3 Weeks in Austriala and New Zealand
 

Hi,

My spouse and I are planning to go to Australia and New Zealand for three weeks mid May. I am wondering if our itinerary is too ambitious.

Day 1 - Travel from Canada
Day 2 - Still Flying
Day 3 - Land in Auckland
Day 4 - Auckland - Skyjump, see the city
Day 5 Auckland - Day Trip for LOtR and Caves
Day 6 - Fly to Wellington from Auckland
Day 7 - Wellington - LOtR Tour
Day 8 - Fly to Queenstown from Wellington
Day 9 - Queenstown - Daytrip Milford Sound
Day 10 - Queenstown - Bungee Jumping
Day 11 - Fly to Cairns from Queenstown
Day 12 - Cairns - Snorkeling
Day 12 - Fly to Ayer Rock from Cairns
Day 13 - Ayer Rock
Day 14 - Ayer Rock/Kings Canyon
Day 15 - Fly to Sydney from Ayer Rock
Day 16 - Sydney
Day 17 - Sydney
Day 18 - Sydney - Daytrip to Blue Mountain
Day 19 - Sydney
Day 20 - Sydney
Day - Fly Back Home

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Too little time for Cairns and Uluru (if you are going to try to include a trip to Kings Canyon.)

You are only leaving yourself one day for Cairns. Not only does that not give you enough time in the area to enjoy other attractions such as Daintree, Kuranda, Port Douglas and Mossman Gorge, but it also may mean you miss out on snorkeling if the weather is not good that one day.

The drive from Uluru to Kings Canyon is 4 hours. Since you can't drive those roads safely before dawn or after sunset (animals on the roads), a trip to Kings Canyon requires an overnight stay. There may be tour companies that offer this as a day trip, but it would be pretty rushed and a LOT of time on a bus. Two nights at Uluru will give you enough time to see both Uluru and Kata Tjuta.

You could also cut one day from the Sydney portion of your trip. Three days in Sydney and a day trip to the Blue Mountains should be sufficient.

Thus, cutting a day each from your Uluru and Sydney itineraries gives you 3 days in Cairns. That's the bare minimum I would recommend for a visit there--four to five days would be better.

<I am wondering if our itinerary is too ambitious.

That would be a YES.

My suggestion would be to focus on one country rather than do blitzes of two. If you want to sample both, perhaps think of two destinations in each country or do Australia plus Queenstown or New Zealand plus Sydney. 4 nights in Sydney would give you a good intro although I could easily do 7.

I'm exhausted just reading it! Australia is a huge place -about the size of the United States minus Alaska. New Zealand is long and skinny and more than 2000 km away from Australia. Slow down and re think the whole trip.
Day 4 is almost relaxing, Day 5 you are off in a 12 hours bus trip, Day 6 flying to Wellington which is only a 1 hour flight but you still have to get to the airport, check in etc.
Day 11 for Cairns is not worth going there at all. If you want to snorkel on the Outer Reef it's a 3 hour boat trip from Port Douglas. It's about a 9 hour flight from Queenstown and you have to go through Sydney or Auckland so add transit time, 2 hours checking in time for international flight etc and a whole day has have gone.
Add a day or two to each stop in New Zealand, fly from Queenstown to Sydney and explore there. Sydney is great - there is so much to do.

Have you looked at specific flights & flying times? And factored in the time differences between NZ & Australia?

Your NZ itinerary looks like an excerpt from "the great race".

Good advice about Cairns & the GBR, and Uluru - Kings Canyon.

I'm not trying to dissuade you - just trying to inject a little reality & feasibility into your planning.

Yes, way too ambitious. You have no down time factored in which I guess some people don't want but you will probably have jetlag between countries.

I'd say concentrate on one country only, there is heaps to see in each place. Or, visit both but cut out one place (at least) in each. Have a think about what appeals to you most and do that. The rest will still be here for a future trip. I think the pace you suggest is not appealing at all, especially flying all the way to Cairns to snorkel for a day, but that's me. It may be doable but is it enjoyable?

Kay

Hi Everyone,

Appreciate the feedback and the reality check.

We have revised the plan to:

Day 1 - Travel from Canada
Day 2 - Still Flying
Day 3 - Land in Auckland
Day 4 - Auckland - Skyjump, see the city
Day 5 Auckland - Day Trip for LOtR and Caves
Day 6 - Fly to Queens town from Auckland
Day 7 - Queenstown - Daytrip Milford Sound
Day 8 - Queenstown - Bungee Jumping
Day 9 - Fly to Cairns from Queenstown
Day 10 - Cairns
Day 11 - Cairns
Day 12 - Cairns
Day 12 - Fly to Ayers Rock from Cairns
Day 13 - Ayers Rock
Day 14 - Ayers Rock
Day 15 - Ayers Rock - Daytrip to Kings Canyon
Day 16 - Fly to Sydney from Ayer Rock
Day 17 - Sydney
Day 18 - Sydney
Day 19 - Sydney - Daytrip to Blue Mountain
Day 20 - Sydney
Day 21 - Sydney
Day 22- Fly Back Home


I'd love to just see Australia or just see New Zealand but that's not going to happen on this trip. Maybe in our second and third trip after we have kids, we'll slow the pace down :)

This is an improvement from your prior iteration. My suggestion would be to overnight at Kings Canyon. You could probably take a night from Sydney to do that and still get a good intro of the city; make sure you get out on the harbor. As for your day trip out of Auckland, perhaps think about a day trip closer to the city instead of LotR and Waitomo; Waiheke Island is a good day out.