Australia in December/January

[jhpeterson]

I'm planning a three-week (more or less) trip to Australia at the end of the year, probably arriving a week before Christmas and returning home a week after New Year's.
I'm fairly flexible in where I go, but there are a few definites for me, being in Melbourne for Christmas Eve, in Sydney on both Boxing Day and New Year's Eve, with two or three days in Tasmania in between. (I have an assignment to cover the Sydney-Hobart Race starts and finish.
As there's much more I'd like to see, I thought I'd sandwich my work between a week's vacation at each end. As the country's a good match in size for the mainland 48 states, I know I can't very well see the entire place in that short a time. So, I thought I'd pick two (no more than three) places where I could each spend several days. I have several friends in Perth, but realize that getting there from would require most all of a day, much like from New York to San Francisco, so that may not be in the cards this trip. And, as it's the heat of summer, I'd likely rule out traveling into the interior.
But, I was thinking along the lines of a loop from Melbourne to Adelaide and back, taking in the South Coast (I've long wanted to see the Twelve Apostles and the spectacular coastline) one way and returning along the Murray River (I'm thinking wine country and old-growth forests). Then, flying from Melbourne to Sydney, I might head west to the Blue Mountains, then north through a long swatch of New South Wales and southern Queensland to reach the coast around Gladstone, where I could boat out to the Great Barrier Reef and, after a day or two, drive south along the coast to Brisbane, then fly home.
I'd look to hear any recommendations of places to see and things to do, either along the way I planned or perhaps you might have better suggestions. Since it's a working trip, photo opportunities are a top consideration. And, yes, I'd be carrying a full pack of gear most all the time.

 

[Mr Bean]

A few things to consider:
- The date range you are working to, covers the main holiday season down here, meaning, accommodation is going to be the biggest challenge when travelling along the coastal regions.
- The coastal drive Melbourne to Adelaide, can take 2 days (not stopping much) or 3 days, with a bit more to see (the direct drive Melb-Adl through western Victoria can be done in 10hrs or so). Similar for the drive back through via the Murray River (allow 2-3 days)
- Driving at night is a bit of a no-no at that time of the year, mainly because of wildlife. The only green bits to feed on are roadside verges and kangaroos and wombats tend to congregate in these areas (I live NE of Melbourne in a rural/wildlife area, so, I'm aware of them).

However, as an idea, you could do a circuit Melbourne -> coast road to the Twelve Apostles or the Otways (heavily forested area), then cut up north to the Grampians (stunning rock formations), then back to Melbourne.

For Tasmania, a great coastal drive from Hobart would be the Freycinet National Park. If you can stay at the park, its a great spot.

Something to think about

 

[Machaon]

I think your overall strategy of spending time in only two or three places is sound, otherwise you'll spend all of your time on the road or in the air and not seeing anything at all. "Less is more."

Unfortunately, while Australia has an abundance of beautiful places to visit and photograph, they are geographically dispersed.

As Mr Bean said, it will be essential to plan for this being the holiday season. If you need to do so much flying Melbourne-Sydney-Hobart-Sydney around Christmas, ensure that you book the flights well in advance. Australia relies heavily on air travel and a huge number of people fly interstate to see family for the key holidays.

As Australia is closer to the equator than the US, the mercator projection of the world map makes Australia appear relatively smaller than it is. Australia is seriously big! Any sort of interstate driving will chew up a lot of time.

Even Melbourne-Adelaide is a full day of driving each way (~10 hours non-stop by the direct route from memory), so if you want to see the Great Ocean Road then you'll need at least three days. So Mr Bean's recommendation of 2-3 days each way to account for sight-seeing is fair. Add more if you wish to visit wine regions.

The drive Sydney-Brisbane-Gladstone that you are thinking about would be two full days of highway driving (11 hours + 8 hours) without stopping to see anything.

The big benefit of driving is that it will allow you to see the hinterland of the cities. I would consider a hire car mandatory to get around Tasmania.

Public transport in the cities is not up to international standards, in my opinion, so that Australians generally also have to rely excessively on cars in the urban areas too (a bit like L.A.!) Sydney especially can be a misery to drive around, but at least their bus and ferry networks are decent.

I wouldn't worry too much about wildlife stopping you from driving at night. On country roads you do have to be cautious of kangaroos feeding by the roadside at dawn and dusk, as hitting one can really wreck your day. It's easy enough to avoid driving in country areas in those hours. The greater risk, though, is fatigue with long distance driving, which can be a real killer. Plan to stop regularly and avoid repeated long distance drives. (You wouldn't enjoy them anyway.) On the mainland, night driving on smaller highways can also be complicated by semi-trailers and road trains, which can be difficult to overtake safely on two-lane highways.

Wine... Everyone has their own biases. I rate McLaren Vale one hour south of Adelaide the best, followed by the Barossa and Clare valleys north of Adelaide, and maybe Tamar Valley in Tasmania. The Yarra Valley of Victoria produces some nice drops but would not be my preference. You won't have time to see the Margaret River region in West Australia.

I'm not sure of the reason you need to be back in Sydney for New Year's Eve. You may want to consider staying in Hobart, as the New Year's celebration at Constitution Dock is somewhat of an after-party for the Sydney-Hobart race. Tasmania is a very beautiful place and well worth any time you invest there.

The Sydney celebration is impressive but also over-attended and packed with people, so may not be as enjoyable. Sydney Harbour, the focus of New Year celebrations there, is one of the most beautiful natural harbours in the world but you'll get to see plenty of that with the start of the Race.

Gladstone is a mining port town, so the main reason to go there would only be to use it as a jump-off to see the southern Great Barrier Reef. But that's a wholly different discussion, requiring plenty of time. (The heavily touristed parts of the reef near Cairns are a bit threadbare. The more remote outer reefs off Gladstone - such as Lady Musgrave island - offer stunning diving but are a bit of an expedition.) If you're up that way, you may want to visit Fraser Island. (And if you were travelling earlier in the year you could also catch the humpback whales in Hervey Bay.) The beaches of Fraser Island, and Cooloola National Park just north of Noosa on the Sunshine Coast, are second to none. Lamington National Park is in the Gold Coast hinterland and offers quite nice rainforest walks. Bear in mind that there is usually a week or two around the second week of January when SE Queensland has its most uncomfortable heat of the year.

My gut feeling is that your current plan tries to fit too much into three weeks. There's so much to see but the travelling and your short visit makes it difficult to choose.

I hope that helps a bit.

 

[e17paul]

I really enjoyed my 4 weeks in Oz last year. Not long enough by a huge margin, given the huge number of places worth a visit, and the huge travel times if you travel overland. Do check travel times when mapping out an itinerary, and try to make sure that you don't spend all of your time in transit. Despite this, it's worth doing some travel overland to discover small town Australia.

Melbourne has fantastic coffee shops, traditional iron framed arcades, and the best quality of graffiti I have seen anywhere in the world. Lots to photograph inside and out in the city centre. There is also a camera museum in one of the large camera stores - I think the name is Michaels. Outside of the centre there is Brighton Beach, but I didn't get time to go there. The Melbourne trams will help you to get around cheaply, you are best to invest in a prepay smart card at the ticket office.

In Sydney the Opera House interior Tour is worth booking. There are great views of the Opera House from the Botanic gardens, if you find the best vantage point at sunset you will also find local photographers and make friends. There is also Bondi Beach, which is within walking distance of you have enough time. Cafe Sydney overlooking the harbour also has spectacular views, but this needs booking long in advance. Go there for the food rather than the photography.

There are great local trains and buses in Sydney, using another prepay smart card system. There are also lots of ferries crossing the harbour, offering views of and sometimes under the bridge. These are used like buses by the locals and are a great option for getting around.

If planning to try surf photography, take the longest telephoto you can muster. Otherwise standard and wide lenses will serve you well. Maybe a macro for some of the smaller flora and fauna. Lenses can be hired in the larger cities, but the hire with option to buy is dangerous to the wallet. That's how I came to buy my first L at Georges of Sydney.

I came back to London with a longer list of things to do in Oz than when I had arrived. Next trip 2016.

 

[Hillsilly]

I live in Brisbane and I'm very familiar with all of the places you've mentioned. It sounds like you've given this a lot of thought. If you love to drive and spend all day in the car, then what you're suggesting is challenging, but feasible. But, if it was me, I'd make a couple of changes.

If you have to go to Melbourne anyway, rather than drive all the way to Adelaide, I'd only go from Melbourne to Warnambool and back. I'd spend more time in Melbourne or historic Victoria than spending time on the road going to Adelaide.

Also, Gladstone is an unusual choice of a place for a tourist to visit (sorry Gladstonians!). I'd be more inclined to fly from Sydney to Cairns. There's a lot more tourist related reef trips from Cairns. Plus there is a lot to see and do in the hinterland around Cairns and Port Douglas.

That being said, it is a nice drive from Sydney to Queensland with several nice towns to stay in along the way. If you chose Gladstone because of its proximity to Brisbane AND you can see some reef, so be it. As Machaon mentions, Gladstone itself isn't a tourist hotspot.

And if you're ending your trip in Brisbane, you'll get to see why they call it the best city in Australia! Although, seriously, there isn't much to do here and most tourists base themselves on the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast.

What type of photo opportunities are you looking for?

 

[Rob-downunder]

Hi,

I am a Melbourne resident. Like one of the other responders I wouldn't bother driving all the way from Melbourne to Adelaide. Either drive from Melbourne to Warnambool (this is where most locals stop if they are doing the great ocean road for sightseeing and don't have Adelaide in mind as an end destination), or if it was me I would continue to Mt Gambier on the South Australia / Victoria border and view the blue lake (google it), which will be on show at that time of the year. A return via the Grampians would be good if you are into bush walking etc as most of the sites are quite a walk from the closest car parking spots, however it can be very hot at that time of year. Accomodation at the Grampians is very limited and a lot of it is camping. Try looking at accommodation at Stawell or Ararat which are a short drive away. That loop should take about 5 days at a reasonable pace.

Sydney and Melbourne are both good for a few days each, and a couple of days driving in Tasmania can get you to some spectacular sites.

Beyond that Gladstone is a strange choice, and I wouldn't be wasting time in the car driving up and down the east coast. You will waste the rest of your time in the car. If it was me I would jump on a plane and head to either Ularu (Ayres Rock) in central Australia, or the Whitsundays. Ularu is spectacular and should be seen as pictures just don't do it justice. You can fly into the resort near the rock, stay there for 3 days, see everything you need to see and fly out again. The only downside is that it is likely to be very hot at that time of year, but saying that if you are up early and get out then you can be back at the resort sipping a cold beer by the time the heat of the day hits.

The other option is to see the barrier reef. For me the best place is the Whitsunday Islands. You can fly direct into Hamilton Island, stay there and do a number of day trips to other islands, cruises and out to the reef. If you are OK with it then take a sea plane out, you will see once in a lifetime scene from the sky. Alternatively base yourself at Airlie Beach and you can take the same options as from Hamilton island.

Gladstone is not a tourist destination, and Port Douglas will be very humid as you are will into the tropics up there. Also be aware that this is cyclone season. Its not a huge concern, but in general the further north you are the more chance you have of running into one.

As mentioned this is the main tourist time of the year. Aussies generally get 2-4 weeks leave over Christmas and it is school holidays, so book early and expect to pay premium prices.

Have a great time - I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Rob

 

[Hillsilly]

A bit surprised by the small number of responses, but yesterday was a public holiday for most Australians (it was our Queens' Birthday). I guess that there weren't many of us at work checking out canonrumors

 

[ple]

You might be able to get a few ideas for photography locations from here:

http://photographyhotspots.com.au/

 

[jhpeterson]

I'm heading Down Under in little more than a week. My itinerary is still pretty much the same, the first week spent is a loop from Melbourne to Adelaide, out by way of the coast and back along much of the Murray River. Then, a couple days in Sydney (Christmas and Boxing Day), followed by three on Tasmania and two more in Sydney. (I have tickets to the Opera New Year's Eve - La Boheme - and a front row seat of the fireworks at intermission.) After that is two days days of driving, another loop, west to the Blue Mountains, then east to the Central Coast before flying up to Queensland, first Hamilton Island, then Brisbane with a stop in Hervey Bay before heading back to the States. In all, it's three wondrous weeks - a bucket list trip interspersed with work.
I thank all the contributors for their suggestions.
Of course, I've been told to pack light. But, if you know anything about me, you know I won't stand for that. What I call minimalist is two full-frame bodies, one with a 16-35 , the other with the 70-200. And, since I'm on assignment for much of this, I'll be lucky to pare my kit to half of what I own. I can't see how I can get away with less than three 1D-series bodies (the third's a backup) and at least four lenses including the 500, along with 1.4 and 2x converters. It will all fit in a bag that's about the largest that's a carry-on.
For my time out on the Great Barrier Reef, I plan bring to a G1X with an underwater housing. For the New Year's fireworks, I'm thinking of taking my EOS with the 22. I wasn't planning on bringing a flash other than a 90EX, but can't see how I could leave behind my Manfrotto CF tripod, likely with a medium ball head.
What should I add or leave or leave behind?

 

[scrup]

Without reading the other posts, my recommendation is to stick to the east coast, get a car and drive as far north as you can and fly back south. There is enough to keep you occupied and lots of beautiful scenery. No offence to adelaide ppl, not much to do unless you like churches.

I lived in melbourne for 30 years before moving to the sf bay area 5 years ago.
i'm actually in Melbourne now visiting parents as a write this post. Its been humid the last couple days so dress lightly.

 

[martti]

Love Queensland!

 

[jhpeterson]

I returned the other day from my three-week (plus) trip, feeling good that I checked nearly every item off my must-see list. Of course, it didn't hurt that most reservations were made three to six months ahead and Mother Nature must have smiled on me, as there weren't more than two days of disappointing weather.
I caught another break by driving the Great Ocean Road early in the trip. If I had waited a few more days, I would have missed out due to the road being closed after the tragic Christmas Day fires.
Even my assignment worked out for the best, with enough wind for both a good start (in fact, almost too much, as a significant number of boats retired the first night out when a storm blew through the fleet) and a finish, as another breeze came through two days later that let the line honors winner arrive in daylight. [Photo 1]
In fact, almost all the time I had good light, and sometimes it was great. Perhaps that was no better expressed than on one almost-perfect evening in Sydney, when, after riding the ferries for a couple hours, I found myself at the base of the Harbour Bridge. [Photo 2]

 

[Bennymiata]

Glad you enjoyed your trip.

The more I have travelled (and it used to be a lot), the more I appreciated living in Sydney especially, and in Australia in general.
I live about 4km from the bridge and there so many beautiful areas and so many gorgeous birds in the area that I feel blessed to live here.