Australia is freakin’ huge! Have you looked into one of the backpacker busses to get around? Cairns to Sydney is a very long trip unless you plan to make is leasurely with stops along the coast; it’s more like traveling across the US than it is like traveling say, from NY to Florida.

HI Zubblicious
It will take 2 days from Sydney to Melbourne the coast way 2 days 900 KLS from Melbourne to Adelaide 800 KLS the coast way 2 days if you want to see Ayers Rock you will need to fly there and 1 day to climb and see a sunset I think you have to fly to Alice Spings to catch a flight to the rock there are bus trips there also . Then I would fly to Cairns the bus trip will be 2150 kls From Alice to Cairns there is little to see just dry ground till you get to the coast . From Cairnes to Sydney 2280 KLS It will take 5 or 6 days I would fly back to Brisbane and then drive the coast road take 3 or 4 days as this is the best part of the coast and more to see.
The best parts to see is The Great Ocean Road from Melbourne to Adelaide , the sunset on Ayers Rock and the climb (take some water with you it is a hot climb) The reef of Cairns and trip from Brisbaine down to Sydney and if you have the time the trip from Sydney to Melbourne.
The time you have set for the trip you will be going none stop and to see things it takes time this is a big country to see I will give you a web site for travel in Australia
http://www.australia…
http://www.travelmat…
These might help you with idears if you want more help just ask I live in Aus and have been all over it.

thanks for your help chubby. i have another question. is the great ocean road very far from melbourne? I was planning to travel from sydney to adelaide before going into the outback, but now it seems time and interest may cut that trip in melbourne before heading into the outback. so, i just wanted to make sure that I could make it to the great ocean road from melbourne in reasonable time. also, when you decribe the driving times, for instance "2 days from Sydney to Melbourne the coast way", do you mean that as the actual driving time, besides stopping along the way?

also, we had orginally planned to drive australia, but do you think a train pass may work better for us? how are the rails in australia.

thanks for your help

riad

Is there a particular reason why you want to bus from Alice to Cairns? Not much in between and will take a long time. I would suggest flying – Qantas has nonstop flights from Yulara (airport near Ayers Rock) or Alice to Cairns.

The best bits of the Great Ocean Road are relatively close to Melbourne, so it wouldn’t be a problem to do a day trip from Melbourne. When I drove from Melbourne to Adelaide, we did it in 3 days / 2 nights (with stops for sites, meals).

I took a train from Cairns to Brisbane. The train was quite nice but it isn’t cheap and may take longer than the bus. Sailor is right that Cairns to Sydney is a REALLY long drive. Considering you have 3 weeks and plan on going to places that are located really far apart, you may not want to spend all your energy driving from place to place. Not sure what your budget is, but Virgin Blue has really good one-way fares and you may want to consider flying between certain cities.

Hi Again

To drive to Melbourne from Sydney and if you stop alot on the way it will take 3 days to do it 2days you will need to go as far as Eden the first day 489 KLS then 500KLS the next day to Melbourne.

The Great Ocean Road I would go as far as Warrnambool 298kls and go the Pinces High Way to Melbourne and then fly to Adelaide. The great Ocean Road to see it all do the stops take 2days the round trip a web site for the GOR is
http://www.greatocea…

For the cheapest air fare of the day in Australia is

http://www.farehunte…
Just one word of worning Jetstar a lot of there planes leave Avolon air port it is half way between Melbourne and Geelong and you have to be there 1 hour before the flight to book in or you do not get on.
Trains you can get apass ticket I think it is a month you get to travel I have never used it as it takes to long to get there I would fly and get the cheaper fights they may be early morning but they would be better than sitting in a train

hi zubb,
good to see your going to visit our beautiful country!!!

i want to throw in a few of suggestions:-
1. you need more time i believe to much to see and to far to see them.
2. winter time down melbourne and adelaide isn,t very nice.
3. i think you should stick north the northern territory, western australia and queensland plenty to see there. and its a good time to be travelling up that way.
4. driving is the way to do it you got more freedom and can see a lot more but flying will work out a lot cheaper for you. its up to you, but i prefer driving.
5. if your interested in snowboarding and skiing its a good time to visit jindabyne southern NSW around june,july and august

what sites are you planning to see up north QLD and NT?