fvandewouwer

For the Blue Mountains in particular, it would help to know what time of the year and what days of the week you are thinking of. we will be there from March 5 till March 8

Weekends are generally A) spectacularly expensive and B) the good places are booked out weeks and sometimes months in advance.

How many people in your party? 2

You are asking for apartments/ condos in the CBD (Sydney, I assume? yes)

Order of travel?

Arrive in SYD. yes but at the port not the airport Next day to the mountains? Then city stay after that? see explanation it is a little more complex :p

 

Sydney CBD (especially when arriving late at night) is only 15 or so minutes from the airport by taxi.

If you are taking the train to the mountains ( at least 1 per hour, for only a few $ for the 2-hour trip to Leura (nicer than Katoomba) or Katoomba (aka K-town) , which is much larger than Leura, then stay at one if the many hotels around Sydney Central Station. ' it will be Museum Station '

There is a pretty good HoHo bus in the Blue Mountains. Runs reasonably frequently and will drop you to the major sights.

 

Secret tip: GOVETTS LEAP lookout in Blackheath! Spectacular. WOW A few excellent ( but not for people with vertigo or the faint hearted ) from there. DO.TAKE.WATER.!!!

explanation our trip

Belgium to Singapore ( 4 days also need advise but believe that is for another board ? )

arrive from Singapore international airport very late ' airport hotel ?? '

cruise from Sydney to your beautiful islands Lifou / Fiji / Vanuatu …...

arrive back in Sydney from the cruise on March 1

booked an apartment for 3 nights near Museum Station and hope to visit all major site seeing by foot ( or ho ho bus ) have a day at your zoo a day to walk from Bondito Coogee and to bike Manly …..other ideas ?

then

train to BM for 3 nights Leura ??

I did find a b&b in Leura walkable from the trainstation which is probably a good idea ? ' called Broomelea '

want to go to Gordon Falls after we arrive ?spend one day at Echo Point / 3 Sisters / Scenic Skyway so in Katoomba

spend one day to do the charles darwin walk and the Jamison Valley

( there is a train that brings you back up ??? ) so Wentworth

help we are missing one day to go to GOVETTS LEAP lookout in Blackheath!

train back to Sydney

to board a ship that brings us to NZ ( from all the Sounds to Auckland )

arrive back early morning and have a day to walk around ….. need one night before our domestic flight to Alice Springs.

( we will drive to Uluru spending time in between in 6 days )

flight back to Sydney arriving late afternoon need one night before we have our last cruise to Singapore ' visiting Brisbane - Airlie Beach - Cairns - Darwin

flight back home from Singapore to Belgium

I have tried to put 3 cruises and some spare time in between together this is our first trip to Australia

we wanted to visit Sydney with all it's tourist stuff but

we love nature, adore wildlife and beautiful scenery

so

we decided to divide our spare time into something close by such as the BM and we did pick the red central part for the unusual scenery we do not have in our country

also driving left starting from Sydney airport / cruise port seemed not appealing

we do miss a lot of Australia and the same for NZ but this was a great opportunity to see a bit of both

thanks again for your help and advise

have a great weekend

from hot hot Belgium

blue mountain 3 nights lodge rental home hotel or b&b

quiet / clean and in the middle of all walking tracks and amazing nature

any ideas ?( we do not have a car and we do need a good breakfast )

would love to explore Leura / Katoomba and the Wenthworth falls.

we also need one night near international airport (we arrive late and will be very tired so we just need a good night rest ) which airport hotel would you suggest ? ' quiet and clean'

and

any CBD rentals ( apartments or condos ) for only one night ?

quiet would be nice but that seems hard to find ?

budget whatever is necessary but it needs to be reasonable

thanks for your time

F

thank you all for your responses

Good day,

will be visiting these ports in Oktober Snowbird migration cruise Adventure of the Seas

love to be independent therefore like to hire cars wherever it is possible

love nature, hiking and walking in a lovely city, strolling in fishing villages is always nice to do.

bus tours are not our cup of tea so if we can avoid them ….

but a local buss that goes to … not a problem.

I do thank everyone for there suggestions as I am starting to plan a little late due to personal circumstances and I am starting to get really nervous we get stuck in between ports

all private tours ( roll call ) are fully booked and those offered by the ship are getting more expensive as we wait

( plus they have a lot bus tours )

so my main question is : can we rent a car with shuttle service at the cruise port ( price does not matter )

for these locations :

Charlottetown(Prince Edward Island) / Canada ( fishing villages and beaches ? )

Sydney(Cape Breton Island) / Canada ( cabot trail )

Halifax / Canada ( Peggy's cove )

SaintJohn (New Brunswick) / Canada ( Bay of Fundy to check out the tides )

BarHarbor (ME)* / USA ( Acadia National Park Cadillac Mountain)

Portland(ME) / USA

Boston(MA) / USA

arriving Port Canaveral ( love to visit Kennedy Space centre and have time enough to drive around )

if renting our own car for a day is a problem , all suggestions are welcome

( no need of fancy restaurants shopping or busy bus tours )

thank you for your time to write me back

best regards from Belgium

Frieda

seems you have a better plan as I have, sorry about all those questions, also would love to make the best itinerary possible. do you mind sharing your complete itinerary ?

thanks again

best regards from Belgium

Frieda

We're planning 7 days/6 nights. 3 nights at the Ayers Rock Resort will give us 2 full days to do all the walks, sunsets and sunrises at Uluru and Kata Juta and enjoy the Field of Light. One night at Kings Canyon, then 2 nights in Alice Springs with a full day to explore the West MacDonnells. This could be done in reverse of course.

 

We decided on the itinerary for two reasons. We may never get the chance to return to Central Australia so we want to see as much as we can, and we've never driven a 4WD. The thought of the Mereenie Loop Road and the loose sand on the Gosse Bluff road helped make our decision.

thanks for your help, we feel the same way about never having the chance returning to this lovely spot, and we also have never driven a 4wd.... what worries me the most is driving from Uluru to Kings Canyon takes about 3 hours, arriving there early afternoon so too hot doing the rim walk. the day after we can do the rim walk but then we need to drive all the way to AS which seems to be a very long ride even wen you take the Hwy… that was our major problem I seem not to get it fixed. I wonder again how you solved this issue … thanks again for your time to help out.

Edited because I realised you wanted to start in Alice. We've chosen to start in Uluru and spend as much time as we need before heading back to Alice and the West MacDonnell Ranges. Good luck with your choices.

would you please share your thoughts, at this point all is open for us as we did not book our flights yet

thanks

My husband and I were on a recent cruise that was supposed to arrive in Sydney at 5:00 a.m. We ended up arriving at 8:00 a.m. due to strong ocean currents and we barely had time to make our international flight at Sydney airport that was due to leave at 12:15 p.m. We got to the gate as passengers were boarding and it was a very close call. Just our recent experience.

 

Barb

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I received a message from Susan to skip the Mereenie Loop Road would love to know why but I cannot find this post to reply on.

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thank you all for your help.

to Wishfulone : I want tosend my special thanks to you for your time to comment our plan.

a little more informationis

we fly from Belgium toSingapore stay a couple of days ( have been there 25 years ago, need to see howit has changed over the years ) and fly to Sydney. ( one overnight )

then we go on a cruise toyour Islands ( Lifou, Fiji, Vanuatu …) after that

we have a week ( to checkout Sidney and the blue Mountains ) before we go on a cruise to NZ. After that

we have another week beforewe cruise back to Singapore ( and check out the GBR and a bit of Northern AUS ).

That week in between wewanted at first to go to Tasmania but then we saw a documentary about your redarea and immediately we switched over to see that particularly part as it wouldbe for us something we have never experienced.

So we started our plan buttime frame cruise entering and leaving did not match the flights to Uluru neitherAS.

There are only 2 direct morningflights ( both around 10 am )

Why we want to start fromAS is not only because of the groceries.

I checked out on a map timedriving time from Uluru to Kings Canyon and driving time from Glen HelenHomestead Lodge to KC. If we want only one night at KC resort and do the rim walk early morning we only havethe option starting from Uluru as doing the Mereenie Road would take us a wholeday of driving ??? or is that a mistake ?

I understand this lovely RedArea of Australia is very familiar to you and we only can visit it once in ourlifetime so we want it to be perfect.

That is why we wanted totake the risk after our NZ cruise trying to fly that same day to Uluru or ASand have an extra day at the scene ….. but we also hate to rush things and yeswe love to have a relaxing day in between.

Flying to Uluru instead ofto AS would be a little bit cheaper but I found it hard to make a gooditinerary seeing as much as we can of the West MacDonnells.

If there are many more choiceswe dit not see I thank you already to help me out.

Wishing you a very lovelyday

From Belgium

Frieda

again thank you all for all your advice

My husband made following itinerary ( starting from AS )

please take a look at it ( we could do it also reverse starting from Uluru as flights from Sydney are the same )

fly to AS March 22 Friday ( morning flight ) arrive around noon pick up our 4wd and do some groceries drive to Squeakywindmill Boutique Tent B&B ( one night )

March 23 Saturday after breakfast drive to Glen Helen

visit on our way Standley Chasm and Ellery Creek Big Hole spend the night at

Glen Helen Homestead Lodge

March 24 Sunday drive to Kings Canyon using the Mereenie Road stay at Kings Canyon Resort

( could we visit the Ormiston Gorge and Gosse Bluff before we take off to KC ? )

March 25 Monday do the Rim Walk ( 3 hours ) and drive to the Desert Gardens Hotel

March 26 Tuesday Need to see the Sunrise up Uluru and do the Base Walk

( or do the camel Tour with breakfast )

evening field of Light with diner ??

March 27 Wednesday Kata T Sunset , Wapa Gorge / Valley of the Winds

( we can drive back to AS ???? )

March 28 Thursday after breakfast turn in the car and fly back to Sydney from Uluru

need again another hotel near the cruise terminal or ??? ( because we cruise to Singapore on Friday March 29 )

we can do this trip vica versa starting from Uluru/ ending in AS

please take a look at this plan and thank you for your help / comments

Thanks Marion for theadvice and hotel De Vere would never have thought about staying in that areaand it seems lovely.

We have decided to take theflight the day after our cruise as it would be too much hassle and stressleaving on an early flight after a relaxing cruise.

We have an itinerary tohire a car and drive in 6 days from AS to Uluru or visa versa.

Not sure yet, which routeto take. Hope to find more information on cc.

Have a great day :)

Flying direct to Uluru is the better option. It is a long drive from Alice Springs to Uluru and many car hire companies do not cover you driving between dusk and dawn.

 

I would take a direct flight to Uluru a day later. I would stay in Sydney, rather than near the airport. I have just stayed in a reasonable priced hotel, De Vere, at Potts Point overnight prior to an overseas flight the following day. You can get a shuttle to the airport from the hotel for $14 per person, or get an Uber like my daughter did. Potts Point has lots of restaurants with good food, from inexpensive to expensive. You feel like you are in Sydney when you stay at Potts Point, rather than near the airport.

It is possible to catch a domestic flight around 10. But it's not optimal, especially if there are no later options that day, so you risk losing other bookings and don't have a fallback if you miss the flight. ( you say it's the only direct flight, but then imply you don't want to take any of the non-direct options.)

 

You _usually_ can get off by around 7:15 a.m, as a walk off. Usually, Customs will be quite quick at that time as they won't have so many people going through with luggage. i.e. I'd expect you can go out around 7:45. Allow 45 min to walk to the quay, buy a ticket, wait for a train, and the journey to the airport and that's about 8:30.

 

The timing above should be achievable if everything goes smoothly i.e. it doesn't require you to know every step of the way, or run between places to meet it, or be unlikely to be achievable.

 

Allowing 45 min to boarding, your target is 9:05 a.m. so you can see that does meet the time, and gives you a very little contingency. But not a lot so if there is some greater issue - none of which are likely, but still possible - then you've missed the flight.

 

Basically, your call. I probably wouldn't take the risk in this scenario, but everyone has their own preferences and tolerances.

The other flight directly is to Uluru at 10.20 also a close call and yes we know a lot can happen which makes it all very stressful.

Better to fly the morning after we arrive any suggestions where we should stay overnight? Around the airport seems not appealing.

Thanks again

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No one would recommend driving at night in the "dead center"

 

Why not stay in Alice Springs the night you fly in and head out to the rock the next day?

 

After all, you did seem keen to go and we are just advising that the flight you want to be on is a very risky option given the time the ship arrives and that particular flight departs.

 

Just trying to be of help here!

And your help is so much appreciated we do stay 2 nights near AS and intend to drive to Uluru all in 7 days stopping at many places. We just wanted to know if anyone could tell us if the ship is arriving at 6.30 when the first people could go off( aprox ) And I do understand there is a risk involved.

Thanks

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+ 1

 

I believe you can also check your luggage directly from the Sydney OPT if you fly Virgin Australia!

 

 

Cheers

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Good day,

I am planning our very first visit to Australia and we have some spare time between

2 cruises ( next year both cruises leaving Sydney )we have one week to spend

and we would love to drive from AS to Uluru and visit the red centre of Australia.

Our cruise arrives according files at 6.30 am Overseas PassengerT

(Ovation of the Seas coming from NZ March 2019 )

Checking flights to AS the only one that flies directly is at 9.50 am ( domestic airport )

can we make it(without any stress ) to the airport in time to catch this flight ?

anyone has experience about time ship needs for clearance ?

we know we can take a train from CQ which is the easiest way to get to the airport but I need to figure out how many time I need getting off the ship with my carryon Luggage ( customs …. )

I would like to avoid spending a day at the airport or in Sydney city and we can use this extra day on our trip through the red centre

( we visit Sydney for a week earlier on our trip )

thanks for the help

best regards from Belgium

Hi you all,

thank you for your advise

resume of what we decided to do

fly to Sydney with a stop of 3 days in Singapore ( direct flight)

( book a one way flight with scoot to Sydney )

have a night near the port

cruise the Islands with the Explorer ( we wanted to change it into a carnival cruise but the price is so good as we booked it so long ago that we are going to keep it )

arrive March 1 so we have 7 days to explore Sydney and surroundings

( blue mountains, Canberra ... °) hotel for a week or hire an apartment, no clue at this moment

leave on March 8 cruise Ovation to NZ

arrive March 21 so we have 8 days

we probably fly to Tasmanië and explore the island

arrive March 29 and sail the Explorer ( again ) to Singapore

have a flight back home directly

we have booked already those 2 first cruises so we are adding the one to Singapore and we have a lot of exploring to do

I also need to ask permission to leave my work for 2 months ( 60 days exactly )

thumbs up

I thank you again for one last advise

at this point we have

arriving Sydney and board Carnival Spirit on february 27 to visit

Noumea

Lifou

Isle of Pines

arrive back March 7

one night hotel near the cruise terminal ( visit Sydney for a day )

board the Ovation of the Seas on March 8 for NZ

arrive Sydney March 21

.....

leave Sydney to Singapore with the Explorer of the Seas on March 29

fly home

we have to decide whether we stay in Australia / Sydney for 8 days and explore the neighbourhood

or we take the cruise on March 22 ( carnival Legend ) to Tasmanië

and visit Port of Arthur and Hobart ( arrive back March 27 so we have 2 days in Sydney before we leave to Singapore )

advise on the Tasmanië cruise ( I find so little information ) and suppose we stay

in/around Sydney for 8 days what would you suggest us to do

trying to fix this long holiday well before we book it all

thanks again

Frieda

Hi you all, I normally book our cruises with a travelagent in the US not in Europe ( better deal in the US)

but I do check prices on the usual website from Carnival or RCI

I do not see the Pacific cruises from Carnival and when I go to the Australian website I cannot apply my customer number ( to calculate price in AUD ) does this make it impossible for me to book this cruise with my "usual" travel agent ?

Thanks

Ok so we have 3 cruises now

Room for one more

What about Tasmanië?

We could add in between

March 7 Carnival Spirit

Visiting Port Arthur and Hobart

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Pls cancel previous post

Thank u

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sorry wrong itinerary

Isle of Pines - Excellent

Lifou - Excellent

Noumea - Excellent at Amedee Island, otherwise ordinary

I found one that goes only to Isle of Pines ( Carnival Spirit feb 27 )

( also Noumea and Lifou ) any good for snorkeling ?

A very hard decision! I love the pacific islands but would ideally have picked a cruise that visited Isle of Pines, Mare and and maybe Santo for good snorkeling rather than going to Fiji. If those stops were an option then pacific would win hands down. There are some other cruises leaving that month. Would you consider Carnival Legend 25 March Sydney, Noumea, Mare, Isle Of Pines, Sydney? We've done this exact cruise and it was so good for snorkeling. Gives you 4 days in Sydney between cruises to look around.

thank you ( I really cannot find them in my system )

anything from March 21 to March 29 ? that would be awesome

The OP's NZ cruise ends on 21st March, 2019. There are a few Pacific island cruises that would fit in after that:

25th March, Carnival Legend 8 nights

27th March, Carnival Spirit 11 nights

4th April, Radiance of the Seas, 10 nights ) These two probably leave too much spare time after the NZ cruise ends.

5th April, 2019 , Pacific Explorer, 8 nights )

yes I am leaning to this cruise but I would love to see at least a few of those Islands

we love nature and adore snorkeling so if we could match a cruise in between

that would be the max :)

Sounds like you are leaning towards the 2nd option, this itinerary will allow you two chances to get to the GBR, so and have the better flights. Perhaps you should go with that one.