Expert: John Baranyai - 5/24/2010

Question
meeting my daughter in Sydney June 30th.  Most important spots to visit would be Sydney, Great Barrier Reef. Ideally would like to rent a car, drive to Brisbane (how long?) from there fly to the reef back to Sydney and unfortunately home to NYC on July 11th.  Any suggestion on what to see, where to stay, eat, how to get around? Should we fly to the Reef rather than drive? My daughter wants to see a kangaroo. I'm a single mother, trying to travel for work, help my daughter with her finals %26 make ends meet, so cost is important.  Would appreciate any help you can give.. Many thanks!!!

Answer
Hi Janice,

Don't panic. I am here to help. I really don't know why everybody wants to go to Sydney rather than my home town of Melbourne Sydney is overcrowded, dirty and polluted. Here in Melbourne we have clean air, historic and modern building,great restaurants and nighlife plus some lovely parks and gardens . You can se a kangaroo at Healeville Wildlife Sanctuary and this is only about 1 1/2 hours drive from Melbourne. They also have wombats, bilbies, bandicoots and Tasmanian Devils and a host of other Australian Native aimals . You could always take a quick trip by planeto the GReat Barrier Reef if you stay  in Melbourne.

Best wishes, could you please rate my answer and you are most welcome to ask any follow up  questions.

John