Australian Outback land tour

Planning a 13 day cruise in 2018 starting in Auckland and ending in Sydney. Also thinking about adding a 6 day land tour at the end of cruise. Flying to Cairns and then flying to Ayers Rock and back to Sydney for 2 days (included in 6 day tour). Some say we would spend too much time flying and not worth it. Attempting to find someone who has done this for their feedback. Thanks.

Suggest you ask this/research it on the Ports of Call board for Australia, and also on the OZ/NZ forum here at CC. Lots of local folks there who can advise you. EM

"Worth it" is a judgment only you can make. Yes, you will be spending a lot of time flying. Remember, Australia is the size of the continental US, and you are proposing to fly from Charlotte NC to southern Maine, then to Denver, then back to Charlotte, all in 6 days, plus do your touring.

I would suggest you do your own tour, and split between Sydney and Cairns.

We have land toured extensively in Australia, 4 trips, close to 60 total days.

We spent two weeks in Australia flying from Sydney to Cairns to Uluru and back to Sydney. You need at least two nights in Uluru but three are better; three nights in Cairns will allow you to go to the Great Barrier Reef and one other place; and the story is similar for Sydney. Six days is just not enough. This is easy to plan on your own or with the help of a travel agency if you must.

You can also cross post here:

Australia & New Zealand Cruisers

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=712

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I agree about asking on the Aus/NZ cruisers sub forum.

But I think you are stretching yourself way too thin.

Just flights Syd-Cairns-Ayres Rock-Syd by the time you add travel to and from hotel, check in times waiting times etc you are going to have lost nearly two days.

Too many stops for your time frame. I would pick one or the other. If you choose Carins, the best snorkeling is out of Port Douglas. Can be reached by a shuttle. Stay up there. Ayres Rock can be very hot if you go past mid October. You do not want to be there during their late spring or summer!

We did something similar last year, traveling with another couple. When we disembarked the ship (after a month-long circumnavigation of Australia), we spent one night in the airport hotel. The next morning we flew to Alice Springs (the hotel kept our excess luggage for us), picked up our rental car, drove to our hotel, then spent the rest of the day & evening exploring the area. The next day we checked out of the hotel and drove through the outback all day to Ayers Rock. We spent two full days in the area, took several tours, and flew back to Sydney from Ayers Rock. We spent that night in the airport hotel.

TOTALLY WORTH WHILE! We loved it ... would do it again if we ever get back to Australia!

Haven’t done what you suggested; but I did do a land tour of Australia where we flew from location to location. For us, the outback was our favorite part of the trip. For others it’s a bore. Hard to say if it will be worth it to you, but it was for us.

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