GlenE, you have many options of course. Pity your trip is not going to extend to 1/11, because you could have finished the trip in Melbourne with the Melb Cup. Great weather can be had anywhere north of Sydney during that time. We spent 10 days in Cairns, last week of Sept and first week of Oct and the weather was sensational. Lakes Resort up there is a great venue, pool and no crocs. We didn't have a car and found it great way to work off all the great food by walking or short cab rides. I would fly there from Sydney and only get a car up there if you really feel you need one. Domestic flights are cheap if you shop around on www.virginblue.com.au or qantas.com.au, they have plenty of sales on.

School hols are last two weeks of Sept, so good time not to be booking travel. The Sunshine Coast is also fantastic that time of year and I would suggest staying in Maloolooba(check that spelling), it is an hour north of Brisbane and I prefer it to the Gold Coast. I would suggest spending the last two weeks of the trip in Melbourne, great eating and plenty of colour as Spring arrives. The Melb spring racing carnival starts early October and goes through to the week after Melb Cup day. Don't be put off if you aren't fussed on horse racing, it is quite a unique carnival and the town is really alive. Weather is not as warm as up north and you might expect cold rainy days or wonderful warm days....aver temp around 24C...There are plenty of great driving trips from Melb, Great Ocean Rd and 12 Apostles down the west coast and Phillip Island penguins and the wonderful Wilsons Promontory down the east coast. Plus many inland towns and towns along the Murray River, like Echuca.

The driving is huge if you are going that way. Examples, driving north from Melbourne....10 hours to Sydney....22 hours to Brisbane....24 hours to Sunshine Coast and another 24 hours to Cairns. Better to fly around on cheap flights. Happy to answer more questions if you have them.

I want to thank Guruswife and Willnino for all your helpful information. We understand that Austerlia is a very large country with a lot of things to see and do. After getting your info and reading as much as we can find we are starting to get a better feel for where we think we want to go.

At this time we have no resvations made for any part of the trip once we arrive in Syndey. So far I have not been able to find any discount air with Quntas because we are booked from US on Hawaiian Air.

We are planning to fly into Sydney first to visit our friends and drive as much of New South Wales area as possible in seven to ten days. Then we will fly next to Tasmania and plan to spend about seven to ten days there. We are thinking of renting a car to see as much of the island as possible, we hear it is very beautful.

Then we plan to fly to Ayers Rock and want to spend 5 to 7 days seeing the rock and touring as much of the Northen Territory as possible.

Then we would fly into Cairns and plan to spend 7 to 10 days enjoying the Great Barrier Reef. We are looking for a waterfront hotel, condo or apt. to rent during this time. Is it worth renting a car to tour this region?

Last we are looking at spend some time in the Brisbane area renting a car and touring the Golf Coast Area.

Which area could we spend time learning more about the Abouriginal people, we find them very intresting?

What do you think of our tentive travel schedule? Is there any inportant areas or MUST SEE things to do?

How do you get the best car rental rates?

Thank you for your time.

Glen E it sounds like an ideal itinerary.

Definitely drive around Tassie. Make sure you book flights well in advance because there's no option to drive onto the island they tend to "up the prices" during certain periods. Must see places for me would be Cradle Mountain (snow is possible at thhis time of year), lake St Clair at the opposite end. Obviously Port Arthur is also a must see.

Not sure of anywhere in Cairns to stay as we usually stay in Port Douglas. There a a few beach places just north of Cairns you might like to check out..Ellis beach, Palm Cove etc Unless you like bus tours I'd hire a car for at least a few days to Drive up to The Daintree and Mossman Gorge. having the car would give you a little more freedom.

We tend to do car with hertz becuase I book over the net compare prices and more often than not they were cheapest and the cars are usually pretty good. We are Qantas frequent Flyers so get a discount but sometimes its cheaper without. Sometimes they give you upgrade vouchers for your next hire so it might be a good idea to just book one lot of car then use the voucher for your next booking. Phone bookings usually give you the same rental rate. Local calls here are at a fixed rate. 30cents from public phone box and up to 1.00 depending on the hotel.

There are numerous aboriginal culture places but the red centre may best suit your needs. There are tours such as sounds of silence at the rock which can be pretty hard to get into and whilst a bit pricey everyone I've spoken to has given them top marks. Check it out on Voyages.com

Have a great time down under

There is heaps and heaps of accom in Cairns. We stayed at The Lakes resort as I mentioned earlier. It was fantastic and not sure I would stay anywhere else. Don't bother too much with the waterfront at Cairns as I think you pay too much for a pretty average water area. The beaches are better up north as Guruswife mentioned. We walked everywhere or got cabs in Cairns. I would either hire a car for a couple of days and do the road trips or not hire a car at all as most places you want to see have tours going there daily, depends on how much you like walking. All your water activities run from the Cairns harbour which is easy to get too.

For your airfares, just check these sites. www.virginblue.com.au and www.qantas.com.au. Both are competitive and there will be cheap seats constantly available. Only times I would consider booking well ahead are the last two weeks of Sept as I mentioned earlier as this is school holiday time.

Tassie is a great place for a driving holiday. 7 to 10 days is perfect, start in Hobart and cover Port Arthur, Launceston, Devenport, Cradle Mountain and the west coast. Big circle and also check the little wineries along the way, great wine down there. Most of the cities have cheap car hire, rent a bomb and this type of rental...depends on how good a car you want. YOu can also fly into Melb, hire a car and then catch the ferry over if you like water crossings. Great stretch of water (Bass Strait) but can get rough at times.

Brisbane, well I wouldn't stay there personally. You have the Gold Coast an hour south and it is super commercial, very sunny and loads of beaches. I prefer north though, Sunshine Coast...bit over an hour from Brisbane and not as busy as the Gold Coast. Don't miss Rainbow beach for whales and Fraser Island if you head north. Have a great trip.

Add first week of Oct for bookings. This is NSW school hols and it's a big travel time esp north. Best weather and not Christmas crush

I hope you have a wonderful trip! I would totally agree with earlier posts that starting North is a good idea. Maybe after Sydney it would be worth flying to Uluru (Ayres Rock) or Alice Springs first... then QLD... then Tasmania. The Northern Territory and Northern Queensland will be starting to get hot by Sep/Oct - and feeling comfortable outdoors in these areas is so important as it is the outdoors where you want to be!

If you check out the AAT tours website (http://www.aatkings.com/au/) you will get a good idea for the kinds of itineraries that work around the Red Centre. You could then rent a car on the net or through a travel agent and do it yourself - or go with this AAT or another company to take advantage of the knowledge of the guides and pre-arranged accommodation etc. The distances really are huge - the chance to have a break while someone else drives could be really good in NT! Especially if you end up doing a fair bit of walking. You don't need to - there's still heaps to see - but getting further along tracks in the National Parks shows you amazing scenery. The fitter you are the more fun walking you will have. The Aboriginal Centre at Uluru and the local guides are great for information about Aboriginal culture of that area.

If this is the BIG TRIP (ie this chance may not come again) - it might be worth also looking at Darwin? Kakadu & Litchfield National Parks, plus the history of Darwin is interesting. In NT generally, check out history of exploration, the laying of the Telegraph, The Flying Doctor Service, School of the Air, plus aboriginal history and the current situation - it's really complicated. Many musuems and tours available. Lots of people to talk with.

I hate Cairns. Full of backpackers, horrible souvenir shops and pubs. BUT it is a great way to get to the Daintree and Mossman Gorge. It is also a good way to get to the Great Barrier Reef. But I would be inclined to see it as a base, or entry point to the area rather than a destination in itself. So get a car or book into tours. Tours to the reef and National Parks are plentiful and you could just sort it out when you get there - means you can adjust for the weather. You could also book 3 days at a resort style hotel in this area (Port Douglas?) and hang out eating seafood, drinking cocktails, lounging by a pool, having a holiday/retirement celebration!!

Southern Queensland, I would pretty much avoid south of Brisbane. The Gold Coast is really touristy and tacky. Maybe around the Sunshine Coast - Noosa or Frazer Island - would be worthwhile? But I actually wouldn���t make it a priority over Darwin for example. Brisbane is a nice city ��� but it���s just a city��� (Strong opinions I know - sorry Brisbane folk... it IS a nice place, but these folks only have 10 weeks!!!)

Ditto earlier poster's comments on Melbourne: Great Ocean Rd; Mornington Peninsular; McLaren Vale wine area all worth seeing. Plus Melbourne itself.

Self-drive in Tasmania is really really easy and fabulous. Food, wineries, scenery. Tourism Tasmania has sample itineraries and lots of ideas (www.discovertasmania.com.au/home/index.cfm…)

Once again - get into the National Parks!!

Apart from spending a few days being a tourist in Sydney, some easy day or overnight trips would be to the Blue Mountains (and out to Orange/Bathurst or even Dubbo and the Western Plains Zoo for the NSW country town experience); Southern Highlands (Bowral, Moss Vale via the M5 and back via Nowra and the Coast Road); Mudgee (farmland, wines, good B&Bs) or down to Jarvis Bay. Most people focus on the north coast of NSW - the inland is fabulous, but big, dry and the changes are pretty subtle. Up around the New England District is very pleasant for a driving holiday - you could spend 5 days on a real roadtrip from Sydney travelling up through Barrington Tops and the New England Highway to Armidale and Glen Innes, then cut through East to Grafton and back via the Pacific Highway. About 280km a day average. Many of the towns have museums and art galleries plus antique and second hand bookshops worth stopping for on the way. The "Land of the Beardies" Museum in Glen Innes is a great local museum - very personal to the area and also lots of background on Australian rural history. Run by volunteers and a wonderfully messy eclectic collection! (Look out for the amazing collection of barbed fencing wires from 1900 to the present for example!)

Don't know their schedule this far in advance - but one of the trips run by these companies could even be a fun way of seeing some of the country NSW!!!http://www.heritageexpress.com.au/saescape.htm

or http://www.3801limited.com.au/

My suggestion then would be something like

Sydney & NSW 14 days

Red Centre 8 days

Darwin 8 days

Cairns 7 days

Tasmania 10 days

Melbourne 7 days

You could pick up cheap one way fares on the websites mentioned in other posts - hire cars locally - add another 7 days to cover travel days between each area - and you've got a pretty busy trip with a few days of hanging out near a pool and relaxing as well!! Or add Adelaide and 2 or 3 wine districts if you are into wine. Or add Broome (WA) or Margaret River or Perth (also WA). So many possibilities! Across the Nallabor by train also springs to mind... Perth to Adelaide or the other way. (http://www.gsr.com.au/trainways/index.htm)

Generally out of the cities, cheap hotel or pub accommodation is easy to find via the local tourism centres, and you could play it a little bit by ear, certainly in NSW, Tasmania and Victoria country driving.

Sorry to rave on - but I love travelling - and Australia is great! Have fun researching and planning your trip. It's at least half the enjoyment. Wish I could come too!

Whoops - read 7 weeks as 10 weeks!!! But you get the general idea!!

Hi Glen,

If you and your wife are looking for any accommodation in Melb, Tas, Gold Coast, Cairns or the Sunshine coast of Australia either vist my web site www.superholidays.com.au or phone me on +61 2 4971-0736 till 10.30pm est.

I market all types of accommodation through out Australia and have properties in all the locations I mentioned. We can also help you with flights and car rental.

If I dont hear from you I hope yopu and your wife have a great time.

Kind Regards

Cate Russell

Director

Super Holidays

Hi Glen,

If you and your wife are looking for any accommodation in Melb, Tas, Gold Coast, Cairns or the Sunshine coast of Australia either vist my web site www.superholidays.com.au or phone me on +61 2 4971-0736 till 10.30pm est.

I market all types of accommodation through out Australia and have properties in all the locations I mentioned. We can also help you with flights and car rental.

If I dont hear from you I hope yopu and your wife have a great time.

Kind Regards

Cate Russell

Director

Super Holidays