So, if you were going to Australia again, but not staying with friends, where would you concentrate your visit into a seven night vacation?
That rather depends on what you want or like to do. Sydney was a beautiful city, with ferries going to points around the inland sea. A great zoo. If you want to swim the reef or go on the sailing trips, I'd say Brisbane would be a good city to fly into, even though we didn't go there, and I don't know what it's like.
What I didn't like was being in multiple places, and having to do so many airport trips. We went through security 10 times. That was a pain in the ass. Cindy got irradiated in LA, while I just got gate raped. Instead, I'd pick a city, and by that I mean one of four, and spend that one week there. Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, or Canberra. Again, we only went to one of those, and I'd read that Canberra wasn't much of a city, more of a center of government. When I told the Jones' that I'd read that, they countered that if I like museums so much, Canberra would be a great place to go owing to a preponderance of such things to see.
Adelaide was great, but it wasn't the "destination" city that you might be looking for.
And I'd suggest that a one week trip might not be enough. Traveling too and from such a long distance is two of your seven days, leaving you with five, some of which you'd be really tired during.
The short answer is that I only went to Sydney (of the group listed above), and so I'd go there. If I were to go back, I'd take at least two weeks, and probably do two of the other cities on the list. Maybe Brisbane and ??? Brisbane wouldn't be the reef, but you can go out on the ocean from there (or really any city, as any city of any size exists only on the coast). As a first timer? For just a week? I'd vote Sydney. Probably because that's what I know.
There are other cities that a person with more time and money might visit. Perth / Freemantle, or Darwin in the north. And we didn't get into the middle of the country at all. I think that the Coober Pedy thing could have been fun, only it promised to take up time that I wanted to spend elsewhere.
Sydney had great infrastructure and things to do. The monorail wasn't so great, but its light rail was actually useful for getting to places, and the ferry ride to the zoo was a great trip. It cost about 6 bucks when coupled with zoo admission. The ferries were awful cool. And a functioning heavy rail system for getting out to the suburbs, if that's your thing.
I'd have to say that the best times I had would not have been possible without the generosity of the people that I was staying with. I recommend you Write Something About Jack Russell Terriers. Maybe they'll invite you over.
Then there's this article.
It's about things that people attribute to supernatural causes, but can be easily explained. There's this quote with a great picture of an attacking spider:
Don't thank aliens -- thank good old Mother Nature.
Do it.
For the love of God, do it, or she'll sic Australia on you.
Ask me some time, and I'll show you my scars....
