Fly into Melbourne and Travel to Sydney...

We will be taking a cruise departing find Sydney in March 2019, but we will have about 6 days before the cruise to explore the area a little. We would hate to stay put and Sydney for all 6 days. We would prefer flying into Melbourne, then making our way into Sydney.

The reason for wanting to fly into Melbourne is that we would love to explore Great Ocean Road. I know we don't have a lot of days, but we probably won't make it back to Australia anytime soon, so we would like to get the most out of our trip.

Initially we would have loved exploring the reef, but I have been reading that there are deadly jellyfishes during this time of the year, so it looks like this won't be possible. :(:(:(

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

It is still safe to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef in stinger season. The reef tour operators provide stinger suits and it is quite rare for people to get stung as long as they take recommended precautions, so don't let that put you off going to the reef it that's a bucket list item for you. If you do decide to go there I recommend staying in Port Douglas - there are regular shuttle bus services from Cairns airport. I also recommend the Meridian apartments https://portdouglasmeridian.com/, Wavelength for an outer reef trip https://www.wavelength.com.au/ and Sailaway for a low isles trip http://sailawayportdouglas.com/. Sailaway also do nice sunset cruises.

If you do decide to go to Melbourne instead, would you want to do a tour of the Great Ocean Road, or self-drive?

We will be taking a cruise departing find Sydney in March 2019, but we will have about 6 days before the cruise to explore the area a little. We would hate to stay put and Sydney for all 6 days. We would prefer flying into Melbourne, then making our way into Sydney.

 

The reason for wanting to fly into Melbourne is that we would love to explore Great Ocean Road. I know we don't have a lot of days, but we probably won't make it back to Australia anytime soon, so we would like to get the most out of our trip.

The Great Ocean Road is one of them. We loved it, but it's pretty pointless trying to do it in a day from Melbourne, as too many people do; you'll simply spend all day in the vehicle looking through the window except for getting a regimented 30 minutes to look at the Twelve Apostles. We gave it two days and it wasn't really enough; better to schedule three days. Otherwise you could miss things like (for example) seeing a large group of koalas in the wild when we turned down a small side road to explore.

The second piece of advice is that "explore the area" can be a dangerous concept so far as Australia is concerned. It may be an island, but it's an island the size of the contiguous 48 states. Melbourne and Sydney are further apart than Washington DC and Boston. You wouldn't fly to Boston to start a cruise, and then explore the area by popping over to DC for a day. You'll do better to think of Melbourne and Sydney as different destinations.

So if you have 6 days, then three on the Great Ocean Road and three in Melbourne would not be a bad allocation. You may want to fly to Sydney the evening before the cruise departs, for the usual reasons, so you may have a slightly truncated time in Melbourne, and you might want to plan to get back to Melbourne from the Great Ocean Road just a little bit earlier in the day to give yourself a full evening there when you arrive.

I wouldn't recommend thinking that if you give Melbourne three days and Sydney three days, that will be making more of your trip than spending 6 days in Sydney. You're just ensuring that you see neither place properly. Sydney (and what is truly in "the area") needs about a month, anyway, to see properly. So even if you were to stay in Sydney for all 6 days you would hardly be wasting your time or missing out.

Totally agree.

There would be plenty to keep you busy in and around Sydney.

We did GOR in 2 days (one really) and t was nowhere near enough.

What’s your cruise itinerary?

Totally agree.

 

There would be plenty to keep you busy in and around Sydney.

 

 

We did GOR in 2 days (one really) and t was nowhere near enough.

 

What’s your cruise itinerary?

Our intinerary includes:

NOUMEA, NEW CALEDONIA

LIFOU, LOYALTY ISLAND

MYSTERY ISLAND, VANUATU

ISLE OF PINES, NEW CALEDONIA

It is still safe to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef in stinger season. The reef tour operators provide stinger suits and it is quite rare for people to get stung as long as they take recommended precautions, so don't let that put you off going to the reef it that's a bucket list item for you. If you do decide to go there I recommend staying in Port Douglas - there are regular shuttle bus services from Cairns airport. I also recommend the Meridian apartments https://portdouglasmeridian.com/, Wavelength for an outer reef trip https://www.wavelength.com.au/ and Sailaway for a low isles trip http://sailawayportdouglas.com/. Sailaway also do nice sunset cruises.

 

If you do decide to go to Melbourne instead, would you want to do a tour of the Great Ocean Road, or self-drive?

The Great Barrier Reef is deffinitly on my bucket list and we would drop Ocean Road and extra time in Sydney for it without a doubt.

If we were to do Ocean Road we would take a tour.

The Great Barrier Reef is deffinitly on my bucket list and we would drop Ocean Road and extra time in Sydney for it without a doubt.

 

If we were to do Ocean Road we would take a tour.

Hi OP, you said you had about 6 days in Oz pre-cruise. Assuming you're flying from NM, one day will effectively be written-off fighting jet-lag. You really don't have enough time to "do" Melbourne, Sydney and the GBR save for box-ticking (it is 3,000 km from Melbourne to Cairns). If you want to visit the GBR then I'd recommend flying into Brisbane, connecting to Cairns and taking a shuttle to Port Douglas. I'd also recommend Wavelength for a trip to the outer reef. While in FNQ you could also visit the Daintree rain forests and drive up to Cape Trib, get reasonably close and personal with Crocs and a whole host of stuff that you wouldn't normally do in Santa Fe.

If you are planning on flying into Melbourne, driving to Sydney along the GOR is definitely one suggestion. Then again, I could probably find enough to keep me occupied there for a few days. However, why would you "hate to stay put in Sydney?" There's the Opera House, The Rocks, Harbour Bridge (or Pylon) climb, Botanical Gardens, ferries to Manly and Watsons Bay, Taronga Zoo, day trip (or better - two days) to the Blue Mountains, Bondi to Coogee beach walk - and that's just the obvious things...

If you are planning on flying into Melbourne, driving to Sydney along the GOR is definitely one suggestion.

FWIW, the current edition of the CC guide to things to do in Sydney can be found here.

The Great Barrier Reef is deffinitly on my bucket list and we would drop Ocean Road and extra time in Sydney for it without a doubt.

 

If we were to do Ocean Road we would take a tour.

Definitely do the reef then. As BritinSoCal suggests, fly in to Brisbane (or Sydney if Brisbane doesn't work for you) then up to Cairns and get the shuttle bus to Port Douglas. Spend 2-3 days in PD doing reef trips and/or a Daintree tour. Then fly back to Sydney.

There are plenty of things to do in Sydney so your time there won't be wasted. One thing I always recommend is getting the ferry to Manly in the afternoon. Walk through from the harbour side to the ocean side and if you go left along the Esplanade there is a lovely walk around to Shelly Beach. Have a meal in Manly, there are plenty of good cafes and restaurants there to suit all budgets, then get the ferry back once it's dark. That way you get to see the harbour in the daylight and at night.

This thread has a bit more info on snorkelling the GBR. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2491806

That's not where the Great Ocean Road goes! It's southwest of Melbourne and basically goes in the opposite direction, away from Sydney.

 

FWIW, the current edition of the CC guide to things to do in Sydney can be found here.

Oops - apologies. Premature senior moment on my part. Was thinking of the coastal drive from Melbourne to Sydney. The GOR I'll save for when I visit both the MCG and the Adelaide Oval...

Don't know why you'd hate to stay put in Sydney for 6 days unless you've been there before? Sydney is one of the great cities of the world with plenty to see and do both in the city and within a couple of hours north, west or south. Explore the city with its harbour, the bridge, the Opera House, the Rocks, the Zoo, Manly, Watsons Bay, Bondi. Then check out the vineyards, the famous Blue Mountains or the Illawarra escarpment. That's more than enough to fit into 6 days and I haven't even mentioned the night activities in Sydney. The live theatre venues, jazz bars, harbour cruises, comedy clubs...... Check it out and then compare the cost and difficulties of getting to the Barrier Reef and back.

Totally agree.

 

There would be plenty to keep you busy in and around Sydney.

 

 

We did GOR in 2 days (one really) and t was nowhere near enough.

 

What’s your cruise itinerary?

After considering all of your advice we have decided to drop the Great Barrier Reef from our list :( We will be spending our days in Sydney, but I am wondering how likely it is to find a tour to the 12 Apostles from Sydney? Is this even possible?

After considering all of your advice we have decided to drop the Great Barrier Reef from our list :( We will be spending our days in Sydney, but I am wondering how likely it is to find a tour to the 12 Apostles from Sydney? Is this even possible?

Nevermind :o just figured out this is impossible too!

... but I am wondering how likely it is to find a tour to the 12 Apostles from Sydney? Is this even possible?

Nevermind :o just figured out this is impossible too!

After considering all of your advice we have decided to drop the Great Barrier Reef from our list :( We will be spending our days in Sydney, but I am wondering how likely it is to find a tour to the 12 Apostles from Sydney? Is this even possible?

Don't feel too bad about missing out on the GBR, your cruise destinations pretty much make up for that. Isle of Pines especially. In Noumea try to get out to Amedee lighthouse, well worth a visit.

To add to the recommendations around Sydney, this is one that doesn't get much notice, the Grand Pacific Drive near Wollongong, just south of Sydney:

Also the nearby Stanwell Tops lookout.