Following is a first cut at our 11 week itinerary for early next year. At this stage I’m really just blocking off chunks of time and will develop them more as time goes by – I’d appreciate input as to the overall sense of the itinerary plus time spent in each place.

I’ve organized the trip in three parts, in this order:

1) Asian destinations – January 10 - 31
2) New Zealand – February
3) Australia - March

The reasons for the order are as follows:

We leave Toronto in early January so I’m trying to maximize the weather in each of the three areas – the Asian destinations are at their coolest earlier in the year; New Zealand is fine in the middle and Australia will hopefully be cooler by March. Also, at this point I think we’ll be using the Star Alliance Circle Pacific Fare and the above itinerary works with its rules (that’s subject to confirmation but I think so).

Details are:

Hong Kong 6 nights
Bangkok 6 nights
Siem Reap 4 nights
Singapore 3 nights

Questions re above – considering side trips from Bangkok – enough time? Singapore is an add on due to the Circle Pacific routing – too many nights?

New Zealand 4 weeks

Following are preliminary thoughts for this period – for the first two weeks we’ll want to be in one place, with a kitchen, so we can relax after the 3 weeks of travel in Asia – still looking at north versus south islands – would like a big enough town for good market shopping and we’ll likely rent a car the second week to do day trips. The next two weeks we’ll likely travel around by car.

Also – I think we’ll fly to Norfolk from Auckland – 4 nights.

Australia 4 weeks

Our list of things to do in Australia (so far) looks like this:

Tasmania one week – maybe fly from NZ to MEL then take the ferry
Sydney 5 nights
Melbourne 5 nights
Great Barrier Reef one week
Unscheduled one week

I’m tempted to leave the Australia portion unscheduled until we’re in New Zealand…..we did that last year in South America – got our sea legs the first 6 weeks and then planned our 4 weeks in Chile. Part of my thinking is the weather – see how it’s shaping up – we’d very much like to dive the GBR but if conditions are poor we can make changes on the fly.

Any comments are appreciated. Thanks!

Hong Kong 6 nights
Bangkok 6 nights
Siem Reap 4 nights
Singapore 3 nights
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6 nights will be fine in HK, one of my favourite things to do is take the bus from the HK side to Stanley where there are some nice markets during the day Try and get a double decker bus for that trip and get on the top as its a spectacular ride with fantastic views. Another day you could take a trip out to the New Territories and see a different side of HK. Another day perhaps you may like the zoo as they have pandas there. Eating on one of the big boats in Aberdeen harbour is a tourist's must do. A day over to Macao is another day and you will have some things you want to do for the rest so HK is taken care of.
Bangkok: Day at the Palace, floating markets, a day taking the boat up to the old city of A U TAY AH ( phonetic spelling) and a bus trip back from there is a great day out. Thailand is a wonderful destination with so much to see. Make sure that you get to the Seafood markets where you buy your fresh seafood ingredients and vegies and get them to cook it on site - absolutely fabulous. It will be a packed 6 nights.
I don't know where Siem Reap is so cannot comment about 4 nights there at all.
Singapore: I could pack in one week in Singapore and yet other people find it totally boring. Eat at Newton's Circus where the food is great and remember that the health regulations in Singapore are the best in the world and you can do anything anywhere without the thought that you cannot have this or that because of getting sick. There is a lot to do in Singapore and I like to take a day's trip over the causeway to Malaysia for the day as well as there is a beautiful mosque and palace there which you can see.
Your ideas about dates for NZ and Australia are good too.
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Tasmania one week – maybe fly from NZ to MEL then take the ferry
Sydney 5 nights
Melbourne 5 nights
Great Barrier Reef one week
Unscheduled one week
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You will not see all of Tasmania in one week but you will at least get the flavour of the place. I think 5 nights in Melbourne is too many but others think Melbourne is wonderful but its not my cup of tea at all. Its just another city really in my view. Sydney on the other hand is a different matter with much more to see and do.
The GBR for one week - Mmmmmm If you want a quiet non-rushed holiday then I would add to that time and spend a couple of nights on the Atherton Tablelands as it is a wildlife paradise and you will see many more animals there than other places I would think. Perhaps spend a few nights on Hinchinbrook Island, the rest of the time will be taken up with local trips around the place.

Thanks LizF - Siem Reap is Angkor Watt - you might remember my love of ancient civilations.......I've read several of your comments about Hinchinbrook Island - we prefer the road less traveled and I would very much like to do that in the GBR.....as it stands we have one week unscheduled - would you add the time 50/50 to Tasmania and GBR? And if so - where would be the lesser tourist places (if that's a concept!!) in GBR?

Thanks so much for your help.

LizS

Yes I would add to both the GBR and Tasmania as that way you can relax in one area and take time to see things. Hinchinbrook is one island that you can get away from it all as is the Whitsunday Group of islands where you could rent a boat and discover some of the uninhabited islands which are in the group whilst staying in comfort on the boat or cats - you do not have to be an experienced boat person to enjoy this by the way. Alternatively you may enjoy staying somewhere in the Daintree for a base or Cairns. If Pat Woolford sees this I am sure she will write in with suggestions as she has up to date information seeing she lives there. My son and his friends rented a boat around the Whitsunday Islands and put that as one of their absolute top holidays but that depends on many things.
As far as Tasmania is concerned there are many places that you could just locate yourself in and radiate yourselves around that area. For instance there are quite a few self-contained accommodations around Tasmania or most B&Bs give a special rate for a few nights stay. If that is what you would like to do I can find out from some areas some prices or some web-sites and you can check these out for yourself. Let me know if you like to be near water - in the bush or a bit of everything. You can email me on [email protected] in the next few days as that email address will be changed in about one week. Let me know what you want and I will check things out for you.

LizF - thanks for some great ideas - do I understand you correctly that we could rent our own boat and putter around? My husband is a fairly skilled sailor (my skills tend to providing beer as necessary, and in my experience, beer is always necessary!).

Yes you can rent a boat/ catamaran/yacht for yourselves and just go where you want - all maps are provided and the owner of the yachts make sure you have all the information needed. They also supply a dingy with outboard so that you can anchor somewhere but still motor around to and from the islands, fish or whatever takes your fancy.

Beer/wine and spirits are a must when you have caught your own fish for dinner and make a beach bbq.

Here is one website which shows the type of boats that you can get together with their prices etc. I just did a google search of boats, yachts for rent in whitsunday islands group and this was the first one that came up - there are many I think so you may wish to check it out yourself. Throughout Australia in many lovely waterways and rivers you can rent houseboats as well and those are fantastic and well equipped. The Whitsunday group of islands would be my choice for going around in a boat/yacht though.

http://www.whitsundays.com.au/bareboat/index.html

It does help if I give you the website

Dear LizF

Well...I could say that I will name my first born daughter after you ....but seeing as we share our first name I guess that offer is hollow!

Thanks for your wonderful ideas for our time in the GBR.....this is definitely the differnce between being a traveler vs a tourist.

I will have tons of questions as our plans firm up.....again, thanks for introducing such a wonderful idea!

LisS

I don't want to sound negative ( as one person has called me) but I would be most upset if your first born was not named after me. I meant to give you this too - its the beginning of some research into the Whitsunday group of islands and surrounds and hopefully from this you will find links to everything you need.
http://www.whitsundaytourism.com/
At least I remembered to put the website in this time.

Will look at that web site....thanks again for your help...lots of questions to follow.

Good night from Toronto.