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I got nothing for ya, but aloweha will be here soon & be able to help. I've never been, but from friends I worked with, I would totally want to check out the Gold Coast.
tough answer... australia is a big island and queensland alone is about the size of texas while sydney (my home town) is a very busy city
GBR (great barrier reef) is in queenslad (a different state). question is what exactly do you want to do when seeing the GBR, ie scuba diving (which i do) for a few days or a day visit only to dive/swim/snorkel? if a day visit only it means you will have to get on a boat for an hour or 3 to get to the reef or visit one of the smaller islands (ie lady elliot island which is the most south part of the reef, you catch a small plane from either brisbane/bundaburg/hervey bay)
to get from sydney to queensland you will need to fly (www.webjet.com.au will give you a good idea about flights and prices). the flight from sydney to brisbane is about 90mins and from sydney to cairns is about 3hrs by memory
depending on what you want to do you could do alot with a week. fly to sydney, do the opera house (you can book a behind the scenes tour) and i suggest the sydney harbour bridge walk also. then up to qlds
if you want to rent/drive it, the drive will take about 14hrs one way
hope this gives you some help
Are you thinking 1 week for the entire trip? I suggest at least 1 week for Sydney and 3 days at the Reef. I had friends visit me when I lived there that only stayed a week and they only got to see the sights in Sydney.
When travelling to the Reef I suggest flying Virgin or Jetstar. They both have great rates. You will love flying in Australia. That is the only real way to get to the various sites and I think they have excellent service. In all of my flights around Oz, I don't think a single flight was delayed (unless it was extremely bad weather).
Great Honeymoon choice!
Thanks for your suggestions. We were thinking about splitting our time between GBR and Sydney.
Sydney:
Brisbane:
So 1 week is pushing it you say? What about 1 1/2 weeks? We just want to make sure we'll have time to adjust to the time change and recover before heading back to the work grind. Maybe i should just speak to a travel agent??? 
I went to Australia when I graduated college about 4 years ago. We flew on Quantas and did the package where you get 3 flights in Australia. We had a layover in Sydney then flew to Cairns (GBF is here too), then we went to Sydney and then Melbourne. We were there a total of 10 days, I wish it wouldve been longer but it was plenty of time. We spent 4 days in Cairnes, 4 in Sydney and 3 in Melbourne. I liked Sydney the best, Melbourne was ehh... Cairnes was very nice but it was VERY VERY humid (we went in February). I would suggest a week and a half - we left from CA and it was 16+ hours to get to Sydney then another 3 to get to Cairnes. With the time change you will want a couple extra days, if only just so you dont get gipped on one of the days when you leave and its Sunday but when you get there its Monday (or the other way around, I forget ha)
for your plans then i would suggest at least 10 days.
sydney:
for kangaroos and koalas, i always take my overseas visitors to Featherdale Wildlife park. its in Doonside/Blacktown and ts about 40mins west of the city (you can do a tour bus or catch a train out there and then a 5min bus ride to the park). why here, because you can touch, feel and hand feed the critters for the family pics (plus emus - their petting areas have lots of baby stuff). but in darling harbour (which is about 12/20mins walk away from the opera house) there is the aquarium and a wildlife zoo (ive not seen this zoo exhibit though) plus we have taronga zoo at mosman - but they dont let you touch the local wildlife
touring around can be as simple as catching a ferry to manly so you get a bit of a cruise while youre at it. if you walk down to circular quay area (on the way to the opera house) you will see lots of outlets offering tour options
GBR, usually to see the reef you day trip out on a cattle boat (divers talk for alot of people onboard) to a pontoon so you dont stay out there longer than a day. Unless you are a scuba diver and then you book a liveaboard trip but if youre not a diver than you wont want to do this.
I would suggest looking into one of the smaller islands off queensland (whitsundays, hamilton, lady elliot ect) so you can have a few days to enjoy and relax
hope this helps
eloping has hit the nail on the head for Sydney. I think 3 days in Syd and then the rest of your time being tropical would be the way to go. It's a cool city but it is a city after all, once you've seen the sights, head up to the beach.
Another option for GBR is Port Douglas. I haven't been but all my firends say it's the place to visit for beachy, tropical vacations. And in addition to going out snorkling in the GBR, you can go into the rainforests from here.
Like the other bees said, I would make your trip at least 10 days total. With the long flights and jet lag, you'll need it to make the most of your trip. (You will lose days coming to Australia and gain time coming home.)
PS I don't know what your budget is but the Hyatt hotel underneath the harbour bridge would be an amazing place to stay in Sydney!!
We are going to Australia and are using a travel agent who specializes in only Australian vacations. They are so fabulous and very nice to work with. Even Oprah has used them! I bet you could find a great package deal on their site. They have a newsletter with great specials you can sign up for too. Here is their site: http://www.downunderendeavours.com/
3 days is the max you'd need in Sydney. But if you're travelling all the way to aus where we're 14 hours ahead of the East cost of USA you need a few days to adjust. It takes a long time to get here, so spend more than a week, please. I woul thoroghly recommend going to teh Whitsundays and staying on one of the islands, or if you want to do teh young backpacker thing, stay in Airlie Beach. The whitsundays are the southern hemisphere's answer to the greek islands. If i could buy a holiday home anywhere in the world it would be on Hamilton Island. I live on theh Gold Coast and it's fun, but you could skip it. The great ocean road and Melbourne are great to check out as well down in Victoria. Good luck
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Wow! Thank you so much for everyone's help and suggestions! I agree 10 days sounds about right. I will definitely look into all the suggested places. Boy, I'm glad I have a year to plan this! Thanks again ladies!
I lived in Australia and it is INCREDIBLE! I would consider going to the Whitsunday Islands and taking a boat out. I saw a post card prior to going to Australia with a picture of them and immediately knew I was going to go there. When I get there, it looked even better than the post cards (the only place I can say that about). Google it online and look for sailing options. It was truly spectacular
Read Bill Bryson's book on Australia (the lost continent) - it is really funny and really interesting and will probably give you some good ideas!
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Hello there!
My FI and I are trying to plan our honeymoon in Australia for October of 2010. I've already read through other posts with recommendations but does anyone have a sample intinerary they could share? We'd like to see the Great Barrier Reef, the infamous opera house, Sydney but now exactly sure about what to do there and how to get there and where to stay. Would 1 week be too short? Yes, we need the whole shabang!
Would really appreciate your input!
Thanks,
D.m Diva