I will be visiting Australia in June for about 2 or 2 1/2 weeks. I know this is a very short time but we are also traveling to a bunch of other countries so this is all we could afford here. We will be flying in from Singapore. I think we wanted to travel along the east coast of Australia making our way down to Sydney or lower. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we should go about this? Is the best way to rent a car and drive, fly from place to place, or is there a good train system? Also what cities does everyone reccomend visiting keeping in mind it will be June so I imagine it will be getting colder. Thanks!

It's a great time of the year to see the north of the country/continent! You should be able to find a cheap flight from Singapore to Darwin. From there you will make your way through the most spectacular landscapes in pleasant temperatures. See Kakadu National Park, the Kununurra, El Questro, the beaches near Broome, Karijini National Park and go snorkelling with whale sharks from Exmouth!

All this can be done independently with a rental car, although it's a lot of driving. Maybe it's better to go with Easyriders coaches (hop-on/hop-off bus service).

From there you can fairly easily make your way down to Perth, and fly cheap from there to Sydney or Melbourne, and after a few days there in June/July you'll be happy to leave for somewhere warm again.

Good luck!

Bjørn
http://bjornfree.com/

Bjørn's suggestions are good ones, although they focus more on the west coast and you thought you would do the east coast. If you're still thinking that way, I would also recommend stopping first in Darwin to get a taste for the Territory, then flying to Cairns and putting in some time on the Barrier Reef. If you like beaches, head to Noosa & the Sunshine Coast. A day or so in Brisbane & surrounds, then down to Sydney & the Blue Mountains and that'll about take care of your time.

As for getting around, flying will save you the most time and an internal air pass from VirginBlue or Qantas can help save money. The train system is pretty good along the east coast and offers a different way of seeing the country as it goes by, but it is not cheap.

And to offer another route completely, you could start in Darwin, fly to Alice Springs with a day trip to Uluru, continue (fly) to Adelaide, drive to Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road and include a visit to the wine country (Barossa & Clare Valleys) while you're there. Then fly to Sydney from Melbourne, spend a couple days there before you go.

Each route will offer you a different experience of Australia and I don't think there's a wrong choice. It depends on what you enjoy and what will satisfy your sense of have 'seen' Australia in less than 20 days.

you are limited in time, so theres not going to be much driving. Aussie is big!

get an airpass as suggested earlier.. or check out the specials and bok before you arrive..

fly into the gold coast,
Check out byron bay - 3 days
fly to hervey bay. do a tour of Fraser Island - 3 days
go to airlie beach, do a sailing trip around the whitsundays/great barrier reef islands - 4 days
fly to ayers rock.. do a tour - 3 days
fly to sydney or melbourne and explore the city.

Fast and furious.. but I think pretty sweet.

Moby

Where are you flying into I will assume that you will be landing in either Brisbane or Cains. If Brisbane Why not start their head to Fraser Island ,Noosa, Byron Bay then head inland as it will not really be beach weather why not enjoy country NSW take a trip to Armidale, Tamworth Warrnebungles National Park, Hunter Valley Blue Mountains, Sydney This is a long drive and the long way to But you will see a wide range of Australia well at least the east coast .I would recommended you Hire a car or Campervan this way you don’t need to worry about finding hotel every night and will allow to get close to nature some great places to stop over night. HAVE A LOOK AT http://www.visitnsw.com/
Has great info re place to visit and drive you can take
the only problem with a camper van you cannot take it to Fraser Island but this is something you could do as a day tour
http://www.tourabout.com/australia_and_ ... activities