Australia

Remember the seasons are flipped: Australian summer is December-February, winter is June-August. The best all-round windows are September to November (spring) and March to May (autumn) — mild weather, thinner crowds, and better hotel rates than summer.

December-January is peak: school holidays, high prices, and hot days that suit beaches. June-August is cool in Sydney and Melbourne (8-17°C) but is the best time for Cairns and the reef, which sit in the tropics. Whale-watching season along the east coast runs roughly May to November — a real bonus for winter visitors.

Sydney is the postcard: Opera House, Harbour Bridge climb, Bondi Beach, and Taronga Zoo across the water. Give it 3-4 days. Most long-haul flights land here or in Melbourne.

Melbourne is the culture-and-coffee city — laneway street art, the MCG for cricket fans, and the Great Ocean Road day trip to the Twelve Apostles, the best single day trip in the country.

Gold Coast is the family stop: Australia's theme-park strip (Movie World, Sea World, Dreamworld) plus surf beaches. Multi-park passes beat single-day gates if you are staying three days or more.

Cairns is the launchpad for the Great Barrier Reef — snorkel day cruises run about A$200-A$300 ($140-$210), and the Kuranda scenic railway fills the non-reef day. We also sell in Brisbane (koala sanctuary, an hour from the Gold Coast parks), Perth for the west coast and Rottnest Island's quokkas, and Adelaide.

Sydney and the Gold Coast are the two family bases that need no backup plan. Sydney fills 3-4 days with Taronga Zoo, harbour ferries (a ride is an event in itself), and calm-water beaches like Balmoral; the Gold Coast adds the parks plus patrolled surf beaches. Melbourne works too, but its best day trips mean long drives with car seats.

By age: under-5s get the most from wildlife parks, where koala and kangaroo encounters need no queuing stamina; 6-12s are the theme-park sweet spot; teens can add a surf lesson or the Cairns reef snorkel.

Two safety notes to take seriously. Australian sun burns fast — hats and SPF50+ are non-negotiable, even on cloudy days. And only swim between the red-and-yellow flags on patrolled beaches; rips are the real hazard, not sharks. One tip: Australian school-holiday weeks (late December-January, Easter) spike hotel and park prices — term time is far cheaper.

Australia is essentially cashless — cards and phone wallets tap everywhere, including buses and market stalls. Carry A$100-200 ($70-$140) in cash at most; many people finish a trip without touching notes.

Prices will sting if you arrive from Asia: coffee around A$5 ($3.50), a casual meal A$20-30 ($14-$21), and big attractions often A$40-100 ($28-$70). Tipping is not expected — one genuine saving. Use a card with no foreign-transaction markup; the standard 3% fee adds up fast at Australian spend levels.

Supermarkets (Coles, Woolworths) are the budget traveller's kitchen — ready meals cost a third of restaurant prices. Vegetarians eat well in the big cities: clear menu labelling is standard, and Sydney and Melbourne have deep benches of South Asian, Middle Eastern and vegan restaurants.

Budget around A$250-350 ($175-$245) per person per day, hotel included, for a comfortable mid-range trip. Australia sits near the top of world travel prices, so knowing the bands ahead helps.

A typical city day breaks down like this:

• Public transport with daily fare caps: A$10-15 ($7-$10)
• Coffee and a bakery breakfast: A$12-18 ($8-$13)
• Casual lunch: A$20-30 ($14-$21)
• Restaurant dinner: A$30-50 ($21-$35)
• One attraction (zoo, aquarium, tower): A$40-70 ($28-$49)
• Mid-range hotel: A$150-250 ($105-$175) a night

The premium tickets sit above that: a reef day cruise from Cairns is A$200-300 ($140-$210), and the Sydney Harbour Bridge climb runs several hundred dollars. Balance them with the free icons — Bondi and the coastal walks, Melbourne's laneways and free trams, and every city's botanic gardens cost nothing. Supermarket meals and picnic lunches are the single easiest way to pull the daily number down.

Between cities, fly. Sydney to Melbourne or Brisbane is about 1.5 hours, and Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin sales bring one-way fares to A$70-120 ($50-$85). Distances are continental: driving Sydney to Cairns is 2,400 km, so never plan a "quick" road trip between regions.

Inside cities, public transport is excellent. Sydney's Opal system takes a tap from any contactless bank card; Melbourne runs on trams, free within the city-centre Free Tram Zone. Expect around A$3-5 ($2-$3.50) per ride with daily fare caps.

Rent a car only for specific drives — the Great Ocean Road, the Blue Mountains — and remember Australia drives on the left. Two rules that catch visitors off guard: biosecurity is serious, so declare every food item on the arrival card (undeclared food draws heavy on-the-spot fines), and outside city centres many shops and restaurants close by 5-6 pm, so plan dinners ahead.

Ten days, two cities, open-jaw flights — fly into Sydney and home from Melbourne, or the reverse. That saves a backtrack flight and both cities have strong long-haul connections.

• Days 1-4 — Sydney. Opera House and Circular Quay, the ferry to Taronga Zoo, Bondi and the coastal walk, plus a Blue Mountains day trip by train.
• Day 5 — fly to Melbourne. The flight is about 1.5 hours; book a morning departure and you lose half a day, not a whole one.
• Days 5-8 — Melbourne. Laneways and markets, the MCG or a river cruise, and the Great Ocean Road day trip to the Twelve Apostles.
• Days 9-10 — spare days. Add a Yarra Valley or Phillip Island penguin trip, or just slow down.

With 13-14 days, add Cairns for the reef — a 3-hour flight from either city — or swap it for the Gold Coast if travelling with kids who care more about theme parks than snorkelling.