Escorted tours to Australia and New Zealand
 

My husband and I (both in our early 60s) are looking into escorted tours to Australia and New Zealand, probably 3-4 weeks. Does anyone have any suggestions for good, reasonably priced guided tours?

Thanks.

Sorry, no, but you could start by visiting www.australia.com and NZ's equivalent official tourism site to see what's available. You can also locate an accredited "Aussie specialist" travel agent there (and again, Kiwi specialists, if that's what they're called).

The great majority of enquiries on this board are from North American and British visitors who plan to travel independently - not so many seeking tours. However, you may find some previous threads on the subject by using the search facility on this forum.

It's worth pointing out that both countries are very easy to travel independently in. You may find that having a specialist travel agent construct a customised itinerary for you will work.

We always go with Tauck World Discovery and just got back from AU/NZ March 11th. If you just look at the price, you might think they're more expensive than most tours, but if you can afford it, they are worth every penny, no extras, it's all included. AU/NZ tour is probably going to be the most expensive trip you take, just because of the distances involved. I believe anyone who takes a Tauck tour will not try any other tour group, though most of my friends are more than satisfied with Grand Circle. This year we will take our 9th and 10th trips with Tauck, a week to Michigan and Budapest-Black Sea rivercruise.

Have you considered taking a shorter tour in New Zealand, flying to Australia and taking a couple of shorter tours there? 3-4 weeks with the same people, you're brave.

I can recommend Australian Pacific Tours - have done several trips with them to various parts of Australia, they also tour New Zealand, and always find them to be fully professional, good hotels and a nice mix of ages from 20's to 80's.
AAT Kings are a very similar company.