--- July is mid-winter: cold (by Sydney standards). For weather forecasts, wee www.bom.gov.au.

--- You’ll be travelling with the sun, which is not as bad as it will be going back. Put your watch on to Sydney time for when you leave the US (assuming you’re flying non-stop), try to sleep on the plane, get out for a walk in the sunlight as soon as you have checked into your apartment/hotel and try to go to bed at your normal time to re-set your body clock to local time.

Oh, and drink lots of water.

--An outfit that does customised itineraries is Outback Private Tours (www.outbackprivatetours.com.au). I know nothing about them except that you can customise your itinerary for a personalised tour.

Hi there,

Our family travelled with this company earlier this month and they were great. No hassles, easy going and we were doing our own thing the whole time which made it even more enjoyable.

If we had taken a coach trip as planned, we would not have seen half the things we did on our own private tour.

In future, all our tours will be private.

Highly recommend.

(wwww.outbackprivatetours.com.au)

Jen