~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/RB30DETT]

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.

Where are you coming from?

I ask because if it's NA the timezone change could really fuck you up for the first couple of days coupled with the travel time etc. So I guess if I was doing it (and I have travelled CAN to AUS a fuckload of times) the last thing Id want to do is camp under the stars for the first few nights.

Brisbane/Adelaide?

Eh, no to Adelaide. Brissy - maybe? If you want to add in some Zoo & Beach experiences but you could do those in Sydney too with relative ease using the ferries.

[u/Ok_Possible_5702 → u/RB30DETT]

Traveling from California, so I think that time of the year (late October) it's a 7 hours difference with the Northern Territories' time zone. Good point about the time change... I'll think about it. I really wanted to hit Uluru first, hoping it's not too hot already by late October.

Eh, no to Adelaide. Brissy - maybe? If you want to add in some Zoo & Beach experiences but you could do those in Sydney too with relative ease using the ferries.

Any other destinations you'd suggest? Ideally either in Central or Western Australia - unless it's really unmissable, I don't want to spend 5 hours on the plane to go to e.g. Perth and then 5 hours back.

[u/techretort → u/Ok_Possible_5702]

Don't do Perth and WA the first time here. It's awesome country, but with your timeframe it's too big to be able to see effectively. Come back and spend a few weeks driving from Perth to kunnanara and see it that way