Tour of Australia and New Zealand

Parent Cafe
1

<p>My folks and several of adult kids are thinking of going together on a tour for 2-3 weeks of Australia and New Zealand. Anyone have experiences or recommendations with great tour companies? Thanks. Neither H nor I have used tour companies but suspect this is the easiest way to travel with my parents and siblings.</p>

<p>In the past our folks have often been given complimentary Tauk tours. They are thinking of more affordable options since they will pay for this travel in their own.</p>

2

<p>2-3 weeks is nowhere near long enough to see all of Australia & NZ, and so you are going to have to be very selective in terms of where you go. Australia is a very big place, and I don’t think you truly come to appreciate how big it is until you get there. I did all of East Coast & Red Centre Australia in 6 months - not that you have to take that long, but I honestly don’t think that you can do even the East Coast justice in less than 5-6 weeks. </p>

<p>I’d seriously consider sticking to Australia or NZ, personally.</p>

3

<p>DH and I did only the south island of NZ for two weeks, and it was just enough time for that area. NZ is very outdoorsy so I hope you are all in reasonable shape. Lots of walking and “trekking.”</p>

4

<p>I agree with boomting that two weeks is not enough time to see both places. Personally, I’d pick either Australia or NZ and concentrate on that one. My ds did study abroad in NZ, spending the bulk of that on the North Island. When they got a one-week break, most went to the South Island to do fun stuff – bungee jump, giant zip lines, etc. I have a good friend who did several weeks in NZ with her dh and they changed their whole itinerary to cut weeks off Australia in order to spend more in NZ. And then they got to Australia and wish they had more weeks there, too.</p>

<p>That said, I remember doing Italy in six days on a tour. I didn’t want the personal hassle of trying to set up lots of travel in a foreign language so we did the bus thing. I would love to go back on my own, but the tours are fabulous about allowing you to see a lot in a short period. A couple of times we told the group adios and went our own way, however.</p>

5

<p>I would also recommend choosing either Australia or New Zealand. We went to Australia about two years ago, and when I first began to plan the trip, I was determined to do both. After looking at everything I wanted to do and the travel times between those places, I had to lower my expectations. (It had to be Australia, as we were going in connection with a business trip for DH.) We divided our time between Sidney, the area surrounding Melbourne, and the area surrounding Cairns/Great Barrier Reef. We didn’t use a tour company, but I did look at the itineraries from some tour companies to get ideas about how to structure our time. Have fun–we loved our trip!</p>

6

<p>If you want to see both countries, I’d suggest that you pop by your favorite travel agency and/or local AAA office, and just pick up a bunch of tour brochures. There are packages that include exactly what you are proposing here. After you’ve looked at the various options, contact the organizations, and get more details. With a group as large as the one you have described, many agencies will be able to put together a tour designed to your specs. For Australia, you can find out if there are any “Certified Aussie Specialists” in your area. [Find</a> a Travel Agent for Your Australian Holiday](<a href=“404 : Page not found - Tourism Australia”>404 : Page not found - Tourism Australia) Most of them will also be able to help you find a package that includes NZ.</p>

<p>When we went to Australia, I met with an Aussie Specialist to develop a preliminary plan, but ended up booking everything independently (which saved several thousand dollars because we opted for cheaper hotels and car rentals). The $100 consultation fee that would have been discounted from our final ticketing costs was well worth paying for the huge amount of guidance that I received. </p>

<p>If you PM me an email address, I can dig through my files and find my notes about the trip and send them to you. We were in Australia for a full month.</p>

7

<p>We only had 10 days in Australia, and planned our trip just like shyparental unit. My husband had business in Sydney, but we also visited Melbourne and Cairns. My favorite experience was snorkeling along the Great Barrier Reef. That area, with the rainforest, was our favorite, and renting a car and driving on “the other side of the road” was no problem. </p>

<p>Melbourne was our second favorite area, with an amazing botatnical garden. We also loved seeing the Phillip Island penguins, 90 minutes from Melbourne. We used a tour company for this day trip, which included a koala refuge, and a kangaroo farm. </p>

<p>We did the Sydney Bridge Climb and toured the Opera House. Melbourne and Sydney have excellent public transportation.</p>

8

<p>If we’re going onto the specifics of places not to miss in Australia (can’t comment on NZ, never been) for those on a restricted budget, then I would say that

  • Sydney is lovely - Opera House, Harbour Bridge (you can climb it but personally I don’t think it’s worth the money) and Bondi to Coogee coastal walk were my highlights.
  • Gold Coast is entirely skippable - there’s nothing to do unless you want to lie on a beach, get drunk or go to a theme park, all of which can be done perfectly well elsewhere in Australia / in the US.
  • Brisbane isn’t worth seeing - there are no tourist attractions beyond the XXXX Brewery and the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. If you’re on a tight schedule, skip it.
  • Fraser Island is not to be missed. I’d suggest a 3 day 2 night trip (but do avoid the ones aimed at backpackers as you’re travelling with family).
  • Whitsunday Island are gorgeous. Most people go out on a boat trip from Airlie Beach. You could conceivably hire a whole boat for your group. You can dive the Great Barrier Reef on these trips (and truth be told, I saw better coral on my Whitsundays trip than my trip out from Cairns, and yes, I found Nemo!). Do try to rent a dive camera to take with you. Hill Inlet is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places I have ever been.
  • Cairns as a town is nothing special, and if it wasn’t for the dive boats then there wouldn’t be many tourists at all
  • Cape Tribulation / Daintree Rainforest has some nice rainforest, but I wouldn’t recommend spending more than a day there.
  • The ‘Red Centre’ (Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Kings Canyon) is lovely. However, for those with mobility issues there’s a limit to what can be seen without a modicum of hiking. IMHO Uluru is vastly overrated, whilst Kata Tjuta is vastly underrated (I’m a staunch atheist, but visiting Kata Tjuta was the one time in my life that I felt something probably best described as spiritual - I don’t quite know how to describe it, but there is something about it). Kings Canyon is pretty good too. Allow 3 days to do all three. </p>

<p>Given the sheer size of it, overlanding is not going to be realistic for much of your trip, so check out low cost domestic flight options like Tiger Airways and Jetstar (I’ve flown with Jetstar and can recommend them).</p>

9

<p>Ok, asked sibs and its looking like the trip will only be H and me with my folks. None of the others can take 3 weeks off, despite their earlier statements of interest. My folks do best with tours, since that is their comfort zone. Tauk is said to be one of the best touring companies, so we look like we will be using them.</p>