Travelling OZ july

I'm for business in Sydney in July 2004 and afterwards I want to spend
my holidays in OZ for 3 weeks. Is a trip belong the east coast from
Sydney to Cooktown a good idea? Or the great Ocean road to Adelaide??
I'm 50+ and don't like hiking but prefer a nice motel or B&B.
All suggestions welcome.

Buy yourself the lonely planet guide to Australia and see what interests
you.

July is of course mid-winter and I would be going north rather than south.
The great Ocean road is very nice, but you can drive all the way from Melb
to Adelaide in 8 hours or less, it will be freezing bloody cold, and you end
up in Adelaide.

From memory, its about 3,200 kms by road from Sydney to Cooktown. Much of it
(say from 2 hours north of Brisbane onwards) is long (several hundred km)
sections of very boring driving. I wouldn't do it (again!) on my own. Best
to get on a tourist bus. There are lots of great places to see on the way
(particularly if you like Scuba diving or sailing). Byron and Noosa won't be
warm enough to swim in July, but further north is sunny and beautiful at
that time of year.

Tourist infrastructure is excellent. There are lots of motels and stuff the
whole way. Cheap (but clean) country motels are about AUD$50 - $70 per night
($US30 - 50). Pubs are cheaper, but you usually have to share bathrooms.

Cheers


Peter Webb



"Lieve" wrote in message
...
I'm for business in Sydney in July 2004 and afterwards I want to spend
my holidays in OZ for 3 weeks. Is a trip belong the east coast from
Sydney to Cooktown a good idea? Or the great Ocean road to Adelaide??
I'm 50+ and don't like hiking but prefer a nice motel or B&B.
All suggestions welcome.

Lieve wrote in message
...
I'm for business in Sydney in July 2004 and afterwards I want to spend
my holidays in OZ for 3 weeks. Is a trip belong the east coast from
Sydney to Cooktown a good idea? Or the great Ocean road to Adelaide??
I'm 50+ and don't like hiking but prefer a nice motel or B&B.
All suggestions welcome.

For by two-bob's worth,

Think about your interests and put your own package together . 3 weeks is
too long and too short!

Australia can offer (not an exhaustive list)
great wines
great painting opportunities (my house needs doing) er um I mean landscapes
and things
Photography
fishing
gem fossicking
heaps of organised tours - 1day-3weeks
historic architecture
etc etc

If you want to see a bit without following a theme, there are plenty of
day/onight tours around Sydney, Brisbane, Whitsunday Islands, yachting,
snorkling, Cairns reef and rainforest, plus the Atherton Tablelands,
Cooktown is nice, but really only a day trip. You could go onto Darwing and
do Kakadu...

just some thoughts.
M

Lieve,

My family and I visited Oz in July/Aug of this year, taking much the
same route you propose - from Sydney to Cooktown. We took three weeks
for it also. I'd recommend it over the Great Ocean Road since it's
winter, and you'll be working your way up a warmer coast rather than
down south in the cool part of Oz.

We traveled a combination of trains and buses, and left the driving to
others. We did rent a car in Byron Bay and a 4x4 from Cairns to
Cooktown, taking the Bloomfield track, which was wonderful.

I can provide you much more detail if you'd like -- just e-mail me.

Jim