So, we’re off to Australia in April. Two families, with four kids aged 10-12.

3 centres stopping at Sydney, Brisbane & Cairns.

What are the must do/must see itinerary items?

So far we’re looking at:

Ecotour Blue Mountains
Sydney Bridgeclimb
Manly/Bondi beaches

Australia Zoo
Fraser Island

Barrier Reef
Kuranda Skyrail

Stop off in Noosa for a surf lesson or two.

Trip inland a wee bit to see the Undara Lava Tubes.

Kids can all swim, but would they need to be strong swimmers to surf at noosa?

No need to be strong swimmers there.

One of the lava flows from Undara extends over 160 kilometres (or 100 miles). Blimey, never heard of them before this. Looks interesting.

Cheers

Fraser Island is lovely. We stayed on the north end of the island, no mains electricity 🙂 Blue mountains also very nice, though I prefer the Budawangs which look similar but have no tourists. Sydney Aquarium? Imax?

Jervis Bay is pretty idyllic but is 3-4 hours south of Sydney, maybe the start of whale watching season when you’re there. Plenty of lovely beaches on the drive down too.

I liked the Lower Hunter Valley, but then I’m interested in wine.

How long are you going for? It’s my fourth trip in a few days, and I’d say you may want to be careful about spending too long getting about and not long enough seeing things. It’s a lovely place in general 🙂

Just found out that the lava tubes are full of bats! The kids would love that. 😀

RichPenny

4 nights Sydney
2 nights Noosa
3 nights Fraser Island
4 nights Cairns

A taster in each area, so I agree a balance between travelling and seeing things is very important.

Horse riding in Jervis Bay sounds cool.

Mountain Biking in Cairns….
White Water Rafting on the Tully
Mamu Walkway…
Cairns Night Zoo…
Visit Cape Tribulation..
Magnetic Island…

Magnetic Island, makes me think of Lost!

Kbrembo, Mamu over Kuranda?

Click Here

Krembo,

Yeah I’d found that link but thought Kuranda with the cable car and railway looked better, I wondered what your insight was?

Bridge Climb is a bit of a rip off, you can get almost the same view for free by climbing to the top of the pillar. Or head up the Sydney tower, higher but less exposed than the bridge.

You can buy a pass to get you into the Aquarium, Wildlife park (not Australia Zoo), Sydney tower and Manly Aquarium. All are worth visiting if you have the time. Australia Zoo was good as well, but we saw everything in 1/2 day.

Manly beach is fantastic, really nice place. We were warned that Bondi has become full of tourists and as a result is not as nice. Not sure how true that is?

Jervis Bay was OK, but I expected more to be honest. It felt too much like a british seaside resort.

Kangaroo Valley was fantastic. Not much to do there, but a lovely place to stay.

hey Foxy

personally I’d forget Bondi as it is a bit of a waste, Manly is beautiful and you could take in the aquarium there.

With the blue mountains add in the Jenolan Caves the children will love it.
Sydney you can head to the sydney tower restaurant where the children can taste roo, croc and some pretty decent food and quite reasonable.

Noosa is a place to relax on Hastings street watching the world go by, head to the SLC for a few beers and speak to those guys about the surf as the rips can be pretty strong.
Australia Zoo is pretty steep now and very commercialised still good fun but sadly not what it once was.

If you can get to the Daintree it’s the oldest rainforest in the world and pretty spectacular and once again the children will have a great time. 😀

are the flying foxes still roosting in the park by the Sydney Opera house, just thinking if kids like bats.

So if you had to choose, which would it be Kuranda or Daintree?

Looks like it’s Manly over Bondi then.

Mtbmatt it’s the being exposed that appeals to the kids on the bridge.

Daintree….

2 World Heritage sites Reef and Rainforest

If you want to be really exposed then you can do a walk out on the Sydney Tower. Still under 1/2 the price of the Bridge walk, which was £120-150 each IIRC.

Daintree every time

mtbmatt, good recommendation cheers, skywalk @ $65, plus twice as high as the bridge.

mrmo,

The roosting habit of the flying-foxes is causing serious damage to significant plantings – 18 trees have been lost and more than 300 plants including trees affected. In order to save the botanic collections and the heritage landscape, the Botanic Gardens Trust is proposing to relocate the flying-fox camp to other camps in the Sydney metropolitan area

travel agent is recommending this for Daintree

mossman gorge is a must do, have a swim but make sure if the children aren’t strong swimmers that they piggy back one of the adults. Then wade out into the middle and let the current whip you into the next pool they will love it and rave about it for days 😀

Pity not to see the interior a bit. The train from Sydney to Broken Hill is great and the town of Broken Hill is my fave place in Oz. Go for a night safari, go down the mine, chill out , visit Silverton, Mad Max country, it’s a nice place.

Foxy_Scott – Member
…So far we’re looking at:
…Barrier Reef
Kuranda Skyrail

I lived in Cairns for a long time before having to come over to UK.

Barrier Reef and Skyrail are good choices.

The rainforest is good too, but don’t swallow the garbage about it being virgin – I was riding all through it 30 years ago on logging tracks. It’s regrowth – still very impressive though.

The best way to get a quick (and free) sampler of the rainforest is to go on the Blue or Red Arrow walks in the Cairns Botanical Gardens – can be tough if you’re not fit due to the heat and humidity. You’ll see quite a wide variety of wildlife in it, some of which can kill you if you’re stupid 🙂

The Daintree is good if you want to see salt water crocodiles. They’re also all around Cairns, but generally they are masters of camouflage so the only time you’ll see one is when it’s feeling a bit peckish and you’re lunch.

Do not let the kids swim in creeks or at a beach close to a river mouth no matter what anyone else tells you. I’ve seen crocs in action (my house backs on to a tidal river) and they are unbelievably fast – not like those fat slow ones you see in wildlife parks, or the overfed (by the tour companies) ‘tame’ ones in the Daintree.

Generally don’t swim anywhere that the locals don’t swim and take jellyfish warnings very seriously. Our jellyfish are fatal, and failing that excruciatingly painful.

The UV is much much higher than down south, but there’s often a cooling breeze so it can be deceptive. Slip, slop, slap, and wear a hat.

Edit: if you are letting your kids swim at a surf beach, take note of the flags and make the kids stay within them. If you don’t know what a rip is, look it up and find out what to do in it.

Jervis Bay was OK, but I expected more to be honest. It felt too much like a british seaside resort.

Kangaroo Valley was fantastic. Not much to do there, but a lovely place to stay.

My folks live off the Tourist road between Berry and Kangeroo Valley. Tis indeed a lovely place. Where did you stay?

Also, I want to know which british seaside resorts look like this:

For the OP, there’s a good waterpark at Jamberoo, 2 Hrs south of sydney. Much better one on the Gold Coast I think, but would rather be on Fraser Island 🙂

Port Douglas is much nicer than Cairns, and closer to Daintree
Noosa is a bit too crowdy (but I’ve seen kin big goannas at the nature reserve) and you’d be better off at Byron Bay for surfing (and everything actually)
Eumundi market is well worth a visit
At East Coast carhire you can get a Getz for about $22 a day, result!
Beware that Oz is not cheap, take lots of folding

Go on a coach tour on Fraser Island, cheaper than DIY and you get to find out more plus I wouldn’t fancy trying to drive there. You’d need to be SM to do that.
Having spent about 15 months in Aus, I have to say Byron Bay is probabably my favourite spot and the Friendly Railway Bar is possibly my favourite pub in the world. Eating out in BB is wonderful, slow and serious food. Fantastic surfing at the Pass (right hand end of the beach) and a great inshore bit for beginnners and kids. Uncrowded beach in August and dry weather.
From BB and north you do need to screen up even in their winter and take polarising lenses. Driving is v civilised, petrol is cheap, you can get a cheap chip for all of Aus/NZ for your satnav on eBay.

http://colonialcabinsresortherveybay.street-directory.com.au/
http://www.aquarius-backpackers.com.au/
http://www.eastcoastcarrentals.com.au/location/brisbane/car-rental-brisbane.htm

In Sydney, Manly and Coogie are good beaches as is Byron Bay on the Gold Coast. The Gold Coast also has good theme parks which the kids would like and are worth a day out. I can’t remember the name (movieworld?) but one of them has a zoo and theme park.
Nimbin is an eye opener, but perhaps not with the kids. Some great scenery up the mountains when you go inland into the forest.
I went in Feb 2001 and the only think that annoyed me was the insects. They are everywhere and it’s almost impossible to eat outside.

KT1973, suddenly hats with corks make sense.

RichPenny,

British seaside resort, isn’t that picture from the Bacardi advert with Aunty Beryl?

Unless it’s all booked for that amount of time I’d just stay in Sydney. It’s a great city, the beaches are fantastic, especially the Northern beaches, and after all that travelling to get there, you might want to stay put for a while.
Your call obviously but just a thought.

Went up to the blue mountains for the first time last month (been n oz for a year now) and wasn’t overly impressed. if you’ve been to the alps you will be disappointed by the ‘mountains’. unless you like mozzies that is. No-one ever mentions Newcastle or the Hunter valley in these things so I’ll do my bit on behalf of the local tourist board – Sydney is a bit shit to be honest and there are much better things to see in oz than 2nd rate steel bridges and beaches full of brittish backpackers. Newcastle is a pretty cool place to stop on your way north and the Hunter valley vineyards are worth a week in themselves 🙂

Boat round Sydney harbour is a must, if the kids are young a trip on the boat out to Taronga Zoo is pretty good.

Also, I want to know which british seaside resorts look like this:

The only thing different was the whiteness of the sand, but apart from the nice sea food I didn’t think much of the area otherwise. Spent time in Berry and then made our way slowly around the Bay, visiting most places and made a point of going to the quieter spots as well as the towns.

Staying in Manly and coming into Sydney Harbour on the ferry was fantastic. Seeing all the sights and the high rise buildings in the CBT come into view slowly was brilliant.

Seeing all the sights and the high rise buildings in the CBT come into view slowly was brilliant.

Ah, now I understand why you wouldn’t like Jervis Bay. I love the South Coast area precisely because there’s not too much going on and you can often get a beach to yourself.

Also, Jervis Bay has whales, dolphins and sharks 😉

Ah, now I understand why you wouldn’t like Jervis Bay. I love the South Coast area precisely because there’s not too much going on and you can often get a beach to yourself.

It is possible to appreciate busy and quiet areas you know 🙂

The nicest spot we found in Jervis Bay was Callala Beach because it was quiet, but everywhere else seemed quite tacky in comparison. I can’t say I was impressed with the South Coast area. Jervis Bay was as far South as we got though.

Nobody mentioned going for a sail in the whitsundays yet?