruise on the Bounty, the actual ship that was in the film. I loved that as I love tall ships.

Flew to Alice Springs and then Ayres Rock (Uluru) for 2 nights and hired a car so we could go to the rock for sunrise and sunset. I climbed Uluru, but hubby turned back after getting a third of the way up.

Flew to Cairns and stayed at the Cairns Colonial Club which was lovely. Went to the Great Barrier Reef with Quicksilver and I scuba dived to the bottom. Also went to Kuranda and on the scenic train.

Then we flew to Singapore and home.

We flew with Qantas and to be honest, I wouldn't recommend them.

A memorable holiday, but I don't think I'd repeat it due to the long flights.

luci

Hi , I went to Oz last year, flying with Qantas/ British Airways as they fitted in with the stop- overs I wanted. Going out 3 nights Hong Kong , then flew to Singapore with Cathay Pacific - 3 nights, then flew to Cairns with Australian Airlines -5 nights, then down to Sydney- 5 nights, then back to Bankok - 3 nights and on to Phuket - 7 nights, back to Bankok to catch Qantas flight back to UK, all worked well without any major hitches. We used a firm called Travel East for all the Far East pick-ups and drop off's - excellent service , I would recommend them. Hope this may be of some help to you.

Jet lag seems to get worse as I get older, my last trip to Oz was two years ago and I was shattered, after returning it took me days to get back to normal and previously to that flying westwards hadn't bothered me. I always take Melatonin when I fly east and it seems to help(though whether it really helps or it's just in my mind I don't know) I wouldn't attempt to do the journey without stopovers though. I'm going to New York City in March for a few days and i'm hoping that I won't be dragging myself around the whole time.
Do go to Australia though if you get the chance. I have always been a fan of the Asian countries but fell in love with 'down under'
On my last visit we flew with Malaysia to Adelaide(had a three night stopover in Penang on the way) had a couple of days there then went on a four day trip through the outback in a 4wd visiting Coober Pedy, a few small offroad outback towns and the Flinders Range of hills, then we flew to Alice Springs and had a couple of nights there beforetaking a tour to Ayers Rock where we spent 2 nights, we drove back to Alice Springs staying in Kings Canyon on the way. We then flew to Darwin where we spent the next six nights, we visited Kakadu National Park, Katherine Gorge and Lichfield Nat. Park. We then flew to Cairns for six nights (stayed at the Colonial Club) and went out the reef and did some snorkelling, visited Kuranda and Port Douglas and did a bit of relaxing.We then flew down to Brisbane where we spent four days relaxing, shopping or visiting the coastal areas before flying back to the Uk with Malaysia Air with a stopover in Kuala Lumpur. We didn't visit Sydney as both of us had spent time there previously.

this is certainly an interesting thread. Did everyone do DIY within Australia?

We did ours through a local independent travel agent as it was long before the internet was widely available. It was a good move as we had never heard of Cairns and wouldn't have considered going there.

If I was to do it again I may do it DIY, but I would have a look at Travel Bag as they had an excellent range of flights to choose from.

luci

lived there for a while back in 98 99, flew with Cathay and landed in hong kong at the old airport (very steep landing and very short runway!) lived north shore sydney and travelled out to the real sticks of bathurst, dubbo and turaweena. Loved evey minute and would swim back to be there again!

Hi Fiona

As you have been given so much info of my country and I have to agree on all that has been sed so far
My advice is pick out the parts you want to see and fly to the next part you want to see as you seem to have limited time on your side east coast is where you should go as there is lots to see and do
New Zealand it is a wonderfull country to visit and so much to see north and south islands
If you can give me some idears on what you would like to see in Australia I am only to happy to give you idears on what there is to see in areas as I have traveled it over the years Sydney is a must see and the Barrier Reef of Cairnes Melbourne in the south a must see is the Great Oceane Road drive it is a 2 day drive if you want to see it at its best
I could go on and on So give me some idears on what you want to do and I will tell you about them

It does a look a lot to organise independently. Mind you.I'd have plenty time to organise it! Neil- OT a bit-my father used to fly into HK a lot and vividly recalls the landings, looking into peoples windows.
How many days minimum do you need for Sydney, assuming you have just under 3 weeks in Australia?

Chubby
I think you are right with sticking to the east coast. You've already said the main places we were thinking about. At the moment, its a long way off yet but I think its worth starting to think what we want from it. So its research only at the moment. I do think this could be a great thread for those like me who have Australia in their future plans but have no idea where to start. I'm also going to have to look at costings.

I remember Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong it was quite an experience landing and taking off. I haven't been to the new one yet. On my last visit to Australia I spent a lot of time on the net doing research then made up an itinerary which we booked through an independent travel agency. The only thing they wouldn't do was book the internal flights with the low cost airlines, so we ended up using Quantas and REX on the flights. We did most of our travelling independently but did book a few tours within the country. I am not sure if Quantas still include some free internal flights if you book the UK -Australian flight with them, but that is a possibility. A couple of Australian tour companies are AAT KIngs and APT, we used them for the tours from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock and again in Darwin. It can be quite expensive and time consuming if you hire a car to drive from city to city as you often have to pay one way charges if you don't want to backtrack.. Not all of the major airlines fly into Cairns so if you intend ending your trip there you may have to fly down to Brisbane for your long haul flight home, I haven't been to Melbourne or done the Great Ocean Road drive yet and am hoping to do that next time, I'm already planning my next trip though I don't know when that will be. I will probably book it all independently next time and use the no frills airlines for internal flights.
Sydney is a place you could spend three days or tendays there, it's a great destination. I would say an absolute Minimum of three days but if the weather is great and you want to take a trip out to the Blue Mountains you will need more time.
One of the most interesting parts of a holiday to somewhere new is the planning and I spend endless hours researching before I make my final decision. I hope you make it there. I think it is worth all of the travelling.

One of the most interesting parts of a holiday to somewhere new is the planning and I spend endless hours researching before I make my final decision. I hope you make it there. I think it is worth all of the travelling.

thats me- hours and hours of researching
What I will do in the end ( and something I always do in any case) is to plan my itinery, cost it out DIY and then get a few quotes- trailfinders and travelbag seem good. I don't usually book trips with them though as its usually a lot cheaper to book those yourselves.

In Sydney we stayed at the Four Points by Sheraton, with great views over Darling Harbour, which is a good area for eating and shopping also it is where Sydney aquarium is. You can catch the ferry to Circular Quay or even walk as its not that far, this is where all the ferries leave to all other places. Visited Toronga Zoo which was great as you will see animals, birds etc which are usually not in zoo's in Europe. We thought aboutt doing the Bridge climb but a 1 hour helicopter flight over Sydney Harbour was almost the same cost as the bridge climb so we did this, I don't think you can compare the two as the views were spectacular and got some great photo's, they also do a "doors off " flight which takes you along the coast at high speed rolling the helicopter from side to side, the crew at the heliport are brilliant and really accomodating. If you go to Bondi beach, go on the underground , really quick and cheap. Manley is a far bigger and nicer beach though.

In Cairns we stayed at the Novotel, very nice and good location, Cairns/ Port Douglas are two of the most laid back places I have been to, perfect for a lazy relaxation break, the Quiksilver cat takes about 2 hours to get to the reef but it is worth it, also went on the Kuranda Railway and came back via the Cable Skyway which again is worth it.
One thing to know is, is if you want to cuddle a Koala , the law in New South Wales says you can't hold one but in Queensland its OK.

Wayne

thanks Wayne
I think I could do the helicopter ride if the bridge climb isn't on.Some good tips there

We flew with Qantas and all the internal flights were free/included in the cost of the UK-Aus fare.

luci

but you weren't too keen on Qantas? Mind you I won't be doing the trip without stopovers so it cant be too bad, can it?