A month in Hobart? And a lot of equally open ended questions about 3 months in Australia/NZ and other points Jan-Mar 07 (long)
 

I'm late starting our planning for Jan-Mar next year - and find myself swimming in a sea of possibilities.

Last year my husband and I spent 11 weeks in South America comprised of

- 3 weeks in Peru (Machu Picchu/Lake Titicaca)
- 4 weeks in Galapagos in a rented house (one week on a cruise)
- 4 weeks in Chile - combo of a week in Santiago, Ushuaia and a cruise, Puerto Montt/Lake District and Easter Island

While the above was a lot of travel the mid 4 week "anchor" in the Galapagos was great so I'm thinking of constructing our 12 weeks in Australia/NZ/other Asian points in a similar fashion.

We've always been interested in visiting Tasmania and now I'm wondering if it could be our 4 week stay. Or maybe that should be NZ?

We want to spend time in mainland Australia (is that what it's called?) - Ayer's Rock, GBR, Sydney, etc but want to avoid the heat of January (OK, I'm leaving Toronto winter but don't need 40 degrees C as compensation!) - what's Jan/Feb weather in Hobart like?

Then other points in Asia - my list is so long at this point

- China - Great Wall, Terracotta Army
- Cambodia - Angkor Watt
- Vietnam
- Tokyo? Hong Kong?

Or save all that for 2009?

And then there's the whole question of biting the bullet and buying a RTW ticket and keep going west - stopping in India and London on our way home.

Usually I hate posts like this - fishing expditions! - and here I am doing one......but any comments are welcome at this point!

I should point out that the long list of points in Asia will be winnowed down to 2 - we wouldn't attempt all that in one trip!

As with Toronto in summer Tasmania can get the odd hot day or two but mainly the weather will be about 25Celcuis or thereabouts - that is not to say it cannot get a bit cold either as there was a time some years ago when hikers died in a blizzard at Cradle Mountain on Boxing day ( middle of summer ) but that is VERY unusual. If you wanted a relaxing, outdoor holiday then Tasmania would be the pick because there is so much to see but perhaps you may like to make it a half and half holiday using part of it in NZ and part in Tassie as there are direct flights anyway. If you start looking you may find some apartment accommodation in Tasmania for a few weeks and that would set you right up for a great time. Make sure that you are in Hobart for the Sydney to Hobart Boxing Day yacht race as that is a really lovely to see all the yachts comeing into port.
Although Sydney too has its hot days it is usually not too bad either in summer (average about 28 deg C ) and neither is most of the eastern seaboard of Australia because of sea breezes its only when you get inland that the temps rise significantly.

If you were spending 2-3 months to see canada would you use Halifax as a base?

Hi Elizabeth,

We're from just N. of Peterborough, Buckhorn!

I admire your ambition. We did three months in Oz in 2001 and then combined six weeks in SE Asia with another five weeks in Oz in 2003. This year we are going to NZ and the Cook Islands for two months.

After a few long trips we have found three months to be just a bit too long for us.

In 2001 we travelled around for two months and then rented a beachfront 'unit' in Coolum Beach, Qld. for four weeks. On that trip we visited Sydney, Heron Island, Brisbane (rellies) and Tasmania. On our 2003 trip we did Adelaide, GOR, Melbourne, Sydney again (love Sydney) and Lord Howe Island. We had hoped to get to Uluru but it didn't pan out. (Next time!)

In 2001 we were in Tassie in early March and it snowed! Not like TO snow in March, but snow all the same. A lot of rain too. We loved Tasmania but I don't think we'd choose to spend a month in Hobart, depends what you like.

What an interesting idea to rent a house in Galapagos! We were there in 2005 and loved it - just did the cruise though.

Happy to provide more info if I can.

Cheers,
Lin

As much as I think Tasmania is nice, i wouldn't base there for a month. Actually, even though I'm aussie, if I was basing for 4 weeks, I'd probably base in NZ - similar to Tas in that it's easy to get around and lots to see, but I think you get more variety. You could do 2 weeks nth island, 2 weeks south island (or 1.5/2.5)

Hi there - stopping for somewhere for a month sounds really sane if you don't want to be on the go all the time. I've never been to the Galapagos but imagine what we would be talking about there is at-home days and trips to nature-based attractions. You could do that from Hobart but bear in mind that Tassie, though small compared to the "main island" is still quite a big place. There's a huge variety of places to go, and things to see, but not many that would be sensible to do as day trips. But if you are happy to pay twice for accommodation - keep the base in Hobart, but spend nights away - then why not? But it certainly isn't a good base if you want to see other places in Australia. The best place for that would be Sydney! - much to see on the same basis as Tassie (nights away) but a much better hub for flights elsewhere (book early with virgin or jetstar).
Sure, Syd can be hot in Jan (though last New Years' Day temp of 44C was a record and VERY unusual).

Jan is school holiday time in both NZ and Oz which might make finding self catering/unit accomm more competitive.

As for a RTW - and keep going west - you will eventually find yourselves in Europe after quite a long flight - does that appeal? If no, but you would be happy to keep straight on home, then loads of options flying via BKK from where it is an easy hop to Siem Reap for Anghor - imho far more mind blowing that the Great Wall or Terracotta Warriors (though I loved Xian).

BKK to Indian entry airports not a common routing and could be expensive. But jan-march a good time to visit.

Happy planning.

Thanks for everyone's comments - it's very helpful.

I'm immersing myself in trip reports now and will have many more questions to post in the next couple of weeks.