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I know, I know, there’s no correct way to travel the east coast of Australia obviously; with that being said, there are definitely some places you want to spend more time in and some places less (not pointing any fingers to Townsville).

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YOUR ROUGH ITINERARY 

 

• ​​Melbourne - 5 days

• Sydney - 5 days

• Byron Bay - 4/5 days

• Gold Coast - 4 days

• Brisbane - 2/3 days

• Noosa - 3 days

• K'Gari / Fraser Island - 3 days

• Airlie beach - 2 days

• Whitsundays - 2 days

• Magnetic island - 3 days

• Cairns - 5 days ​

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So with your rough timeline figured out, what are you actually going to do in each of these places? I've got you sorted. Here are the main sights and things you're going to do / see as a backpacker, any Aussie residents don't come at me please.  

 

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| MELBOURNE ​​|​

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IN THE CBD

🐋 State Library

🐋 National Gallery of Victoria

🐋 St Kilda beach / pier 

🐋 Queen Victoria market

🐋 Graffiti laneways: Hosier Lane, Union Lane and Degraves Street

🐋 The Lume Digital Gallery 

🐋 Melbourne Skydeck 

 

OUTSIDE THE CBD

🐋 Brighton Beach

🐋 Grampian

🐋 Great Ocean Road

🐋 Philip island  

🐋 Peninsula Hot Springs

🐋 Yarra Valley 

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| SYDNEY |

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IN THE CBD

🐋 Botanical gardens

🐋 Darling Harbour 

🐋 Circular quay area: Opera House, Harbour Bridge etc.

🐋 Observatory hill - great sunset spot / viewing point

🐋 The Rocks outdoor cinema / Moonlight outdoor cinema 

🐋 Mrs Macquarie's chair for sunset 

🐋 Art gallery of NSW

🐋 Museum of Contemporary Art

🐋 Chinatown

🐋 State Library of NSW

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OUTSIDE THE CBD

🐋 Bondi to Coogee walk

🐋 Bondi beach 

🐋 Spit to Manly walk

🐋 Manly

🐋 Newtown

🐋 Heritage walk

🐋 Outdoor swimming pools: Bondi Icebergs, Bronte, MacCallum pool 

🐋 Jervis bay / Hymans beach

🐋 Blue mountains

🐋 Palm Beach

🐋 Port Stephens

 

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| BYRON BAY |​

 

🐋 ​Lighthouse walk - sunrise/sunset

🐋 Surf lesson 

🐋 Whale watching (June-October)

🐋 Dolphin kayaking 

🐋 Jewellery making

🐋 Nimbin

🐋 Whites beach

🐋 Wategos beach 

🐋 Killen falls

🐋 Minyon falls

🐋 Arakwal national park

🐋 Ainsworth lake

🐋 Broken Head national park

🐋 Lennox head

🐋 Brunswick Heads

 

 

| GOLD COAST |

 

🐋 Home of the Arts gallery

🐋 Wet and Wild water park

🐋 Movie World / Dream World theme parks 

🐋 Whale watching tour (June-October)

🐋 Coombabah nature reserve

🐋 Burleigh Heads national park 

🐋 Tallebudgera creek / Echo beach

🐋 Harbour Town shopping outlet 

🐋 Murlong park

🐋 Burleigh, Broadbeach, Palm Beach, Coolangatta weekend markets

🐋 Miami Marketta

🐋 The Spit

🐋 Coolangatta - rainbow bay, snapper rocks 

🐋 Kingscliff

🐋 Springbrook national park

🐋 Stradbroke island

🐋 Mount Tamborine

🐋 Cougal cascades

🐋 Cedar creek falls

🐋 Currumbin rock pools

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| BRISBANE |

 

IN THE CBD

🐋 Fortitude valley

🐋 Southbank

🐋 Botanical gardens

🐋 Queensland Art Gallery 

🐋 Gallery of Modern Art

🐋 Brisbane city markets (Wednesdays)

🐋 Eat Street

 

OUTSIDE THE CBD

🐋 Australia zoo

🐋 Moreton island 
🐋 Stradbroke island

🐋 Mount Coot-tha Summit Lookout

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| NOOSA |

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🐋 Noosa national park (fairy pools)

🐋 Kayak in the everglades

🐋 Main beach

🐋 Farmer's market (Sundays)

🐋 Surf / stand-up paddle-board 

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| K'GARI / FRASER ISLAND |

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🐋​ Best tour groups: Dingo's, Pippi’s

🐋 *All of the tours are quite similar and include most of the same key spots / activities

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| AIRLIE BEACH |

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🐋 Scenic flight over Great Barrier Reef

🐋 Jet ski

🐋 Great place to do a skydive

🐋 Conway national park

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WHITSUNDAYS

🐋 The Clipper boat - bigger boat (around 54 people) big party vibes but less time at the beaches and lower quality features

🐋 New horizons boat - nicer accomodation, better food, but not as wild as Clipper and half the size 

🐋 Prosail - smaller boat, more hands on and trips to lesser seen islands 

🐋 *Similarly to Fraser, a lot of the boat tours visit the same things, some are just day tours or some are 3-days, I’d 100% recommend going for longer than just a day, depending on how seasick you get :)

 

 

| MAGNETIC ISLAND |​

 

🐋 Hire a jeep 

🐋 Forts walk

🐋 Picnic bay

🐋 Feed the rock wallabies at dusk at Geoffrey Point 

🐋 Sunset at West Point

🐋 Hawking's point

🐋 See the Koala’s at Selina

 

 

| CAIRNS |

 

🐋 ​Snorkel / dive at the Great Barrier Reef

🐋 Swim in the lagoon 

🐋 Skydive

🐋 Bungee jump (SkyPark cairns)

🐋 Josephine falls

🐋 Atherton tablelands (Uncle Brian’s tour)

🐋 Cape tribulation

🐋 Daintree rainforest

🐋 Port Douglas

🐋 Fitzroy island

🐋 Green island

🐋 Windin falls 

🐋 Palm cove

🐋 Rex lookout  

🐋 Sky rail