Our Amazing 5-week itinerary in Australia
- tgandco2
- Feb 23
- 10 min read
Australia has always been on our list of travel destinations. After COVID and family obligations, we were lucky to be able to go in the fall of 2024 - spring in Australia.
I am going to post three blogs about our 5 weeks Down Under. This one will be an overview of our trip, how we developed the itinerary, our mode of travel and overall impressions of the areas we visited. The second post will be about our favourite tours and activities. The third is a list of the services we used and our reviews. Here goes:
I am the travel planner of our family. We like to travel independently and explore at our own pace, rather than be part of an organized tour. Once we decide on a destination, I normally do a lot of research reading travel blogs and articles, and then develop an itinerary. This time, however, I realized I would need some help navigating the continent of Australia.
I was very confused, with some articles suggesting you could see the whole country in 5 weeks while others recommended focusing on a small area. Fortunately, in my Google search, I found Michela at Rocky Travel - https://www.rockytravel.net/. In addition to organizing solo and small group tours, Michela has a trip-planning service for Australia. We found a similar travel planner when we went to Scotland in 2022. (After reviewing our itinerary, Kathi at Watch Me See - A Scotland Travel Blog - https://watchmesee.com/ made great suggestions to improve our trip). Given the challenges I had planning a route along the east Coast of Australia, we opted for Michela to draw up an itinerary from scratch. She spent an hour with us via video call to determine our interests, travel style, and what we wanted to do. We had already decided that the bulk of our trip would be in a campervan and were pleased to find that Michela had camped on the East Coast and was very familiar with the areas we wanted to visit. The trip she mapped out allowed us to explore different places without feeling like we were always driving. Michela also had some awesome suggestions for activities, places to stay and restaurants and we tried our best to visit most of them.
I will start with some overall impressions of Australia and travelling the country.
Australia is a huge country. Unless you have 3-6 months to travel around, it is best to pick an area and devote 4-6 weeks to exploring that region.
Australia is an island (duh) and, therefore, dominated by the ocean and beaches. The ocean provides many opportunities for snorkelling, diving, kayaking, boating, and exploring the Great Barrier Reef. Some of our best times were quiet walks along the beach in the morning or at the end of the day. Our favourite beaches were the less famous ones. Sure, Bondi, Congee, and Burleigh are all beautiful, but these "famous" beaches are well known because of the surrounding restaurants and shopping. The lesser-known beaches are just as stunning and quieter to enjoy.
Australia has a tropical, sub-tropical geography that is truly amazing. The Daintree Rainforest is the world's oldest and most toxic rainforest - a truly special place. We drove through coffee and banana plantations and saw fields and fields of sugar cane. Seeing kangaroos, koalas, dingos, birds, snakes, spiders, and insects made us feel we were "down under".
Australia has an activity for every interest. We enjoy hiking and used AllTrails to find interesting walks along the beach and through rainforests, discovering waterfalls, swimming holes and beautiful sunrises or sunsets. We had urban adventures in Sydney and Melbourne, both world-class, diverse cities. We also participated in several guided tours, which I will discuss in the second blog post.
Australia is set up for travel. Many of the people we met were Australians on vacation in their own country (which I think is awesome). While travelling in the campervan, we stayed at amazing campsites with a wide range of services. The national, state and local parks were beautiful, well-maintained and well-marked.
Australia has incredible french fries and salt! Although not a normal staple, french fries in Australia are irresistible. Eaten on their own, with fish, with beer, with anything - and sprinkled with Australian sea salt - delicious!
Australia is an incredible country. I know the flight is long, especially travelling from North America (in our case, Canada), but it is worth it.
This is roughly our trip timeline based on the excellent itinerary Michela developed for us.
Part 1 - 3 weeks
Cairns/Cape Tribulation - 6 nights - After arriving in Sydney, we immediately flew to Cairns to pick up our campervan and start our adventure. Michela "insisted" we spend a suitable amount of time in this northeast area of Australia. She felt it would be one of the best parts of the trip - she was right! This is where we explored the Great Barrier Reef and sections of the Daintree Rainforest.
Atherton Tablelands - 2 nights - This beautiful area is tropical and lush. 70% of Australia's coffee is grown in this area, as well as bananas and sugar cane.
Travel to Airlie Beach - 2 nights - Airlie Beach was the least favourite town we visited - it is very touristy. Whitsunday and Whitehaven Beach are the main attractions, but they were crowded. We did, however, get to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef for a second time.
Travel/stay to Hervey Bay - 3 nights - The highlight of this stop was our guided tour of K'gari (Fraser Island). K'gari is the largest sand-only island in the world and of great significance to the Indigenous peoples in the area. It also supports a sub-tropical rainforest. This was our only opportunity to see dingos up close, from the safety of our SUV. The roads here are not paved so travel is by 4-wheel drive vehicles only.
Noosa - 2 nights - This was one of the nicest beach towns we visited. Great restaurants, hiking and one of our favourite campsites. Noosa is only one of two places in the world to see the Everglades (Florida the other, of course) and we did a great guided kayak tour here.
The Gold Coast - 4 nights - One of Australia's most famous beach spots. We had the incredible bonus of meeting Canadian friends, Paul and Fiona, who were also in Australia visiting their son and grandson.
Sydney - 3 -nights - After dropping off our campervan in Brisbane, we flew to Sydney for 3 nights in a truly world-class city. From the campervan and campsites to a luxurious Airbnb - it was fun!
Part 2 - 2 weeks
Jervis Beach - 3 nights - Another beautiful beach town. One of our favourite parts of Australia.
Narooma, Merimbula - 2 nights - continuing our way down the east coast
Great Ocean Road - 3 nights - one of the most famous drives in Australia - maybe in the world. It's worth experiencing the ocean views.
Melbourne - 3 nights - loved Melbourne and made the most of our time here
So that's the overview of our itinerary. I will add some details to give you a sense of why we love Australia so much.
Cairns, Cape Tribulation - As I mentioned, Michela "insisted" we spend at least a week in this area, which at first seemed long given our whole trip was 5 weeks (20% in one place). In the end, this was our favourite part of the vacation. Here are the highlights:
Cape Tribulation - 70% of visitors only spend one day in this coastal area, which you reach by cable ferry. This is where the Great Barrier Reef meets the world's oldest rainforest. The region has a rich historical and cultural significance and incredible natural beauty - a "must-see" place to explore and experience.
Snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef - while discussing travel, Japan is my favourite country to visit, and the Great Wall of China is the most amazing man-made thing I have seen. I can now say that snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef is the most spectacular natural wonder I have ever seen. The reef and the variety of living organisms were breathtaking.
Daintree Rainforest - This is the world's oldest, most toxic rainforest. It is home to many plants and animals unique to Australia. Some tours will take you right into the forest, not just the periphery. You can find the review of our Daintree Rainforest hike here (coming soon). You will not regret exploring here.
Kuranda - this beautiful scenic town in the rainforest is a little touristy but worth visiting. You can travel via train or cable car, but it seems expensive and time-consuming. Instead, we drove our camper van from Cairns to Kuranda - about a 30-minute trip. This gave us the flexibility to check out the many hikes, shopping areas and restaurants. Our favourite was the hike to Barron Falls.
Port Douglas, Mossman Gorge, and Clamshell Falls - all great places/hiking
Cairns - This oceanside town was ok. It was very touristy, but we enjoyed walking the boardwalk at sunset.
Atherton Tablelands - We took our time through this area, hiking trails to waterfalls and swimming holes, as well as finding chocolate and coffee souvenirs. Many of the activities were off the beaten path - not things you would experience as part of a big bus tour. We also got to see where coffee, bananas, and sugar cane are grown. Watch for the old-school sugar cane railway cars, and the tenting of ripe bananas, all fascinating to see and learn about.
Airlie Beach - We read a lot of positive things about this town, but as I mentioned, it was our least favourite stop. We were disappointed to find rows of tour booking offices, and not many good retail shops or restaurants - a lot like Niagara Falls. Airlie Beach is the Gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsunday Islands. We stopped here to take a boat tour to Whitsunday, Whitehaven Beach and to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef. We were certainly glad to experience the magic of the reef again. However, the rest of the boat tour was very average and we saw many beaches just as beautiful as Whitehaven, but with fewer people. We could have probably used our time differently and booked an alternative.
Hervey Bay
K'gari - (Fraser Island) - I would put this in the must-see category. K'gari is the largest sand island in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is home to an incredible subtropical rainforest that holds much significance to the Indigenous peoples. We also saw dingos up close (you don't want to get too close as they are nasty and bite). The best way to explore K'gari is on a tour. There are lots of options for single/multi-day tours for every style and budget.
Hervey Bay - Stroll the beautiful beach, especially at sunrise and sunset. Make sure to walk out to the Urangan Pier (868 m long!)
Noosa - was one of the nicest beach towns we stayed at, with great restaurants, pubs, and shopping.
Noosa North Shore - our campsite required a cable ferry ride, which added expense and some logistics, although we never had to line up for the ferry. It was also about 20 minutes from the main part of Noosa. Having said that, our site was visited by kangaroos, and next to the beach - picturesque and tranquil.
Noosa Everglades—Apparently, there are only two Everglades in the world: Noosa and Florida. Our five-hour guided kayak tour was a workout. Although a little light on the Everglades we were glad we did it.
Hiking - one of the most beautiful coastal beach hikes we did was in the Noosa National Park to the Fairy Pools, tidal rock pools along the coastline.
Gold Coast - Burleigh Heads - The Gold Coast is one of the most famous beach areas in Australia (the world?). Although touristy, there's lots of sunshine, miles of beaches, and an activity for everyone.
Friend bonus - Our friends Paul and Fiona were in Australia at the same time we were, visiting their son who lives in Brisbane. We spent a fun day with them at the beach, marvelling at how cool it was to meet up with them on the other side of the world.
Coolangatta Beach - This is one of those absolutely beautiful beaches that probably isn't on any "best beach list". It was not crowded and was great for us to hang out and swim in the ocean.
Miami Marketta -This market was so good we went twice. Live music and a good variety of foods without being overwhelming.
Sydney - A truly world-class city that, in my view, puts Toronto to shame. The way the waterfront has been developed, the botanical gardens, the Opera House, and their transit system make it a fantastic place to visit. We could have spent more than 3 days here.
Sunrise kayaking - We kayaked the Sydney harbour at sunrise. The weather was perfect and the views spectacular - well worth the early wake-up.
Sydney Harbour Bridge - After kayaking, we hiked the harbour bridge back to the city. It is an activity on its own with amazing views of the harbour, city centre and the Opera House.
Botanical Gardens - overlooking the Sydney Harbour and Opera House, the gardens are an oasis within the city.
Bondi to Congee beach walk - While busy, this coastal walk within the city has spectacular views, good shopping and food.
Manly Beach - another "famous" beach you reach by ferry and then have an enjoyable time wandering around
Opera House - although you can buy tickets to tour the building, we opted to buy tickets to a show so we could enjoy the architecture as well as the performance.
Walk the City - One of our favourite things to do is wander around the city and enjoy the many areas/neighbourhoods
Jervis Bay - Our first stop on part 2 of our road trip. We got to explore this area all on our own. Lots of great hiking and beach walks.
Narooma/Merimbula/Traralgon - A beautiful drive down the east coast on our way to the Great Ocean Road.
Great Ocean Road - This is listed as one of the must-see things to do when researching a trip to Australia. We took two days to explore the drive, and while it is certainly beautiful, it left us a little wanting, maybe not quite what we were expecting. However, thousands of Instagrammers can't be wrong, so I would suggest you include this in your itinerary.
Melbourne - another world-class city Teresa and I loved exploring. We did a self-guided walking tour of street art and visited the world headquarters for Movember (I was participating in the annual Movember campaign at the time). We took a wine tour in the Yarra Valley and enjoyed some great restaurants in Melbourne. It was an excellent way to end our trip.
So that's a quick overview of our five weeks in Australia. We thoroughly enjoyed our time and hope to return to travel the west coast. I highly recommend visiting Australia!
If you have any questions or comments, let me know at thethirdperiod.ca@gmail.ca.
Comments