Suggestions on what to do: Hawaii, Sydney, Cairns, Hong Kong

bazaarboy

bazaarboy

bazaarboy

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Hi folks
The missus and I are doing a round-the-world trip in July, and any ideas for fun stuff to do will be appreciated!

We already have some plans, and lots of guide books etc - but I thought first hand experiences would be nice :)

1st stop: Vancouver (29 Jun - 5 Jul)
(been there before, plus meeting lots of friends, so got this one covered)

2nd stop: Honolulu (5 Jul - 13 Jul)

3rd stop: Syndey (13 Jul - 17 Jul)

4th stop: Cairns (17 Jul - 22 Jul)

5th stop: Hong Kong - just 25 hours!


Thanks for any suggestions! :cool:
 
Too much time in Cairns there, I would suggest doing some other places up the East Coast in Australia (Fraser Island for one) and spending 2 or 3 days max in Cairns.
Even spending a fair bit of time at the barrier reef you'll run out of things to do. Cairns is really just a small town.

And in Honolulu make sure you do Waimea Falls Park and Hanauma Bay
 
thanks - we decided on 5 days in Cairns just for extra R&R, plus would like to go for rainforest tours and skyrail experience, in addition to great barrier reef

i take your point though, may rent a car for a day and just head up the coast for exploring!
 
There's plenty to do in Sydney , some of the things I did when I was there included sea fishing off a small boat, visited the aquarium, maritime museum (including a walk round the subs & destroyers + endeavour replica) and the Wildlife world at Darling Harbour, went up the Sydney tower (not a euphemism :p) hired a helicopter and took a tour of the city then flew over to the Blue Mountains where we decsended into the valleys and went pretty low which was amazing fun, we even saw some wild horses.
We also went scuba diving off a nice little beach , ate in plenty of nice restaurants, went to a few bars, travelled about on ferries, etc etc

Cairns: went on a 4x4 trip upto Cooktown, most of the road goes through a tropical forest and over rivers & streams, we stopped off a couple of times , once at a cafe serving tea they had grown themselves, bought some locally grown bananas from a woman on the roadside, we also stopped at a little tin roofed pub in the middle of nowhere for some dinner and a few pints, at Cooktown we visited the museum and sites where Captain Cook had taken the crippled HMS Endeavour. After that we flew back in the sunset via light aircraft.
We also went diving off the Great Barrier Reef (quite close to where Steve Irwin died only a couple of weeks before)

HongKong: we visited the zoo & aquarium, took a guided tour of the city, took a boat tour round the harbour, went to the market & also drank a few pints in Stanley (ex pat area) , basked in the rooftop pool of our hotel, ate at Ruth Chris Steakhouse, visited Nathan rd
 
This looks like a massive thing to do in such a short space of time. I only went to Australia, had more time, and still didnt think I had enough time.

I think you are just going to end up blowing a massive amount of cash on going 'around the world' and not really seeing much :(

Going with what you've got though I'd shorten Sydney and Cairns and have a third stop - something like Fraser Island, Brisbane, perhaps Gold Coast?
 
[TW]Fox;16607715 said:
This looks like a massive thing to do in such a short space of time. I only went to Australia, had more time, and still didnt think I had enough time.

I think you are just going to end up blowing a massive amount of cash on going 'around the world' and not really seeing much :(

Going with what you've got though I'd shorten Sydney and Cairns and have a third stop - something like Fraser Island, Brisbane, perhaps Gold Coast?
Click to expand...

i wish we had more time, but 26 days of travelling is still a lot!

interestingly, going around the globe in a westerly direction buys you 1 full day
mmm... time travel
 
bazaarboy said:
i wish we had more time, but 26 days of travelling is still a lot!
Click to expand...

Not for travelling around the entire planet its not!

Put it this way, I'm hoping to do JUST Western and Central Australia next year and I'm already worried the month I'll be able to get off work wont be enough time to do it properly!
 
^^ This

Spent a month in Oz myself - 2001. Week in Sydney (believe me, there's plenty to do), flight to Adelaide, then 15-day end-to-end tour of the Stuart Highway (Port Augusta to Darwin via Alice Springs/Uluru), and then on to Cairns (4-5 days). Was ready to come home at the end but knowing I wasn't even close to seeing everything I wanted to (particularly in Sydney).

Looks like you've got Cairns pretty well covered - Skyrail, Rainforest, Barrier Reef, and some R&R in Cairns itself. Recommend the helicopter tour from the barrier reef if it's still running.

Sydney - Opera House and the Harbour Bridge area, obviously. Bondi/Manly beaches, Harbour Cruise (or just jump on the ferries - I ended up on them regularly), Blue Mountains, Hunter Valley. And then try to fit some R&R somewhere.

Most important piece of advice - never over-pack a holiday (I usually work on the basis of 15-20% holiday time as R&R days to just explore on your own terms).
 
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I did it the 'old' way so can't comment on the other option. Honestly I don't recall much of it at all (packed holiday and a long time ago). Only took flights for Uluru and the Reef myself - though would have liked to do one in Sydney.
 
bazaarboy said:
doing some research on blue mountains now - would it be better to tour them by air, or the old fashioned way?
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If you do it the old fashioned way you will go on an aircon coach and no doubt see lots of great views, you will eventually end up at the three sisters peaks viewing point where inevitably a helicopter will appear and hover so the passengers can take a few snaps, you will then wish you were one of the passengers :p
 
bazaarboy said:
doing some research on blue mountains now - would it be better to tour them by air, or the old fashioned way?
Click to expand...

You have picked the worst possible month to do the Blue Mountains unfortunately. I was there last July. We planned for two days there.

Got there on the first day (I did everything by rental car, its the best way, coach tours are absolute crap) and it was wet and very, very foggy. There was absolutely nil visibility at all. Went to the Three Sisters and literally could not see a thing. It was also freezing - the hotel had electric blankets. Complete let down.

Went to bed, got up the next day, exactly the same thing. Did the cable car and the train thing but didnt see much. Very dissapointing.

I went to the Blue Mountains and the best thing I saw there was Transformers 2 at the cinema at Katoomba :(

You must check the weather forecast before you set off to the Blue Mountains and if it isnt great weather, do not go, it will be a waste of time :(
 
[TW]Fox;16608375 said:
You have picked the worst possible month to do the Blue Mountains unfortunately. I was there last July. We planned for two days there.

Got there on the first day (I did everything by rental car, its the best way, coach tours are absolute crap) and it was wet and very, very foggy. There was absolutely nil visibility at all. Went to the Three Sisters and literally could not see a thing. It was also freezing - the hotel had electric blankets. Complete let down.

Went to bed, got up the next day, exactly the same thing. Did the cable car and the train thing but didnt see much. Very dissapointing.

I went to the Blue Mountains and the best thing I saw there was Transformers 2 at the cinema at Katoomba :(

You must check the weather forecast before you set off to the Blue Mountains and if it isnt great weather, do not go, it will be a waste of time :(
Click to expand...

thanks for that - keep forgetting that it's their winter time, although Sydney should be around 16-19C according to the internet...

of course Cairns remains between 27-32C all year round
 
Should be quite dry at Cairns during July , unless you're unlucky like I was and managed to be there the only time it had rained for over a month :(
 
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