Aussie Road Trip

We took internal flights, daintree national park, cape tribulation, Cairns and a stop over on Fitzroy island scuba on the barrier reef. Flew to Alelaide with the intention of flying to Sydney, but my mate went in to some form of mental breakdown and was held at a secure unit for a week. Missed on Sydney, but he was well enough to to carry on to New Zealand.
Which was nice.

 

I went in 2007 flew to Perth then flew to The rock in the middle. Bus from there to Alice springs. Flew to cairns then to Sydney
The next bit is the bit you could do. We had a coach from Sydney to Canberra then to Melbourne we started by doing the blue mountains then in Canbera toured parliament and the national war memorial which is a museum. On the road to Melbourne is the town where Ned Kelly copped it. Loads of other things

 

Brisbane, Mooloolaba, Moreteon Bay area, Noosa Heads - maybe a trip to the Whit Sunday Isles?
https://www.queensland-australia.com/moreton-bay-map.html

https://www.queensland-australia.com/sunshine-coast-map.html

https://www.australia.com/en-gb/places/whitsundays-and-surrounds.html

Moolooba is a great town; I lived there for five months sheltering from northern Austrailis cyclone season. Lots to see and do for two weeks in Queensland. I sailed the entire coast, its a great place to be.

 

That could be Cape Otway, which I believe is the world's most southerly rain forest. But it's on the southern top in Victoria not NSW. Magnificent lighthouse on the peninsular.

I agree with ET. Victoria has so much to offer you'll struggle to see much else. You could do a road trip but you're in danger of spending your entire holiday driving. The road west along the Victoria coast well worth exploring. You've got the Great Ocean Road scenery and a smattering of pretty and interesting places like Apollo Bay and Port Fairy, which is like a little piece of Ireland transplanted 12500 miles away. But it's a long way just to get to Adelaide (nice city but unremarkable). The journey onwards to Perth is a real trek across the featureless Nullarbor Plain. It's an experience but one of those things you do just to say you've done it. It wouldn't be my choice when you've only got 14 days. Maybe if the weather is bad in Melborne (it is now the middle of their winter down south) I'd consider taking an internal flight to Fremantle for a few days which has a lovely Mediterranean climate.
If the weather is good, head north into NSW. Plenty to see there. The coastal scenery south of Sydney is worth exploring and the entire region east of Melborne is pretty much national park all the way to Wollongong. There's stacks of great scenery and you might even see some snow in the alpine region and the Snowies.

Another must-do if your staying in Melborne is a visit to the Grampians national park. Its an easy drive. Halls Gap is the gateway to the park and you can see the sharp peaks on the horizon miles before you get there. From a distance it does indeed look like you're heading for the Scottish highlands. Very pretty place.
Ballarat is a good day out too. As is Churchill Island, a tiny nature reserve just off Philip Island which has a restored nineteenth century homestead in the middle of it. A beautiful place to wander around on a sunny day.

Internal flights are an option but they're not cheap - or they weren't when I was there. But if you want to go fly-driving I'd head north to Darwin. This time of year is the dry season up there. (Ditto the top-end, far north Queensland. Don't bother with Cairns, try Port Douglas or Cape Trib). The weather is fabulous, mid 30's all day, mid 20's all night and not a cloud in the sky, and it has a very different vibe to the rest of Australia. You'll feel like you're in south east Asia, which indeed you pretty much are.

 

Agree with the Adelaide bit, two weeks was two weeks too long.

 

Surprised no one is suggesting New Zealand if your that far. That’s all ever got.
Been to Fremantle Perth Rotnest island etc, it’s a quiet city from memory. But it’s a bloody long flight from coast to coast.
Also don’t rule out a day or 2 in somewhere like Singapore. Depending on flights or course.
Try not to get bogged down trying to do too much.

 

And old Melborne Jail is where he was hanged. His homemade suit of armour is there and you can see the beam the strung him up from. You can even go and sit in his cell. The old jail is a museum now and well worth a visit. In fact, Melborne is rather a nice city - if you stick to the centre and avoid the endless suburbs. It's got an old world European charm and a sort of Germanic feel to it with the colonial buildings and the street trams. In it's way its as nice as Sydney if a bit more restrained. Plenty to do there.

 

For when no one is looking

 

While you're at it you might as well go to Bali as well. It's the Aussie's Benidorm and cheap as chips to get to from Australia.
If you're not careful @bradders you'll end up quitting your job, selling the house and staying there a year. That's what happened to me..

 

Meandering north to Sydney sounds like a pretty good road trip. Does make sense to have a start and finish destination rather than darting about here there and everywhere, bearing in mind that Victoria is the size of the UK.
There are national hire companies so you can hire a camper in Melborne and just hand it back in Sydney. A lot of Aussie campers are 4X4 Toyotas and they come kitted up. There's masses of accessible and relatively hospitable wilderness en route with stacks of perfectly navigable gravel roads. I'd be tempted by a bit of soft-roading and bush camping.

With a bit of luck the drought will have ended and they'll have had a bit of rain by the time you go because right now the entire southeast corner of Australia looks like Mars. There's hardly a green thing in sight.

 

There's nothing to worry about. The threat is exaggerated. I spent almost a year under canvas and never had any problems at all. Mrs Gimlet did get bitten by a white tail spider but as far as I'm aware she still survives. In a camper van you can't go wrong. Just don't go wandering barefoot through the undergrowth or shove your hand into the middle of bushes or hollow logs. Or get drunk and go swimming in crocodile rivers. Not that you've got any of those where you're going. Generally do as other people do and take sensible precautions. You quickly acclimatise and adopt the right behaviour.
The sounds of the Australian bush at first light are fabulous. Less so in the middle of the night if you've got a pair of squabbling Possoms in a tree right above you.

The most dangerous creature in Australia is the mosquito.

 

I fixed that for you. I would normally have simply agreed but I saw this clip on another thread this morning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=FIRT7lf8byw

 

My cousin lived near Perth for 15 years, retired early and decided to tour so bought a large camper van. They were going to do 6 months round Aus before returning to the UK.
After 4 weeks of being prisoners to the camper vans Aircon they gave up. 50 degree heat and him being ginger he couldn’t leave the van.
Check the local average temps for when and where you are going, don’t think he did and he lived there

 

Checking ahead is a good idea, we found ourselves in a heatwave last year in France. The van simply became unbearable in the heat, so we checked in to a few hotels along the way to cool down, which rather defeats the whole campervan experience.

 

^^ cheeky ^^