Australia Travel Itinerary Ideas!

We are planning our itinerary for our trip to Australia over Christmas holiday. We have 9 nights/10 days.


We'll start in Sydney and then would like to drive up the coast to Brisbane. Will we have enough time to drive beyond Brisbane? Is it even worth driving? What is there to see/do along the way? We definitely want to scuba dive, so would like to know which beaches offer the best dive sites. If necessary, we can fly back to Sydney since we are flying in/out of Sydney. We are in our early 30s, active, and enjoy the outdoors.


Would appreciate your suggestions!

If you're going to be there over Christmas/New Years, the coast between Sydney and Brisbane will be packed with people, because that's where most people go for their Xmas holidays. Byron Bay will be more crowded than Hong Kong (I'm not joking!). You will find it hard (or impossible) and expensive to get accommodation in many places along the coast.


Apart from that, the coastline between Sydney and Brisbane is lovely. There are quite a few good dive sites - check out www.diveoz.com.au for some info. If diving is your main interest, you may want to fly to Brisbane, drive up to Bundaburg or further north and do a liveaboard for 3 days or so. They will take you out to the southern part of the Barrier Reef, which isn't quite as colourful as further north but still very nice. Do a Google search to get some details of operators that do liveaboards, or check out websites of dive shops in Brisbane.

The two previous comments are very valid. It is the peak of the tourist season and you will need to have bookings in place. I would suggest something like this. 2 nights in Sydney (actually you need more), 2 nights en route to the Sunshine Coast just north of Brisbane, 2 nights (at least) for diving at Lady Elliott Island, the southernmost part of the Great Barrier Reef and well worth diving.You can take a package out of the Sunshine Coast for this. The one extra night can be allocated as you wish.

I strongly suggest you have this arrangement pre-booked and Concorde Travel will be pleased to assist. Ask for Graham or Daryl. 2526 3391