Getting from Australia to New Zealand
 

My fiancee and I are trying to plan our honeymoon to Australia and would like to also look into taking a side trip to New Zealand.

Besides taking Qantas or Air New Zealand, what are the options for getting over to Auckland?

Right now we are planning on flying into Sydney, spending some time there, then heading up to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef for a few days. Maybe heading back towards Sydney and going on a farm stay for a couple of days. Then, if possible, we'd like to go over to New Zealand and fly out of Auckland back to the US. Total time would probably be about two weeks.

Also, has anybody flown Malaysia Airlines? They're Northwest Airline's partner for that region.

Thanks,
dave

I'm not sure if Malaysian Airlines fly the Sydney-NZ route but Thai Airlines, Aerolineas Argentinas and Freedom Air are cheaper alternatives to consider over Air NZ and Qantas.

Planetmn:
Go to Maylaysian Airlines website. They show departures from Brisbane to Auckland 3 days a week. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
John

Sorry. Malaysian.

Destina.ca (a Canadian website) is a good search tool for figuring out who goes where (and you can book with them if you want to, although I don't), and is good for researching multi-stop itineraries (not for pricing purposes necessarily, but routes). For each leg you can specify the airline or "search all airlines", thereby allowing you to find out "who goes where" for some legs and then stick with your favourite carrier for others. Note that if you like to work with a particular airline alliance (eg Oneworld or Star Alliance), you can't specify these as choices, but if you specify one of the carriers in the group (eg Qantas), most of your options will involve this carrier, although you'll also be given other options.

Hi Planet:

Although you don't say where you're flying from, I think trying to fit both Australia and New Zealand in two weeks is too much. You could easily spend that amount of time in each location. Afterall, this is your honeymoon and you want to spend some relaxing time and not be rushing around to try to see & do everything. Believe me, I understand the attraction! Everyone figures they're "there" and they should try to see it all. I had a honeymoon couple last year with the same idea and after some consultation (they had a list of things that could have taken them 3 months :) They decided to concentrate on NZ and save Australia for another time.

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Aussie and NZ Specialist

Thanks everyone for your replies. It looks like we'll probably not go to New Zealand and concentrate on Australia, though we may stop for a day or two in Kuala Lampur on the way or return since we will be connecting through there.