Help! New to Australia and NZealand

[Italianwriter]

We've never been to Australia. We have 4 days in Sydney pre cruise and wonder, is it possible to get to the barrier reef in a day? And how easy is it to do the cities on your own...without a cruise tour?:D

 

We are sailing on Saphhire Princess which I see has good reviews. Any information would be helpful.

[2manyplaces]

Most people visit the reef from Cairns or Port Douglas, about 2-3 hours flying time from Sydney, and generally it's an all-day boat trip from there. Sydney is an easy city to get around in without a tour. They have a hop-on, hop-off type Explorer bus which is great. It's been several years since we've been to Australia, but we have spent about 2 months there over the course of 3 different trips and been all over the country, including Darwin, Perth and Tasmania. It is an absolutely amazing country and the people are extremely helpful and friendly. Get a good guide book (personally, I like Frommer's) or talk with your travel agent to determine the best itinerary for your time based on your interests. I'm sure some other CC'ers who have been there more recently will give you some ideas, too. Also, check out the boards on tripadvisor.com (owned by the same parent company as CC). They have "experts" who can also give you great advice.

[mochuck]

Actually its a 4 hour plane trip from Sydney to Cairns. So not really practical for one day. Sydney and Melbourne are really easy places to get around and do things on your own. There are so many places to eat in Sydney you are spoilt for choice. There are lots of restaurants around Circular Quay (where the ship docks) and a lot at King St Wharf. I've attached a link to the King St eateries - remember the prices are in Australian dollars.

 

http://www.ksw.com.au/

 

Where are you staying in Sydney?

[mochuck]

Actually there is really comprehensive review with great photos of Australia and New Zealand on Sapphire Princess cruise here

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=505770

[Globaliser]

We have 4 days in Sydney pre cruise and wonder, is it possible to get to the barrier reef in a day?

Adding to what mochuck has said, think of it like this: It's a bit like being in Miami pre-cruise, and nipping over to Toronto for the day. In either case, it's just over 1,200 miles.

[eh2zed]

People seriously underestimate the size of Australia. It is not as large as the USA but width and depth is comparable. Its just rounder.

[Spikesgirl]

Eh2zed - the same thing has been said about me:D

 

We had a fabulous post stay in Sydney. One of our highlights was doing the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It was an easy climb, safe and it definietly affords fabulous views of the city. We also thoroughly enjoyed our backstage tour of the Opera House and our tour of the Botannical Gardens.

 

Charlie

[newfarmers]

People seriously underestimate the size of Australia. It is not as large as the USA but width and depth is comparable. Its just rounder.

 

 

whenever we travel and we say we're Australian we get the 'I have a friend in Sydney/Melbourne/Brisbane... you might know them'. Um, maybe not cos there are 20 million people living here. Canadians have a great idea of the vast distances between cities we have here as it's the same there - millions of kilometres of emptiness.

 

pete

[waltsindickie]

I would really recommend spending your time in Sydney. There is so much to do here. I used to live up North and must admit since moving to Sydney I can't believe how much I appreciate this place. From the opera house to centinial park hteres plenty to keep you entertained.It is a fair way to get up there in a day.

I'm booked on the Sapphire in Febuary and look forward to visiting the same ports of call I visited on the Stadenham last febuary. You sound like you really enjoy the wonders of the natural environment. I recommend the Back to Nature Tour in Dunedin. Contact them before you get there and you'll save heaps of dollars. The landscape,wildlife and knowledge of chris who took our trip was outstanding.

You'll love the cruise it's one of the most beautiful coastlines I've ever seen - the crossing of the Tasman can be a bit rough, it's the second roughest sea in the world so be prepared - i find natural ginger tablets work well.

[M&A]

As was stated above there is a lot to see in Sydney. We wanted to see Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef/rainforest pre-cruise. We sent 4 nights in Sydney and then flew Virgin Blue (just over 2 hours) to Cairns and did 4 nights in Cairns. Even though we did 4 nights in Sydney there is a lot we didn't see. Looking forward to going back to Sydney and seeing more.

 

As for a hotel we did the Priceline thing and got the Marriot at Circular Quay.

[kaseyoz]

I am sure the flight to cairns is more 4 hours, even longer if they stop off at brisbane or the gold coast first. But even if two hours you still couldnt do this trip in day.The tour out to the reef from cairns is usually a day trip on its own

[mochuck]

I am sure the flight to cairns is more 4 hours, even longer if they stop off at brisbane or the gold coast first. But even if two hours you still couldnt do this trip in day.The tour out to the reef from cairns is usually a day trip on its own

 

Ive just realised why they all think its only 2 to 3 hours its because of daylight saving. Queensland doesn't have daylight saving so its only 2 hours later. I just checked with Qantas and the flight is just over 3 hours. So in summer, 2 hours to get there and 4 hours back.

[kaseyoz]

ahhh problem solved, thanks for untangling that

[M&A]

Yes you are correct! Virgin Blue is showing 2 hours Sydney to Cairns but I was sure the flight was at least 3 hours when we did it in April.

The original question about flying to Cairns for a short visit is possible but you would be very rushed. The ships visiting the reef all leave first thing in the morning therefore you could fly up the night before stay one night in a hotel, visit the reef and fly back to Sydney in the evening.

You need a few days in the Cairns area, not only to see the reef but the rainforest and Cairns itself.

[Globaliser]

Being intrigued, I've just had a look at a website that I use that expressly shows elapsed time. The Sydney-Cairns flights at the moment are all either 3:05 or 3:10. The return flights vary from 2:45 to 3:00.

 

Of course, these are scheduled block times (pushback from gate to parking at gate) so the actual flying time should be a little less. The scheduled times will probably include something like 20-25 minutes extra for taxiing etc.