Australia Help needed!

Eros

In Cairns - do a day trip to/or even stay a night at Cape Tribulation and the Daintree.
Sydney - do the coastal walk of about 6km between Coogee Beach and Bondi Beach. Beautiful scenery, lovely bays and lots of cafes.

smurfy3msl1

I did a same sort of trip two years ago,though we went to Perth,Melbourne,Christchurch(NZ),Sydney and drove from there to Brisbane,which I would totally recomend driving one leg you get to see so much more.I'd also say look into hiring a car in each town,so much easier to get around and see more in short time,we used a company called Jucy(think,can check)they hired older cars well over 5 years and they were manual so made them cheaper but was all fine.Also use insurance4carehire,to cover car and not the companies insurance.
Sydney-take a trip out on the Manly ferry from sydney harbour.Also if you have car it easy to drive up to Palm beach(aka summer bay)Buses can take all day I have heard.Dont go to the sydney harbour wildlife thing,it was terrible the animals were caged up behind glass,I thought it was sad and they looked unhappy!
Melbourne-well if your sad like me theres the Neighbours tour.Victoria Market in the city is worth a vist.Also a trip out to Ballarat wildlife park,it was the best I went to in Oz,also not far away is Sovereign Hill a working museme about the settlement of Oz.Also St Kilda,is nice.
Perth-well dont expect much after 5pm! It turns into a ghost town,even the locals moan they are so far behind times.We went out to Freemantle,where they used to drop the prisoners off,but all in all wasnt impressed with Perth area,maybe cause it was only area didnt have a car so was harder to get around.

netlou

I got back two weeks ago and based on your itinerary I suggest:
Melbourne - Philip island is a must, you can go to the Koala Reserve (they are too cute) and then in the evening to the Penguin Parade which is amazing. Hundreds of tiny penguins waddling up the beach together. Upgrade to Penguin Plus where you get seats on the limited access platform because the penguins come very close. We did the Philip Island tour with APT it leaves Melbourne at about 1pm and they drop you back at your hotel at about 11pm. I did loads of wildlife experiences whilst in Australia and this was one of the best.
Use the free tourist tram and tourist bus shuttle to get around Melbourne (the tourist info centre in Fed Square has all of the info on this). Victoria Market is a great experience and v.cheap for souveniers.
Cairns - I only flew into Cairns and then went up to Port Douglas to stay for a few days. Not sure about reef tours from Cairns but I did Wavelegnth from Port D and they were excellent. Based on what other people were saying, the small boats are better than the big boys (Quicksilver, Calypso etc) who have their own platforms.
Do a rainforest tour if you can for a really authentic wild wexperience. I used Daintree Discovery Tours which were very good but again this was from Pt Douglas.
Ayers Rock - Unfortunatly it rained the whole time we were there (apparently I'm very lucky to have seen waterfalls off the rock, I didn't feel very lucky at the time!). Do a sunrise tour if you can. Its a very early start 4.15am, but seeing the rock come alive is worth it. Get some piccies of the sky changing colour as well as the rock. I've just got the prints back and they are some of the best photos I've ever taken. Theres very little to do at the resort but its worth exploring each of the hotels to find the best dining options. We had 3 days there and were getting bored towards the end. Also go to Kata Tjuta.
Sydney - Can honestly say its the best city I've been to (NY was my fav previously). As others have said definetly go to the botantical gardens, its free and I still find it amazing that theres such beautifal nature in the city. The bats are great, I spent ages watching them.
Circular Quay is great to wander around, face one way you're right next to the opera house, turn around and you're staring at the bridge, fabulous. I did the bridge climb which is a great experience but its a bit pricy. Take the ferry to Manly a great beach resort (I preferred it to Bondi) and the view of the city that you get from the water is great. Its also cheap six dollars each way and you really do get the cruise ship views.
I'd also recommend Darling Harbour for food, drinks and shopping.
I didn't do Adelaide or Perth (my excuse for going back!)
Have an absolutely fabulous time, I'm sure you'll love it!

beckah

Thanks for all your useful advice i won't be hiring any cars it will be public transport all the way plus getting flights to each place because of the time factor.

netlou

I didn't hire a car and used public transport and organised tours. Getting from the airport in Melbourne and Sydney is very easy. In Melbourne we got the shuttle bus to the city, its called Skybus and takes you into Southern Cross station. In Sydney we used the Airtrain again very easy although our hotel booked us a place on a minibus service on the return and it was cheaper than the train.

A couple of other 'animal' type experiences that I've just thought of: Sydney, just outside the city theres Featherdale Wildlife Park which was a nice afternoon. You can get up close to a Koala (although you can't hold one in NSW, you have to go to Queensland for that) and take a photo standing next to one. Featherdale don't charge for this unlike other parks. You can also handfeed the kangeroos and emus (if you're brave).
From Melbourne I went to Halesville Sanctury but I wasn't massively impressed.
Oh, also forgot to mention, i've you've got time in Melbourne, a tour along the Great Ocean Road is definetly worthwhile, amazing scenery.

UnluckyT

hi everyone, dont mind me jumping in.
i been trying to save to go to australia and new zealand and was thinking of booking a tour say through the flight centre? i dont drive and it'll probably be only me and was wondering what you would suggest?

gwen80

If you're wanting to hold a Koala, Cleland wildlife park near Adelaide is good. You can hand feed kangaroos (look out for a small, dark, grumpy one though), wallabies, emus etc. You can hold a koala and have a photo taken. They're often rescued orphan koala's. It's like holding a teddy bear, they're so cute!

Gwenx

beckah

Thanks to everyone that have taken time to post i have a much better idea of what i'm going to book now. Its been so hard because there is so much to choose from!

pilates39

Philip Island (Melbourne) is not to be missed - it was a brilliant place to visit.

Can't agree with Taronga Zoo in Sydney. Most disappointed with it - bad layout and some of the animals were housed in dark cave like places - hard to see.
We used Quicksilver for our reef tour - enjoyed it very much - food was excellent on the platform, glass bottom boat, underwater viewing rooms --amazing.