dewdropsvt

Hi there
My parents and I are considering a trip to Australia and the pacific this coming summer July-Aug. We hope to spend a month traveling around. I am looking for suggestions on time spent and where to visit. I know that we definitely would like to visit Australia (Sidney and Barrier Reef are required) as well as New Zealand and possibly Fiji. As I began to explore the internet for ideas, I was overwhelmed and excited by all the other possible places to visit (Tahiti, Bora Bora, Easter Island, etc.)
We will do some diving while we are there, but we are definitely not looking for a dive trip... My parents aren't overly active so they would not be up for a lot of hiking as well. Typically we enjoy driving adventures, food, culture, sights, nature/wildlife, etc.
Any thoughts about destinations, amount of time to spend in each, can't miss sights, etc would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

northie

the area you are looking at is vast eg Easter island is farfar from Australia.
Also look at guide books eg lonely Planet to see what highlights appeal to you.
You need to do some independent searching to look at distances and decide what is the most important thing or place you wish to do /go to and then add in extras that fit in with your time and distances

Melnq8

You'll want to consider the weather too - July and Aug are winter down here. The water is cold year round, but really, really cold in July & Aug.

Peteralan

Years go I put together an around the Pacific trip travelling with Air Canada and Malaysian Airlines. That may no longer exist but I am sure you could look at options with ,for example, Star Alliance and One World.

annhig

Hi dewdrop,

yes the area you are looking at is vast. last Nov/Dec we did a 5 week trip which gave us 11 nights in OZ, split between Northern Queensland and Brisbane, then 2 1/2 weeks touring NZ, followed by 5 nights in Sydney.

That was a nice balance between longer stops and touring. if you are flying between places you need to take into account the time you need to recover from the flight, settle in, etc.

mareeS55

July/Aug is perfect for visiting the south Pacific and tropical northern Australia. However, NZ is in deep cold snowy mid-winter in these months, and southern parts of Australia, including Sydney, are also in the middle of winter, though not as severe as NZ.

For sun/sea, tropical NQ (Cairns/Port Douglas) is very nice at that time of year, and the Pacific Islands are out of the cyclone season and not yet into the hard tradewinds that start in Sept/Oct. In the western Pacific we have spent quite a bit of time in Vanuatu, Noumea, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga and the Cook Islands, and also around Tahiti and the Marquesas. Any of those in July/Aug wouldn't disappoint you. There are easy flight connections from Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland.

A month would allow you several days in and around Sydney, a 3hr flight to Cairns and several days there and around the GBR, fly via Brisbane to Auckland NZ for a few days (similar weather to Sydney) and from there take your pick of Pacific islands, as Auckland has flight connections to just about all of them.

For most of the island nations 3-4 days is enough unless you do something like the Blue Lagoon cruise out of Fiji, which is a nice few days on a boat around the outer islands.

There's plenty of information out there about these places. Good luck and happy travels.