Sydney Travel Forum

My wife and I are planning to visit Australia for 3 weeks and New Zealand for one. Generally our approach is to stay in one location for a week to see its sights and to take side trips. Most likely our vacation will begin in Sidney or Cairns since we will be arriving from the US. What two other cities should be consider for stays? We are interested in local color, customs, early settlement period, native culture although some touristy stuff has to be included. Should we consider hotel, apartment ot B&B stays? What is the pecking order in cost for accomodations. How is the weather in late February and March?

Thank you.

George

Sydney and Cairns are good choices as well as maybe Melbourne. There a plenty of day trips you can do from Sydney, the blue mountains, hunter valley and well as all the things you can do in our beautiful harbour city. You will easily fill up a week. The weather in late Feb/March will be hot, proabably 28-33 degree celcius. Accomodation will depend on your buget. Central sydney tends to be expensive although you could get some good deals, generally for a hotel room it will cost $100 or more.

There are also pleny of things you can do from Melbourne. The great ocean road can be done as a day trip but I would reccomend spending a night there. An alternate to Melbourne could be Tasmania, it i beautiful and if you like B&Bs that is the place.

Hope this helps Jo

Sydney and Melbourne definitely, but don't discount Brisbane as it is the gateway to some fabulous beaches i.e. the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast and some really beautiful hinterland. The city itself highlights the River which is surrounded by beautiful parkland, restaurants etc. From here you can visit the islands in Moreton Bay. For or early settlement, I would say that Hobart is a must. Tasmania is a beautiful island which is chockful of interesting and historical things to do. It is also quite small, so it is not terribly difficult to get from one place to another and most of the intersting historical things can be done as day trips from Hobart (Richmond, Port Arthur etc.) Hotels in Brisbane and Hobart are a little cheaper than Sydney and Melbourne. HotelClub is probably a good website to give you some ideas of accommodation availability and cost. Have a great trip.

Hi
Sydney has real history, it is where the first settlement of Australia by the British took place, just down by Circular Quay on the harbour, and the Rocks area approx 600 metres away is the heart of Old Sydney.

A week in Sydney is ideal and Feb March weather is ideal, good weather for the beach. Take the Manly Ferry to Manly and its great beach, take a day trip to the Blue Mountains etc etc.

WWW.australia.com
www.skywalk.com.au
www.sydneyferries.info
www.bluemts.com.au

www.visitbrisbane.com.au
www.visitvictoria.com
www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au
www.melbournecitysearch.com.au
www.thisweekinsydney.com
www.visitsunshinecoast.com.au
www.bestflights.com.au

Recommend you check out the pages of VT members who have replied.

Good Luck,
Mike

I agree with the others so I'll just answer your weather question. It's different from north to south - in the far north (Cairns) it's the end of the wet (monsoon) season, so it's more humid up there than in the south.

Hey George - good amount of time for a trip to Aus.

Like Mike said, Sydney has quite a bit of history regarding early settlers in The Rocks, convict museums, and things like that. You might also want to head out to the Blue Mountains (2hrs from Syd) for some hiking - it's a beautiful area. From Harbour cruises to great city walks on the beach to an amazing zoo, Sydney has quite a few touristy options that everybody should see.

2 other cities? 4 cities in 3 weeks sure is a lot! One place I consistently recommend over Cairns is the Whitsunday Islands - 70+ islands off the coast, and you can catch a flight into Airlie Beach (Proserpine). Airlie Beach is a much better town to visit than Cairns (no offence to the local Cairns folks).

For your stay?
www.stayz.com.au has some good choices for apartments
www.wotif.com.au has discounted hotels/B&B

Sydney has quite a few apartment rentals, and you'd save a bit off the hotels I think.

Happy travels!

Many thanks to all who responded to my inquiry. Your suggestions are immensely helpful. Now the detailed planning will begin and before I know it, my wife and I will be on a plane to Australia.

Thanks again to all.

George

hi george,
as you are planning to stay in one location for a week at each city, i would recommend staying at an apartment. we do this even though we are visitng a new place for 3 nights. we enjoy the extra space you get in an apartment. also it is useful having the full kitchen and laundry facilities. we stock up at the nearest supermarkets and can have our own breakfasts and supper and even takeaways if we do not feel like going out for the evening meal.
holiday apartments are easily found in sydney and cairns.
happy planning.

Hi, youve got some good replies here - particularly Mikebb and AYank! - there are plenty of things to see around Sydney - the history that is out at the first settlement at Parramatta - which you can get to by commuter ferry up the lovely harbour and into Parramatta river - learn about Governor MacQuarie and the penal colony that was Sydneys origins and so on - and the Blue Mountains - the Three sisters and the history of coal and so on there, the gardens that are around up there - I also love Parkes a little town in amongst the others worth seeing and the cemetary there where Sir Henry Parkes is buried - I went to see where he was born and went to school over here in England because of the possible family connection - there are some lovely spots such as the beaches just a little further south.

I think then that with making your other visit to Cairns you will get a lot out of visiting the Atherton Tablelands and the Jabukai (sorry about the incorrect spelling right now) aboriginal performers and culture there at Kuranda and the cable car over the rainforest plus the train ride to get there or back, the Daintree and its crocodiles and tropical/rainforest living, beautiful Port Douglas even if its only the view from the road above, and then the Great Barrier Reef is a must - and Airlie beach and Shute harbour are just beautiful.
The sugar cane growing area and so on. theres a lot to learn about Australia up there - so i think Sydney and a trip around up north would be enough to give you time to get into the sights and the cultures.

All the best!

My suggestion would be to stay in B & B's as you really get the local feel and personal touch.

I think you should definately go to Melbourne.