The fiancee and I havent visited Australia and so are thinking about making it our honeymoon destination – combining it with a visit to HK, Sydney, Ayres Rock, Cairns, a lodge near the rain forest and gt barrier reef and finally Fiji. Wwe’ve a month off and can’t decide if its too much travelling if where we’ve picked will be any good and also ways of saving a bit of cash? Any views ideas etc much appreciated. slightly lost given the HUGE number of possibilities.

When are you thinking of travelling? Don’t forget Queensland is the Tropics and has a pretty decent wet season from November-April (or thereabouts) and also the distinct possiblility of Cyclones and flooding…

Sorry should have added that! Late June to mid/end July.
Cheers!! 🙂

Good time of year then 🙂 Flight wise you’ll be looking at around £1500 or so for the RTW you’ll need. You may as well plan a stop in the States as well (San Fran or LA maybe, head to Vegas or somesuch?). It’ll be pretty hot & humid in Hong Kong in June (going there for any particular reason?). Ayers Rock is cool, so is the surrounding area (Kings Canyon, Kata Tjuta etc). Cairns is OK, good jumping off point for the Reef (do you scuba dive?) and also a good spot to catch the train up to Kuranda for your Rainforest experience (or are you thinking of going further north to the Daintree?)

I’m an Aussie and a Travel Agent, so I should be able to answer some of your questions mate 🙂

Port Douglas is an hour north of Cairns and is a fab place for 4-6 days. You can get out to the reef and up to the Daintree really easily and there’s loads of nice restaurants and accomodation suitable for a honeymoon.

Definitely have 4-5 days in HK. It’s the dog’s back wheels! Also look outside of the main HK island CBD and head over to Stanley on the bus or out to one of the minor islands on the ferry. Apparently there’s some good mountain biking too if you need your fix.

I’m pretty sure Cathay Pacific fly to HK and on to Cairns. From Cairns you can easily head South to Sunshine/Gold Coast and down to Sydney though Sydney can be a bit chilly in June/July so don’t expect to do more than sightseeing.

Mr Spud, you possibly might be packing a little bit much in. The distances between places in Oz are large and the traveling is time-consuming. Deffo go to the reef though (the further north the better it is, generally) and the Daintree rainforest. The Whitsunday Islands are good if you want the island resort thing – we had our honeymoon there and it was great.

Fraser Island is a beautiful place off the Queensland coast. I’d recommend a few days there. I also like the Budawang ranges about 3 hours south of sydney. Has a nice wilderness feel about it. Remember the winter climate in Queensland being perfect, about 25 degrees every day. Was a bit colder in NSW, not sure I’d describe it as chilly though 😉

In Cairns I’d recommend rafting on the Tully River, grade 3 rapids so exciting stuff. I think the rafting Co. were called Raging Thunder.

The Gold coast is worth a stop off. Beaches are nice and things to do on an evening.

Queensland is a vast, vast place. But most of the main towns are served by some sort of airline and it’s not difficult crossing the state. It’s driving anywhere that takes time. Probably a good idea to have a detailed plan with plane times etc before you go. There are places I loved and disliked in Queensland but I’ve only seen a fraction of it.
Loved: Lamington National Park (with the Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk)

Queensland is OK, but we preferred Victoria and NSW when we were in Australia on honeymoon in 2005. As someone else said, it is tropical. We were in Queensland from mid November to early December and it was really warm and humid.

I guess it all depends what you want to do when you are there.

Rich

PS If you do go, as Psychle mentioned, Kuranda is pretty cool for a day out.

I’m an ex Cairns local, and have lived in most parts of Qld. I’ve just been there and it was a bit hot, but I’ll also be back in in July and it will be cold for the locals then (about British summer temps without the rain).

There’s some brilliant riding around Cairns, especially if you ride up to Lake Morris and then over the dam and through the Davies Creek area. The Cairns hinterland has lots to offer, you can nip up to Port Douglas if you like Yuppyville, Good beaches – the crocs have been keeping the shark population down.

Here’s a link to the Cairns Post and here’s one to see some crocs (Take them seriously – don’t swim in or near rivers)

We got married in Port Douglas. One of my favorite places. The rainforest. the reef the tablelands. all stunning.

We went to Hamilton Island. It was great. Beach Club Resort I think it was called

Distances are huge in oz but if you have a month is probably doable if you don’t mind moving around lots.

We went to Eungella National park to see the platypus which was truly fantastic, then drove down coast to Brisbane stopping off at 1770 for a day trip out to the reef and diving and then down to Fraser Island. All in 12 days which was a bit rushed.

Highlights were the platypus and Fraser Island.

Port Douglas is much nicer than Cairns. If you’re in the Brisbane area, Noosa is always worth a trip, the surf is very good and you always see goannas at the picnic area.

Queensland is great. i spent a year in cairns and townsville and whilst neither city is up to much there is loads great nearby.

Port douglas is lovely great beach and the drive from cairns to port douglas is stunning. I would avoid Kuranda- it’s a bit of a tip imo. If you sail hire a boat around the whitsundays- absolutely beautiful- find beach drop anchor and feel the motion of the ocean- perfect for honeymooners!

Mission beach is nice too, Townsville is ok but not great, and cape tribulation has a pretty beach but it’s a bit backpacker dropout

Further south i would reccomend fraser island, magnetic island ( hire a mokedeathtrap!), noosa and the sunshine coast maroochydore and maloolabal were really nice when i was there. I thought the gold coast was a bit of a tip- confirmed by a theatre with val doonican in concert! Byron bay is nice but a hippy dropout! The sunshine coast hinterland is nice too- glasshouse mountains/lamington mmmmmmm lamingtons!!!!!

Hope you enjoy, i need to go back someday cos i absolutely love the place

It also is worth going out west in Queensland to get a real feel for the place. Every 50 miles you’ll think it can’t get much drier than this, but go another 50 miles…

If you do, watch out for the kangaroos, they’re mental on the roads.