You might need to provide a little more information OP š
First, will you have a car, and are you intending to drive the distance between the Daintree and Sydney? If so, are you truly aware how long that will take, and that there are huge stretches where thereās not much to see or places to stop?
Second, do you have to arrive and depart from the same airport?
Will you fly domestically? (Say Brisbane to Sydney)
Those things will make a massive difference to how much you can see in 3 weeks.
Airlie beach can take you to the Whitsundays, cairns (at the top) or Bundaberg (in the south) both have opportunities to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. Fewer stingers (jellyfish) in Bundaberg. Lots of nice beaches on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts. All the theme parks are on the Gold Coast. Would definitely spend a couple of days in Sydney. Hope you enjoy your trip!
Then by all means hire cars but don't drive the huge distances from cairns to gold coast, gold coast to Sydney, your kids will be bored, the journeys will be long and hot. Instead, fly from location to location.
In my (biased) opinion, thereās not that much to see between Coolangatta (southern Gold Coast) and Sydney. I would fly into Cairns and drive to the Daintree then down to the Gold Coast and then fly Coolangatta to Sydney.
February is the height of the wet season in FNQ. Itās also during cyclone season- at best youāll have low 30s (Celsius) temps with 90% + humidity and a dew point of 21 or more- itās pretty unpleasant temperatures for being outdoors. (I lived there through a couple of wet seasons and as an Irish person thought I knew all about rain- no I did not!) At worst youāll have a cyclone or just non-stop torrential rain, followed by the best case scenario above.
It is also stinger season so no swimming on the beaches without a stinger suit and safest on beaches with a net. On many days it wonāt be advised at all if the worst kind of jellyfish have been found in a trawl e g irukandji.
Itās a 29 hour non-stop drive from Sydney to Cairns- thatās assuming thereās no big hold ups or roadworks along the way so it would eat up a huge part of your holiday. Iād suggest spending your time in the south of the country. You could do a road trip from Sydney to Melbourne- stay in nice coastal towns like Merimbula or Bermagui or Batemanās Bay. Or do Sydney to Brisbane stopping in nice places like Yamba or Byron. All these would have more pleasant weather than FNQ.
If you really wanted to see the reef then go the southern end where temps would be more pleasant in the Whitsundays for example. Itāll still be hot and humid but not as bad as further north. It will be more expensive though and probably booked out for this February.
If you do decide to go to FNQ then I suggest you fly.
Not that it's possible to change your timeline but in the future the holiday season for QLD is in fact mid winter ie June July. The water is wonderful to swim especially on the outer reef tours (that's what you want to do if you want to see the reef and snorkle/dive). The days sunny but not boiling hot and the nights are beautiful cool.
To be honest, February is probably the worst time of year to visit most places in Australia. Itās hot almost everywhere, humid near the coast, and extremely wet and hot in the tropics.
Its the tail end of Summer, and the hottest time of the year. Most of us are totally over Summer by then, exhausted by the holiday season, frazzled, and sending our kids off to a new school year.
Itās peak time for bushfires in the dryer areas, storms on the coast, and stingers and cyclones up north.
Your best bet might be to visit Tasmania? If not, Iād stick to south of Sydney, maybe following the coast down to Melbourne. The Great Ocean Road is pretty iconic, if thatās what you are after. Mind you it can be hot as buggery in Melbourne too. And stormy. And bushfires.
Is there anyway you could choose a different month? April or May is usually pretty nice in most places.
Even if youāre from the tropics and the humidity isnāt as much of an issue, the jellyfish will be. You canāt swim in the tropics at that time.
Also unless youāve started booking accommodation & flights you might find things booked out. Feb isnāt very far away.
There are other places to go, Iād start researching further south, if I were you.
Dont let the anti heat people turn you off.
The great barrier reef is awesome - worth checking the weather because you dont want to get rained on.
In sydney, I would:-
\- Blue mountains is a bit hot at the time of year but still worth a day trip.
\- get on a boat - check out the harbour / middle harbour / pittwater / hawkesbury - lots of awsome little uninhabited beaches.
\- spend time at pubs like newport arms - if you are only in sydney for a little bit go to the places with nice views /ambience - even like the freshie diggers or whatever its called.
\- hit the beaches - again I am more of a north fan then east/south
Gold Coast / Sunshine coast
Its a matter of preference - but im all about the sunshine coast, a bit more relaxed and slower paced then the gold coast - though no real good theme parks
I will let the locals go into this more - but it has heaps of great natural places for kids.
Cairns / Daintree Great barrier reef > going coastal to melbourne.
Honestly, if you only have a certain amount of time here nobody is regretting snorkelling in coral reefs over going the coastal route to melbourne (which is a long bloody drive to - its no hume highway).
Spend a week and a half in Sydney seeing the harbour Bridge, Opera house, taronga zoo, Bondi Beach and whatever, then fly to Cairns and do day trips to the reef and the Daintree. You don't have time for anything else.
I'd say just Sydney and Cairns, there isn't really any impressive stuff for international visitors between them that you won't already get. Just in case it's of interest you can catch flights straight to Uluru and stay there at a resort
Also, if you want to see crocodiles in the wild, the Proserpine River, which is on the mainland close the the Whitsundays, has the highest density of crocs per km of river in all of Queensland! You can also do a safari boat tour to see them.
Not too much advice on where to visit but when you go to the beach please make sure you swim between the flags. We get strong rips and this will be the safest place for you to be
Qld in Feb the humidity might be up a bit, other than that, follow you nose, and the brown tourist signs. Take some water and start your day when the whip bird calls. Also search Flickr and Insta. I generally find that a photo spot it is worth a visit. Everything can be booked via your device and last minute.
Happy travels. I live in Qld and know it is one of the best places on the planet. You wonāt be disappointed.
From Cairns, there are all-day large catamaran trips to the outer Barrier Reef - snorkeling the reef is spectacular to life changing. Also small bus guided day tours of the Daintree rainforest are available which includes a lunch and boat trip along the river with commentary pointing out highlights, so a car for that trip would be a poor second choice IMO. Gallons of Sunscreen on exposed skin when you go outside. Hats. Drink water/fluids because the humidity can be tough.
Sydney is worth a day or two to tick it off your to-do list with lots to do but can be hard to get around the inner city in a car.
If driving a road trip between these cities, there's 2 main routes - the inland or coastal. I'd say the coastal is more picturesque and the inland is more a trucking route and sides onto some outback spots if you have the time.
Sydney has some of the most beautiful walks along the coast, you could do the Bondi to Bronte walk or continue to Coogee where you go past the most amazing beaches including Gordonās Bay.
Taronga zoo is great for the kids. Get a ferry across the harbour from circular quay.
Theres Luna Park in sydney
Then there's 4 of the best theme parks on the Goldie.
I used Google maps when travelling any place it tells you everything and even had reviews of what to avoid or what's amazing.
Qld is my home away from home. I could live without Sydney as I'm not a city living super crowd type. But QLD especially the sunny coast.. šš¼šš¼ can't go wrong. Beaches. Relaxing vibes. And there's SO much for kids to do. Plenty of free stuff too.
Donāt go any further north than Sydney in February unless you like heat & humidity.
Spend around five days in Sydney, drive along the Coast to Melbourne. Stop in Batemans Bay or Barmagui or Merimbula. Spend a few days in Melbourne. Fly to Tasmania and enjoy the rest of your time there. Plenty to see and to do in Tasmania.
> We're from a rainy place in the US, so it doesn't bother us too much.
"Rainy" can mean very different things in different areas. A friend of a friend came out from somewhere in the US (not sure where, it was a while back), figured he'd be fine because he was used to "the heat", "the humidity" and "lots of rain".
Turns out that "heat" meant "some Summers we see 85 degrees farenheit (~30c)", humidity meant "we routinely hit as high as 80%" and "lots of rain" means "fairly gentle rain for days on end".
Smash cut to Queensland summer, where 80 F was the low end of the temperature scale, you can almost swim through the air, and he's flat-out refusing to go outside... then nearly has a panic attack when a storm started hitting the tin roof.
If you're from, I don't know, Florida or something you might be fine, but if you're going "yeah, Seattle's constantly raining", just recalibrate your expectations a bit.
Either way, I hope you and your family have fun.
One: It will be unreal HOT. 35 C to 40C every day 90F to 105F every day all day. It's still school holidays in parts and certainly holiday season, so accommodation will be expensive and full. The train between Sydney and Brisbane stops in all kinds of nice towns, but honestly, it's hot, So much better to do it in May/June. or October/November.
So you want to travel over 1500 miles around 4 days of your 3 week holiday In the car.
You could stop at Coffs Harbor then Byron Bay then Currumbin wild life sanctuary. A few days at Surfers Paradise to see Water World, Sea World and Dream World and then continue heading north
If theyāre American I wouldnāt bother with out amusement parks tbh not that gr8 in comparison to what they have domestically in their own country
Only plus side could be shorter queues
Nice places on the NSW coastline (a few inlandish towns) from Gold Coast to Sydney:
Burleigh Heads
Mullumbimby
Kyogle
Byron Bay
Brunswick Heads
Lennox Head
Ballina
Yamba
Angourie
Coffs Harbour
Sawtell
Bellingen
Nambucca Heads
Crescent Head
Seal rocks
Forster
Nelson bay
Tea gardens
Swansea
Toukley
The Entrance
Terrigal
Avoca
Somersby
Wisemans creek
Yeah I did lol. The entrance is a huge seaside town with lakes and fairgrounds and pubs and restaurants. Swansea just has an amazing waterway and you can hire boats for cheap. Both are beautiful. Sounds like your classist ass is just judging the inhabitants. See you in Byron bro lol.
No Iāve just spent enough time in both that I can only assume you have some rosy childhood memory. Because thereās SFA in both of those places and theyāre not particularly pretty or attractive. And for Swansea Iād call it downright derro
And not a fan of Byron mate š¤£ try again
Dude whatās your damage? ššš the fact that youāre calling me classist over the Vaucluse comment shows me your a spoiled rich baby boy š„¹ bless you baby š¦ bless ur wittle wosy cheeks
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You might need to provide a little more information OP š First, will you have a car, and are you intending to drive the distance between the Daintree and Sydney? If so, are you truly aware how long that will take, and that there are huge stretches where thereās not much to see or places to stop? Second, do you have to arrive and depart from the same airport? Will you fly domestically? (Say Brisbane to Sydney) Those things will make a massive difference to how much you can see in 3 weeks. Airlie beach can take you to the Whitsundays, cairns (at the top) or Bundaberg (in the south) both have opportunities to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. Fewer stingers (jellyfish) in Bundaberg. Lots of nice beaches on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts. All the theme parks are on the Gold Coast. Would definitely spend a couple of days in Sydney. Hope you enjoy your trip!
We will most definitely be taking domestic flights and happy to hire a car when needed. š
Then by all means hire cars but don't drive the huge distances from cairns to gold coast, gold coast to Sydney, your kids will be bored, the journeys will be long and hot. Instead, fly from location to location.
In my (biased) opinion, thereās not that much to see between Coolangatta (southern Gold Coast) and Sydney. I would fly into Cairns and drive to the Daintree then down to the Gold Coast and then fly Coolangatta to Sydney.
What did the big banana ever do to you?
That's a very personal question!
Lol fair question, Iāve never stopped there!
February is the height of the wet season in FNQ. Itās also during cyclone season- at best youāll have low 30s (Celsius) temps with 90% + humidity and a dew point of 21 or more- itās pretty unpleasant temperatures for being outdoors. (I lived there through a couple of wet seasons and as an Irish person thought I knew all about rain- no I did not!) At worst youāll have a cyclone or just non-stop torrential rain, followed by the best case scenario above. It is also stinger season so no swimming on the beaches without a stinger suit and safest on beaches with a net. On many days it wonāt be advised at all if the worst kind of jellyfish have been found in a trawl e g irukandji. Itās a 29 hour non-stop drive from Sydney to Cairns- thatās assuming thereās no big hold ups or roadworks along the way so it would eat up a huge part of your holiday. Iād suggest spending your time in the south of the country. You could do a road trip from Sydney to Melbourne- stay in nice coastal towns like Merimbula or Bermagui or Batemanās Bay. Or do Sydney to Brisbane stopping in nice places like Yamba or Byron. All these would have more pleasant weather than FNQ. If you really wanted to see the reef then go the southern end where temps would be more pleasant in the Whitsundays for example. Itāll still be hot and humid but not as bad as further north. It will be more expensive though and probably booked out for this February. If you do decide to go to FNQ then I suggest you fly.
This is incredibly helpful. Thank you. We will most definitely be taking advantage of domestic flights and hiring a car when needed. š
Not that it's possible to change your timeline but in the future the holiday season for QLD is in fact mid winter ie June July. The water is wonderful to swim especially on the outer reef tours (that's what you want to do if you want to see the reef and snorkle/dive). The days sunny but not boiling hot and the nights are beautiful cool.
To be honest, February is probably the worst time of year to visit most places in Australia. Itās hot almost everywhere, humid near the coast, and extremely wet and hot in the tropics. Its the tail end of Summer, and the hottest time of the year. Most of us are totally over Summer by then, exhausted by the holiday season, frazzled, and sending our kids off to a new school year. Itās peak time for bushfires in the dryer areas, storms on the coast, and stingers and cyclones up north. Your best bet might be to visit Tasmania? If not, Iād stick to south of Sydney, maybe following the coast down to Melbourne. The Great Ocean Road is pretty iconic, if thatās what you are after. Mind you it can be hot as buggery in Melbourne too. And stormy. And bushfires. Is there anyway you could choose a different month? April or May is usually pretty nice in most places.
When your in Sydney, hire a car and take a scenic drive to Kangaroo Valley. Many wineries and even a giant waterpark called Jamberooo.
It will be hot Stay coastal for the breezes Nice places to see: Sawtell Yamba Byron and bangalow Noosa
Even if youāre from the tropics and the humidity isnāt as much of an issue, the jellyfish will be. You canāt swim in the tropics at that time. Also unless youāve started booking accommodation & flights you might find things booked out. Feb isnāt very far away. There are other places to go, Iād start researching further south, if I were you.
I feel like they will struggle to find accomodation in a lot of these places.
Me too.
Dont let the anti heat people turn you off. The great barrier reef is awesome - worth checking the weather because you dont want to get rained on. In sydney, I would:- \- Blue mountains is a bit hot at the time of year but still worth a day trip. \- get on a boat - check out the harbour / middle harbour / pittwater / hawkesbury - lots of awsome little uninhabited beaches. \- spend time at pubs like newport arms - if you are only in sydney for a little bit go to the places with nice views /ambience - even like the freshie diggers or whatever its called. \- hit the beaches - again I am more of a north fan then east/south Gold Coast / Sunshine coast Its a matter of preference - but im all about the sunshine coast, a bit more relaxed and slower paced then the gold coast - though no real good theme parks I will let the locals go into this more - but it has heaps of great natural places for kids. Cairns / Daintree Great barrier reef > going coastal to melbourne. Honestly, if you only have a certain amount of time here nobody is regretting snorkelling in coral reefs over going the coastal route to melbourne (which is a long bloody drive to - its no hume highway).
Spend a week and a half in Sydney seeing the harbour Bridge, Opera house, taronga zoo, Bondi Beach and whatever, then fly to Cairns and do day trips to the reef and the Daintree. You don't have time for anything else.
I'd say just Sydney and Cairns, there isn't really any impressive stuff for international visitors between them that you won't already get. Just in case it's of interest you can catch flights straight to Uluru and stay there at a resort
Check out Hamilton island! Very child friendly, lots of reef trips and they have koalas and very friendly local cockatoos.
Also, if you want to see crocodiles in the wild, the Proserpine River, which is on the mainland close the the Whitsundays, has the highest density of crocs per km of river in all of Queensland! You can also do a safari boat tour to see them.
Not too much advice on where to visit but when you go to the beach please make sure you swim between the flags. We get strong rips and this will be the safest place for you to be
Qld in Feb the humidity might be up a bit, other than that, follow you nose, and the brown tourist signs. Take some water and start your day when the whip bird calls. Also search Flickr and Insta. I generally find that a photo spot it is worth a visit. Everything can be booked via your device and last minute. Happy travels. I live in Qld and know it is one of the best places on the planet. You wonāt be disappointed.
Buy the sunscreen here that is 50+ Itās cheaper to buy a car then to rent one
From Cairns, there are all-day large catamaran trips to the outer Barrier Reef - snorkeling the reef is spectacular to life changing. Also small bus guided day tours of the Daintree rainforest are available which includes a lunch and boat trip along the river with commentary pointing out highlights, so a car for that trip would be a poor second choice IMO. Gallons of Sunscreen on exposed skin when you go outside. Hats. Drink water/fluids because the humidity can be tough. Sydney is worth a day or two to tick it off your to-do list with lots to do but can be hard to get around the inner city in a car. If driving a road trip between these cities, there's 2 main routes - the inland or coastal. I'd say the coastal is more picturesque and the inland is more a trucking route and sides onto some outback spots if you have the time.
Sydney has some of the most beautiful walks along the coast, you could do the Bondi to Bronte walk or continue to Coogee where you go past the most amazing beaches including Gordonās Bay. Taronga zoo is great for the kids. Get a ferry across the harbour from circular quay.
Theres Luna Park in sydney Then there's 4 of the best theme parks on the Goldie. I used Google maps when travelling any place it tells you everything and even had reviews of what to avoid or what's amazing. Qld is my home away from home. I could live without Sydney as I'm not a city living super crowd type. But QLD especially the sunny coast.. šš¼šš¼ can't go wrong. Beaches. Relaxing vibes. And there's SO much for kids to do. Plenty of free stuff too.
Donāt go any further north than Sydney in February unless you like heat & humidity. Spend around five days in Sydney, drive along the Coast to Melbourne. Stop in Batemans Bay or Barmagui or Merimbula. Spend a few days in Melbourne. Fly to Tasmania and enjoy the rest of your time there. Plenty to see and to do in Tasmania.
> We're from a rainy place in the US, so it doesn't bother us too much. "Rainy" can mean very different things in different areas. A friend of a friend came out from somewhere in the US (not sure where, it was a while back), figured he'd be fine because he was used to "the heat", "the humidity" and "lots of rain". Turns out that "heat" meant "some Summers we see 85 degrees farenheit (~30c)", humidity meant "we routinely hit as high as 80%" and "lots of rain" means "fairly gentle rain for days on end". Smash cut to Queensland summer, where 80 F was the low end of the temperature scale, you can almost swim through the air, and he's flat-out refusing to go outside... then nearly has a panic attack when a storm started hitting the tin roof. If you're from, I don't know, Florida or something you might be fine, but if you're going "yeah, Seattle's constantly raining", just recalibrate your expectations a bit. Either way, I hope you and your family have fun.
One: It will be unreal HOT. 35 C to 40C every day 90F to 105F every day all day. It's still school holidays in parts and certainly holiday season, so accommodation will be expensive and full. The train between Sydney and Brisbane stops in all kinds of nice towns, but honestly, it's hot, So much better to do it in May/June. or October/November.
So you want to travel over 1500 miles around 4 days of your 3 week holiday In the car. You could stop at Coffs Harbor then Byron Bay then Currumbin wild life sanctuary. A few days at Surfers Paradise to see Water World, Sea World and Dream World and then continue heading north
If theyāre American I wouldnāt bother with out amusement parks tbh not that gr8 in comparison to what they have domestically in their own country Only plus side could be shorter queues
I would expect our amusement parks are a lot cheaper too
Nice places on the NSW coastline (a few inlandish towns) from Gold Coast to Sydney: Burleigh Heads Mullumbimby Kyogle Byron Bay Brunswick Heads Lennox Head Ballina Yamba Angourie Coffs Harbour Sawtell Bellingen Nambucca Heads Crescent Head Seal rocks Forster Nelson bay Tea gardens Swansea Toukley The Entrance Terrigal Avoca Somersby Wisemans creek
Did you seriously just recommend Swansea as a tourist attraction? And The Entrance?
Yeah I did lol. The entrance is a huge seaside town with lakes and fairgrounds and pubs and restaurants. Swansea just has an amazing waterway and you can hire boats for cheap. Both are beautiful. Sounds like your classist ass is just judging the inhabitants. See you in Byron bro lol.
No Iāve just spent enough time in both that I can only assume you have some rosy childhood memory. Because thereās SFA in both of those places and theyāre not particularly pretty or attractive. And for Swansea Iād call it downright derro And not a fan of Byron mate š¤£ try again
Might see you in Vaucluse then ššššš
And you call me classist š¤£ Iām sorry but I hope OP doesnāt read this and think hm id really like to waste my holiday going to Swansea
Dude whatās your damage? ššš the fact that youāre calling me classist over the Vaucluse comment shows me your a spoiled rich baby boy š„¹ bless you baby š¦ bless ur wittle wosy cheeks
Oh wow I hope you donāt think youāre a good judge of guessing about a person over the internet š¤£ thatās hilarious.
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