~3 weeks vacation to Australia

[u/Ok_Possible_5702]

I (36M) will be traveling to Australia for ~3 weeks, between October and November. I took 2 weeks off from work, and one week I'll be working remotely.

Interests: culture (*not* art), history, foodie. Preferred landscapes/scenery: beach and deserts.

My high-level plan is, in some order:

• central Australia/Outback: Uluru or (less likely) Alice Springs. 3-4 days
• Cairns/GBR: beach-time and sightseeing. 3-4 days
• Sydney + Melbourne rest of the time (this is when I'll be working, so I won't have all day to sightsee and visit)

I don't drive, so I don't plan on renting a car to move around, which limits my options (I know it's strongly discouraged for a tourist to drive around alone in the Outback anyway). I am happy to partake in small group tours and use public transports (flights, trains, buses) as needed. Budget is pretty flexible, I'll prioritize speed over price for travel between locations, and I'm looking for accommodations that are clean and decent (think ~3 stars hotel, not a hostel but no Four Seasons either).

Questions:

• Uluru
  • is 3-4 days enough? too little?
  • I see most tours do the whole "camping under the stars". Is that recommended? Is that the best way to experience the landscape's uniqueness? I used to go camping as a kid/teenager but haven't done it since.
• Cairns/GBF
  • 3-4 days sounds good?
• Sydney + Melbourne
  • looks like I'd be spending a week and a half between the two cities. Is that too much time? Should I try to fit in another destination (Brisbane? Adelaide?)?

[u/HistoricalHorse1093]

Copy and paste my list for you to research 

Many ideas 🙂 

Queensland:

• Port Douglas, Daintree rainforest (must see), Snorkelling great barrier Reef. Number one location for reef snorkeling.

• Whitsunday islands (beautiful great barrier Reef location) Airlie beach, Hamilton island, Whitehaven beach, snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef 

• Fraser Island K'gari 

Tasmania: (not easy to get around without a car, would need to book tours)

• day trip to Hastings Caves, Tarkine Rainforest and Russel Falls 

• day trip to Freycinet National Park, Wineglass Bay and Richmond historical town 

• day trip to Bruny Island boat tour and walking on the island (sealife).

• Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park, wild wombats at the information centre. Nice hike/walk at the lake 

• Wildlife Sanctuary, Mona Art Gallery, Salamanca markets on Saturdays

Victoria/Melbourne: 

• Great Ocean Road: 12 apostles, Maits Rest Rainforest Walk, the Otway Redwoods (in Beech Forest), Erksine Falls. 

• Healesville Sanctuary, black spur drive, Marysville and Steavenson's falls. 

• The Grampians National Park - pinnacle hike (amazing place). 

• Phillip Island penguin parade and wildlife

• Dandenong ranges: Sassafras, Olinda for lunch, Kallista, native birds at Grants Picnic Grounds, Walk at Sherbrooke picnic grounds, sky high lookout. 

• Walking tour of the Melbourne city centre. 

• Kayaking at Warrandyte on the Yarra River.

Northern Territory:

• from Darwin 1-2 day tour to Kakadu National Park 

• Uluru Ayres Rock and Kata Tjuta National Park 

Western Australia:

• The Kimberley area

[u/NatAttack3000 → u/HistoricalHorse1093]

Ok, rude, I'll add it in

South Australia

Our wine regions are accessible from Adelaide and have wonderful scenery and world class wine as well as distilleries/breweries etc and amazing reetsaurants some ideas:

• Barossa wine region (for Shiraz/Syrah)
• McClaren vale wine region (for cab sav, Grenache, and some nice lighter Shiraz)
• Clare valley wine region (for Riesling)
• Adelaide Hills - all sorts

Make sure you try a sparkling Shiraz too. It's the perfect thing for a hot Christmas, or just a great summer day. Great to bring home as a gift

• Flinders Ranges and Wilpena pound - proper outback with gorgeous rolling red hills, probably not doable without a car though
• Adelaide Central markets for gourmet produce, fresh oysters, or a cheeky bacon and egg roll
• Mount Lofty - great accessible hiking
• Hallet cove beach (for the gram)
• Hahndorf - a German style town about 30 min out from Adelaide CBD. Bratwurst, pretzels, beer and a strawberry farm where you can pick your own

[u/HistoricalHorse1093 → u/NatAttack3000]

I was extending on the places they already mentioned they were going. Plus added some places I know about. 

They only have three weeks. I didn't realise I needed to have an all inclusive of all Aussie places otherwise it would be considered rude. Maybe I should make a MASSIVE list of ALL places next time.

In that case - why didn't you talk about Brisbane too? OP mentioned Brisbane and Adelaide. God you're rude.