Australia

Australia, in a few days

From Sydney Harbour to the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru and the Great Ocean Road out of Melbourne: the map, what is worth booking, everything that costs nothing, and where to sleep at three budgets.

Day by day

1

Sydney

Days 1-3

An opera house finished in 1973 and a steel arch bridge from 1932, on one of the great natural harbours. The city grew around water rather than around a square.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Sydney Opera House, guided tour2h · from €35
  Inside the shells, with the story of a design that took sixteen years to build and ran fourteen times over budget.
• Harbour Bridge climbHalf day · from €180
  Up the steel arch to 134 metres above the water, harnessed to the structure the whole way.

✦ Free to visit

• Bondi Beach and the coastal walk
• The Opera House and Circular Quay
• The Rocks
• Royal Botanic Garden

📲 Book things to do in Sydney on GetYourGuide

2

The Great Barrier Reef, from Cairns

Days 4-5 · ✈️ Domestic flight 3h

Around 2,300 kilometres of coral, the largest reef system on earth and the only living structure visible from orbit. Cairns is the usual door to it.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Diving or snorkelling on the reefFull day · from €120
  A day boat out to the outer reef, where the coral is in better condition than anything close to shore.
• Seaplane flight over the reef1h · from €250
  An hour above the coral, and the only way to take in Heart Reef and the shape of the whole system.

✦ Free to visit

• The Cairns Esplanade
• Daintree rainforest
• Tropical beaches

📲 Book things to do in The Great Barrier Reef, from Cairns on GetYourGuide

3

Uluru and the red desert

Days 6-7 · ✈️ Domestic flight 2h45

A sandstone monolith standing 348 metres above the plain, sacred to the Anangu who have lived around it for tens of thousands of years. Climbing it has been banned since October 2019.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Uluru at sunrise, with Anangu cultureHalf day · from €60
  The rock as the first light hits it, then the stories and the rock art read by people who grew up with them.
• Field of Light dinnerEvening · from €190
  Dinner in the open desert beside 50,000 solar stems, installed as a temporary work in 2016 and kept ever since.

✦ Free to visit

• Uluru at sunset
• Kata Tjuta
• The desert night sky
• The cultural centre

📲 Book things to do in Uluru and the red desert on GetYourGuide

4

Melbourne & Great Ocean Road

Days 8-10 · ✈️ Domestic flight 2h30

Laneways, coffee and repainted murals, and the start of the Great Ocean Road, built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Great Ocean Road and the Twelve Apostles, guidedFull day · from €90
  Two hundred kilometres of coast road to the limestone stacks. Eight of the twelve are still standing.
• Laneways and coffee walkHalf day · from €30
  The alleys behind the main streets, their walls repainted every few weeks, and the cafés that built the city reputation.

✦ Free to visit

• Laneway street art
• Queen Victoria Market
• St Kilda Beach
• The Twelve Apostles

📲 Book things to do in Melbourne & Great Ocean Road on GetYourGuide

Worth sorting before you go

Domestic flights · Distances between regions are continental: Sydney to Cairns is three hours in the air against two days at the wheel. Fly between the big stops, drive inside them.

📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly

🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta

🚗 Car hire
Compare the agencies before you land.
Compare · Booking

💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut

🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer

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Flavours & local habits

🍽️ Worth tasting

• Barbecue and seafood: prawns, barramundi and oysters.
• Meat pie: the national snack, eaten standing up.
• Vegemite: a salt yeast paste on toast, spread thin if you want to finish it.
• Lamingtons and pavlova, the two desserts this country argues over.
• Flat white: the coffee this corner of the world gave everyone else.

⚠️ Best avoided

• The sun is harsh: sunscreen, a hat and shade, even under cloud.
• Swim between the flags, and take the current and jellyfish warnings literally.
• Distances are enormous: plan fuel, water and how tired you will be.
• Do not feed the wildlife, and keep your distance from it.

Words that help

✈️ Flight delayed by 3 hours or more, or cancelled? You may be owed up to €600. Check your flight on AirHelp.

The practical page

Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/australia

Packing checklist

Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.