bornintheusa

Just starting to plan an October 2015 trip but need the logistics of where to fly into and out of . Have 4 weeks to do both countries. We want to visit the Port Douglas area, Sydney and Melbourne in Australia. In NZ we would like to do a driving loop in the southern part of NZ that encompasses churchchrist, Te Anau, Franz Josef and Queenstown.

Is it more cost and time efficient to fly into one of the larger cities like Sydney and then take Virgin Australia/Jetstar to the other places and then fly out of Sydney or maybe even New Zealand. Or is it feasible to rent a car and drive down/up in Australia??

Again, just in the planning stages and need to figure out the travel logistics for a smooth trip without backtracking too much.

Melnq8

For the South Island NZ bit I'd allow 12-14 days.

Possible routing Christchurch-Arthur's Pass-Franz Josef-Wanaka (what no Wanaka?)-Te Anau-Queenstown.

I've found this drive distance calculator fairly accurate, but keep in mind it doesn't allow any time to explore en route. I'd add several hours to each of the estimated times to allow for stops, meals and short walks en route.

http://www.aatravel.co.nz/main/time-...calculator.php

Regarding flights, you can fly direct from LAX and SFO to Auckland (then connect to Christchurch). The advantage of flying to Sydney first is that you can fly from SYD directly to Christchurch, whereas you'd have to connect in Auckland otherwise. But you'd then have to return from Auckland for international departure from NZ, so probably a moot point.

I think you'll find prices quite similar unless you stumble upon a sale. I suggest you sign up for Air NZ (and other airlines) e-mail so you're advised of sales. In my experience flights on Air NZ to/from the US to Auckland are cheaper on Tue and Wed.

Personally, I'd fly into OZ first, as the later you go to NZ, the better your chances for warm weather. Likewise, the later you go to OZ, the hotter it gets, and it can get quite
warm in OZ, even that time of year.

If you fly into Christchurch and out of Queenstown you can save driving back to Christchurch, but should you be interested in the Mt Cook area, I'd suggest driving back to CHC from QT via Mt Cook. That way you'd have made a driving loop and covered most of the first time highlights of the SI. For this you'd probably want the entire 14 days.

One of our OZ experts will likely chime in to answer your specific OZ questions.

longhorn55

Since you want to make a 4-week trip beginning in October, I would start your trip in Australia and head to Port Douglas first. The reasons for starting in PD include: 1) it's a good place to get over your jet lag, 2) water conditions on the Reef are generally excellent in October and 3) the later you delay your visit to PD, the closer you are to stinger season. (The stinger season runs from November to May.) From PD, you can continue to Melbourne and Sydney where you should encounter fine spring weather. And, as Melnq8 says, you'll want to delay your visit to NZ as late as you can for the best chance of warmer weather.

Kwaussie

You'll need to fly internally PD to Sydney & Sydney to Melbourne. It's far too far to drive. If you plan ahead you should be able to pick up cheap domestic flights. Just be sure to include baggage allowances on the flights you book.

bornintheusa

Thank you for the info--looks like I will plan to do Australia first, flying into Sydney and then flying out to PD to get rid of that jet lag. How much time should we spend there--thought maybe a day trip or 2--Daintree NP is there but are there any other must do's in that area

annhig

hi, bornintheusa,

the trip that you are talking about is not dissimilar to the one that we did last year, except that we had 5 weeks to do PD [5 nights] Brisbane [5 nights] NZ [17 nights, 14 on the SI] and Sydney [5 nights]. Though I'm not saying it can't be done, I think that you are going to find it tough to do the itinerary you have planned in 4 weeks.

if you were going to go straight from Sydney to Cairns, booking a through-flight light be better than using a separate air-line - if there are delays then the airline has to sort out the onward travel whereas if you book it separately, they have no obligations to do so. it might also be a good idea to explore whether you could fly direct to Queenstown [SI] from Sydney or Melborne - i think that the latter may be possible.

if you click on my screen name, you can see what we did in PD [haven't done the NZ or Sydney bits yet!] as you will be going there first and will want to recover from the journey, i think that 5 nights there would not be too much.

have fun planning!

longhorn55

Having made many trips to Port Douglas, I would recommend spending at least 5 - 7 days there. (With 7 days, you can do more relaxing on the beach and/or snorkeling trips.) Also, while you won't need a car everyday, you may find it more economical to rent a car so you don't have to pay for transfers between Cairns and PD. You could then use the rental car to do a self-guided tour of Daintree and to drive yourself to Mossman Gorge, the Wildlife Habitat in PD and either to Kuranda itself or to the Skyrail and/or train station to Kuranda.

Here's a sample of things to do in PD. The order you do them doesn't matter.

One day--GBR snorkel trip
One day--Daintree NP tour (self or guided)
One day--Breakfast with the Birds at Wildlife Habitat in morning and afternoon at Mossman Gorge
One day--Trip to Kuranda via rental car, Skyrail or train/Skyrail combo
One day--Relaxing on beach and shopping in PD

bornintheusa

Thanks Annhig and Longhorn55--liked the idea of booking a straight thru to Sydney/Cairns so will look into that....and what a great idea of a rental car for Port Douglas to use for day trips and also to avoid the transfers from Cairns to PD.

bornintheusa

Thinking about seeing Fox Glacier and Franz Joseph--is one better than the other--are they something you can visit without taking an excursion/boat trip?? not sure if we should get there via Arthurs pass and down the coast or up through Haast Pass on the 6 out of Queenstown. Trying to pare down driving times. Seeing on the forums there is not much up north by Arthurs Pass/Greymouth

Melnq8

Fox and Franz are quite similar - the township of Franz has more on offer; more cafes, more accommodation, easier access to Okarito. Fox township is much smaller and has easier access to Lake Matheson.

From a glacier perspective, you can easily walk to the terminal face of both, no tour necessary. The walk to Franz takes about 90 minutes return, the walk to Fox about an hour.

You can see both glaciers and Lake Matheson in a day if you plan well - including the ~45 minutes of backtracking needed to see both from one base.

At the time of my last visit (2013) only one of the glaciers was open to guided tours, due to the other being dangerous. I can't ever remember which one though, so you'd do best to check.

There's only one way to reach the glaciers, regardless of direction, and that's via SH 6, so it really doesn't matter if you come from the north or the south, same road.