we went in 2000 in august. arrived in melbourne and drove great ocean road to adelaide which 2 days. both nights we had frost but clear days. Adelaide it was wet and cold. travelled to ayers rock, weather fine but it did rain one night. travelled onto cairns, weather was hot and sunny with no rain. travelled down to sydney and 7 days of good weather with no rain, but that was towards the end september. Hope this helps.

We are gonig again for the 3rd time next Feb/Mar

Hi
The northern part of Aus. should be good August down south it will be cold and wet with some fine days
Sydney will be cold so go to Caines and see the reef or Frasier island it is the worlds largest sand island a one day tour sees most of it
To go to Ayers Rock it takes a day to get there and a day there and another day to get back to the east coast so it will take 3 days out of your time
The Witsunday Islands are a group of islands that have resorts on them you can stay at. They range in prices for there stays on them

We actually spent the best part of the whole of August in Australia in 2006. Arrived in Sydney and it was 17-18c, pleasant and sunny but cooler (very welcome after 40c+ in Shanghai).

As others have stated the further north you go the warmer it will be. We headed to Brisbane after Sydney and it was 22-26c most days, lovely sunny and warm. Cairns was next and again much warmer, we headed to Green Island (I think) and snorkelled the Reef from there and the water was warm.

Ayers Rock was baking. Very very hot, well over 30c most days and glorious sunshine. You won't need anymore than 2 full days and nights in the Ayers Rock Resort. It's amazing how many people we met who were there for a week. Basically do a sunrise and sunset tour of both Ayers Rock and Kata Tjuta (sp?) and enjoy the rest between time. The resort itself has loads of accommodation options from budget to high class, we stayed at the Outback Pioneer Lodge in a 4 bed dorm (we were on a round the world trip) and shared with a lovely old couple from Cincinnati. They did snore though. Outback Pioneer also has hotel rooms. Above that it gets expensive but on a normal holiday cost wouldn't be prohibitive I think.

After that it was back to the relative coolness of the lovely city of Melbourne where it was 15c-18c most days and dull and overcast. Great city though, well worth including a couple of days there if possible.

In 2 weeks you can do a lot, but you will need to fly between places.

Sydney is well worth 5 days maybe more, especially if you do a trip to the Blue Mountains (highly recommended). Make sure you head to the beaches of Bondi and Manly (Manly was nicer), it won't be warm enough to swim but you can't go to Sydney and not step on these world known beaches. The obvious Sydney highlights centre around the Sydney Harbour, i.e. Opera House, Harbour Bridge, Ferries etc etc.

In Cairns we had 5 days but it can be done in less. It was our base for a trip to the Reef (don't go to Green Island, it's like little China) and also a trip to Cape Tribulation (well worth it). Good nightlife crowd in Cairns, great bars and cheap restaurants.

Ayers Rock I have mentioned above.

If you can get to Melbourne try and do it. It's not as obvious as Sydney but get beyond that and it is a lovely walkable city.

Have a great trip whatever you decide to do.