Things to do in Australia - East Coast

[HornInDub]

Just booked tickets to Australia, going in December and staying along the East Coast. Planning on going to Cairns and that area to dive the GBR, visit the Whitsundays, but haven't planned much else at the moment. Any suggestions?

 

[iamtigerwoods]

Surfer's Paradise/Gold Coast area is touristy, but still very nice. Great beaches, decent nightlife and a great place to chill. Check out the Sheraton Mirage for a place to stay. There is also a good casino around the corner.

If you are into wine, there are several places to go do wine tours in Australia, as well.

 

[blkshoes]

i did australia in '85 or so. sydney is a great town. nice location to venture out to many topnotch beaches - balmoral, bondi, etc. plus, daytrips to blue mountains for wine country. i dove gbr also, but stayed in port douglas. much nicer than cairns, and the dive boats are smaller. while there, you can do whitewater rafting and rain forest tours.

 

[bigup2dahorns]

i also stayed in port douglas instead of cairns and enjoyed it very much. can walk all around town and to the docks for the GBR trips. also recommend a one-day rainforest trip from port douglas.

i stayed in sydney for a week and found lots to do. took in an aussie rules football game at the SCG (sydney cricket grounds), hit up the sydney zoo, went to manly beach, walked all over town. good nightlife there. you'll have a blast, the aussies are a friendly bunch.

 

[jhwutx]

Flew from Sydney to Cairns and then drove to Port Douglas, stayed at a Sheraton Mirage Port Douglas Resort with lagoons running all through it. Did the Great Barrier Reef, stunning I tell you. Also, there was a train ride on the Kuranda Scenic Railway, goes between Cairns and Kuranda....we took up into the mountains and then took some kind of gondola ride back down, going over the Kuranda rain forest. Do a search on Kuranda Scenic Railway....it has timetables, prices....you can go up over the rain forest and ride the train back out or vice versa.

Look into the Atherton Tablelands.....tours, attractions, natural resources, etc. Saw a very interesting site....some huge termite nest area. All I could think of was my house!! Some open vegetable markets with the hugest produce you've ever seen.

May I suggest you stay away from a product called Vegemite. It looked particularly NASTY!! lol

 

[blkshoes]

forgot to mention some other pluses - best beer in the world. no one over there drinks fosters, its very regional (like mexico). up around gbr they drink vb. in sydney, more tooey's. at any rate, you cant get any of it in the us, and its all good stuff. second thing, they like americans. as someone pointed out, very friendly bunch. the bars are quite fun. lastly, the beaches are topless. worth the plane fare.

 

[iamtigerwoods]

CNN Article today on the Surfer's Paradise area..

Surfer's Paradise

 

[Hou-Tex Horn]

Went for 3 weeks in January 2002. Started in Cairns, diving on the GBR. From there we went to the Whitsundays and rented a motorcruiser and sailed around for a few days. After that we went to Hervey Bay and did an adventure tour for two days. Next we went to Noosa Heads and stayed on the beach (probably one of the more relaxing times). Finally we went to Sydney and did Bondi, Bridgewalk, an Opera, etc, etc....

Probably one of the best trips ever. Let me know if you want some specific info on any of the above places.

 

[HoustonHorn]

Great Ocean Road out of Melbourne. Incredible views and scenery. Lots of nature walks, tree/forest walks.

12 Apostles - take one of the helicopter tours.

Little penguins.

Melbourne has a lot of museums and arts.

We went to the Yarra Valley - there was a tour that we went on that we stopped at a couple of parks and saw some of the incredible birds.

Sydney is a cool place with tons to do, i.e., beaches, zoos, great scenic areas around the city. Sydney Harbour - sailboat tours, Opera house, Bridge walk (if you aren't afraid of heights), etc.

Blue Mountains.

Hunter Valley is 1.5 hours north of Sydney if you like wine - I can recommend some of the vineyards if you're interested.

Other people have elaborated above about Cairns, GBR, Port Douglas area. We went to a wildlife zoo/alligator/snake show. We also took the skyrail to Kuranda on the drive from Cairns to Port Douglas.

I'd also suggest going to New Zealand if you have the time.

Feel free to PM if you want more information.