klandres

I'm working on a trip to Australia in November. We are flying into Sydney. We are mostly outdoorsy folks and will spend 2 days in Sydney. Trying to figure out the best national parks to visit. We snorkel in the South Pacific a lot (Indonesia mostly) and it seems like there will be lots of jelly fish in the Great Barrier Reef area. We are interested in the aboriginal culture, wildlife, hiking. Interested in where to spend the 3 weeks we have booked. We were thinking of renting a van and seeing some of the parks that way, but haven't seen a lot online about that. Is November a good time to camp? I'm really at the very beginning of planning. So any and all suggestions are welcome.
Thanks.

Bokhara2

Hi & Welcome to the Australia Forum!

Australia's a big placeAustralia – size map: https://www.virtualoceania.net/austr...ustralia.shtml
with a wide range of National & other parks: https://parksaustralia.gov.au/

And climate zones: Australia's official weather forecasts & weather radar - Bureau of Meteorology. November is an ideal time to travel in the southern regions, expect it to be hot, humid, possibly wet in the tropical north and parts of Western Australia. Have a look at the map of Australia and you will see the Great Barrier Reef extends quite a way south from FNQ (Far North Queensland), so you might want to look at some of the southern sites for diving - like Lady Elliott Island, perhaps.

You'll need Visas: Apply now if you don't already have yours approved. VISA FINDER: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visa...sa/visa-finder

You might find Trip Advisor's Australia Forum is more active than this one and you'll get many more responses from locals and visitors alike.

This is a start for you & ask anything else you think we may be able to help with - here or over on T.A.

margo_oz

Well, November is into the marine stinger season, so you can't swim at beaches in the far north, unless you wear a stinger suit. Stingers are less of an issue out on the Reef, which is a way offshore, but the boats will supply you with stinger suits anyway.
Lady Elliot Island, at the southern end of the reef, is outside the stinger zone, so may be worth considering.

KayF

Wildlife and hiking usually means heading inland but snorkelling means the coast. You could split your time in two. November in the north of Australia (from roughly Brisbane north) will be hot and humid usually with heavy rain, sometimes cyclones, floods etc. November in the southern states will probably be warm but better for hiking. The Grampians in Victoria is great for hiking and wildlife.

Renting campervans for travelling is really popular, particularly with backpackers. Check out Apollo, Maui, Wicked and Jucy. We did the campervan thing once, and once was enough. Too cramped for us and more expensive than we realised. Hire costs are not cheap and you also have to pay for petrol plus a night in a caravan park, unless you can find free camping which is sometimes allowed, sometimes not. It usually makes more sense to fly in to one city and out of another, to save backtracking. There are some great walks in the Sydney area - https://www.sydneycoastwalks.com.au/...o-coogee-walk/

KayF

One of the issues you will find is Australia is huge and places of interest can be very far apart. You might decide to fly a domestic sector. If you reach Townsville (FNQ - far north Queensland) you can easily get a ferry to Magnetic Island. We loved the hikes, caught the local bus wherever we needed to go and saw koalas and rock wallabies, also curlews and kangaroos. Stayed in Horseshoe Bay.

Also travelling in November may not be very wet, climate changes year by year, the wet season is usually about Nov to April. It will still be hot up north and warm or mild down south (maybe even cool in Tasmania).

crellston

Three weeks is not a lot of time for such a massive country. We visit family in Sydney fairly regularly spend some time with them and then go off exploring. The last couple of trips we have had about the same amount of time to play with. We have rented camper vans a lot over the years mostly in New Zealand but also a couple of times in Australia. We love it as a means of travel and it works really well as it is a vastly more compact country which has invested heavily in the infrastructure to support such travel. in Australia , IMHO it doesn't work as well apart fro a few limited routes /areas.

On our last trip we did look at renting a van but t was horrendously expensive so we went with a rental car and drove from Sydney to meet up with some Fodors friends in Northern NSW visiting some out of the way places we had not heard of before plus a few national parks. We had a fantastic time!

My advice would be to not try and pack too much in and probably concentrate on one, maybe two areas. If you have not been before, there is no substitute for sitting down with a good guide book and working out what it is that piques your interest. Apart from the above we also rented a van in Alice Springs and drove to Uluru - a lot of driving to see the rock, impressive though it was. Another time we headed up to the far north rented a 4WD and visited Kakadu, Katherine etc, staying in hostels, hotels and campsites and loved it . the scenery was spectacular. Haven't done it yet but Tasmania has been on my list for years and, being compact , is ideal suited to camper van travel. Did consider it for our last trip but being just post pandemic , the van rates were truly horrendous - could have got a week on the Orient Express for about the same cost.

Enjoy the planning.

klandres

I'm giving up on the GBR. We'd only have a day or so anyway and since we snorkel a lot in the S. Pacific, we'll have to come back at a good time for that. Thanks for your input.

Bokhara2

That makes sense. Happy planning!

northie

The Grampians or Gariwerd as its called now is a National park with deep connections with traditional onwers and November is a good time to go there.
Whilst Iv ebeen a number of times to Darwin and Kakadu and Litchfield in Northern Territory in November I wouldnt go there at that time of year -"he build up" ie preparing for th ewet season brings oppresive humidty

klandres

I'll check out the Grampians. Where is the best place in Nov. to see wildlife? I come across Kangaroo Island a lot. Is there someplace on the mainland that you can hike and see wildlife?

northie

The Grampians definitely for hiking and wildlife.

KayF

Your question is very broad, can you narrow it down a little? There are hundreds of national parks. Which states are you interested in? NSW I guess, if you fly into Sydney. To reach Kangaroo Island, you'd need to fly into Adelaide then get a ferry to the island. Kangaroo Island seems more popular with tourists than Australians. I think you can fly there too.

Narrow down which areas or states you want to visit, check out these websites -

https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park
https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/things-...ldlife-viewing

The further away from cities and traffic, the more likely you'll see wildlife. There are also some wildlife hospitals if that's of interest. Currumbin, Port Stephens, one in Byron, they may not all allow visitors.
https://currumbinsanctuary.com.au/wildlife-hospital
https://www.portstephenskoalasanctuary.com.au/
https://byronbaywildlifesanctuary.com.au/

klandres

I appreciate all the suggestions and information. Yes, my inquiry is very broad because I was trying to narrow it. So far I know that the far north will be too hot and humid in Nov. So I'm looking more to the lower states. We fly into Sydney. So far the plan is to fly to Uluru. But question whether to go to Daintree NP for the ancient rainforest or go to one of several NP that have the Gondwanna rainforest preserves, e.g. Springbrook or Dorrigo . We will fly and then rental a car. I love rainforests, but not sure going out of our way to get to the World Heritage rainforest is worth it. Seeing wildlife, and nature is more to our liking than city streets. Grampians is definitely someplace I will include. I'm truly impressed with how Australia has preserved so much of its spaces. The national parks are impressive and as someone who's never been there, I'm trying to limit our visits to ones that will offer the most wildlife and beauty. I appreciate the different perspectives that inform my planning. It's so great having this forum.

marg

I'm sure you have checked out weather conditions at that time. Uluru will be hot and lots of flies, but a very spectacular part of Australia. I wouldn't try to get to the Daintree - a long way from Sydney, save it up for a visit to Far North Queensland on another trip. The national park at Dorrigo isn't that far north of Sydney and you could have a pleasant road trip along the coastal areas to get there. You could continue through the Dorrigo area to Armidale, passing some impressive gorges and waterfalls.
Once you have more of a defined itinerary, we can all chime in with our favourite spots.
Enjoy the planning.

crellston

We spent a few days around Dorrigo on our last trip and really enjoyed visiting some of the national parks around there. We did intend to drive part of the waterfall way but unfortunately storms caused a lot of flooding so we ended up stuck at our B&B out in the countryside waiting for the waters to subside.

After Dorrigo we drove north for a few ours to go and stay with some Fodors friends who have a place actually in the rainforest they took us to numerous rainforests, parks and reserves in search of Koalas.
One NP, I think named Border Ranges was spectacular

crellston

A few photos of border ranges:

KayF

Koalas always make me smile. Very sad that numbers are dwindling.

klandres

Love the pictures. Thank you.

Swiss_Sights

It is true that in northern Australia there are these very dangerous cube jellyfish and also saltwater crocodiles. That's why you should find out what the situation is at the moment, which is seasonal. I was diving at the Barrier Reef for a fortnight in April a few years ago and did not see a single jellyfish. I didn't see any jellyfish in the Sidney area either. In the north of Cairns there is the Daintree National Park which I can recommend.

Have a great trip!
Martin

klandres

Okay. Here's where I'm at right now:
11/1 - 2 Sydney
11/3 -4 Blue Mts
11/5- 7 Uluru; fly to Melbourne on the 7th
11/8 Melbourne
11/9 Phillips Island
11/10- 11/11 GOR arriving in Grampians NK
11/12 Grampians NP
So here's where I'm looking for input. We will rent a car in Melbourne to do the GOR and the Grampians. We are heading to Canberra to see relatives. I've been looking at national parks to drive to Canberra, maybe driving 5 hrs. and stopping to hike or see something. It is obviously off the usual route for visitors. We love hiking, wildlife and cultural interests, especially aboriginal. Haven't been able to put together a good road trip with just the information online. So I'm looking for expert advice here. Several national parks that look interesting are Alpine, Kosciuszko, but the drive from Grampians to Alpine is too long. Appreciate your input. Thanks in advance.