Australia & NZ -3 weeks
 

This will be our first trip to australia and new zealand. We are plannig to visit sometime in dec 2014-jan 2015.
Right now this is what we have planned so far and all your inputs will be appreciated.
Day1- Arrive Sydney
Day 2 &3 - Sydney
Day 4- Blue Mountains
Day 5 - Fly to Cairns
Day 6 - Great Barrier Reef
Day 7 - Kuranda
Day 8 & 9 - Fly to Uluru
Day 10- Sydney
Day 11-17 - In New Zealand we haven't figured out the details yet
Day 18 - Fly back home

You will basically have only one day at Uluru and lots of flying to get there. I think you would be better off leaving Uluru to another holiday and adding another day to Sydney and Cairns. Plus December and January are the worse time to visit Uluru - it will be extremely hot.

What do you want to see in New Zealand?

Lee Ann

I understand it will be hot but we might add a day or 2 more to Uluru instead of waiting it for another trip since we are flying all the way from USA.

We would like some natural beauty and mainly visit auckland.

bookmarking. We are planning a very similar itinerary for Nov. 2014, though probably not NZ. We are also traveling from USA
Have a great trip!

Sounds like you have the framework for a wonderful trip in the works. Your proposed itinerary looks fine, if you don't mind moving around a bit. And if you do, just take one place off your itinerary.

I did something similar to what you're posting a few months ago, with the exception of Cairns / GBR. To read about my trip, just click on my name; the trip report is in the Asia forum.

And I highly recommend making the effort to get to Uluru, and make time for Kata Tjura. If you enjoy hiking, you're in for a real treat.

Given you've only got 6 days in NZ I'd recommend flying directly into queenstown. Make sure you take a day trip to Milford sound and there is plenty to see around queenstown for the rest of your time - wanaka, arrowtown, Glenorchy, if possible heli to the glaciers (Franz / fox).

An alternate if you don't mind driving (~700km at a time) is flying into Christchurch, picking up a car and driving across Lewis pass to punakaiki. The drive from punakaiki to grey mouth is one of the nicest in NZ (te anua to Milford would be the best). Stay somewhere then drive to Franz Josef glacier (stay). While in Franz you can go to the two glaciers as well as lake matheson (mirror lake - most of the photos of the southern alps are taken here). You'll need two nights. After this leave Franz via haast pass to wanaka (stay), then head on to queenstown for the duration of your stay - make sure you do a day trip to Milford sound).

Have fun,

Rachel

Ps, the reason I suggested queenstown is the scenery around sydney (rolling hills / awesome beaches) is more like the rest of NZ...

Austtalian Outback in Jan a very bad idea, average temp 50 degrees C, you will not be doing any hiking. Tasmania will give you beautiful countryside plus good weather as will any of the Southern parts of the country at that time of year.

I personally avoid travel within Australia Dec-March. It can be incredibly hot (wouldn't dream of Uluru that time of year, hotter than the hinges of hell).

Many Aussies will be traveling though, as it's school holidays, and therefore prices will be even higher than usual in beach locations.

I also prefer NZ in the cooler months, but it'll be much cooler there than in AUS.

PS - I also think it's a bad idea to visit both AUS and NZ with only 18 days, you'll spend most of your time in transit.

Auckland doesn't equal 'natural beauty'. It's a city. Head to the South Island - beauty galore.