Expert: Stephen Tanenbaum - 3/21/2005

Question
Hello Stephen Tanenbaum
We are overseas students, 3 of my friends and I will have between 4 and 5 days to go to gold coast during this  Easter day, in other words, between 25 Mar to 29 Mar.We were thinking that driving a car to Gold coast would be a good way to see things.
we are all over 25,we come from China.We are all like outdoor travel by ourselves,and want to enjoy the great natural views on the Pacific highway.All of us have part-time jobs ,but however,our budget still will be fairly tight,,we have not much money to splurge everthing.Ideally we would like to stay in cheaper accomodations.
So ,we have some questions
1)would time allow us drive all the way from Sydney to Gold coast and back ?
2)how to arrange our time if we want to Water World and Movie World besides those wonderful beachs.
3)how can we book the appropriate hotel?
4)should we spend lot of our time on the way?
Is there something that I am not mentioning that I should know about?
Any help or advice is much appreciated! Thank you in advance for taking the time to help me out.
--Wayne  

Answer
Hi Wayne: Since your planned trip is only days away I shall try to provide a bit of information. It seems you may be living in Sydney, working and going to school and that you wish to enjoy 4-5 days away from the 'city.'

The drive from Sydney to the Gold Coast is very pleasing with many sights and small towns. Your problem is logistics. You probably do NOT have the time to do this.

The driving distance from Sydney to the start of the Gold Coast at Port  Macquarie is 420KM and driving time is six hours. A travel guide I am reading says that: "From Port Macquarie to the northern end of the Gold Coast is at least a couple of days drive along the Pacific Highway. If you want to stop and take in the many sights one should allow a WEEK for this route."

The distance from Port Macquaire to Brisbane is another 610KM.

Another local expert describes the trip like this:
The drive from Sydney to Brisbane is approximately 1100 kilometres.This drive should  be broken into 3 legs;
Sydney-Hunter Valley approximately 200 kilometres
Hunter Valley - Coff's Harbour approximately 400 kilometres
Coff's Harbour-Gold Coast approximately 400 kilometres

So total round trip distance to Brisbane from Sydney is 2060KM estimated conservitavely at six hours driving for each 400KM or total driving time of about 30 hours.

Seems too much driving for only 4-5 days holiday.

Best town  to visit for young people, they call it a hippie alternative lifestyle town on the beach is BYRON BAY about 140KM south of Brisbane. Lots of cheap food, sun, fun and young people.

Both Coffs Harbor and Hunters Valley (mostly wineries) are pleasant and interesting stops.

Most people short on time fly from Sydney to Port Macquarie but this adds much expense to the trip.

We rented a campervan and so we did not use motel/hotels.

I would use the internet for reservations, to find best bargains.

For Sydney bargains Go to www.Entertainment.com   They sell a great discount book for SYDNEY and for most AMerican cities. Find out how to buy one in Sydney and save on everything from sightseeing to fast food and restaurants usually with one person dining for FREE. Also, for entertainment, movies the Darling harbor sights etc.
The web site has a preview of all the Sydney discounts. We also used the book for cheap hotel rates.

A common problem for all travelers in Australia is the usually great distances between points of interest. Such a very large country.

Since you have great beaches around Sydney an option, unless you have already been there, is the closer Blue Moutains with its caverns, scenery and wineries. We enjoyed spending about 4 days exploring the area.

Hope this helps. Have a wonderful trip.

Steve Tanenbaum