How much time for a trip to Sydney, Brisbane, Perth + an outback trip? (fit in)

[kcmo]

I am planning a major trip to Australia in the summer of 2020. Because of the complexity and cost of the trip, I'm already doing a lot of research and planning.

How much time do you think it would take see Sydney, Brisbane / Gold Coast and Perth along with seeing some of the Outback? I chose these cities because I think they would interest us the most. I know Perth is a bit far, but I really want to go there, so I think we might skip Melbourne to make time for Perth.

I'm also considering making some time for New Zealand as well.

I live in the Washington DC area so we would probably fly to the west coast and catch a direct flight. I'm not sure if we could economically fly to Sidney or Brisbane and then fly back from Perth, but it would make things easier if we could. Although if you have to fly back over Australia to fly back to the USA anyway, I guess it doesn't matter.

Anyway. Any help would be great! FYI, this will be myself, wife and two sons (which will both be recent college grads).

[MarisaMay]

Ok, first things first! I assume you are talking about your summer of 2020, not ours? Which months are most likely for you to come? As it is winter here that really does impact on how long you might like to spend in different places.

Secondly, can I ask what specifically interests you in going to Perth? I ask because it is a five hour flight from Sydney. You have not mentioned going to Cairns, which tends to be a major draw card with people who want to see the Reef.

You cannot fly nonstop from LA to Perth. However you can fly from there to Auckland on Air NZ, and then direct to Perth.

Again, without knowing your general interests it is hard to advise, but many people would probably skip Brisbane and the Gold Coast to have more time further north.

Using the cities you mention, one possible route would be LA to Brisbane, then Sydney, Alice Springs or Ayers Rock, Perth, Auckland and back to LA. I would think an absolute minimum in each location would be three nights, so if you allow three weeks you would fit in a fair bit. Obviously you could stay a lot longer but you may have the usual American problem with fairly restricted vacation time.

[ABQSunseeker]

So much depends on what appeals to you. I have done the trip many times myself and would advise against going to Auckland on this trip only because it involves more flying and logistics. Unless you're hellbent on seeing something of New Zealand on the same trip. New Zealand is worth a trip on its own for its many attractions.

Unless you want to experience a busy beach town, I would skip Brisbane/Gold Coast and substitute Cairns for its tropical ambience and closeness to the Great Barrier Reef. There are also beaches there but you can't swim easily there in summer time. Poisonous jellyfish, etc.

You can fly to Perth with a stopover in Ayers Rock/Uluru. Nothing feels like outback as here. It is one of those sights thats meets expectations.

And as much as I love Perth, as a city it doesn't measure up to the attractions of Melbourne. It's beaches are glorious though.

Have fun planning but don't overdo all the flying. I would do a minimum of 4 nights in each place except for 2 in Uluru.

[krosser100]

I have been a few times to Australia, flying direct from LA to Sydney & LA to Melbourne
I was very lucky on my last trip there that I had 3 empty seats next to me. That got my trip to a good start on an otherwise gruelingly long flight

On my last trip I visited Brisbane and was not impressed.
I'm not a nature type person myself, so I didn't visit those types of sites of interest, but I did spend quality time exploring the cities and their different areas.

I think you should skip Perth and go to Melbourne instead, Perth from Sydney is a 5 hour flight, Australia is similar in size to the continental US, small in population relatively but not in size.

I considered adding NZ to my previous Aus trips but decided against, because I didn't want to deal with carrying an additional currency etc and all the logistics.

[the troubadour]

I tend to agree with above poster. Skip Perth and replace it with tropical Far North Queensland and/or Melbourne.
The West Coast is best experienced outside of Perth, which has limited attractions in the tourist area, especially with limited time on hand.