Calex

We are a 50+ couple from Toronto who travel in chunks. It is our plan to spend 10 weeks in 2008 exploring Australia, New Zealand and doing an Expedition cruise to New Guinea and the Coral Sea Islands. The planning of this trip has become overwhelming and I would really appreciate some assistance. After major back surgery last year I have issues with mobility/walking long distances and now use a cane.
We have confirmed the cruise aboard the Orion October 14, 2008 departing from Cairns so all other stops will lead or back into that date.
The following is how far I've gotten to date with the planning.
Fly into Sydney - have made queries at Meriton appts but no date/time resolved
Fly to Cairns - transfer to Port Douglas (stay at Port Douglas Cottage and Lodge) October 8 - October 14 (possible to +- days)
have booking with David Armburst Oct 11 and Peter Baxendell Oct 12 - not sure if I'm duplicating experience or not - need to resolve one way or the other soon. Would like to do the Daintree Air tour to Lizard Island during that time to get a chance to see the reef from the air and visit Lizard Island - Oct. 10. This would give us 2 full days in Port Douglas to either take in Karunda and or just relax and explore.
The cruise departs from Cairns on Oct 14 at 8:00am so not sure whether we should stay overnight in Cairns (I understand that the road is quite busy)
We arrive back into Cairns Oct 25 - would like to fly to Melbourne stay 1-2 nights? and then rent a car and take the coastal route to Adelaide staying overnight somewhere along the route.
Adelaide spend 2-3 nights? spending sometime exploring the McLaren Vale Wineries
Fly to Kangaroo Island staying at Lookout for 2 nights
Back to Adelaide with a flight back to Sydney.
Sydney take 4 nights ? (not sure if we should plan to stop here at the start or end of our tour of Australia). Tour the Blue Mountains/Euroka clearing/caves, check out Aquarium and other sites.
Fly to Auckland - stay 2 nights rent a car and head for Rotorua and the Cormandel Peninsula for 3 - 4 nights
Drive back to Auckland and fly to Christchurch rent and car for the duration of our stay. Spend time (not sure how much) in Akaroa plan on visiting Mount Cook/Hooker Valley - Mount Aspiring National Park - Glenorchy - Queenstown - Te Anau and finally Milford and Doubtful sound cruise before flying home from Queenstown to home. The biggest problem I have is driving time and distances and I have now gone onto Amazon and purchased more detailed maps of both countries.
Looking at the calendar give or take we should have 4 full weeks in New Zealand, leaving a couple of weeks for that surprise African safari on the way home.
I am concerned with my inability to walk any of the tracks in New Zealand and missing out on the experience. Hopefully I can manage the easier tracks. Prior to the problems with my back we walked/hiked everywhere. Jan 2007 we did a expedition to Antarctica I managed to get in and out of zodiacs and walked the rough terrain with assistance.
My budget is fairly flexable, but all within reason. The planning for this trip is as usual - all mine. My husband just gets up too speed on the plane over. The only input so far from him is that he doesn't want to go to Alice Springs and area (not what I wanted but..)
Any and all comments appreciated.
Carol

Elizabeth_S

Hi - my husband and I (always sound like Queen Elizabeth when I say that) are also 50+ and from Toronto - we spent 8 weeks in NZ and OZ in Feb/Mar - visiting many of the same areas as you are planning.

Here's a link to our blog - some posts for Australia and NZ but not final yet

http://lizandrichardsa.typepad.com/2007_adventures/

The destination links are on the left hand margin.

A few comments regarding your destinations:

Sydney - we loved Sydney - ended up extending our trip twice. Stayed at Trendwest Suites hotel - near a couple of the Meriton Apts - same idea/serviced apartments - we paid about $180AUD and really liked the location/apartment

Lots of restaurant recos on our blog - dining is outstanding!

We did a 4 day liveaboard from Cairns - spent one day in Cairns and enjoyed the Sky Tram to Karunda

We stayed in Adelaide for 2 nights (lovely botanical gardens) and drove the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne, staying one night in Robe and 5 nights in Apollo Bay (we like to stay for extended nights and don't mind driving for sight seeing). In Apollo Bay we stayed at Colonial Cottages - really lovely cottages just outside of Apollo Bay

http://www.colonialcottages.com.au/

We didn't stay in Melbourne due to the Grand Prix but did go into town for lunch...reminded us of Toronto.

New Zealand

Didn't stay in Auckland - you mention Rotorua and Cormandel - a bit of backtracking on the driving?

We flew to Christchurch and went to Kaikoura to swim with dolphins (you can also just go on the boat and not swim) - We really liked Kaikoura - lovely B&B

http://www.endeavourheights.co.nz/

We drove to the West Coast and spent a night near Franz/Fox then drove to Wanaka for one night (eerily identical to Penticton in the 60s! but with better restaurants!) then from there to Te Anau for 4 nights and a visit to Milford Sound. Liked our motel in Te Anau


http://www.lakesideteanau.com/lakeside/location.asp

But if you want wi-fi the two motels next door have it - Lakeside doesn't

Happy to answer questions! We had a great time!

Melnq8

Hi Carol -

Well, I can certainly understand how planning a 10 week trip would be overwhelming!

We also stayed at Colonial Cottages in Apollo Bay and really enjoyed our stay. We spent three nights there and made day trips to see the GOR, but didn't go as far as you plan to.

I can't help much with most of your itinerary, but maybe I can be of some help with the South Island portion.

As far as how much time to spend in Akaroa, that really depends on what what you want to do. We spent three nights there, but I get the impression that most visitors go there as a day trip from Christchurch. If you get an early start, you can easily see most of the sights in a day.

Here's what we did in Akaroa (we actually stayed in a cottage in nearby Duvauchelle):

Harbor cruise to see Hector's dolphins,
Pohatu Penguin Reserve to see little blue penguins and white flippered penguins - the reserve caters to only a few people at a time and involves a bit of walking as you go out to see where the penguins are nesting - we learned a lot and really enjoyed the tour.

We also visited the lighthouse, Barry's Bay Cheese & the French Farm Winery.

We also took a great hike on the Onawe Peninsula, site of an early Maori tribal massacre, but wouldn't suggest this with your limited mobility.

As far as travel times and distances, I've found the following calculator to be fairly accurate and I use it when planning our NZ trips:

http://www.accommodationz.co.nz/distances2.html

As far as tracks - there are many tracks in NZ that are basically level. We like to walk portions of multi-day tracks as day hikes. We'll walk in for a few hours, then turn back and walk out. You could do this as well, just walking as much as you're able.

Suggest you check out the DOC site for details on specific walking tracks:

www.doc.govt.nz/

You might get a better response from Fodorites if you post your trip itinerary questions one area at a time. For instance, I think you'll find that some posters are well versed about Sydney and others can tell you everything you'd ever want to know about Cairns, etc.

It might be easier to plan your trip by breaking it down into areas as well.

Calex

Thanks for the good advice and some fuel to work on in the meantime.
You'll hear from me soon, with lots....of questions.
Carol

KathyNZ

I'm only going to address one area of your trip, it is pretty complex and I think you need to taken one small portion at a time not as a whole. There is no need to backtrack Coromandel and Rotorua as someone suggested. Here is my suggestion.
1st day - Drive directly to Thames and on to Coromandel Peninsula, via Whangamata, stop overnight in Whangamata, (small beach town) or Waihi.
2nd day Drive from Waihi to Mt Maunganui, stop there for lunch, and drive along the beach front and then head on to Rotorua, this is a nice full day trip without having to rush. You can stop in at other attractions such as the Kiwifruit tourist stop near Te Puke along the way.
3rd day Sightseeing in Rotorua.
4th day Drive to Taupo and overnight there or return to Rotorua for another overnight, Rotorua to Taupo takes one hour. Visit Waiotapu thermal area which is between Rotorua and Taupo and one of the best thermal areas. You will not be able to walk the full area but you should manage a shorter walk and still see a great deal.
5th day Back to Auckland, from memory Rotorua to Auckland is 148 miles.

By the way I was in Toronto last month, my fourth visit and still the best fun city in Nth America.

Calex

I continue to read and research and in some cases book accommodations for the "trip". Cathy thanks for the recommendation on the route for the North Island.
New Zealand is still a work in progress, but I am starting to feel a little pressure to complete the planning process. We want to try and work in both overnight cruises on Doubtful and Milford Sound and the booking opens up for those cruises in the next few months. It would be so nice to just get in the car and not have to worry about booking accommodations and tours.
Carol

Calex

Sorry Kathy about the misspell, my sister is a Cathy.