Planning a trip to Oz - help please

[norma]

We're planning a trip to Oz and would appreciate any suggestions/recommendations on the following:

- hiring a campervan
- what to see enroute between Sydney and Brisbane
- what to see in Sydney and where to stay with two kids under 9
- staying in or sailing around the Whitsundays

We've got quite a long way with our own research but any advice you can offer from first-hand experience would be great.

Cheers.

Norma

[moz]

We're planning a trip to Oz and would appreciate any suggestions/recommendations on the following:

- hiring a campervan
- what to see enroute between Sydney and Brisbane
- what to see in Sydney and where to stay with two kids under 9
- staying in or sailing around the Whitsundays

We've got quite a long way with our own research but any advice you can offer from first-hand experience would be great.

Cheers.

Norma

Hi Norma,

I'm from Sydney, and although there are some things I can't help you with (ironically I've never done a lot of things people will do on holidays!), I have found the following website for you to at least help with some things..

http://www.sydney.com.au/

There is a lot to see enroute to Queensland, that I have done..there are a lot of lovely coastal towns to stop over in..and beaches! It is a very long trip though....remember to break it up a lot..

I have never been to the Whitsundays..try this website..

http://www.queenslandholidays.com.au/

I also recommend having a look at the Lonely Planet website, I find them very helpful and a lot of good advice when travelling, even with families..

Hope you have a wonderful time!

Michelle

[James 1077]

I've only really done Queensland but popped into northern NSW when I lived on the Gold Coast. Byron Bay is really pretty special - the most easterly part of Oz. You can see dolphins swimming off the headland and swim with them off the beach.

The other place, of course, is the Gold Coast which the kids would love (you can't really pass by without doing the theme parks). I worked at Sea World for 6 months and had an absolute blast; plus I got discounted entry at all the other parks so made the most of them over the 6 months that I was there!

When I was 15 we spent a week sailing the Whitsundays. It is a great sailing spot but, at the time, there weren't all that many places to go so it was more of a holiday for proper sailing enjoyment rather than swanning around ports enjoying the local brews! The one exception was Hamilton Island, which was pretty cool. Things obviously may have changed a little in the intervening 17 years!

In terms of sailing it was great - pretty strong winds that weren't too gusty, good weather and lots of spots to drop an anchor and don the mask and snorkle. You do need to be pretty handy with nav as there are lots of coral reefs and outcrops around (but with GPS nowadays this won't be as hard to navigate!) - but these give you the great snorkling so you can't complain too much!

We were there in the off season so the winds were a bit stronger than normal but nothing that meant that we needed to put more than one reef in the main at any point (although we did need to spend a day at Hamilton Island when the wind got up to a 7-8 one day as the company we chartered from requested that we didn't go out). That said I wouldn't go out in more than a 6 if we had two under 9's on board anyway!

No idea who we chartered from unfortunately; they had a reasonable fleet and we had to radio in every evening with our location before dark (they wouldn't let you night sail because of the coral). They were a little more up tight than your Sunsails in the briefing but relaxed a bit when they realised that we weren't complete amateurs after the 30 minute handover / test sail! The boat was a Farr 40 which was plenty big enough for the 4 of us and a decent boat to sail too.

[sophiedb]

We're planning a trip to Oz and would appreciate any suggestions/recommendations on the following:

- hiring a campervan
- what to see enroute between Sydney and Brisbane
- what to see in Sydney and where to stay with two kids under 9
- staying in or sailing around the Whitsundays

hi Norma,

We lived in Sydney from 2001-2004, but this was before we had a little one (whose still only 3 anyway) so this may or may not be good info. I'll give it a go though

Campervan: no idea.. we did the by a Falcon and camp round Oz trick for a bit instead.

Sydney->Brisbane: Byron Bay, definitely. It's a beautiful town with a funky atmosphere, and the diving is pretty good too. The Forster area is lovely too, we stayed in a smaller town nearby one night in a lovely B&B, close to a nice beach with wallbies coming in for breakfast in the morning LOL

Sydney sights: Taronga Zoo and Luna Park, definitely. Powerhouse Museum is good fun. You can do "proper" trips on the harbour, or save a bit of cash by simply using the ferries - e.g. CBD to Manly is a lovely trip, or for a longer journey there's always Parramatta or the old Olympic Park. If anyone's a "Home & Away" fiend you could always do the trip to Palm Beach too

Sydney accommodation: I am 100% biased towards Coogee, though it is a bit of a backpacker haven. Close to the city though, and at one end of the Bondi-Coogee walk, which takes you past all the little coves and beaches. There's also a sea pool, and bbqs for hire by the beach. We're planning to go back with DD on our way to NZ, but this time we'll probably splash out rent a self-catering apartment rather than a hostel

Whitsundays: we did a 3 day, 2 night cruise with one of the dive companies in that area (can't remember the name, sorry!) and it was utterly fantastic. Not sure how many of them run family trips, but it was really lovely to go snorkelling away from most of the larger boats and resorts during the day, plus one night we moored up at a resort island and were able to use their pool etc too.

Hope that helps anyway!

[James 1077]

Also have a look at Fraser Island for things to do north of Brisbane.

[norma]

Gosh thanks everyone for all the suggestions. I do like the look of Fraser Island and I'll be checking out Sophie's ideas for Sydney. Byron Bay is definitely on the itinerary as we want to do some humpback whale watching and we'll be in the right season for it. So much to do and so little time. We need three months rather than three weeks!