Australia Tour on the way…….looking for suggestions!

Hello everybody, we are young group pf students and are planning to visit Australia. The places that we have got listed are Sydney, Queensland and Brisbane. There is scope for more places as well and we are just preparing our schedule. I am here to take suggestions on as to what are the places worth seeing and how about the staying there? I would like to have any useful suggestions that might come on the way.

Thanks in advance!

Those places mentioned on your list are just great! With pristine beaches, tropical islands, lush rainforests, vibrant cities and the authentic Australian outback, Queensland is the ultimate holiday destination. Brisbane is the state’s capital city, a city full of energy, style, arts and culture. The Brisbane River snakes through the metropolis and is peppered with alfresco dining options. Another is the Great Barrier Reef, stretching 2300km along the Queensland coast. Home to a myriad of sea creatures and hidden gems, the best way to explore the reef is to snorkel or scuba dive. And for more on the staying factor, you can check out resorts Queensland so as to get better options on the accommodations there.

Enjoy the Trip.

I cant help you with the accommodation, but I can with the diving. The water may not be as blue or clear as the GBR, but given the right conditions there is some great diving in Sydney. There is both excellent boat diving and shore diving. Some of my favorite boat dives include The Apartments and the Wall at Long Reef, DY Wide, North and South Heads, and South Maroubra where there is a school of Grey Nurse Sharks.

Good shore dives include North Avalon, Freshwater headland, The Ocean side of Shelley Beach, Shark Point and Bear Island. This is a good web site to check out .......http://www.michaelmcfadyenscuba.info/viewpage.php?page_id=100.

I hope this helps you out as far as diving in Sydney is concerned. There are many great dive shops that will be more than willing to help you out. Have a great trip.

Cheers

Parso

Hello everybody, we are young group pf students and are planning to visit Australia. The places that we have got listed are Sydney, Queensland and Brisbane. There is scope for more places as well and we are just preparing our schedule. I am here to take suggestions on as to what are the places worth seeing and how about the staying there? I would like to have any useful suggestions that might come on the way.

Thanks in advance!

OK... what sort of budget are you on? How long will you be in Australia? Are all of your group divers? Are you coming to dive or dive and sightsee? How will you be travelling around?

Are you high school students, or college students? If you're over 18, go from Brisbane down to Byron Bay in northern NSW. Heck, even if you're under age, it's still a great place to visit.

Brisbane gets boring pretty quick IMHO, although there is a lot to do in the surrounds - Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, hinterlands, etc. Brisbane is of course in southern Queensland, whereas Cairns, one of the major holiday destinations and a gateway to the reef, is about 1700km north. Another great place to visit is Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands, also in the northern tropics.

Sydney's good for a few days, a really beautiful city in its centre. I'd give the diving there a miss though (sorry Parso), and do some up north.

Good luck, it's a big country, with a LOT to see!

Ryan.

Are you high school students, or college students? If you're over 18, go from Brisbane down to Byron Bay in northern NSW. Heck, even if you're under age, it's still a great place to visit.

 

Brisbane gets boring pretty quick IMHO, although there is a lot to do in the surrounds - Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, hinterlands, etc. Brisbane is of course in southern Queensland, whereas Cairns, one of the major holiday destinations and a gateway to the reef, is about 1700km north. Another great place to visit is Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands, also in the northern tropics.

 

Sydney's good for a few days, a really beautiful city in its centre. I'd give the diving there a miss though (sorry Parso), and do some up north.

 

Good luck, it's a big country, with a LOT to see!

 

Ryan.

Mr Pedlow,

I would have thought that being anointed as one of the moderators of Wetpixel would have bought with it some form of responsible journalism?

But once again you've gone out on a limb, this time on an international forum, to denigrate the standard of diving found around Sydney that is widely recognised as world class by many a respected scribe. I have no idea as to how you were given the title of moderator, but it certainly can't have been from your lengthy collection of feux-pas from the recent past?

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and you to yours, but in my opinion, you are NOT moderator qualified and your postings should be audited for stupidity before being allowed on Wetpixel. I am removing my profile from Wetpixel as a direct result of your 'posting'. . . . .

Bruce Terrill.

I actually tend to agree with Ryan.

My diving experiences in Australia are much more limited than his, but if you are on a time restraint then definitely Airlee beach is amazing, and spending time in the Whitsundays is a definite must do, and if you get up to Cairns or port Douglas make sure you go up a little bit further to cape tribulation for a real experience.

As a city Brisbane is my second favourite in the whole world right now, absolutely love it still.

As for Sydney .. I never dived there, but I would think further north is just better. The one thing i do remember to avoid in Sydney is Kings Cross, but that may be a bit nicer now, others here probably know more than i do !

From somebody that has done over a thousand dives along the east coast of Australia I would say anywhere you go in New South Wales and Queensland you will have great diving, it all depends what you want to see.

Sydney has world class diving where you can see weedy sea dragons, blue gropers, grey nurse sharks, port jackson sharks, wobbegong sharks, giant cuttlefish, sea horses, and the list could go on and on. South of Sydney there is great diving at Bass Point, Jervis Bay, Ulladulla, Batemans Bay, Montaque Island, Merimbula, Eden and many towns inbetween. From Sydney north to Brisbane there is also wonderful diving at Port Stephens, Seal Rocks, Forster, South West Rocks, Coffs Harbour, Byron Bay and Tweed Heads.

Of course Queensland has great diving on the Great Barrier Reef and many areas south of the reef, like Mooloolaba, Rainbow Beach, Bargara and even Brisbane - it all depends what you want to see and how much time you have. If you want to see unique critters that you will not see anywhere else in the world, then spend more time in Sydney. If you want to dive on coral and see tropical species then head to the Great Barrier Reef.

I would suggest you surf the net for the destinations I have listed or buy a guide book.

Anywhere you go you will have a great trip.

All the best

Nigel

aw Bruce, admit it ... the diving south of queensland sucks !

I mean - look at it would you !!!!!!

( thought maybe as the saying goes ... a picture is worth 1000 words )

cheers

Leander

... admit it ... the diving south of queensland sucks !

I mean - look at it would you !!!!!!

Hey Leander, I'll be down on Jervis Bay 7th and 8th of March ....on Oceantrek with Kevin Deacon's group.

Really looking forward to it!

BTW that is a great set of pics....

Hey Leander, I'll be down on Jervis Bay 7th and 8th of March ....on Oceantrek with Kevin Deacon's group.

Really looking forward to it!

BTW that is a great set of pics....

Have u been on Trekie before? You'll have a great weekend diving with Lyn & Mick

If you see a little Webster cat come alongside be sure to say hello !!

Say hi to Kev & Cherie for me

cheers

Leander

Hello everybody, we are young group pf students and are planning to visit Australia. The places that we have got listed are Sydney, Queensland and Brisbane. There is scope for more places as well and we are just preparing our schedule. I am here to take suggestions on as to what are the places worth seeing and how about the staying there? I would like to have any useful suggestions that might come on the way.

 

 

 

Thanks in advance!

If you are thinking of heading south from Sydney I can give you some tips For land based stuff as well

South Coast/Jervis Bay/Booderee area is great for scenery, wildlife, beaches, diving ... but you will probably love wherever u go ... really !!!

Mr Pedlow,

I would have thought that being anointed as one of the moderators of Wetpixel would have bought with it some form of responsible journalism?

But once again you've gone out on a limb, this time on an international forum, to denigrate the standard of diving found around Sydney that is widely recognised as world class by many a respected scribe. I have no idea as to how you were given the title of moderator, but it certainly can't have been from your lengthy collection of feux-pas from the recent past?

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and you to yours, but in my opinion, you are NOT moderator qualified and your postings should be audited for stupidity before being allowed on Wetpixel. I am removing my profile from Wetpixel as a direct result of your 'posting'. . . . .

Bruce Terrill.

Bruce -

Ryan was brought on to help post to the front page and to work on other projects. His main focus will not be to moderate here in the forums. Perhaps we should have made that distinction clear, but you might have treated Ryan with respect for simply being a contributor here on the forum.

(by the way, I will probably be back in Sydney in December/January to do some local diving, and am really looking forward to it!)

Eric

Hey Conan,

Apparently (don't shoot me if I'm wrong), when Alaska and Hawaii are taken out of it, Australia is slightly bigger than the US yet it only has a population in the area of 20 million. Sydney itself has a population of 4 million.

So, if you give us an idea of what sort of diving you guys are after (wrecks, reef, blue water, big fish etc), as you can see, plenty of people here to give you some tips and they will be good ones thanks to some inter state rivalry (ie Queensland verses NSW verses Vic etc).

To start we can assume you guys are students and will have student budgets....what else can you tell us?

Ryan, congrats on the mod status! Looking forward to showing you quality Sydney diving if you ever make it down and the best of it is off the shore unlike in Brisbane where you have to drive to northern NSW for decent diving (and Eric of course many here happy to show you around as well).

Cheers,

Aengus

Aengus,

I wouldn't dump on Brisbane diving, just as Ryan shouldn't dump on Sydney diving. You two need to do a house swap for a while to experience how and where the other half dive.

Sydney and Brisbane have both got world class dive sites.

Regards

Nigel

OK, lets get back on topic...

OK... what sort of budget are you on? How long will you be in Australia? Are all of your group divers? Are you coming to dive or dive and sightsee? How will you be travelling around?

Hopefully Conan might come back and answer some of the questions we've asked so we can help ......

From Sydney if you are going North then the first stop I have been to is 3 hours

Ron at Forster. You dive seal rocks. Prob a 7 out of 10. diveforster.com.au

Next stop is South West Rocks and fish rock cave. Awesome. Grey Nurse sharks at the entrance, then a 100m + swim through cave.

southwestrocksdive.com.au

Then a bit further north to Mullaway. Great dive also. Plenty to see.

Then continue to Byron Bay where you can see leopard sharks, rays, all sorts.

The last 3 I would rate as good, or better than the Great Barrier Reef.

cheers

I suppose the funny part of all this, is that the original poster was a spammer. But it's certainly spawned a vigorous discussion!