Itinerary for a month in Australia

Our plans for a month in Australia are finally coming into place.
Thanks in part to the many good ideas from this group.

Briefly we arrive in Sydney June 17 and spend 6 nights. We plan to
stay in the Kings Cross area and visit the usual tourist sites -
Opera House Tour, Walking tour of Harbor/QuayRoya, Botanic Gardens,
Taronga zoo, National Maritime Museum , "The Rocks" historic area
nighttime walking tour, Ferry ride from Circular Quay to Manly Warf
And Manly scenic walk, Sydney Aquarium. One question, some books
indicate that the Kings Cross area is a little seedy. Will we feel
uncomfortable there?

Then we fly to Alice spend 5 nights. Rent a car in Alice Visit Ayers
rock, the Olgas, King Canyon, MacDonnell National....

Take the Ghan from Alice to Darwin. 7 nights in Darwin area. Renting a
car to see Kakadu, Katherine Gorge, Litchfield and a few things in
Darwin.

Then Fly to Cairn. This is where it get's a bit dicey. We again plan
to rent a car but it may be possible to avoid that here. The original
plan was to visit the 3 kinds of Islands a coral cay – Green Island, a
continental reef Fitzroy– and a sand island - magnetic island.
Possibly spending a night on one if it's not too expensive. In
addition we plan to visit Daintree (I'm unsure what to do and see
here) and Kuranada. Now I'm wondering if we need to do a separate
trip to the reef in addition to the island trips. Also I'm thinking of
eliminating magnetic island it's not that close to Cairn.

We plan to camp when possible.


Thanks for the previous help and any further thoughts or ideas would
be appreciated.

Steve Gerdemann

(Steve Gerdemann) wrote in
m:

Our plans for a month in Australia are finally coming into place.
Thanks in part to the many good ideas from this group.

Briefly we arrive in Sydney June 17 and spend 6 nights. We plan to
stay in the Kings Cross area and visit the usual tourist sites -
Opera House Tour, Walking tour of Harbor/QuayRoya, Botanic Gardens,
Taronga zoo, National Maritime Museum , "The Rocks" historic area
nighttime walking tour, Ferry ride from Circular Quay to Manly Warf
And Manly scenic walk, Sydney Aquarium. One question, some books
indicate that the Kings Cross area is a little seedy. Will we feel
uncomfortable there?

We recently stayed at a 'serviced apartment' in Elizabeth Bay, about a
ten-minute walk to Kings Cross. We often had to walk over to the Cross,
for the ATM and banks, which were closer. We found the area a bit seedy
all right, but at least in the day time it was certainly acceptable.
Perhaps the local police station helps :-) You probably won't have any
problems, but if you want an evening stroll, there are better places to
go (walk over to Rushcutters Bay, ten minutes away, for a very nice
ambience, and Woolloomooloo, in the other direction is also fairly
interesting, although there are some derelict corners there as well).

Richard (can't comment on the other aspects since we took the 'southern
route')

[snip]


Steve Gerdemann

"Steve Gerdemann" wrote in message
m...
Our plans for a month in Australia are finally coming into place.
Thanks in part to the many good ideas from this group.

Briefly we arrive in Sydney June 17 and spend 6 nights. We plan to
stay in the Kings Cross area and visit the usual tourist sites -
Opera House Tour, Walking tour of Harbor/QuayRoya, Botanic Gardens,
Taronga zoo, National Maritime Museum , "The Rocks" historic area
nighttime walking tour, Ferry ride from Circular Quay to Manly Warf
And Manly scenic walk, Sydney Aquarium. One question, some books
indicate that the Kings Cross area is a little seedy. Will we feel
uncomfortable there?

Kings Cross is very seedy at night ... strip clubs, prostitutes, and heroin
addicts. It also has tourists, backpackers, artists, residents, businesses
etc - very varied and cosmopolitan. It is comparatively safe. I have never
actually seen a fight, or any real unpleasantness, and I used to live there.
You are extremely unlikely to be involved in any aggro, even at 1:00 am in
the morning, unless you go looking for it. I don't know how uncomfortable
you will feel there; if you are used to that kind of scene then it may take
a little getting used to.


Then we fly to Alice spend 5 nights. Rent a car in Alice Visit Ayers
rock, the Olgas, King Canyon, MacDonnell National....

Take the Ghan from Alice to Darwin. 7 nights in Darwin area. Renting a
car to see Kakadu, Katherine Gorge, Litchfield and a few things in
Darwin.


Sure you want to take the train? I haven't done it, but its a pretty easy
and interesting drive, and the train is not cheap?

Then Fly to Cairn. This is where it get's a bit dicey. We again plan
to rent a car but it may be possible to avoid that here. The original
plan was to visit the 3 kinds of Islands a coral cay - Green Island, a
continental reef Fitzroy- and a sand island - magnetic island.
Possibly spending a night on one if it's not too expensive. In
addition we plan to visit Daintree (I'm unsure what to do and see
here) and Kuranada. Now I'm wondering if we need to do a separate
trip to the reef in addition to the island trips. Also I'm thinking of
eliminating magnetic island it's not that close to Cairn.


Magnetic Island isn't a sand island, and its off Townsville (quite a way
from Cairns). Its also somewhat suburban. Not worth driving to Townsville to
see.

Don't stress too much on planning your time in Cairns in detail. There is no
real reason to decide what islands you visit - and whether you go to the
outer reef - until you get there. Green Island is very pretty, but has about
100,000 tourists on about 1 Hectare of land. Lots of operators in Cairns
will take you lots of other places - choose when you get their.

You don't really need a car for Cairns or Kuranda (in fact, the whole point
of visitting Kuranda is the train trip there). Out of Cairns you will
obviously need either a car or take a guided tour. Again, you can work this
out on your first afternoon in Cairns when you see what the story is.

We plan to camp when possible.


Thanks for the previous help and any further thoughts or ideas would
be appreciated.

Steve Gerdemann

What a fan-bloody-tastic holiday. These are some of the most interesting and
beautiful places on the planet. Have a good time!

On 11 May 2004 07:12:59 -0700, (Steve Gerdemann)
wrote:

Our plans for a month in Australia are finally coming into place.
Thanks in part to the many good ideas from this group.

Briefly we arrive in Sydney June 17 and spend 6 nights. We plan to
stay in the Kings Cross area and visit the usual tourist sites -
Opera House Tour, Walking tour of Harbor/QuayRoya, Botanic Gardens,
Taronga zoo, National Maritime Museum , "The Rocks" historic area
nighttime walking tour, Ferry ride from Circular Quay to Manly Warf
And Manly scenic walk, Sydney Aquarium. One question, some books
indicate that the Kings Cross area is a little seedy. Will we feel
uncomfortable there?

First, you'll need a ferry to get to the zoo. Kings Cross is not an area
I'd want my kids to wander after dark. It's interesting, but it's also
Sydney's red light district. However, just around the corner in
Elizabeth Bay is quite different. Are you taking kids?

Then we fly to Alice spend 5 nights. Rent a car in Alice Visit Ayers
rock, the Olgas, King Canyon, MacDonnell National....
Sounds great.

Take the Ghan from Alice to Darwin. 7 nights in Darwin area. Renting a
car to see Kakadu, Katherine Gorge, Litchfield and a few things in
Darwin.

And so does that. However, if you need to find a few extra days
somewhere to extend elsewhere, this is where I'd do it, and add it to
your next section.

Then Fly to Cairn. This is where it get's a bit dicey. We again plan
to rent a car but it may be possible to avoid that here. The original
plan was to visit the 3 kinds of Islands a coral cay – Green Island, a
continental reef Fitzroy– and a sand island - magnetic island.
Possibly spending a night on one if it's not too expensive. In
addition we plan to visit Daintree (I'm unsure what to do and see
here) and Kuranada. Now I'm wondering if we need to do a separate
trip to the reef in addition to the island trips. Also I'm thinking of
eliminating magnetic island it's not that close to Cairn.

We plan to camp when possible.


Thanks for the previous help and any further thoughts or ideas would
be appreciated.

Steve Gerdemann

Your timing looks good for the top end. One small option (although I
understand your time is tight) may be to include a night or two in
either Melbourne (preferrably a weekend to catch an Aussie Rules footy
match) or Adelaide (footy again, or a wine tour). Adelaide may be best
to link to the Alice and the Ghan. It all depends on what interests you
most.

Have a great holiday,

Cheers, Alan
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