Wife and I trying to plan a trip to Australia this coming Dec/Jan. We are thinking Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. Looking for some suggestions and can’t miss ideas both surfing and non-surfing related. I know there’s a few guys on here who post from Australia. Any input to get the most out of a 2 - 3 week trip would be greatly appreciated.
Surf wise. Any of the Gold Coast points for short boards. Noosa on the Sunshine Coast for longboarding.
If you are into bush walking have a look at the Gold Coast hinterland, Google O'Reillys, Mt Warning and Springbrook.
platty.
If you're holidaying in queensland ( the state where both of those places are ) you need to talk really slowly, and say things like "fuck yeah" for yes, and "fuck nah" for no. And dont believe anything they tell you about New South Wales and the people who live there!
Classic post beerfan, fuck yeh................. Mate I live at tewantin on the sunshine coast, would love to catch up with ya mate in the water, hopefully you will score a cyclone swell and then you can surf with the whole sunshine coast and brisbane people as well, all on the points crammed in like sardines, just the thing to help you relax on the holidays. Keep in touch and we will catch up mate, a walk through noosa national is a must, plus the hinterlands are real nice for a drive.
Haha, thought i'd get a reaction!
All I can say is go the blues. Go the blues.
This is peak holiday time. Will be very crowded. January can be a month of northerlies. Personally I’d go further south than Beerfan. Depends what you are looking for/wanting to do.
If possible I'd avoid traveling in Oz after boxing day at all costs. It will be very busy, expensive and hard to get accomodations. Much nicer leading up to Christmas. I personally like the gold coast better than sunshine especially if you dip into northern NSW. As noted above he hiking / rainforests / waterfalls W of Nerang at springbrook and Mt Warning are beautiful. Further south, Byron Bay and areas south of there are attractive for both surfers and non-surfers. Saying all that Noosa is also quite nice - especially for longboarding and walks in the national park.
I’ve been there a few times in December but we where in Bronte, NSW (Sydney) We mucked about up to Palm beach and down to Jervis bay. Amazing and beautiful. When we return this year I am insisting on heading north. You can rent a caravan pretty easly there and just skip the overpriced hotels on the beach.
My fiance just moved to the US from there and she looks at the east coast FL surf and is like " I can be bothered "
Thanks all for the great info so far. Our initial thoughts are to buy a Quantas pass so that we can fly between cities and travel the east coast; Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Cairns. But, honestly we don’t know much about Australia and what we might be missing in any other areas, or if we are better off concentrating our visit in just the Gold and Sunshine Coasts or if we should jump around or if we will see more if we drive, etc. When we travel we are more into seeing culture and nature than tourist spots. We are a bit flexible on timing and could go as late as February, but going before December might be tough. Gold Coast hinterland, Google O’Reillys, Mt Warning, Springbrook, Byron Bay and Noosa all sound good. Keep the ideas/suggestions coming. Would also love to meet up with some of you guys for a surf.
February would be better - cheaper, school holidays are finished so less people around and usually the southerly wind pattern has established - important for the Qld/NSW points.
How you do it will also be influenced by how much time you have. People underestimate how big Australia is. It’s about 1000 kms Brisbane to Sydney. Cairns to Brisbane - 1700 kms. See http://www.travelaroundaustralia.com/travelling-around-australia.html
If by culture you mean museums & art galleries - Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane all have them. This surfing exhibition is in Sydney until March - worth seeing http://blogs.hht.net.au/surfcity/
Classic road trips are Gold Coast to Sydney, South of Sydney and Bells to 12 Apostles.
Nature and culture, i might be biased but far south coast NSW has plenty of nature stuff. A 3 1/2 hour drive south of sydney airport and you can surf on a deserted beach after walking through the bush, and you will see kangaroos, feed the possums at night ( watch your hands! ), and see goanna's strutting through the bush ( dont go near them ).
This is not a surf beach, that's around the little outcrop. Pretty flat on this day though as you can see.
I would guess though that 3 hours north you would find similar!, though there are spots similar around sydnay, the further you go the better it gets.
Australia? Ask a Pom:
"Australia is the world’s sixth largest country and its
largest island. It is the only island that is also a continent
and the only continent that is also a country. It was the
first continent conquered from the sea, and the last It is
the only nation that began as a prison.
It is the home of the largest living thing on earth, the
Great Barrier Reef, and of the most famous and striking
monolith, Ayers Rock (or Uluru to use its now official,
more respeaful Aboriginal name). It has more things that
will kill you than anywhere else. Of the world’s ten most
poisonous snakes, all are Australian. Five of its creatures -
the funnel-web spider, box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus,
paralysis tick and stonefish - are the most lethal of their
type in the world. This is a country where even the fluffiest
of caterpillars can lay you out with a toxic nip, where
seashells will not just sting you but actually sometimes go
for you. Pick up an innocuous coneshell from a
Queensland beach, as innocent tourists are all too wont to
do, and you will discover that the little fellow inside is not
just astoundingly swift and testy, but exceedingly
venomous. …
And it is old. For 60 million years, since the formation
of the Great Dividing Range, Australia has been all but
silent geologically, which has allowed it to preserve many
of the oldest things ever found on earth - the most ancient
rocks and fossils, the earliest animal tracks and riverbeds,
the first faint signs of life itself…
In short, there was no place in the world like it. There
still isn’t. Eighty per cent of all that lives in Australia, plant
and animal, exists nowhere else. More than this, it exists in
an abundance that seems incompatible with the harshness
of the environment. Australia is the driest, flattest, hottest,
most desiccated, infertile and climatically aggressive of all
the inhabited continents. (Only Antarctica is more hostile
to life.) This is a place so inert that wen the soil is,
technically speaking, a fossil. And yet it teems with life in
numbers uncounted. For insects alone, scientists haven’t
the faintest idea whether the total number of species is
100,000 or more than twice that. As many as a third of
those species remain entirely unknown to science. For
spiders, the proportion rises to 80 per cent."
Bill Bryson’s book on Australia. Well worth a look on the plane over.
While a 'plane pass might be a reasonable way to cover a lot of ground, it will encourage you to spend time in cities (and airports - bleh!). The best parts of Australia are often the big bits between cities. Just pack a guide to surf breaks and national parks, don’t plan on covering too many km’s (what miles are here) on any day, and call ahead for accomodation, because it’s a busy time of year after Christmas. And, most importantly, stray off the main road, because that’s where you’ll find hidden jewels of surf breaks with only a couple of locals for company.
red-boards that last part is great advice for any trip stay away from the big citys and main roads or you end up missing what the place is really about
hopefully heading to Qld for a quick trip early nov really looking forward to warm water its getting a bit chilly here in Nz
thanks mate, bit early, we will come back, if we were in a war with any country, I would hate queensland more in state of origin time, they dont even think they are Australian, I saw the 1st game, was out to sea for the 2nd then watched the 3rd in the Phils, with a bar full of queenslanders, the bloke coming here for a holiday, mate we will love you, go for a surf at the superbank, do your best, it might be northerly, go to tallows at byron, top pub at night if you like techno, , the northern if ure older , relax u will b loved
If I wanted to see culture and nature, I’d be inclined to avoid the Gold Coast.
Feb can be ok, March better for Qld points.
Cheaper for accom too as schools are back in.
Here’s a good way to get around cheap…especially if you are flexible.
http://www.drivenow.com.au/onewayrentals.jspc
and this one…
So we decided to do the Sydney to Melbourne drive. I’m looking for some suggestions on places to stay where there are things for me and the wife to see and do and some accessible surf. Also, would you recommend 2 or 3 nights for the drive. 2 nights is 3 days driving appoximately 5hrs each day and 3 nights is 4 days of approximately 4hrs driving. I was thinking the first stop would around Jervis Bay area, next stop somewhere around Narooma or Eden, then the last stop around Lakes Entrance. Or just two stops near Batemans Bay and Lakes Entrance. Any recommendations?
Syd to melbourne can be done in 10 hours or so. If you dont mind living in small cabins, there 100's of small parks, a lot of which are right on the beach ( or 5 mins walk ). Anywhere past uladulla would be a great place to stop for a night or 2 ( 4 hours from sydney ). The victorians might be able to help further south than that. Bring a fish, as its spring here. Although if some swell does hit when you're "down south" you may well find something heavier.
The far eastern end of Victoria is pretty much a wasteland in terms of waves.
Mallacoota and Cape Conran (just south of the NSW border) get good and are beautiful coastal areas.
Wilson Promontory is absolutely spectacular, but the waves are inconsistent (about 3 1/2 hours drive from the centre of Melbourne).
Lakes Entrance and 90 Mile Beach probably isn't worth stopping or staying at (in trems of waves or scenery).
The next stop for good (sometimes great) surf is Inverloch, Cape Patterson, Kilcunda and Phillip Island (these are all about 2 hours drive from the centre of Melbourne).
If you want any further details on anything just PM me.
Cheers
Rohan