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I have spent a lot of time in Australia. I originally went backpacking there for 8 months where I met my wife. We now go back every couple of years to visit her family so I have spent in excess of a year there.

If you have only 3 weeks what you do will depend on where you fly in and out. A couple of things to take in consideration is Australia is expensive, January is school holidays, it is a big place and it will be summer there so it could be hot.

There are certain things you can only see in Australia so you will have to prioritize and plan ahead. If you don't plan you may have troubles getting flights, accomodation and tours because of the school holidays.

If you are flying into Sydney, you will have to decide whether you want to go South or North after you are done there. South you have Canberra, Melbourne and Tasmania. If you are driving, It is about 900km and and 11 hours between Sydney and Melbourne. Melbourne reminds me quite a bit of an English city and Tasmania is more for people who want to hike and have a wilderness holiday. One thing that Melbourne does have is a colony of fairy penguins that that come back from feeding in the evening and go into their burrows.

My advice however would be to head North. Brisbane is about a 12 hour drive or about a $100 flight on Virgin Blue or Jetstar. If you do drive or bus it. there are all sorts of little towns along the way. My favorites are Coffs Harbour and Byron Bay. All throughout Australia, an option for accomodation is the Caravan Parks that will rent you a little cabin and RSL or Surf (Lifesaving) clubs will usually let you sign in as a guest and get a reasonably priced meal. Some of the larger ones have casinos and stage shows.

Just south of Brisbane is the Gold Coast which is sort of like the Miami of Australia. Retirees, theme parks, night clubs and tourists. You will be in peak season in January but if you want to play in the surf this is the place to do it.
I personally find the beaches south of Surfers Paradise to be less crowded and is possible to walk along the beach all the way from about Burleigh Heads into Surfers Paradise. There are flights from Sydney into Coolangata which is the beginning of the Gold Coast. Around Brisbane are Stradbroke Island and Fraser Island. You can do a day trip to Fraser Island but it would be worth staying here if you could afford it. It is a big sand island covered in lush vegetation. No snorkeling yet but you might see Dingoes along the beach and some Manta Rays in the ocean.

About 4 hours north of Brisbane is the town of Bundaberg. This is the southern limit of the reef. I have walked along the seashore here and seen some extremely colourful zoos. You can take a tour here and snorkel at Lady Musgrave Island. The snorkelling here is surprisingly good and I actually prefer it than around Cairns because you get out and walk around looking at the corals in the surrounding tidepools. The snorkeling in tropical Queensland is off of a boat or basically a sandbar unless you go to Green Island which will be very busy.

From here north you will come across, Mackay, Rockhampton, Airlie Beach, the Whitsunday Islands, Townsville and finally Cairns. All of them are interesting places to stop but its a long way up and you don't have a lot of time. If you can afford to fly up to Cairns book it soon and expect to pay a lot for the flights and accomodation. The one thing you can see here is the unspoiled tropical rainforest in Cape Tribulation and the reef.


Our dollar buys a lot right now but things are very expensive especially food in Sydney. Do your research, book flights and hotel rooms soon and any tours you want to do in Cairns a week ahead of time.

I'd be envious but we will be back in August when it will be cooler and not quite as crowded with schoolchildren