NFT: Anyone Been to Australia?

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and absolutely loved it. My favorite part was cairns, I loved it there. Big enough that there is stuff to do, but not huge like Sydney or Melbourne. If you go to Cairns try going to The Raw Prawn, one of the best meals I had there. Cairns is also awesome for diving. If you like snorkeling/diving it's another big plus. Don't know much about Port Douglas but seemed similar to cairns and they're pretty close to each other.

and Sydney. Loved Melbourne thought Sydney was great too but not much different than cities like Boston, SF, or NY (but more expensive).

Melbourne reminded me of a small European city. With a family Sydney might have more to do than pub / cafe hopping in Melbourne which you're not interested in anyway

is the fly into Brisbane, hit all the East Coast Australian cities, swing over the Adelaide (maybe a day or 2 in Tasmania), then cross-continental train it to Perth.

Would be a month long affair and probably 10 or 15 grand but it's on the bucket list.

but if I were to endure that marathon flight to Australia I would do my best to stay two weeks with maybe with a side trip to New Zealand. Good luck with your trip.

I'd advise you to skip Cairns because its a bit touristy/rundown/busy etc.

Port Douglas is nice, never been but hear dgood things. Its a bit far from Cairns (you'll have to fly into Cairns) but you can definitely relax and snorkel etc.

Also out Palm Cove not as far north as port Douglas but definitely relaxing. And wherever you stay (we rented an apt) you can book an excursion and they'll pick you up, take you to Cairns and out to the reef for the day.

a long time ago.
spent 3 months at the beach (Queenscliffe, near Melbourne).
it was amazing.

you'll have a great time. hit the beach.

i also went to Ayers Rock and Cooper Pedie, fascinating.

good luck.

Curiousa why youre skipping it. Im moving there next year for a bit.

In comment 11859597 ImThatGuy said:

Quote:

I'd advise you to skip Cairns because its a bit touristy/rundown/busy etc. Port Douglas is nice, never been but hear dgood things. Its a bit far from Cairns (you'll have to fly into Cairns) but you can definitely relax and snorkel etc. Also out Palm Cove not as far north as port Douglas but definitely relaxing. And wherever you stay (we rented an apt) you can book an excursion and they'll pick you up, take you to Cairns and out to the reef for the day.

Thanks - the hotel we're actually looking at is in Palm Cove - the Alamanda? Have you heard of that?

In comment 11859612 Jerz44 said:

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Curiousa why youre skipping it. Im moving there next year for a bit.

Nothing against Melbourne at all, we've heard good things.

But given our limited time in Australia, we thought we'd try a less urban / more beachy town after already doing something more cosmopolitan like Sydney for the first part of our trip.

that you probably know since it sounds like you're doing research and maybe, probably renting a car, but they drive on the opposite side of the road there.

like in the UK.

Almost got me killed about 5 times. Took two weeks for me to stop looking to my left before crossing a street.

I went for a month, but went for work, and didn't do much planning, so I was surprised.

Our daughter did a semester at the U of Sydney and our youngest son and I went and visited her during his spring break. I liked Sydney though, as mentioned, it has similarity to other large cities. For whatever reason, great coffee there - I forget what it's called but it's halfway between and espresso and American coffee.

Driving on the "wrong" side of the road is something you get used to but I rented the car right after getting off a 20-hour flight or whatever it was, and I was quite disoriented to start with.

We did not get to Melbourne but I'd really like to. It looks more my kind of place than Sydney. We got to the Blue Mountains which are inland not too far west of Sydney and quite amazing. The kids at other times got up to the Great Barrier Reef area and said it was great.

I'd like to go back but it's really freakin' far!

I don't think you'd need to fly that

In comment 11859633 Anando said:

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Thanks - the hotel we're actually looking at is in Palm Cove - the Alamanda? Have you heard of that?

Doesn't ring a bell but that doesn't mean much. In Palm Cove there isnt much to do. You have the beach and a pretty good strip of bars/restaurants but it wasn't much of a party town. But it was a quick trip to do some snorkeling and rainforest. I would definitely recommend it if you want to go and relax but still have the option for some adventures

2 Disclaimers
I wasn't there in peak season so I'm not sure what it'll be like in Dec.
And the beaches are wonderful but you can only swim in certain parts that are roped off. There are a lot of things in Australia that can kill you so they only let you swim in certain sections.