I live on the Great Ocean Road between Melbourne and Adelaide, near the 12 Apostles! In July/August you're looking at daytime temperatures around 14 C and just above freezing at night in this area, plus lots of rain. Queensland and NSW, however, will not be as cold, and it's not fire or cyclone season. It's not the best time to see Melbourne and Adelaide (unless you like cool, rainy weather and winds from the Antarctic, which I do!), but it is absolutely the best time to see Sydney and Queensland. And Uluru.
Because the capitals are so far apart (except for Canberra and Sydney) most people go to one area, explore, then fly to the next - even family holidays are taken by plane for a lot of people. Taking internal flights is a good idea if you're going to be time-poor. There's overnight trains between Melbourne and Sydney which are pretty comfortable, too, much better than the bus.
Our public transport in tourist areas and the inner cities, and between major cities is pretty good, everywhere else it's crap (and my region has a lot of accidents with tourists getting tired and driving on the wrong side of the road, so I think you're doing the right thing avoiding driving!) There's plenty of daytrips to places on buses, and there's a lot of natural beauty in the cities and within an hour's trip outside. The entire Queensland coast is well set-up for travellers if you're heading that way.
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Because the capitals are so far apart (except for Canberra and Sydney) most people go to one area, explore, then fly to the next - even family holidays are taken by plane for a lot of people. Taking internal flights is a good idea if you're going to be time-poor. There's overnight trains between Melbourne and Sydney which are pretty comfortable, too, much better than the bus.
Our public transport in tourist areas and the inner cities, and between major cities is pretty good, everywhere else it's crap (and my region has a lot of accidents with tourists getting tired and driving on the wrong side of the road, so I think you're doing the right thing avoiding driving!) There's plenty of daytrips to places on buses, and there's a lot of natural beauty in the cities and within an hour's trip outside. The entire Queensland coast is well set-up for travellers if you're heading that way.