I'll be in Australia doing a mostly roadtrip between July 18th to early September. Will be starting from Brisbane and probably heading north to Cairns and then south to Tasmania. I'll be in a car or campervan for most of the trip with my 20 year old daughter. Can you guys suggest some places to visit and must sees. We'd like to say hello to a few of you guys if possible and hopefully be in the right place at the right time for events on or near our route.
Cairns:
Kuranda, train or cable car, one up other back.
Great Barrier Reef.
Hartleys Creek Crocodile Farm
Paranella Park (ruins)
Brisbane / Gold Coast
Beer and Steak at the Breakfast Creek Hotel.
Dream World / Sea World / Movie World theme parks?
Australia Zoo is OK but living off the Erwin name and not as good as Taronga in Sydney.
Beach / Tourist strip / Hard Rock Cafe down the Gold Coast.
Between Brissy and Cairns is Airlie Beach, very much a back packer town
but still has some nice spots. Very relaxed party sort of place.
Get a boat out to Hanilton Island and then on to the award winning Whitehaven Beach if its warm.
Closer to Brissy, I'm a regular at Agnes Waters / 1770. A little tucked away town with a beach and a pub.
Just North of Brisbane are a few nice spots, Malaney and the Glass House Mountains are nice.
Brisbane doesn't really have a beach area (other than the man made one in the city)
South is the famous Gold Coast, but heading north is the quieter, less high rise Sunshine Coast.
Places like Sunshine Beach and Noosa aren't bad.
Last edited by Tony Nitrous; 19-03-2015 at 08:59 AM.
Sydney has a few places worth seeing for a visitor.
Taronga Zoo, The Sea life Centre, climb the Harbour Bridge, go up the AMP tower,
Bondi Beach, Botanical Gardens, Opera House etc.
Very much depends what your into, but where ever you rock up you'll find AU very geared up
for tourists nod travellers and everywhere has a heap of leaflets and PR stuff for all the local attractions.
If anything I've mentioned is suitable stick it in google.
EDIT: I've done Fraser Island a few times...
http://www.fraserisland.net/
Last edited by Tony Nitrous; 19-03-2015 at 09:02 AM.
We don't have a lot here in the beef capital (rockhampton) I can show you a few good places to eat and give you a bit of a tour of the coast which is about half an hour away.
Sounds like a great trip. My wife and I are doing 4weeks to darwin and back in june/july this year. Tony has knocked a few good place on the head. The reefs are good for a day trip. And lots on nice country to drive threw the more you head south. Have a great time mate.
Ladies and Gentelmen, take my advise. "Pull down your pants and slide on the ice."
Most tourists do what I did on my first trip.
Fly into the major city's and do the standard tourist spots.
The beauty of the road trip is you'll see some of the real Australia.
Servo's that truckies and grey nomads use, RSL's for a cold one,
country towns and places that aren't full of Oriental's coach party's.
The Bruce Hwy runs all up the East Coast but its easy to do an inland route in places.
Some areas have a whole lot of nothing, but the size, distance and emptiness
are all part of what makes Australia what it is. (Have you seen "Wolf Creek" ?)
Maiala Rainforest Teahouse up Mt Glorious if you want to see the local
bikers cafe / coffee shop.
Willowbank / Qld Raceway if there's any drags or Superbikes on.
Mt Cootha Cafe for coffee / cake / view of the city.
Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary if you want to hold a Koala.
Chermside (near me) if your daughter wants to shop.
The Gabba or Suncorpe if you want to see Aussie rules / cricket / Rugby Leauge.
Heading North the Bunderberg brewery tour if you like rum or ginger beer.
I drove Brisbane to Cairns.
Took me two day to get there.
Spent two weeks coming back to Brisbane.
Always finding things along the way,
detouring off to see Daintree / Mossman Gorge / Port Douglas that I hadn't even planned for.
Going looking for cassowaries, day trips out to Islands,
What about your Capricorn Caves ?Originally Posted by K6Thou
I didn't mind them.
http://www.capricorncaves.com.au/
Thanks for the replies guys, especially Tony. Keep em coming please. Was thinking of maybe flying to and from Cairns if there's enough to see and do there. If not enough to see and do between Cairns to Brisbane and Brisbane to Sydney. may fly direct from Cairns to Sydney and pick up a campervan there. My main areas to explore will be along the coast and slightly inland between Sydney and Melbourne and a week or so in Tasmania.
Forgot about them, thanks Tony. Keppel island is also here just off the coast, nice way to spend a day. Also an underwater observatory can be done on the same day. We even have mount archer where you can see the word hell spelled out in the street lights at night.....
See the real Australia, step 1: find as many like minded motorbike obsessed loons as you can, Step 2 : use beer ( Australian currency ) to bribe your way their workspaces.... Step 3 : consume said beer until further steps are rendered impossible.......
What are your intersts other than bikes mate? What sort of thing do you enjoy doing? Are you a beach or bush type, city or country, tourist or alternative? All this can help us give you answers.
In down in Bairnsdale in Victoria (Google maps it). Depending on the time of year there are snow Fields not far and some decent beaches not far.
But no matter the time of year there is wicked roads and awesome bush around here.
My house and shed is always open to motorbiking types, so if you need a bed and feed you're more than welcome to stay.
Plus you're next to the best road in Australia (through Delegate)
July to Sept I'd be heading a north not South!
Did Sydney / Canberra / Melbourne etc last year.
I'd stay in England if I wanted to be cold... LOL
We have variety though. Not just dry hot and wet hot
Yeah but cold /dry and cold / wet do nothing for me.
Had enough over 40 years in the UK to do me for a lifetime.
Haven't seen a frost in 11 years, staying that way.
I won't have a bike while in Australia, just a car or campervan. I like natural wonders and engineering type stuff. Love bike racing and am an ex Drag racer. Not bothered about beaches or rich peoples stuff. Happier in the countryside than cities and big towns , but don't mind short visits to see the good stuff. Hate getting stuck in traffic jams and love mountains, rivers, lakes and waterfalls. Love steam engines and old engineering stuff. Thanks for all the advice so far guys.
Thanks for the offer xa-mont. I'll probably take you up on that. Got my daughter with me?
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