Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020 |

# Australia: march/april good time? Country forums / Pacific Islands & Papua New Guinea
nina1977 22:21 UTC 15 Jan 2012 | Hi, I found a really inexpensive ticket for Australia, for the period 15 March-22 april. Is that a good time to go climat-wise? I've been reading contradicting info on the internet... I could also go one week earlier, 7 March a- 15 april, but I guess that doesn't make much of a difference, does it? If I go I buy the ticket, I would like to to this: Sydney & surroundings: for big cities I reckon it's nice to have like 22-24 degrees and some sun. (1 week) Melbourne & surroundings. Same. (1 week) Alice Springs, Ayer's Rock: I guess it's always hot there? (half a week) Cairns & goldcoast (working my way down, back to Sydney: (2,5 weeks) I'd love to relax at beautiful beaches, so 25-27 degrees and sun would be a necessity. :) Sydney & back home Especially for my time in Queensland it's important for me to have beachproof weather, I will be there first fortnight of April. Is that period a relatively safe bet? Thanks in advance! |
nina1977 23:49 UTC 15 Jan 2012 | Thanks for your reply! I reposted on the right branch. :) Why do you think a week earlier would be better? What would be different? On a practical level (work, organising things...) leaving on the 14th instead of 7th would be better... I figured (have not researched thouroughly yet) Cairns would be good to fly to from Ayer's Rock, but I guess I can fly from there to another location closer to Gold Coast. | 1
tch7 00:09 UTC 16 Jan 2012 | The ocean and weather will be that little bit warmer by one week down south was my only reason. Won't make much of a difference at all. Cairns can still be a good destination in the wet season. It just depends what you're looking to do. If it's primarily a beach you're seeking, then best to stay much further south away from where there's the potential for cyclones (although the risk is getting small by mid April). Flying from Alice Springs directly to Brisbane or the Gold Coast is easy enough as well. | 2
mandja 01:22 UTC 16 Jan 2012 | Agree with the above, but consider also spending 3 days or so in and near Darwin | 3
mala9 04:14 UTC 16 Jan 2012 | Hey there, I'm just replying for the Alice Springs/Ayers Rock part. I live in Alice Springs. May is actually the best time to visit, but at a pinch (and provided we don't have a long summer) April is ok. Why? Basically, you can still get very hot days in April (e.g. April 2003 when we had a week of 39 Celsius) and there may still be lots of flies around. We recommend May as the best time because we get frosts in May that kill off the flies, it's very rare that you get super hot days, and it's not peak tourist season, so you can still get some reasonable prices. Also, it isn't hot all the time. it gets freezing (below 0 celsius) at night in June-August. If you're looking for the absolute BEST info on the web about outback Australia, I can recommend this website: www.travel-outback-australia.com P.s Don't forget that it takes 5 hours to drive from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock (it's 460km), so make sure you plan travelling time. :) Hope this helps. Hope this helps. | 4
ozziegiraffe 12:09 UTC 16 Jan 2012 | One reason going earlier would be good is school holidays which start early April in Queensland, and push prices up. | 5