Info about birding in Australia

Hi everybody,

I am a Norwegian birder living in the Sultanate of Oman, and I am soon to go for
 a birding holiday in Australia. As this is my very first trip to your part of
 the world, would anyone be interested in providing me some sort of information
 about the following:

-- Cairns (Oct 15 - 24)
-- Sydney (Oct 24 - 31)
-- Brisbane (Oct 31 - Nov 6)

I do have Thomas' book of finding Australian birds, and a few older trip
 reports.
If someone has too much time!, and would be interested in going birding for a
 day / afternoon, that would of course be very interesting!

Latest Oman news: Cape Petrel (1st), Olive-tree Warbler (1st), Crested Honey
 Buzzard (2nd),
Painted Snipe (5th), Lilac-breasted Roller (1st).

Good birding, and thank you very much for a reply!!

Sincerely,
Kolbjorn Schjolberg.