Our first visit to Australia: HK - Melbourne - Sydney - Canberra - HK (Feburary)

"ET" wrote in message ...
Someone suggested this itinery for us (5 adults 1 teen) totally new to
Australia, any addition or subtraction?
Any suggestion for mid-range accommodation? Thanks!

Day 1 Thu Arrival in Melbourne at noon
- Queen Victoria Market - Federation Square - Lyon St Carlton - Little
Bourke Street - Chinatown - Crown Casino

I think you will find it impossible to visit the Queen Victoria Market on
your first day. Arriving at 12 noon you will be lucky to leave the airport
at 2 pm and then you would need to book into your hotel/motel. The market on
Thursday is open from 6 am to 2 pm. On Friday it is open from 6 am to 6 pm.
Check out this website:
http://melbourne.citysearch.com.au/E...7/73/98/1.html

Day 2 Fri Melbourne
- City Tour on Tram - Philip Island - Penguin Parade - Koala Conv. Cntr

I don't know your mode of transport but to do the city "tour" on the tram
and Phillip Island you will have to have your own transport. Bus tours to
Phillip Island usually start reasonably early in the day and don't get back
until late at night because the penguins don't parade until after dark. It
is quite a distance from Melbourne to Phillip Island


Day 3 Sat
- Soverign Hill - Yarra Valley - Farm stay

Sovereign Hill is actually two attractions. During the day it is a
recreation of the gold diggings and the town of Ballarat and during the
evening it is a sound and light show called "Blood on the Southern Cross."
Both are extremely worth it to visit. Check out website:
http://www.sovereignhill.com.au/flash.shtml
This will also tell yuou that the daytime exhibition takes about 4 to 5
hours to see properly.
This is in Ballarat and the Yarra Valley is on the other side of Melbourne.
Doable but once again I would recommend private transport.

Day 4 Sun
- Great Ocean Road - 12 Apostles - Captain Cook's Cottage - Rialto Town


Great Ocean Road is awesome, but would take two days at least to do it
justice. If you were to take a bus tour of one day it will probably leave at
8 am and return sometime after 8 pm. Captain Cook's Cottage and Rialto Tower
are both in the city.

As you can see you have not allowed enough time in Victoria to do all the
things on your itinerary, and I suggest you do some rethinking.

I will leave someone else to say something about the Sydney end of the trip
but I think there also you do not have enough time to do everything in the
time allotted. I suspect you are just not aware of how large Australia is.

Happy planning

Gerrit - Perth

SNIP that which I am not qualified to advise

Day 5 Mon Fly to Sydney
- Opera House - Harbour Bridge - Harbour Cruise - Monorail - Chinatown -
Darling Harbour - the Rocks


Phew, that will be a busy day. You might drop the Harbour Cruise,
particularly if its not a nice day, as you will be making a ferry trip to
and from Taronga zoo the next day, and potentially going to Manly by ferry
the day after.

Instead, do the fish markets in the same timeslot and have lunch there. Note
there is a light rail system between China Town and the Fish Markets, sort
of like a tram, one stop is the corner of Pitt and Hay (other end of the
city from the harbour), so easy to slot the fish markets in. This free up
time the next day.

Day 6 Tue
- Sydney Tower - QV Bldge - Paddy'd Market - Fish Market - Tarongo Zoo

If by "Paddy'd Market" you mean Paddys Market near Chinatown, it is (a)
closed on Tuesdays and (b) full of crappy merchandise - if you are looking
for souveniers, lots of shops round Chinatown sell them far more conveiently
and probably the same price.


Day 7 Wed
- Manly Beach - Royal Botanical Grdn - drive to Blue Mountain


I would substitute Bondi for Manly, unless you really want another (quite
long - 30 minutes) Ferry ride. Bondi is far closer, and a more interesting
place. Walk around he headland on the path to Tamarama (about 1.5 kms) or
even Bronte. Most beautiful walk I know of in the world. Tamarama is a full
on scene itself. Come back and have lunch at the Royal Botanical gardens -
theres quite a nice restuarant there, not too expensive, delightful location
(I had my wedding reception their many years ago!).

If you want to go to the blue mountains, you need to allow a full day - its
2 hours each way, and you have to get out and walk to really experience it.
So chill out, or spend more time at the beach, or drive to Canberra that
night..


Day 8 Thu
- Drive to Canberra - War Memorial - Parliment or local tour

Day 9 Fri early flight back to HK


You know, I have been travelling to Canberra on business maybe once per
month for 20 years (and last went and came back yesterday), but I have never
stepped foot inside Parliament House, the War Memorial, or any one of the
other attractions. I would imagine they are well worth seeing, however.

SNIP that which I am not qualified to advise

Day 5 Mon Fly to Sydney
- Opera House - Harbour Bridge - Harbour Cruise - Monorail - Chinatown -
Darling Harbour - the Rocks


Phew, that will be a busy day. You might drop the Harbour Cruise,
particularly if its not a nice day, as you will be making a ferry trip to
and from Taronga zoo the next day, and potentially going to Manly by ferry
the day after.

Instead, do the fish markets in the same timeslot and have lunch there. Note
there is a light rail system between China Town and the Fish Markets, sort
of like a tram, one stop is the corner of Pitt and Hay (other end of the
city from the harbour), so easy to slot the fish markets in. This free up
time the next day.

Day 6 Tue
- Sydney Tower - QV Bldge - Paddy'd Market - Fish Market - Tarongo Zoo

If by "Paddy'd Market" you mean Paddys Market near Chinatown, it is (a)
closed on Tuesdays and (b) full of crappy merchandise - if you are looking
for souveniers, lots of shops round Chinatown sell them far more conveiently
and probably the same price.


Day 7 Wed
- Manly Beach - Royal Botanical Grdn - drive to Blue Mountain


I would substitute Bondi for Manly, unless you really want another (quite
long - 30 minutes) Ferry ride. Bondi is far closer, and a more interesting
place. Walk around he headland on the path to Tamarama (about 1.5 kms) or
even Bronte. Most beautiful walk I know of in the world. Tamarama is a full
on scene itself. Come back and have lunch at the Royal Botanical gardens -
theres quite a nice restuarant there, not too expensive, delightful location
(I had my wedding reception their many years ago!).

If you want to go to the blue mountains, you need to allow a full day - its
2 hours each way, and you have to get out and walk to really experience it.
So chill out, or spend more time at the beach, or drive to Canberra that
night..


Day 8 Thu
- Drive to Canberra - War Memorial - Parliment or local tour

Day 9 Fri early flight back to HK


You know, I have been travelling to Canberra on business maybe once per
month for 20 years (and last went and came back yesterday), but I have never
stepped foot inside Parliament House, the War Memorial, or any one of the
other attractions. I would imagine they are well worth seeing, however.

SNIP that which I am not qualified to advise
Day 8 Thu
- Drive to Canberra - War Memorial - Parliment or local tour

Ex RAInf, toured the War Memorial and Parliament houses many times while
stuck in Canberra, Diggers took great pleasure in pointing out my name on
the roll of the dead.
It takes several hours just to walk through the buildings without really
stopping to look at anything.
About 280 Km Sydney-Canberra Traffic Hell getting out of Sydney, worse hell
going into Canberra, 4 Hours each way, you're going to wish you had more
time

"Peter Webb" wrote in
:

I've snipped both Peter's comments about Sydney and Gerrit's about
Melbourne because I fully agree with them.

I think that both Phillip Island and the Great Ocean Road are must-dos from
Melbourne, but they are definitely both full-day tours at least.

For Sydney, the Botanical Gardens are right beside the Opera House, and
Circular Quay is between the Bridge and the OH, so you might consider doing
the Opera House, Bridge, Rocks and Botanical Garden in one day (a long
day's walking, that will tire you out nicely) and a harbour Cruise for a
rest in between. I also agree that catching the ferry to Taronga Park Zoo
is a good substitute for a Harbour Cruise. You need to allow at least a
half-day to walk around the zoo.

Day 8 Thu
- Drive to Canberra - War Memorial - Parliment or local tour

You know, I have been travelling to Canberra on business maybe once
per month for 20 years (and last went and came back yesterday), but I
have never stepped foot inside Parliament House, the War Memorial, or
any one of the other attractions. I would imagine they are well worth
seeing, however.

This is the only part of the original itinerary I fully agree with. It is
very much worth seeing both the War Memorial and doing a tour through
Parlament House, and it's feasible to do both in a day trip, so long as you
leave early. Remember that it's a 3 hour drive from Sydney to Canberra.

On the whole, what you have planned isn't physically possible at the
moment. Even if you rescale a bit you have a VERY busy schedule, which will
leave you more tired at the end of your holiday than at the beginning.

I would revise it to something more like this:


Day 1 - arrive in Melbourne at noon. Explore Melbourne city. Wander around
the Crown Casino after dark (to enjoy the lights and the flames), perhaps
consider dinner in the region. You may even want to do the city tour on the
tram first thing, to help get your bearings.

Day 2 - Tour to Phillip Island (or self drive), remembering that you'll
still want to be there at dusk for the Penguin Parade. This is really worth
being there for. This will also give you time in the afternoon to look at
things on the island like the Koala Centre (which I vaguely remember is
also on the island), and Seal Rocks.

Day 3 - Sounds as though you're actually doing a 2-day loop through
Ballarat, which is possible if you have a car. I'm not sure you have enough
time in a day to drive out of Melbourne and do Sovereign Hill and look at
the Yarra all in one day.

Day 4 - Possible to do, assuming you're starting from Ballarat but it's a
long day.

Day 5 - Won't be a full day if you're flying to Sydney. What are you doing
about luggage during this day? Will you have a problem checking into your
hotel? Perhaps spend the afternoon walking across the bridge, checking out
The Rocks on the way to the Opera House (you'll need to allocate 2 hours if
you want to tour the Opera House), and then wandering through the gardens
on the way back to your hotel. Or take it easy and do some shopping in the
QVB, China Town and Darling Harbour if you'd rather shop (tip: the only
place in Sydney to buy authentic Aboriginal artifacts is Gavala in Darling
Harbour).

Day 6 - remember that the fish market is at its best early in the morning.
Sydney Tower for the view. Perhaps substitute the Harbour Cruise with
catching the ferry to the zoo. You can use whatever is left of the day to
explore whatever parts of the city you wish - if you're not tired yet.

Day 7 - Either go to the Blue Mountains for a full day, or go to either
Manly or Bondi for a full day. There's plenty to explore at both.

Day 8 - Canberra.

Geodyne

Million thanks to all for taking the time to review and reply our itinery.
We should have done our homework more carefully.
Just returned from the library with a few more travel books but still, none
of them offers as such good suggestions as yours.
I will to come back for more ideas.

In article RcgGd.83932$nN6.20650@edtnps84, AlmostBob says...
It takes several hours just to walk through the buildings without really
stopping to look at anything.

A walk through the entire building will take no more than half an hour.
The problem is that you'll want to stop frequently to look at the
exhibits, see the sound and light shows, and if you are there at the 5pm
closing, the Last Post is played for the visitors assembled at the
entrance. Spine-tingling.

A great place and it never fails to move me. Allocate at least an
afternoon to it.

About 280 Km Sydney-Canberra Traffic Hell getting out of Sydney, worse hell
going into Canberra, 4 Hours each way, you're going to wish you had more
time

Actually, it's freeway every inch of the distance now, or at least a
tollway to Liverpool and freeway after. Take the trip in the morning and
you can laugh at the commuters going the other way. I've done the trip
city centre to city centre in just over two and a half hours, but
admittedly that was early in the morning. Three hours is a reasonable
time so long as you aren't mixing it up with commuters.

Pre-freeway, it used to be a solid four hour trip with the worst part
being the Hume Highway and Parramatta Road in Sydney, which was just
awful. All that's bypassed now, and even the killer Lake George stretch
is just a pleasant drive.

Peter

Actually, it's freeway every inch of the distance now, or at least a
tollway to Liverpool and freeway after. Take the trip in the morning and
you can laugh at the commuters going the other way. I've done the trip
city centre to city centre in just over two and a half hours, but
admittedly that was early in the morning. Three hours is a reasonable
time so long as you aren't mixing it up with commuters.

297 kms / 2.5 hrs = average speed of 119 Kms per hour.

Naughty, naughty, naughty

"Peter Webb" wrote in news:41eb183a
:

297 kms / 2.5 hrs = average speed of 119 Kms per hour.

Naughty, naughty, naughty

That's the requisite 1 km/hr under 10K over. ;-)

Perfectly fine and for that matter normal on that road, even round the
enthusiastic Police Officers at Goulborn.

Geodyne

I used to like the Goulburn police, every night for 6 months, after the
first time, when they did stop me and spend hours checking my story with my
Unit CO, they let me speed (slightly) through town going to see my girl, coz
I had to be back at Jervis Bay for reveille at 05:45.

You can be really dumb at 19,
really really dumb
--
Ever wonder why evian Water
is $3 for a half litre,

spell Evian backwards
_
"Geodyne" wrote in message
...
"Peter Webb" wrote in
news:41eb183a
:

297 kms / 2.5 hrs = average speed of 119 Kms per hour.

Naughty, naughty, naughty

That's the requisite 1 km/hr under 10K over. ;-)

Perfectly fine and for that matter normal on that road, even round the
enthusiastic Police Officers at Goulborn.

Geodyne