# 27 days in Australia



## ThierryBxl (Oct 13, 2009)

Hello to all,

We are planning a trip to Australia next July-August. While we are aware that this may not be the best time of the year, it is the only time at which a month's holiday is a real possibility.

The project of itinerary is as follows:


Flying into Adelaide, spending one day there
Flight to Alice Springs, car rental from there for three weeks of leisurely drive
Three days in Sydney to finish

The drop off fee from Alice to Sydney is not a problem, some brokers waive it.

My items are the following:


Does three weeks to go from Alice to Sydney seem reasonable? And this not rushing it.
We are planning to fly to Tasmania (three days-ish) from Melbourne in those three weeks. Would that easily fit in the programme

Or are we too ambitious?

Thanks for your help! It has been a long time I have not been so excited about planning a trip.

All the best,
Thierry


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

Unless other than for getting over jetlag and then flight to AS you have no other reason to fly into Adelaide, Melbourne is another option and cheap flights with Welcome To Tiger Airways from Melbourne [or Adelaide to Alice Springs].
You'll have more flight options to Melbourne.

There're a lot of tours ex AS to Uluru and seeing as there's not a great lot to see heading away from the centre, you might want to fly from Uluru or AS back to Adelaide and start driving from there.

You would have two and a bit weeks and that is a reasonable length of time to drive Adelaide - Melbourne - Sydney and have 3-4 days for Tasmania.

It'll be cooler weather down south whereas it is an ideal time of year to head to the north, perhaps fly up to Darwin from AS for 4-5 days to do a trip into Kakadu and Litchfield NPs and then fly Darwin to Cairns for 3-4 days, Great Barrier Reef and Rainforest, a flight down to Brisbane and then drive to Sydney or fly Cairns to Hamilton Island for 3-4 days, perhaps a boat trip about the Whitsunday Islands and then fly to Sydney and you would probably have 4-5 days left for there.

And OK, see you have a whole month, not just three weeks and so you would have time to do the coastal route between Sydney and Melbourne which is quite picturesque and have 3-4 days in Melbourne before flying out.
Trimming a day off Darwin, Cairns, Sydney and Melbourne would still give you 3-4 days to get across to Tasmania

So a flight into and out of Melbourne would work for you and have you enjoying balmy weather most of the time.


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## ThierryBxl (Oct 13, 2009)

Wanderer said:


> Unless other than for getting over jetlag and then flight to AS you have no other reason to fly into Adelaide, Melbourne is another option and cheap flights with Welcome To Tiger Airways from Melbourne [or Adelaide to Alice Springs].
> 
> Getting over jetlag is exactly the reason!
> 
> ...


Thanks for your tips!


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

Yep. three weeks from AS to Sydney is reasonable though there is not a real lot of value in driving AS to Adelaide and flying back to there would give you an extra couple of days you'll likely wish you had.

Have a look at google earth and you'll get a good impression of what to expect for the AS to Adelaide stretch and other sections as well.
When you are heading towards Melbourne from Adelaide [along the Great Ocean Road] , once you get to a place called Torquay, eastern end of the GOR, you have the options of taking a direct route via bypass of Geelong and freeway to Melbourne or taking a ferry from Queenscliff to Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula which is a lovely area if you have an extra day or so at that stage.

Travelmate - Australia Accommodation and Hotels, Tours, Car Hire, Maps, Australian Travel Guide is a travel planning aid that you can stick name places into and get mileage [kilometres here] and travel times.


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## ThierryBxl (Oct 13, 2009)

Thanks for the help. We are now actually thinking of doing with all the feedback received:

One day in Adelaide to recover from jetlag
Flight to Alice Springs
Car rental for one week to drive back to Adelaide airport via Uluru (sticking to the proper road, not dirt tat leisure and taking in the wine region
Fly to Tasmania, flying back to Melbourne and visiting Melbourne - trime frame: one week
Drive back to Sydney via the coastal road - one week
Three/four days in Sydney
How does that sounds in terms of timing?


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## Wanderer (Jun 16, 2007)

Sounds pretty good though still going to be a drag doing the drive from Uluru to Adelaide and you'd give yourself more time for the wine areas by flying back there and then renting again in Adelaide.

You may rob a day or so off your weeks allocation for driving Melbourne to Sydney and that will make time for Tasmania and Melbourne somewhat better.


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