10 Days on the east coast- advice needed

curlybob

hi there,

myself and my future hubby are planning to have our Honeymoon in Australia. As its such a big country we figure we would limit it to the East Coast as we will have between 10-14 days and €4000 to play around with!

so I have looked at a few options and because Ive never been to Oz they are probably unrealistic so I need your advice.

1. we could rent a camper van from Sydney dropping off in Cairns for 10 days for €1K. however I have no idea, how long it would take to drive that, nor how much diesel that would take? Also would this be very stressful rather than relaxing? so any advice would be appreciated!

2. we could travel with the oz experience bus, from Sydney to cairns for 850 AUD, but ideally i think you need 20 days for that, plus it includes a few bits i wouldn't be interested in and i don't think it includes accommodation.

3. I did find a rail journey yesterday that cost about €1400 for 14 days, but cant seem to find it today and have a feeling it wouldn't be right on the coast.


if anyone has another advice it would be much appreciated, apologies for so many questions in this and thanks in advance.

Curlybob

Khan77

I had six weeks in Oz on holiday ct-Nov and spent 20 days travelling from Sydney to Cairns and I could easily have spent double the time but it was a case of see a lot and tra vel frequently or relax a bit in a few places. I did the Oz Experience bus and its OK but you couldn't do it in two weeks and I was travelling at pretty much every oppurtunity I could. Sydney to Cairns is 2800km so over 2 weeks it 200km every day. TBH Queensland (Brisbane and above) is probably worth seeing more than NSW. Fraser island and the Whitsundays are two standouts, as would be Magnetic Island to relax for a few days and up into Daintry National park (above Cairns). Byron bay is alright, big party town but TBH not much else apart from a beach and maybe not a honeymoon town. Personally I would arrive Sydney, see it for a few days and direct flight to Brisbane and hire a camper and head up to Cairns. Cairns itself is a sh**hole, there nothing to see in it, you have to head north up to Cape Trib and Daintry but its a good base for travelling further afield.

littlejukka

people will tell you that you can see the whole thing in a week or you need 4 months to do it properly, just try and budget wisely and try to see the highlights, whatever appeals to you most.

for a honeymoon i would personally recommend heron island, it's a coral cay at the southernmost end of the great barrier reef. it's absolutely idyllic, a private island which you get to via a beautiful catamaran. we had a massive suite overlooking the beach for 2 nights, the restaurants are beautiful and you can snorkel on the reef straight off the beach or you can book diving trips, fishing trips, all the bits. we swam with turtles, watched turtles lay eggs on the beach by moonlight, swam in shark bay with lemon sharks and reef sharks, it was absolutely beautiful.

good luck with the travel plans, you'll never see absolutely everything but you can always go back!

travelsarah

curlybob wrote: »

hi there,

myself and my future hubby are planning to have our Honeymoon in Australia. As its such a big country we figure we would limit it to the East Coast as we will have between 10-14 days and €4000 to play around with!

so I have looked at a few options and because Ive never been to Oz they are probably unrealistic so I need your advice.

1. we could rent a camper van from Sydney dropping off in Cairns for 10 days for €1K. however I have no idea, how long it would take to drive that, nor how much diesel that would take? Also would this be very stressful rather than relaxing? so any advice would be appreciated!

2. we could travel with the oz experience bus, from Sydney to cairns for 850 AUD, but ideally i think you need 20 days for that, plus it includes a few bits i wouldn't be interested in and i don't think it includes accommodation.

3. I did find a rail journey yesterday that cost about €1400 for 14 days, but cant seem to find it today and have a feeling it wouldn't be right on the coast.


if anyone has another advice it would be much appreciated, apologies for so many questions in this and thanks in advance.

Curlybob

For only 2 weeks I would recommend to do only Brisbane to Cairns, otherwise you won't have time to really enjoy your trip if you leave from Sydney. I did Sydney to Cairns in one month and I would have preferred having more time. Without any hesitation, and especially for an honeymoon trip, you have to experience the Whitsundays, that's Gorgeous!!!!! on a cruise..... you will enjoy snorkeling, sunbathing on the boat, relaxing on the beaches.... That's PARADISE.

aido79

travelsarah wrote: »

For only 2 weeks I would recommend to do only Brisbane to Cairns, otherwise you won't have time to really enjoy your trip if you leave from Sydney. I did Sydney to Cairns in one month and I would have preferred having more time. Without any hesitation, and especially for an honeymoon trip, you have to experience the Whitsundays, that's Gorgeous!!!!! on a cruise..... you will enjoy snorkeling, sunbathing on the boat, relaxing on the beaches.... That's PARADISE.

I would agree with this but I would try to do Byron Bay as well and possibly fly to Sydney for a couple of days. Most of the best stuff is between Byron Bay and Cairns. Its about 3000km's from Cairns to Sydney so it would be mean alot of driving in 2 weeks.