Cruising Australia and New Zealand
 

We live in the US and are enjoying the opportunity to travel now that we are retired. Our problem is that it becomes overwhelming, deciding where to stay and what to do while there. Somehow it seems that we are never sure if we have gathered enough info and how to make decisions. We have found that we have enjoyed our trips the most when we have followed a mix of recommendations combined with what we find researching ourselves.

Visiting with a travel agent we came away with the suggestion to do tours. Some would be guided and leave time on our own. Have others found this enjoyable? This would be new for us, we have always been totally independent travelers.

Which brings us up to our next big trip. We have booked a 14-day cruise.

- Wednesday, Sail out of Sydney, Austraila
- Thur, Friday at Sea
- Saturday, Cruise Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound, Duskey Sound
- Sunday, Dunedin
- Monday, Akaroa
- Tuesday, Picton
- Wednesday, Wellington
- Thursday, Napier
- Friday, Tauranga (Roturua)
- Saturday thru Monday am Auckland
- Monday, Tuesday at sea
- Wednesday, disembark in Sydney

Since we will be flying to the other side of the planet, where it is summer and our home in Wisconsin will be in deepest winter, it seems like a good idea to build this trip up a bit. We are not limited by time constraints, would really like to add 2 - 4 weeks to this trip. See some of the things that make this area so wonderful and unique.

Hubby is 61 and I am 57, we are in good health. We enjoy walking/hiking, seeing nature, meeting people. From what we have been able to find so far, we feel like we would like to spend some time in Cairns and Sydney, but probably most of our time in NZ.

Any thoughts or insight from others would be more than welcome.

Thanking you in advance for your kindness,
Sandy

So you're flying halfway across the world to Sydney, taking a cruise to see the edges of NZ and returning to Sydney, then you want to return to NZ? That just doesn't make sense to me.

Since you've already booked the cruise, I don't understand how you plan to add time - I assume you'd have to do so on either end of the trip. But by starting and ending in Sydney you'll be backtracking to go back to NZ, which will involve another flight (it'll take three hours to get from Sydney to Auckland, longer to get to Christchurch or Queenstown).

It would make more sense to add that time to Australia, as you're only seeing a wee bit of Sydney with the cruise and you'll already be there.

All very good points, thank you. After MUCH discussion, we agree.

If we focused on eastern Australia for this trip, we would most likely add time prior to the cruise. We are fortunate that we have flexibility and can also add time after.

If we flew into Cairns and worked our way down to Sydney, what are your suggestions? We are thinking at least 2 weeks.

Thanks so much,
Sandy

I'll leave that question for other posters - eastern Australian is not my forte, NZ and Western Australia are.

A cruise is not the best way to see New Zealand. Some of our best bits are in the middle and you will not see them. Independent travel here is easy. The only thing to consider is flights/trains and buses will not have the frequency of transport as in the USA as we are a very small country.
Australia is pretty big - it is the size of the USA without Washington and the north eastern states like New Hampshire and Maine that stick out a bit. Driving from Cairns to Sydney is a bit like a drive from Detroit to Fort Lauderdale....a long long way. Queensland has it's charms but the Bruce Highway is not one of them!
Most Australians fly everywhere.
I'd spend the 2 weeks with say 4 days Cairns/GBR, 4 days Gold Coast/Sunshine Coast and 4/5 days Sydney flying between each city.

Sandy, I realize you are coming in summer (your winter), but what month will this be? There can be a difference. In NZ, school holidays make mid- to late-December through late-January the busiest time. February is a little less busy and in general has the best weather.

Something to think about: If you book a flight to Sydney on Air New Zealand, it will likely stop in Auckland, where you'd then transfer to your flight to Sydney. Instead of continuing on right away, you could stopover instead. So it wouldn't be that difficult to visit New Zealand before continuing on.

If you decide to visit Cairns, please be mindful of cyclone season.

I live in Dunedin. Since among your interests you list "walking/hiking, seeing nature, meeting people" and not seeing cities, I would suggest independently booking (that is, not through the cruise company) a tour in Dunedin. The city is interesting and walkable, but based on your interests, you'd enjoy the city's Otago Peninsula more. As you are both fit, I recommend booking the Elm Wildlife Tour. They offer special tours for cruise ship passengers, which you can read about on this link:
https://www.elmwildlifetours.co.nz/o...hore-excursion
These are smaller minibus tours.

Another option is to rent a car and go exploring on your own, but car rentals are limited on cruise ship days and the roads around here can be winding and narrow. But the area around the city holds much of interest to the nature lover, providing the weather is fine (and that's something we can never predict in Dunedin).

I wanted to add, cyclones are not a given, but can happen during cyclone season. I believe in El Niño years, there are fewer cyclones.

Hi Sandy,
a nice problem to have ;)

I’d agree with the others that a cruise isn’t the best way to see NZ or Australia, as the most interesting bits take some exploration inland. Could you build a couple of weeks into NZ before the cruise and another 2 into Australia at the end?

Alternatively, what about leaving the cruise at Auckland on the Monday morning? You’d only be missing two days at sea and it would save doubling up to go back.

I don’t think you need to do tours in NZ or in Australia, with the exception of perhaps a small group, special interest day or two to see something special. A wildlife tour in the Atherton Tablelands and/or the Daintree in Far North Queensland would be worthwhile, IMO. Otherwise, I think your usual method of renting a car & doing your own thing would suit you very well in both countries.

Melnq8 is a great source of information and some fabulous Trip Reports on NZ, especially for those like yourselves,who like a walk in the countryside.

Someone upthread mentioned the timing of your trip being important, especially in FNQ (far North Queensland) because of the hot, wet season, with possibility of cyclones, in Feb - March, as well as marine stingers in the ocean close to shore. None of that is to say don’t go there then, just that it’s not optimal & you need to (1) keep an eye on the weather forecasts & reports and (2) be flexible. Lots of people go then & have a great time. You just need to wear stinger suits (supplied by the dive/snorkel boats) and swim in pools otherwise.

You’ll need ETAs for Australia. This is the link to use.
https://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETAS3/etas

Here are a few other links which might be useful for Australia

https://www.buzzfeed.com/simoncrerar...ustralian-maps

https://www.australia.com/en

this is a good source of “what’s on” information. https://www.weekendnotes.com/sydney/

In Sydney, we have a universal card for public transport, which is worthwhile in convenience & $ savings. It’s called “Opal” - Hopefully this will load. I’m having trouble pasting here for some reason just now. https://transportnsw.info/tickets-op...l-for-visitors