1 month in OZ - greyhound vs. car hire

My hubby and I will be backpacking Australia from mid-Jan to mid-Feb 2012. Doing the Cairns-Sydney route over those 4 weeks. We were pretty much set on using the Greyhound, but now re-thinking car hire options. What are the pros/cons of each?

Our plan was to stop in these cities during the trip (according to the Greyhound map):
Carins
Port Douglas (was planning on taking a separate bus/car)
Airlie Beach/Whitsundays
Hervey Bay/Fraser Island
Noosa
Byron Bay
Sydney

We're both experienced drivers (many years driving Los Angeles and NYC) in our 30s so I'm not too worried about that. Just want to have the best experience since 4 weeks is a short time. We're willing to spend the extra money on the car hire (no more than $1K more) if it's REALLY worth it more than the Greyhound.
Thanks for your input and suggestions...

Personally can't fathom why anyone would want the aggravation of driving while on holiday, especially when there are other cheaper/more relaxing options. Used the Hound in OZ & found them satisfactory, just stay away from overnight buses as the retarded hours of work laws in OZ lead to drivers falling asleep at the wheel. Only country out of 40 that I found that.

I could see car having benefits over a bus in that you can follow your own schedule, your own path, go where buses don't go, not have to worry about booking tickets ahead, drivers falling asleep, etc.

Personally, I'd rather take a car than bus it.

What do you think about half bus/half car hire? For example, we could do the Greyhound from Cairns to Brisbane and then hire a car in Brisbane to get us to Sydney. Or vice-versa?

What about when you get off the bus in a city then need to get to your hostel or wherever? Are we going to rack up expenses for taxis and more buses?

shiruni wrote:What do you think about half bus/half car hire? For example, we could do the Greyhound from Cairns to Brisbane and then hire a car in Brisbane to get us to Sydney. Or vice-versa?

What about when you get off the bus in a city then need to get to your hostel or wherever? Are we going to rack up expenses for taxis and more buses?

As to car hire, I would check for places you want to see that are off bus routes, then decide if you need one.

As to getting to your hostel, a lot will meet the bus if you have booked ahead or the hostel is within a couple blocks of the terminal. Example http://www.brisbanetransitcentre.com.au ... round.aspx which bus/train terminal with city bus, city sights hoho, downtown + at least 3 hostels within a few minutes walk http://www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/au ... sbane/4573

I was in australia a little over a year ago. I rented a car and drove from Melbourne to Sydney and then Sydney to Brisbane. I loved it. I'm glad I did it. Yes it is probably gonna be a little more expensive. But, like someone else mentioned, I liked the freedom to just pull off the road if something caught my eye.
There's something about being on the open road in that country that I just loved.

My advice is to get a car whenever you can. We flew between Sydney, Cairns, Perth and Adelaide, but rented cars in between and drove quite a lot (including the Great Ocean Road, between Melbourne and Sydney, and Cairns and Airlie Beach).

There are some things that you'll see with a car that you just can't plan for. There are a bunch of "large sized" items along the roads. The giant mango in Queensland for example, might be silly, but it was a nice place to pull off the road and take a break, as well as a few photos.

Another day we happened to be driving to Margaret River and saw a bunch of cars stopped by the beach. It turned out to be a local surfing contest and I have great memories of watching them.

I think you are more likely to stumble on things like these when you drive yourself at your own pace.

Thank you so much for the feedback - so excited and probably leaning towards renting a car.

Now - what car rental companies do you recommend where I can rent out of Cairns and drop off in Sydney?

So far I've looked at these:
http://www.wickedcampers.com.au/
http://www.hippiecamper.com/
http://www.britz.com.au/

If we do end up renting, we'll go for a regular 4-door sedan or something small. Not a campervan.