lisa

Bill Simpson: Appreciated the information in your post & would like more details about your trip. We will be in Sydney (3 days), Palm Cove/Port Douglas (4 days), and the south island of NZ (7 days) in November (I wish we had 2 months instead of 2 weeks!). Can you tell me what were the highlights of your trip? Any recommendations, especially for the south island of NZ, would be great (we are starting in Christchurch and ending in Queenstown). Thanks.

jill

Dave,<BR>I am simply amazed that no one has suggested David Armbrust's Natural History Safari. If you love animals, you'll love David's tour. He takes only 4 people on either a half day or full day tour. It was a memorable experience for our family. His website is www.anhs.com

Bill Simpson

Hi Dave & Lisa. We did stay in Sydney for 6 days (not enought)& loved it. We stayed at the Rydges Wentworth Hotel which was a nice hotel with a great location just a few minutes walk to the Circular Quay and the Royal Botanic Gardens. Hyde Park, Queen Victoria Building, & Macquarie St (lots of history) are nearby. I don't know exactly what your interests are but we love to walk so we did a lot of foreshore walks. There is so much to see in that city. You may want to do the Harbor Bridge Climb or at least walk the bridge. For sure you have to do The Rocks/Opera House area. Have a brew at the Lord Nelson Brewery or Hero of Waterloo pubs (atmosphere). If you are there during the George St Market have lunch & a brew at the Mercantile on George St (more atmosphere). You order lunch from the guy in the kitchen. He takes your money, cooks the meal, serves it, & probably also does the dishes - it's pretty good too and the Market is right outside the door. We were there during St Patrick's Day & it was wild. We did the 6 mile foreshore walk to Manly (the beach is nice) & took the ferry back to Circular Quay. You must get on the water in that harbor - it's beautiful. Lots of beaches in the area. We only did Manly & Bondi but there are many more just as good. From the Wentworth you could easily walk to The Rocks, do the bridge, then walk around Circular Quay entering the Royal Botanic Gardens past the Opera House, through the gardens, to Harry on Wheels at Woolloomooloo for a bite, up to Hyde Park & Macquarie St before refreshing at the hotel to hit it again. We thought the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney was the best we saw on our trip, without question. Take a ferry over to Watson Bay for dinner at Doyles. Darling harbor also has some fine dining facilities. You mentioned nightlife & Sydney doesn't lack for it -it's there. I could go on & on about Sydney but enough. We wish we would have had more time in New Zealand - a beautiful place also. On the south island we spent 3 days in Christchurch and it was great - a very beautiful city. I would recommend 2 days in Christchurch, a couple of days on the road to Queenstown (maybe Dunedin), finishing up your time in Queenstown. We stayed at the Copthorne on Durham St but I would recommend the Rydges there too - a great location right at Cathedral Square & it looked good too. The square is at the center with the gardens nearby. There is an old ex-university near the botanic gardens which was very interesting. We did not do the train to the other coast which I understand is nice but we did take the shuttle to Akaroa for a day. It's a very quaint French settled village. The French Connection or the Akaroa Shuttle both go there for a reasonable fee. I would recommend the day trip. We would have liked to have gone to Queenstown and/or Wellington but I had to come back sometime. Christchurch is not a great place for nightlife but it's getting there. I think you will find a more varied nightlife in Queenstown. We spoke with some folks from New Zealand when we in Australia and they said if you haven't been to Queenstown & Wellington, you haven't seen New Zealand. We opted to do Auckland which didn't impress me but it does have a few features mainly being a base for exploring the surrounding areas. The Bay of Islands were beautiful. This was going to be our one & only trip to Australia and New Zealand. Now we talking about a future trip to see some of what we missed & to see some of the same things again. I bet you will feel the same way once you see these places you are going to see. It's your honeymoon, so I don't know if you will be doing all the walking we did but do the ferry rides & get Explorer bus tickets if you don't and have a ball. I think you made a great choice for a honeymoon location. Like me, you're going to want to go back. Have a good safe trip.

Ivan

Lisa, We spent 2 weeks in New Zealand two years ago and wished we could stay longer. You are right to skip the North Island, it is not as beautiful as the South Island. We started our tour in Queenstown and ended up in Bays of Island. We did lots of things we didn't expect to do, like whitewater rafting in Queenstown ( chickened out on Bunjee jumping though), whale watching in Kaikura, helicopter flight over Frank Josef Glacier and Mt. Cook, cruise in Milford Sound and swimming with dophins in Bays of islands. It was one of our best holidays (the other was South Africa). We stayed at Rydges in Queenstown. The hotel has a lovely location, by the lake. I spent hours sitting by the window just watching the lake. It was so beautiful. Queenstown is very lively with many good restaurants and cafes, and a very good base to explore surounding region. Milford Sound is a must. If you have a night to spare, take the overnight cruise. Most tourists do day trip from Queenstown, so it can be crowded during the day. If you do the cruise, you'll appreciate it even more when all the day trippers have gone. We skipped all the cities as we lived in London and have seen enough big cities in our life time, so we hired a car and drove and stopped whenever we fancied. In some places we visited, we were the only people there. It was magical. We were whispering to each other in the fear we might spoil the magic.<BR><BR>If you have time to make your way up as far as Marlborough region, don't miss the visit to the wineries. Many wineries have restaurants attached and they're good too. Don't forget to stock up your booze, most restaurants in NZ allow you to bring your own wine and NZ has the best Sauvingon Blanc in the world! We bought some from Cloudy Bay, the famous wine-maker, and finished the whole lot even before we left NZ. <BR><BR>If you plan to drive (the driving is a piece of cake, hardly any vehicle on the road apart from many flatten posoms), drive along the west coast of the island, it is more dramatic and scenic than the east. <BR><BR>To get a taste of this magical and beautiful country, go and see 'The lord of the Rings', the film was filmed there, and you'll know what I mean. Enjoyed your trip.<BR><BR><BR>

Ivan

Carolynne and Matt, thank you for your information.

Melodie

Wow...so much info to process! All good suggestions.....I'd like to add another...I am an Aussie and Kiwi Specialist and have stayed at Silky Oaks - lovely lovely property! While I haven't stayed there (YET) I've sent tons of clients to the Sebel Reef House in Palm Cove and everyone has loved it...note: get the Verandah room!<BR><BR>Melodie

Dave

My wife and I just returned from our honeymoon in Australia and I wanted to thank everybody who gave us recommendations. We had the time of our lives. We stayed on Hayman Island for 5 days and spent 8 days in Port Douglas. Hayman was absolutely beautiful. Everything about the island was first class. It is a perfect place to escape and just relax. The food was great and the staff was even better. The pool was truly amazing. I would highly recommend Hayman.<BR><BR>As good as Hayman was, Port Douglas was even better. Port had a completely different feel from Hayman. There was much more activity and things to do. We stayed at the Sheraton Mirage and we had a nice stay. Coming from Hayman the rooms at the Sheraton seemed a little outdated, but the overall resort was great. The pool area was beautiful and the location on Four Mile beach was perfect. We fell in love with the city of Port Douglas. Every single meal we had there was delicious. I would highly recommend On the Inlet. The people there were very friendly and the atmosphere was fun and romantic at the same time. Mel the waiter made us feel right at home. Make sure to go there for happy hour (5:30)where you get to meet "George" the Gropper. Other restaurants we enjoyed were nautilus, Sassi, and Salsa. All these are located in the town. The food was the best I have ever eaten. In regards to activities, we went to the reef on Calypso and had a wonderful time. There was about 30 people on board and the crew was great. We went to Kuranda via the train and the skyrail. We hit the Daintree and Cape Trib with Personal Adventures. We also went to the Rainforest Habitat and had a great time feeding the kangaroo's and the Koalas. I would recommend all of the above for a great time. The best part about our vacation was meeting all the Australian people. We could not believe how friendly and helpful they were. We were there for two weeks and did not have one negative experience. The Australian people are one of a kind and we can not wait until we can head back there again. Thank you all once again for all your help in planning our vacation. It everything we had hoped for and much more.