1 week in Australia?

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mini

Hi,

You're right. for 1 week, you're better off picking one city/region/state, really exploring it and do the things that interest you :-) becauseAustralia is a whole continent :-). To give you an idea to drive from Melbourne to Sydney will take approximately 10-12 hrs. While to fly from one end of Australia to the other end (Melbourne to Perth) will take you 4.5 hours. So you don't really want to waste your time for just commuting between each cities :-).

Whichever citiy you pick that interest you they're unique and you'll have a great time :-).

Australia's a whole continent where you can ski during winter, experience dessert, nice beaches and tropical weather in one :-)! most major capital cities have nice bars, clubs and restaurants you can feast, drink till your heart content and party :). Australia's generally a safe country but use your sense and be aware of your surroundings (i.e. don't walk around yourself late at night at a really quiet street, etc).

I will list the states and the main attractions below:

NORTHERN TERRITORY (The Top part of Australia with major capital city called DARWIN)
http://en.travelnt.com/

- Famous for The Ayer's Rock (or known as Uluru).
This is magnificent rock and has different colour (brown, red) depending on the sun light on the rock.

- Kakadu National Park for amazing Northern territory natural landscape of waterfalls, dessert, aboriginal experience.
You can spend days or weeks depending on the depth of your travel.

- Spot a crocodile - just be careful, don't just swim in any rivers in this area as the high chance of them infested by crocodiles :)

- Ride a camel in dessert

QUEENSLAND (top east coast)

Queensland is one of the biggest state in Australia
http://www.visit-queensland.com/visit-qu...

Tropical North Queensland (major capital city being Cairns)
You can visit:
- Daintree Rainforest region (where you get to walk the canopy, see cassowari birds, stay in one of their lodges)
- Cape Tribulation (where you can snorkle/dive the great barrier reef in peace instead of the more popular place of Port Douglas where you get loads of tourists), Drinks and really experience tranquality as it's very remote. You could pick coconuts off the trees as well as do sea kayaking
- Port Douglas - you can snorkle/dive great barier reef, nightlife here is nice too for the far north Queensland region.
- Watch out for the cane toads, destroy them if you see them around as they're pests.

Sunshine Coast
- Lots of nice swimmable beaches and also visit Steve Irwin Zoo (for the true croc experience)

Brisbane City
- Cosmopolitan city, just drive past it when you are on the way from Sunshine coast to Gold coast unless you have a spare time.

Gold Coast
- This is where the Year 12 students would have their end of highschool excursions and parties.
- First of all the beach is long, white, the sand is soft and warm...as you walk in the beach, due to the softness of the sand, it makes noise :-). You can swim at night too, the water's sooo warm and spend lazing around the beach.
- Home to 4 theme parks (Warner Bros Movie World, The Dreamworld, Wet and Wild and the Sea World)
- At night, lots of nice bars and restaurants - great to party in a beach mood.
- Voted by Travel Channel top 5 world's best beaches (Activity beach) - you can play cricket in the beach :-)

Whitsundays
- great if you sail, you can sail to whitsundays islands :) or do sea kayaking expedition.

NEW SOUTH WALES (east coast of Australia with major capital city called Sydney)
http://www.visitnsw.com/

Sydney
- beaches (manly, bondi) within close proximity to the main city, Sydney Opera house, Tarronga Zoos. Great party city, great restaurants, nightclubs and bars, Sydney Harbour Bridge (Make sure you experience the climb)

Perisher Blue - Ski in New South Wales

Blue Mountain
- Nice national parks

Hunter Valley Winery
- Amazing vineyards in New South Wales region

Newcastle (2-3 hrs North of Sydney)
Smaller than Sydney but great beach to surf and also student town

Wollongong (south of Sydney)
Similar to Newcastle, again great beach to surf.

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY (capital of Australia called Canberra)
- Good design of the city as this is the youngest city in Australia and was 'artificially' designed. So the city was designed then built :-). This is where the central parliament and federal government of Australia rules. Visit the parliament house.

VICTORIA (south east coast of Australia with major capital city of Melbourne)
www.visitvictoria.com.au

Melbourne - the home of Australian open tennis tournament, Melbourne Cup Horse Racing and Australian Grand prix

- The world's most livable city, little alleys full of hidden bars, pubs, cafes and clubs. European buildings, very cute.
- St Kilda Beach - the closest and cosmopolitan beach in Melbourne
- MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) - make sure you experience watching Australian Rules or Cricket in the ground
- Melbourne Zoo (voted one of the best zoos in the world) as well as their open range zoo and healesville sanctuary (for true upclose experience with Australian native animals, you can see platypus here :-) )
- Melbourne museum, Science museum, Melbourne Arts Centre

Dandenong Ranges
The best view of Melbourne city, catch a steam train while enjoying forest experience

Penguin Island
You get to see little penguins going inland to retreat from the sea during dawn :)

Torquay Beach, Bells Beach
within 1.5-2hrs drive from Melbourne, voted to be the best surf beach in the world, great waves. Around there there's a lot of things to see and do including the Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road and The Grampians
Picturesque coastal drive (hire a sports car hehe) also spot the 12 apostles rock formation in the sea. Go hiking at the Grampians or do rock climbing (see some waterfalls and amazing hills)

Mt Buller, Mt Hotham, Falls Creek for down hill skiing or Lake Mountain for cross country skiing

Ballarat
The old gold town (the reason why people back then come to Melbourne during gold rush)

Wilson Promontory
Great for camping, natural wonders :)

Rutherglenn
The home of the famous Australian Shiraz :-)

Yarra Valley Winery
The vineyards of Victoria

TASMANIA (it's an island in the south of Australia)
http://www.discovertasmania.com/us/

This is the natural wonder, very green part of Australia

I once saw an ESPN TV crew filming one of the alternative sport of rock jumping.

You can fly to the island or take a ferry from Melbourne/Sydney. You can spend Days or Months here.

There're claims of sightings of Tasmanian Tiger but you'll have to see it for yourself to believe it :-)

Experience having ciders and scallop pies (Pie filled with scallops) :)

Hobart
- A very nice cute city woth visiting, especially on Saturday where they have the market called Salamanca Market
- Make sure you have Tasmanian oyster in barilla bay where you get to feast on FRESH oysters :) - like really fresh off the sea with the top shells intact.

Port Arthur
- This is where the convicts was sent :-), You can visit Port Arthur Jail, do a ghost tour, probably the most historic place in Australia, do a cruise around the jail park.
- Visit Tasmania Devil Park where you get to see Tassie Devil upclose and personal :-)
- Port Arthur is unfortunately a place where the famous Port Arthur massacare happened which made Australia reviewed their gun ownership policy.

Wine Glass Bay
Hike the mountain to get to a bay in a shape of wine glass, beautiful beach as well and torquoise water but too cold to swim. I spent a whole day there.

Craddle Mountain
Climb and do a 3 days or 5 days hike of Craddle mountain. This is where Terry Irwin was (Steve Irwin's wife) when Steve died of the stingray attack. So worth doing.

Huon Valley
Climb the canopy of treetops, feast on huon valley mushrooms.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA (major capital city called Adelaide)
http://www.southaustralia.com/uk/

Adelaide
Cute little small town, worth to base yourself here to explore South Australia.

Kangaroo Island
a trip here to experience nature and wilidlife, home to rare seals of Australia

Flinders Ranges National Park
Aboriginal Arts and walking trails

Coober Pedy
http://www.cooberpedy.sa.gov.au/site/pag...
The world capital of Opal :-). You can experience staying in a cave to keep yourself cool in hot weather (amazing experience)

Barossa Valley
Famous winery in Australia

WESTERN AUSTRALIA (major capital city called Perth)
This is also one of the biggest state in Australia
http://www.westernaustralia.com/uk/Pages...

- nice long coastal and tropical weather beaches

Perth
A very nice cosmopolitan city. Make sure you go to fremantle to experience the coastal and nice town.

Margaret River
Famous winery in Western Australia, gourmet food, beautiful scenery

Kalgoorlie
Goldfields town with interesting old buildings, nice pubs, the home for the flying doctors :-)

Monkey Mia
Swim with dolphins or stand near the sea water and get really close with dolphins (this is such an amazing experience as the dolphins are so close to you without you swimming in the sea)

Shark Bay - very close to Monkey Mia
home to Hamelin Pool stromatolites - the oldest and largest living fossils in the world and of course the amazing coast lines :)

Broome
imagine red fiery ochre cliffs with bright torquise water. You can see the pearl farm too :-).

Joyful

If you want a city go to sydney. Theres more to explore there and some good day trips to the coast.

There some awsome wilderness to explore if your more adventurose though. The Kimberlies. Or the top end but its very hot up there....It really depends what your into. If your into beachs and partying go to the gold coast. If you want to see the out back then alice springs.

fruitsalad

I'd suggest Sydney and/or Tasmania if you come in our summer (Dec - Feb) or Port Douglas (1 hr drive north of Cairns) in our winter (Jun - Aug). I definately wouldn't pick any more than two places to visit in a week.

It depends so much on what your interests are though.

Sydney for example is really vibrant and bustling, it's how most Australians actually live, there's plenty to see and do with lots of day trips available to wineries, the Blue Mountains and many others. Sydney has great events and festivals, if possible it is worth timing your trip to coincide with one.

Tasmania is brimming with amazing wildlife and nature as well as history - visit Cradle Mountain and Port Arthur which has the really interesting ruins of an old penal colony.

Port Douglas has the Great Barrier Reef, beaches, and rainforest.

cat care

In Australia, one cannot escape water - it's everywhere! The most renowned aquatic destination in the world is the Great Barrier Reef, off the northeastern coast of Australia. The coast of Queensland is sophisticatedly developed to cater to the needs of tourists with such varied interests as scuba diving, snorkeling, sailing, swimming, surfing, fishing or just relaxing. It is certainly one of the top vacation destinations in the world, but Australia's aquatic adventures don't end there. The area around Sydney is great for sailing, fishing and swimming and even some diving. The beaches around the Indian Ocean, near Darwin, are popular for fishing as well as swimming and of course relaxing. The southern coast line is best known for its surfing and its surfers, as the swells and waves are excellent, yet challenging. Moving inland, rafting, kayaking and freshwater fishing are also quite popular, especially in the north of Queensland and in the territories of Victoria and New South Wales. So, when dreaming of the perfect vacation spot to practice water sports, don't forget Australia.

frances S

thats a tuff question... ok city to city, ill try a bit of info for u, im in queensland I fly home to sydney for a day for $ 69 -$79 oneway, you could go to sydney opera house and harbour brigde and walk the city in a day, fly the next day to melbourne from sydney for around $200 - 280 and see the main streets and do a water trip the next day, fly out to perth ( $300 - $500 and see the city sights in 2 days, fly to the centre $ 180 - $300 to see the the rock in one day, fly out the next day to see south australia $ 100 -$250 see the main attraction and back to the top of australia cairns $ 200 -$300 and do something like green island and shop in kuranda, or you can fly to 3 cities and see heapss....for 3 days at each one...it can be done....
and go home there you im all puffed out.... easyyyyyyyyy ....ps you can do it even cheaper than i said too...ive travelled australia 2 times in my life and it was easy the first time i tried...

ANA

You should only do one city, and then you will not see everything.
If I had one week I would choose Melbourne and
Take the free shuttle bus and tram around the city. You can jump on and off but if do the whole circuit it is like a free orientation of Melbourne.
Do a day tour to The Great Ocean Road. Can do one for around 95 dollars and an extra 60 dollars for a helicopter ride over the 12 Apostles - a GREAT day out.
Do a day tour to Sovereign Hill a recreation of Ballarat during the Gold Rush era.
Take an evening tour to Philip Island to see the Fairy Penguins come out of the sea at dusk
Take a free half day guided tour of Melbourne to include history architecture, lanes and arcades
Do a bar tour at night and visit some more quirky bars
See the Gas Flames at nightime on the hour outside the Crown Casino. Explore the casino - shops restaurants cinema.theatre etc
Walk around the Botanical Gardens.
Shop,Shop,Shop Bridge Rd QV The GPO Southern Cross Staion. Melbourne Central etc..
Visit Old Melbourne Goal
Visit Queen Victoria Market
Lots going on in the evenings
For more info visit The Melbourne Visitor Centre
See:
www.thatsmelbourne.com.au

www.visitvictoria.com/

www.melbourne.vic.gov.au

Ozmaniac

Sydney is a great city with its magnificent harbour and beautiful beaches, but really, apart from those features, it's just another large modern city. For a truly unique experience, go to some part of the Great Barrier Reef which runs for over 1000 miles off the coast of Queensland. If money is not an issue, take a sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands.

oldemystic

Presumably you're going to the east coast which means one of the state capitals, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne. If you only have a week you'd be better to base yourself in one of these and do short trips from base. Any of these state capitals have many activities either within the city or on outskirts.

Alternatively, Cairns in Tropical north Queensland is a relatively vibrant smaller city and has an international airport. Rainforest, mountains, Barrier Reef all available.

Cheers.

ixlinxs

Week in Sydney with day trips to the surrounds

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