East Coast Oz in 5wks..Any tips???

Hi
Myself and two friends (all girls) are planning on hitting the east coast Australlia, flyin out from Ireland 1st/2nd Jan 2010 for approx 5 weeks..

Were planning on renting a campervan and driving from Melbourne to Cairns..Are we being to enthusiastic by trying to get to see so much in such a short time??

Also are we best to fly south ie Melbourne and make our way up North or should we do it visa versa??

And finally is diving the reef safe at that time of year..ie box jelly fish etc and whats the visibilty like?

Pls pls pls anyone with advice let us know..

Cheers a million

Caz

[ Edit: Edited on 12-Jul-2009, at 12:52 by caznemoy ]

Visibility will likely be horrid, since it's the middle of the wet season up north, and all the rain will cause visibility to drop to next to nothing (I'm not speaking from experience here, but I got to the reef after a rare week of rains in August, and had zero visibility, so with rains pretty much guaranteed every single day from December through March, I'm expecting the same to hold).
Covering the distance from Melbourne to Cairns in five weeks is technically possible, but you'll be spending a very significant amount of time just driving., and I wouldn't recommend it.

What I'd recommend instead is driving the great ocean road from Melbourne to Adelaide, then back to Melbourne inland via the Grampians National Park, and then following the coast to Sydney (maybe with detours inland to Kosciuszko National Park / Canberra), and possibly further north to Brisbane, but no further than that (Brisbane will already be uncomfortably humid in January/February). That route should be nice and doable in five weeks, allowing you to relax and see things at a decent pace; covering a good amount of ground but not running yourselves completely ragged.

Cheers for that Sanders..I thought we were trying to fit too much in..

Whats the diving like down south at in Jan??

I don't know if there is much diving down south, unfortunately. The entire reef is pretty much in wet season territory, unfortunately. :/ Not really my area of expertise, though, so maybe there's still some good spots someone else can tell you about...

Hi there any trips Oz???,

Perhaps a good way to fit as much in as possible within your time frame would be to fly into Melbourne then travel by road via either hiring a campervan or car, the Greyhound Bus, trains and or organised small group tours that operate between all capital cities throughout Oz.

You could make your up the east coast to Cairns stopping off at all of the capital cities and spots of interest along the way.

Once you get to Cairns you could then head across the top to Darwin. Coming down the centre to Alice Springs/Eyres Rock etc.

Explore the NT outback then into South Australia's Flinders Ranges, Adelaide and eventually making your way back to Melb through the Grampians and the Great Ocean Road.

Flying back home from Melbourne!

I suggest this as an option only because I used operate a small group tourism business that catered for these type of tours and time frames. Cost's used to average out about Aus$120 a day (camping & hostels).

Some of these suggestion might help and maybe could be considered!!!

Whichever way you do it, you are going to absolutly love it and have such a great time, meeting so many interesting wonderful people.

Cheers & Good Luck,
Ron

Hi Ron
Yeah Id love to get all that done hopefully well get to do it all..Another quick question for you would we b better off flying into Cairns first then workin our way south..Ive read a few posts sayin that the weather is hot and humid up north in jan but that it doesnt tend to rain till nearer Feb..??we`d be headin south nearer feb if we choose that route..Or should we just fly into Melbourne and work our way north??
I was also looking at getting a return tick (Dub to Cairns) then traveling from cains to melbourne or visa versa and then getting an internal flight to fly home..that would give us more time to spend along the coast in each town/city or do you think wed be fine driving back to destination city again?
We have friends dotted along the coast so ideally we`ll be spending 2nites in some locations..

Cheers..

Yeah, I reckon that could be a good way to go! Cairns to Melb. mind you though, it's going to pretty hot and humid all across the top of Oz at that time of year. And as you head south, it will still be hot but the air will get a lot dryer.

Following your last comments, I now think you would have a more relaxed holiday if you just concentrated on the east coast and also taking into consideration you wanting to spend time with friends along the way. My original suggestion would be soooo full on, you would need another holiday at the end to get over it! "Hey, you can always come back to do that other stuff".

The Campervan idea sounds a good option, your not living out of a backpak, you will have 24/7 access to your own tucker, stop and stay when & where you want and it gives you greater flexibility without being worrying about time tables. Lots & lots of FUN to be had there!!!

On the diving: You should be OK, there's plenty of diving companies that go out onto the Reef and beyond all year round (Airlie Beach is a good option). There is pretty good diving all the along east and southern coasts.

Cheers,
Ron

Yeah, I reckon that could be a good way to go! Cairns to Melb. mind you though, it's going to pretty hot and humid all across the top of Oz at that time of year. And as you head south, it will still be hot but the air will get a lot dryer.

Following your last comments, I now think you would have a more relaxed holiday if you just concentrated on the east coast and also taking into consideration you wanting to spend time with friends along the way. My original suggestion would be soooo full on, you would need another holiday at the end to get over it! "Hey, you can always come back to do that other stuff".

The Campervan idea sounds a good option, your not living out of a backpak, you will have 24/7 access to your own tucker, stop and stay when & where you want and it gives you greater flexibility without being worrying about time tables. Lots & lots of FUN to be had there!!!

On the diving: You should be OK, there's plenty of diving companies that go out onto the Reef and beyond all year round (Airlie Beach is a good option). There is pretty good diving all the along east and southern coasts.

Cheers,
Ron

Sorry bout the two extra copies of the last. Don't know what happened there????

Not sure where the moderator gets the weather information for Cairns and Far North Queensland from but I can assure you the weather is fine...no rain for weeks...the visibility on the reef was 18 m last week but this varies on a daily basis depending on the wind.
The drive from Melbourne to Cairns is very do-able in 5 weeks. Driving continually would take about 4-5 days at 8-10 hours per day.
Don't do that though. Enjoy all there is to offer all along the way. There are many beautiful places to see and people to meet.
Keep a weather eye on bom.net.au which is the Bureau of meteorology site and will show you the weather. The wet season happens when the weather comes from the Equator in the north. Presently it is coming from the South so is dry but it is winter so it is cool in southern places. In the far north around Cairns the daytime temps are up to 27 degrees celcius and down to 14 at night. The wet season is from Dec to March and it does rain then. Thats when box jelly stingers are most prevelant.
Relax and enjoy.