Thanks for your suggestions everyone, they certainly give me a starting point for my research. Budget isn't really a factor if there is somewhere we really want to stay but all things being equal, we would rather spend our resources on tours at Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef for example, than on a bed for the night.

We leave for Tasmania on March 9th, returning to Melbourne on the 18th and leaving immediately for White Cliffs. After all my planning we had to change the itinerary and head west rather than east because our friend in Narooma will be away from mid March until mid April and I can't get this close and miss meeting him and his wife.

So, it looks like White Cliffs, Broken Hill, Coober Pedy, Red Center, Alice Springs. Tennant Creek, over to Cairns and the GBR, then down the coast stopping off near Kempsey (to visit friends) then Sydney and Narooma and back to Melbourne. There will be other stops along the way, we just don't know where they will be yet.

My best guess for an arrival date in Sydney would be during the last week in April or very early in May.

It should be almost winter by the time we get back to Melbourne, and thankfully almost summer a few days later when we reach home.

Regards and thanks again for all your help. Sue Waterloo ON Currently in Castlemaine Victoria.