I am visiting there is about a month.
flying into sydney and spending a few days there. booked a show at the Opera House which is not too expensive at all with the exchange rate.
planning on going to Kangaroo Island for 2 days and then flying to Tazmania for 3-4. But nothing is set in stone yet. Its nice that Im travelling before the peak travel season.
Well, the important things to know are that the seasons are reversed, as well as the clockwise flow of the flushing toilets.
And if I had been to Australia, and offered you any recommendations based on my experiences, BN27 would say "Oh, look at Mr. I've been to Australia".
But since you, not I, raised the subject, and BN27's pissy moan won't bother me anyway, I will speak; but it has been 10 years since I was there.
While in Sydney, a place called The Rocks just north of the Opera House is a nice area with a lot of restaurants. Nearby is Harbor Bridge, which allows folks on a small tour to walk on top of it (I didn't do that, but it seemed like a fun excursion).
A boat tour of Sydney harbor is highly recommended. The city is spread out all around the harbor, and the views of the Opera House as you leave the nearby dock are great. There's also a good zoo on the other side of the harbor from downtown, it's called Toronga. I didn't go to Kangaroo Island, though, so you may be seeing enough wildlife there.
If you're considering other areas of Australia, the Outback takes a couple of days to fly in and out of, but Uluru (Ayer's Rock) is an impressive sight. The aborigines would prefer that the tourists not climb to the top, but I did that with my son and it's a memory I still treasure. The giant rock photographs well at sunrise and sunset, when it changes colors every few minutes. Other than than, though, there's not that much to do in the Outback. We also went to a formation of some other large rocks called Kata Tjuta (aka the Olgas), which was OK, but not a "can't miss" attraction. I didn't get off the plane in Alice Springs (a nearby Outback town for tourists).
The other area to consider is the Great Barrier Reef. From Cairns (pronounced 'cans'), you can take boats out to the reef, and do a scuba dive even if you're not certified. That was a very cool thing, and they'll video your dive and sell it to you for some extra cash.
I didn't go to Tasmania, Melbourne, or Brisbane (Gold Coast), so I can't say anything about those places.
It's pretty bad that I know what those are because of SIMV. But now I'm going to use those #'s for the lottery tonight.
