Best Time for Austalia

[margord]

We are in the planning stages of an Austalian/NZ cruise/tour the beginning of 2008. Can you tell me what would be the best month (weather wise) to plan our trip. We hope to do the cruise tour through Princess that takes you to the Great Barrier reef and along the shoreline back to Sydney. The cruise can be before or after the tour, doesn't matter to us. Thanks in advance.

 

Marilee

[Spikesgirl]

That depends upon whether you like warm or cool weather. Their seasons flip flop ours, so their winter is in the May-August window and summer is Jan-March. We went in January and it was a little cool in New Zealand, especially on the South Island, but it was toasty enough in Aus. IMO you can't go wrong during any time - this has been one of our favorite destinations and we count the days until we can do it again!

 

Charlie

[SarahQ]

DH and I backpacked around Oz for 3 months and lived Melbourne for a year - that said, I think I've experienced pretty much all of the weather Australia can throw at you, except for maybe a cyclone!

 

With the itinerary you're looking at, you wouldn't be visiting any parts of Oz that get 'cold' ie. Melbourne/Victoria, Tasmania, but if you're going to New Zealand, it can certainly get very chilly on the South Island.

 

If you're in the Great Barrier Reef area, it is tropical, so it can get very hot and humid during the summer (or wet season) - for me personally, this is way more unbearable than being a little chilly. You can put it on but you can only take off so much ;)

 

I would probably suggest the spring or fall months - March-May or September to November...you'll likely get much more temperate weather.

 

Have fun - its a gorgeous part of the world :D

[maxx]

Try to avoid cyclone season for the Great barrier reef, Nov-March. You also can't swim off the coast in far north Queensland in summer due to stingers. It's ok on the islands.

Our winters are mild, Sydney is similar to LA. East coast here is hot & humid in summer. Spring & autumn are great times to visit. Summer is good just not too far north.

Can't help with NZ but someone will.

[travelnnana]

Friends who live in AUckland - told us April - so we are boarding the Diamond Princess on April 2nd

[Aussie Gal]

I would try and avoid Far North Queensland in March as it is still the cyclone season up there. A huge cyclone hit the coast up there last week and did a huge amount of damage.

 

It will still be hot and humid up there in April but I think that the ships leave Australia then so I would leave it as late as possible.

 

If you were coming south I would suggest March as it is the best time here in Melbourne. We have had glorious weather for the past month, no humidity, sunny days and cool nights. Today it is around 30C and we are into our first month of autumn.

 

Unfortunately, if you plan on good weather here in Australia, you will get cooler weather in New Zealand as their best weather is January/February.

 

You will have to weigh up the pros and cons. Perhaps you could do the cruise early March and then do the post cruise to FNQ at the end of the cruise in late March.

 

Jennie

[Grandriver]

I prepared a chart of AU weather by the major cities showing average max and min temperatures and rainfall (by month). I'm going to try to paste it in here. If it doens't work or you'd like the PDF format, send me an email at grandriver125@yahoo.ca and I'll reply with it attached.

 

Annual temperature averages in Celsius / Annual rainfall averages in Millimeters

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Sydney: JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

MAX 25.8 25.6 24.6 22.2 19.2 16.7 16.1 17.6 19.7 21.9 23.6 25.1

MIN 18.5 18.6 17.4 14.6 11.4 9.2 7.9 8.8 10.9 13.4 15.5 17.4

MILS 104 117 135 129 121 131 100 81 69 79 82 78

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Canberra: JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

MAX 27.7 26.9 24.3 19.7 15.2 12.0 11.1 12.8 15.9 19.1 22.5 25.9

MIN 12.9 12.9 10.7 6.7 3.1 0.8 -0.2 0.9 2.9 5.9 8.5 11.1

MILS 58 57 56 53 49 37 40 47 50 67 63 53

------------------------------------------------------------------

Melbourne: JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

MAX 25.8 25.7 23.7 20.2 16.6 13.9 13.3 14.8 17.1 19.5 21.8 24.1

MIN 14.0 14.3 13.0 10.6 8.5 6.7 5.8 6.5 7.8 9.3 11.0 12.7

MILS 48 48 52 58 58 50 49 51 59 68 60 59

----------------------------------------------------------------

Adelaide: JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

MAX 27.9 27.9 25.3 22.O 18.4 15.9 14.8 15.8 17.9 20.7 23.7 25.7

MIN 15.5 15.7 14.3 11.6 9.4 7.4 6.8 7.5 8.6 10.4 12.3 14.3

MILS 17 19 22 38 59 52 65 50 43 38 24 23

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Hobart: JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

MAX 21.9 21.5 20.1 17.4 14.4 12.1 11.8 13.0 15.2 16.8 18.3 20.1

MIN 12.0 12.0 11.0 9.1 7.1 5.1 4.5 5.1 6.4 7.8 9.3 10.8

MILS 48 40 47 52 49 56 54 52 52 64 55 57

------------------------------------------------------------------

Perth: JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

MAX 31.4 31.7 29.5 25.2 21.4 18.7 17.6 18.3 20.0 22.3 25.4 28.5

MIN 16.7 17.4 15.7 12.7 10.2 9.0 8.0 7.9 8.8 10.1 12.4 14.6

MILS 8 14 15 46 108 175 164 117 68 48 25 12

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Brisbane: JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

MAX 29.3 28.9 27.9 26.1 23.2 20.9 20.4 21.8 24.0 26.0 27.7 29.1

MIN 20.6 20.5 19.3 16.6 13.3 10.9 9.5 10.3 12.9 15.7 18.1 19.8

MILS 106 158 141 94 74 68 57 47 46 76 97 134

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Darwin: JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV

DEC

MAX 31.9 31.5 31.9 32.7 32.1 30.5 30.4 31.3 32.6 33.1 33.2 32.6

MIN 24.8 24.6 24.5 24.0 22.2 19.9 19.3 20.6 23.1 25.0 25.3 25.3

MILS 414 345 315 100 21 1 1 7 18 72 141 233

---------------------------------------------------------------------

[sunsetme]

translation please for us centigrade impaired people

[Globaliser]

translation please for us centigrade impaired people

0 = freezing

10 = cool

20 = pleasant

30 = hot

40 = find yourself an airconditioned room and stay inside

 

:D

[Aussie Gal]

An easy way to convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit is to double the amount and add on 30. eg. 10C is 10x2 = 20 + 30 = 50F.

 

It is not as accurate as the proper way of adding and dividing by certain numbers but it does give you a fair idea of the temps.

 

Therefore 40C = 80+30 = 110F which as Globiliser mentioned above when it gets as high as that stay inside in an airconditioned room!!

 

Jennie

[maxx]

translation please for us centigrade impaired people

It's great here any time of the year. We would appreciate some rain in Sydney though.

[kare8ear]

margord:

We hope to do the cruise tour through Princess that takes you to the Great Barrier reef and along the shoreline back to Sydney.

 

By tour...do you mean land tour? Are there any cruises that have the Barrier Reef as one of their ports?

 

Thanks!

[kenexx]

0 = freezing

10 = cool

20 = pleasant

30 = hot

40 = find yourself an airconditioned room and stay inside

 

:D

 

For us locals I'd suggest the following

 

0 = Cold beyond description

10 = Still bloody freezing but able to venture outside

20 = Coolish

30 = Just about right

40 = Nothing a vat of Gin and Tonic cant fix

 

:D :D :D

[Globaliser]

40 = Nothing a vat of Gin and Tonic cant fix

You try telling that to the people I stay with in Sydney! At 35, we're all (including the dog, when they had one) having afternoon naps lying on the bit of the lounge floor that's got ceramic tiles because it's the only way of keeping cool in the house.

[aussie52]

Yes there are cruises to Great Barrier reef,We are doing a 7 night cruise on a small ship ( Captain Cook Cruise) from Cairns to Tip of Cape York in October which explores the Great Barrier Reef.

[obriendan]

Degrees C = 5/9(degrees F - 32)

[edste]

We traveled the first 2 weeks in February. New Zealand was a little cool and Australia was a little warm. All in all it was perfect. we took along a vest and a raincoat but we never needed the raincoat. We took the land package after the trip to Cairns - Dunk Island and Silky Oaks. enjoy the trip.

[gabberqueen]

For us locals I'd suggest the following

 

0 = Cold beyond description

10 = Still bloody freezing but able to venture outside

20 = Coolish

30 = Just about right

40 = Nothing a vat of Gin and Tonic cant fix

 

:D :D :D

hahahahaha i totally agree!! :D