Classic Australia in 15 days: Sydney, Uluru, the reef and the Great Ocean Road
Four regions in fifteen days is the most we will build without it starting to feel like commuting, and it only works because the flights are chosen before the days are. There are four internal legs here. Every one of them is placed so that a delay costs you an afternoon rather than a booked reef day
- Duration
- 15 days
- Pace
- Moderate
- Hotel changes
- 5
- Best months
- Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct, Nov
- From
- $5,100 per person
Who it suits: first-time visitors who want the country’s four signature landscapes and are willing to fly to get them.
Day by day
Day 1: Arrive Sydney. Transfer to a hotel in Circular Quay or Potts Point depending on whether you want the harbour outside the window or a neighbourhood around you. Nothing scheduled. Most long-haul flights land in the morning, so the useful advice is a walk and an early night rather than a sight.
Day 2: Sydney, the harbour. The Royal Botanic Garden to Mrs Macquarie’s Chair on foot, then a guided hour inside the Opera House, which is a better building than it is a photograph. Afternoon on the Manly ferry, which is the cheapest harbour cruise in the world and the best one.
Day 3: Sydney, the coast. The Bondi to Coogee coastal walk, about 4 miles (6 km) of clifftop path with ocean pools to swim in along the way. Early, before the sun gets serious. Afternoon in Paddington and Surry Hills, or the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Day 4: The Blue Mountains. Out of the city by road, the Grand Canyon Track at Blackheath, about 3.7 miles (6 km) through a rainforest gorge and considerably better than the crowded Three Sisters lookout. Overnight in Blackheath or Katoomba so you get the escarpment at dusk and again at dawn.
Day 5: To the red centre. Morning walk to Pulpit Rock, then back to Sydney and the afternoon flight to Ayers Rock Airport, about three hours. You arrive into Yulara, the village that serves Uluru, in time for sunset over the rock.
Day 6: Uluru. Sunrise at Talinguru Nyakunytjaku, then the base walk, about 6.6 miles (10.6 km) on flat ground, which is the only way to understand that Uluru is a place rather than an object. It has not been climbable since October 2019, at the request of the Anangu traditional owners, and nobody who does the base walk misses it. Afternoon rest, then a guided evening with an Anangu guide at the rock art at Kuniya Piti.
Day 7: Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon. Valley of the Winds at Kata Tjuta at first light, about 4.6 miles (7.4 km) and the better of the two walks there. Drive to Kings Canyon in the afternoon, roughly 190 miles (306 km), and stay at the canyon so you can start the rim walk at dawn.
Day 8: Kings Canyon, then the tropics. The Rim Walk, about 3.7 miles (6 km), starting with a steep climb that is over in twenty minutes. Back to Ayers Rock for the flight north. A direct Uluru to Cairns service operates in some seasons and not others, so on many dates this leg goes through Sydney or Brisbane and takes most of the day. We check your dates and build the day accordingly. Transfer to Port Douglas, about an hour north of Cairns.
Day 9: The outer reef. A full day to the Agincourt ribbon reefs on a small boat rather than a pontoon, with two or three sites and a marine biologist aboard. This is the day we spend the most time choosing the operator for, because the range in quality out of this coast is wide.
Day 10: The Daintree. Mossman Gorge with an Indigenous guide, then the ferry across the Daintree River, a boardwalk through the oldest continuously surviving tropical rainforest on the planet, and Cape Tribulation. Crocodile spotting on the river at the end of the day, which is the one wildlife activity here that reliably delivers.
Day 11: Port Douglas, free day. Four Mile Beach, the Sunday market if the day lines up, a second reef trip, or nothing. We leave it open on purpose. In stinger season, roughly November to May, swimming is inside the netted enclosure or in a pool, and we say that up front.
Day 12: To Melbourne. Morning at leisure, transfer to Cairns and fly south, about three and a half hours. Evening in Melbourne, which after a week in the tropics feels like a different country.
Day 13: The Great Ocean Road. West through Torquay and Lorne, into the Otway rainforest, and on to Port Campbell. About 150 miles (240 km) that takes six hours done properly, which is why we do not attempt it as a day trip. The Twelve Apostles at the end of the day, when the coaches have gone and the light is on the stacks. There were never twelve, and there are fewer standing now than there were twenty years ago.
Day 14: Back through the Otways. Loch Ard Gorge and the Gibson Steps in the morning, then the inland road back to Melbourne, which is quicker, or the coast again, which is not. Last night in the city.
Day 15: Melbourne and departure. Queen Victoria Market, a coffee that will spoil coffee for you at home, and the transfer to the airport.
What is included
Accommodation with breakfast, all four internal flights, all airport and regional transfers, the hire car for the Great Ocean Road section, the outer reef day with equipment, national park fees including the Uluru and Kata Tjuta park pass and the reef environmental management charge, the Anangu-guided evening, the Daintree day with an Indigenous guide, the Opera House tour, a full day-by-day document with flight numbers and driving times, and a WhatsApp group with your specialist and our partners on the ground.
What we would change, and when
- Travelling in December or January? We would move the red centre to the start of the trip and shorten it, because the walks close from mid-morning once the forecast reaches around 97°F (36°C), and we would tell you honestly that the desert is the wrong place to be in that month.
- Prone to seasickness? We swap the outer reef day for a southern coral cay such as Lady Elliot or Heron, where you snorkel straight off the beach and the boat ride is replaced by a short flight.
- Want less flying? Drop Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road, add three nights, and you have our fourteen day route with room to breathe.
Related
Shape this trip around us All Australia, planned around the flights, because that is what decides the trip trips
