I'll visit Australia for the first time in August. Where Should I go?

If I were going, I would skip Sydney and to visit a beach hotel in Queensland, with a tour of the Outback and opal mine.

I would highly recommend getting the Manly ferry while you’re in Sydney, which goes from Circular Quay across the harbour to Manly. You should also trek up to the Blue Mountains to see more of our wild country, but be aware that it is quite cold up there in winter. You should make an effort to see the south coast of NSW, down towards Wollongong and Kiama.
The Victorian high country is also great, but since it will still be ski season in August it may be very expensive if you want to see it properly. If you are going south, the Great Ocean Road is a must (although two weeks isn’t that long to travel that far), especially Mount Gambier which is just inside the South Australian border. Melbourne is also good if you like the more metropolitan style holiday, since it is known for its good food and fashion.
I can’t really tell you about Queensland and WA, so hopefully someone can add some suggestions for those. PM me if you want to know which areas to avoid.

It takes more than two weeks to see Australia, so maybe see New Zealand next time. But then I’ve lived in Australia all my life and never seen New Zealand, so I don’t yet know what I’m missing out on.

Im from Queensland and I would recommend the sunshine coast, gold coast, sunshine coast hinterland, cairns, noosa, rainbow beach…There is so much to see in each state. I would go Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland then Northern Territory (in any order) as a starting place for Australia. Two weeks will definitely not be enough time, however, you can still see alot in that time.

New Zealand is beautiful and well worth the effort going. Mountains, green grass, nice people, very scenic, easy to get around. Queenstown on the South Island is my favourite place in NZ.

If you have any questions as you get closer to coming give me a yell!

My family lives in Byron Bay, they own this awsome place. Check out this web site: artsfactory.com.au Sorry I’m not very computer savvy, otherwise I’d link it up for ya. But, they have ALL the answers to ANYTHING you could ever ask, even (about New Zealand or anywhere else in the world!) They have it all! Please just check it out, you won’t be sorry! They have something for everyones budget too.For real.

It really depends on where your interests lie. If you are a city person then Sydney easily has enough attraction to keep you busy there the entire time. Or a couple of days there, then a couple in Melbourne, but keep in mind it is still winter here in August so the southern states could still be pretty chilly. As @FishGutsDale says Queensland (go the maroons!!!) is the best. It has amazing beaches, a climate that goes from winter to summer depending on whether you are in the southern or western parts or head north to the tropics. Cairns and northward are outstanding, Normanton, Carumba, Cooktown, all spectacularly beautiful, but watch out for the crocs! The Territory is amazing as is Western Australia and of course don’t forget South Australia. The only part I would not worry about seeing is Canberra, boring in my mind.

NZ is gorgeous but will definitely be cold, same with Tasmania. Actually it doesn’t matter where you choose to go, it will be beautiful and aussies are great people so you will have a great time.

@rooeytoo Please refrain from any Origin comments – I could hardly watch last night.

It really really depends on what kind of holiday you want.

If you want a beach holiday- Queensland- Gold Coast/Sunshine Coast. It also has themeparks and rainforest and the barrier reef. I went there when I was 10 or less so I don’t personally remember too much of it except for that.

If you want beach and city and a few other things- Sydney. The Taronga zoo at Sydney is awesome. Manly is great, as someone else said, and the ferries are really convenient and a nice way to see the city. You could do the harbour bridge climb, depending on your budget. And I’ve just been up the Sydney tower for an all you can eat buffet lunch in the revolving restaurant- it was awesome. Even on a low budget, the initial price might seem big (I think it was like 50 bucks a person) but it is honestly allll you can eat, you can go back as many times as you like and it is well worth it, because you also get an awesome view. I’m not sure when it ends but the Biennale festival is on at the moment- that’s an art festival, and you get a guide and do a great tour of Sydney while also seeing some awesome artworks- and there’s a free ferry out to Cocaktoo island which I think is an abandoned metal works or something- pretty eery. The Powerhouse museum is great, I could spend a full day there. And the other museum is pretty fun too. The Botanical gardens are gorgeous. I enjoy Sydney more than Melbourne but there are great things in Melbourne too and the flight is only an hour from sydney and if you look online you can get really cheap flights (I got one for 28 bucks).

In Melbourne there’s the Eureka Tower with the viewing deck that goes transparent as you walk on it so you can see directly underneath you, there’s the National Gallery and the Museum, there’s the ACMI (Australia Centre for the Moving Image I think) which always has awesome exhibitions on, I think a Tim Burton one starts soon. There’s an awesome cabaret restaurant called Dracula’s, and there’ll always be things on at the Regent Theatre and elsewhere- here’s a secret: there’s a place called “Halftix” just near the town hall in Swanston St where they sell off whatevers left of that nights tickets to various shows (comedy festivals, musicals, draculas etc) during the day for half price. The trams are really easy- just a get a day tripper ticket and you can hop on and off anywhere- and use the same ticket for the trains as well. It’s nice to catch a tram to St Kilda beach and get dinner, Luna Park is there too with I think the oldest rollercoaster in Australia or the southern hemisphere maybe. If you want to spend a day trip- I’m not sure if there’s a train or bus because last time my family hired a car but the gold mining town at Ballarat is really good fun. You can search for you own gold and everyone there is dressed in colonial style clothes from back in the gold rush days and the shops are all from there and you can go down in to a mine and watch shows and marches and gold smelting.

If you really want to see Australia you could go inland- Alice Springs, and see Uluru etc, or go to Darwin and see crocodiles and that sort of thing. Also apparently Broome in West Australia is lovely, though I’ve never been over that side except for connecting flights.

Now, if you were interested in coming to Tasmania you might have to PM me otherwise this response could rack up a very high word count.

About New Zealand, removing any Aussie vs Kiwi bias, I don’t think that you could do Australia or New Zealand any justice if you were trying to fit both into two weeks. You can get fairly good priced flights but it’s just…. Auckland is just like Sydney and to do anything else- like gorgeous nature treks or something on the South Island you would just need way more time.

I know you say you want to visit as many places as possible- but maybe it’s better to visit less places and get more out of them, get your moneys worth, your trips worth. You may spend all your money and rush to every place then get home and feel as though you haven’t been anywhere at all, because you never got to appreciate one place enough.

@FireMadeFlesh – hehehe sorry, I was directing that at fishguts, he probably enjoyed it as much as I did!

@rooeytoo You would be correct! Loved the bloodbath! ha ha ha

@FishGutsDale Jeez, you don’t even have the decency to put it in small print ya bastard!! (kidding).

I was disappointed in both Ayer’s Rock and the Great Barrier Reef. A few months after visiting Australia and New Zealand, I visited Garden of the Gods in Colorado and found it much more impressive than Ayer’s Rock. And the areas around the Florida Keys are much more beautiful than the Great Barrier Reef. Nevertheless, I enjoyed visiting both places in Australia. You’ll have a great time there wherever you choose to go.

august brrrr I’m with @facing go to byron bay, lots to eat in sydney enjoy that. new zealand’s a six hour flight and would be really cold. have fun!!!

Do not miss out on Sydney- along with Hobart, it is the only capital worth the effort. Melbourne has very little to recommend it, except for the Yarra Valley, which is beautiful. It is also VERY cold in winter, as is Canberra (even colder). If you go to Queensland, make sure you go to Cairns, and the Daintree. They are the best parts. Surfers and the Gold Coast is too commercialised and overpopulated. I have not been to the red centre, so can’t comment. The south coast of New South Wales has the best beaches in the world. Kiama, only 1.5 hours south of Sydney (and easily accessible by train) is a beautiful town, and well worth the effort. There is lots to do around there.

You could spend 2 weeks in Sydney alone, there is so much to do here. Make sure you do a bridge climb (on the harbour bridge), and you can do a jet boat ride on the harbour. I may be biased, but you won’t find a better city.

New Zealand is great, but I doubt you’ll have time to do it justice.

@trailsillustrated – NZ is only two hour flight from Sydney.

@FireMadeFlesh hahaha when you’re 5–0 i refuse to use small print :D

@FishGutsDale You guys deserved to win this year, our boys played terribly. Your only problem was the jersey, and the fact the selectors keeping on choosing Thurston over Prince.

Brisbane is a nice place with beautiful parks in it and near by. It is not to big like Syney. We rented a car and camped out in the Bunya Mountains National Park (Home of the majestic Bunya Pine (Araucaria bidwillii) and also camped at Warrumbungle National Park which is the remains of a huge extinct volcano with many geological formations and is loaded with wild life. New Caledonia is a short 1000 miles east of Brisbane and a really neat place to visit also and is over looked by most people. But you better brush up on your French as that’s what they speak in New Caledonia (you can camp there also and enjoy beautiful nature and save $‘s).

You have to hit Melbourne – it’s the cultural capital. Walk down a laneway, find an amazing cafe, catch a tram, walk along the beach…

The most popular places are Sydney, Melbourne, Uluru Ayers Rock, tropical north Queensland and Great Barrier Reef. But that requires a healthy budget as obviously you’d have to get around a fair bit by flying. I do not think you get New Zealand in as there is already not enough time for Australia!!