Going to Australia for the first time

[vannatta20]

The wife and I are planning on visiting Melbourne, Sydney, and Cairns this January. I was wondering if anyone had advice on where to go for site seeing. I love to snorkel and scuba dive also. Also please let me know if there are some great tours to go on to. I have been looking at this site. http://www.cairnsinfo.com/tourSubcategory/Great%20Barrier%20Reef/Day%20Trips/
Thanks for any help.

[Ospi]

Certainly the great barrier reef, if you love snorkeling then thats the holy grail. Can't comment much on Melb or Sydney apart from seeing the obvious (opera house, etc). January though aye, i hope you have your sunscreen lol.

[PAFC2004]

No Adelaide? Its an hours flight from Melbourne, and there is a huge amount of eco-tourism in the area.

[condyk]

My favourite country so I know you will have a great time. Obviously you are spoilt for choice re diving along the NE coast but Sydney is also worth 5 days or so. The company we dived through went out of business apparently so can't advise who else to try.

[Wilt]

Take a bus tour outside Melbourne that has a stop of Sherbrooke Forest for the wild parrot encounter. Take the train outside Sydney and go to Featherdale Wildlife Park and get super close to a koala (you can stroke the fur, but cannot hold them in your arms). Pay for the Opera House tour inside, you'll appreciate the place much more than merely wandering around the outside.

[sando]

Stop bein silly, and get over to Perth and the West Coast. :)

[Wilt]

The wife and I are planning on visiting Melbourne, Sydney, and Cairns this January. I was wondering if anyone had advice on where to go for site seeing. I love to snorkel and scuba dive also. Also please let me know if there are some great tours to go on to. I have been looking at this site. http://www.cairnsinfo.com/tourSubcategory/Great%20Barrier%20Reef/Day%20Trips/
Thanks for any help.

How travelling? Qantas is quite strict about size and weight of carryon luggage, particularly for the legs within Australia! (Air New Zealand just as bad.)

[catsith]

it is very hot and muggy in cairns in january, but it is also not peak season, good time to go in my opinion. Don't bother with green island, u will think u are in japan! If you can possible afford it, stay overnight on the reef. I stayed on reef encounter and loved it. The only think i hate about it is that i had to travel on the compass boat to get there. It was travelling on a 1 star boat to get to a 4 star boat. And when you get off reef encounter back onto compass, it is even worse! Can you afford helicopter transfers? If u can, then definitely do that. I havn't looked into it, but i am sure there is another company that does overnight trips as well. See if u can find out some more into. You get lots more snorkelling/diving time this way. Rent a car and drive up to coast to mossman gorge, or the daintree. Lovely scenic drive (or you could do a tour) In my opinion, tjapuki at night is a waste of money. Glitzy, nice show, but the food was very ordinary!and at $84 p/p, i was not impressed. I really enjoyed doing the kuranda rail and skyway thing. The skyrail is great, skimming over the top of the rainforest. There are other tours you can do in kuranda too. If u can, get your accommodation as close to the center of town as possible. Right on the esplanade is expensive, but some good deals can be had just a few blocks away. Every second? friday night they have fire dancing on a little beach on the esplanade. And if u like gelati's, they have the best range just outside the nightmarkets, back entrance. YUMMY!!! My family live up that way, even though i have only stayed in cairns 3 times, i am a little familiar with the area. pm me if u have any questions

[Az2Africa]

Also try the little Kuranda rail trip to the rain forest. You can catch it in Cairns. A great day trip