We have decided on three weeks in Australia and New Zealand for our honeymoon in July.
First of all, I am concerned we may be trying to fit too much in and am wondering if we should cut out New Zealand. We don't expect to get back to this area but we don't want to come home exhausted. Here is what we have charted out so far:

Sydney 3 nights
Great Barrier Reef 3 nights
Daintree 2 nights
Uluru 2 nights
Adelaide 3 nights
Melbourne 3 nights
Auckland 1 night
Rotorua 3 nights
Auckland 1 night

If we were to cut out the 5 nights in New Zealand, where should we allocate that time? Should we be cutting it out?

In terms of accommodations, since it is our honeymoon we want to stay in luxury places and we need a bit of help.

For our time near the Great Barrier Reef, are there any recommendations? Places we are considering are Qualia and Reef House. I have seen mixed reviews of Reef House, including some old reviews on this site. We want to stay somewhere really special. Are there other places we should be considering?

We are planning on spending a few nights near Adelaide, as visiting wineries is a priority. Any recommendations there? Someone else on this forum had suggested wineries near Melbourne. Should we skip Adelaide and do that instead?

Are there any fabulous accommodations in any of our other destinations that we should be considering (except Sydney and Melbourne -- we are all set there).

Too ambitious. As much as I adore NZ, I think you're better off sticking to Australia this time. As it is, you're only seeing Auckland and Rotoura, and missing the best of what NZ has on offer. That's a long way to go to see a city and some geothermal activity.

I'd start by adding time to the locations on your existing itinerary. Three nights in a given area only gives you two full days, once you're arrived and gotten settled. There's so much to do in South Australia for instance, Adelaide is just the tip of the iceberg. As for wine regions, take a look at the Barossa Valley, the Clare Valley, McLaren Vale and the Adelaide Hills. Also look at drive distances to reach them.

Even if you cut NZ, you've still got six destinations in three weeks, which is a pretty busy schedule.

Have you checked flight times and schedules to see how much time will be eaten up by moving from place to place?

We've been to Palm Cove a number of times and the last couple of times have stayed at the Reef House. The restaurant is good (both location and food) and is worth going to dinner (if you're in Palm Cove), even if you're not staying there. As for the hotel, yes, it's a bit tired and in need of some refurbishment. You may want to check out the Angsana, Sea Temple or Peppers in Palm Cove or Peppers or the Sheraton Mirage in Port Douglas. The Sheraton has, in recent times, been in that category of "in need of some refurbishment" but I think they have actually been doing it so it may be better these days than some of the older reviews might suggest.

I agree - cut NZ this time. Auckland & Rotorua aren't representative of the best it has to offer and your schedule doesn't allow time to do a beautiful place justice.

I'd add extra days to FNQ to allow for vagaries of weather and to explore this unique region, and to Melbourne/Vic or Adelaide /SA so you can do day trips and / or overnights where the whim strikes.

Btw, Qualia is on Hamilton Island, in the Whitsundays.

First off....Where are you from elysag..?

Are you chasing some sunshine, or winter activities. Do you want warm sunny days, or cold days & nights.

If you're from somewhere in the northern hemisphere, I imagine you will want to see some sunshine and warmth...ie FNQ (Far North Queensland, Cairns way) which will be about 24c daily, and plenty of sunshine, but not humid. When you start heading south, Sydney/Melbourne/Adelaide...and NZ at that time of year, it's going to be cold. It will be our winter in the southern hemisphere,after all...but at least in the tropics, it's a temperate winter.

To save on excess luggage (coats, jackets, winter clothes) you might want to simply look at spending more time in the warmer area/s...which can have as much diversity as the cities down south anyway..but we also have the Reef/Rainforest/Bush/extreme-relaxation (I just made that one up) and even shopping.

Cheers,

Rick

Thanks for the replies. We are from New York.

We want some sun but we are not likely to spend day after day out in the sun. We want some spa time. Neither of us have ever gone snorkling so if the water is warm enough, we want to do that. We love great restaurants and wine. Many days of extreme relaxation sounds just right with a little bit of city time fit in too.

The consensus seems to be that we should skip New Zealand altogether. Since my husband is a teacher the only time we will ever get to New Zealand is during our summer, which will limit us to the North Island it seems.

We are still considering skipping Adelaide since that will be the coldest stop. I know Melbourne will be cold as well but we really want to go there and it won't be like winters we experience here so I am sure we will be fine with it. Any other thoughts on cutting out Adelaide?

For wine, Adelaide would be the city I would pick. South Australian wines are my favourite Australian wines. I'd cut back on your time in Sydney or Melbourne.

If it were me, I would visit two cities only. As a tourist destination Australia's selling points are the areas outside the cities: the Red Centre, Kakadu, Far North Queensland, Tasmania etc. While all of the capital cities are very pleasant, they don't deliver an urban experience like London, Paris or New York. They all have some good museums and great restaurants, but there isn't the density of cultural activities you would get in most European cities, for example.

Have you considered Tasmania? It's great for hiking and very beautiful.

<Since my husband is a teacher the only time we will ever get to New Zealand is during our summer, which will limit us to the North Island it seems.>

Au contraire elysag - the SI of NZ is lovely in the winter time - all those snow capped mountains! We love it that time of year.

I wouldn't disagree with Susan7 in that I would pick Adelaide (McLaren Vale, the Barossa, Clare Valley, the Adelaide Hills) over Melbourne (the Yarra Valley) if I was really, really interested in spending a fair amount of time touring wineries. However, the down side to Adelaide is .... there isn't much there. It's a nice city (and the food market is especially good), Glenelg (seaside) is pleasant enough and Adelaide itself is a pleasant place to spend a morning. Unless there are particular wineries you want to visit (or you're planning on going to Kangaroo Island), I would cut out Adelaide and go to the Yarra Valley when you're in Melbourne.

We were in Adelaide the weekend before last. Went to the produce market on Saturday morning, drove to Glenelg for breakfast, down to McLaren Vale for an excellent lunch at Coriole (preceded by excellent tastings at Chapel Hill and d'Arenberg) and back to Adelaide for dinner at Jasmin (the purpose of the trip - my daughter likes her food hot, so we were going for the tindaloo). Pottered about Sunday morning (including visiting Colonel Light pointing the way), drove out to Hahndorf and then back to the airport. As you know, there is not much to see at a winery so it's about (a) nice countryside (b) good tastings (and after a few, they start to taste the same and/or you can't remember which was which) and (c) a decent lunch. As said, Adelaide has more regions if you're really in to visiting wineries but otherwise I would suggest the Yarra Valley (or the Mornington Peninsula) when you're in Melbourne. If you go to the Yarra Valley, visit Domaine Chandon (the winery itself is more interesting than most and it's worth paying to try a tasting flight of their sparkling wines), Tarra Warra has an art museum (and will provide a decent lunch) as will de Bortoli (and a number of the other wineries). We also had lunch recently at Tokar Estate, which was good.

If you want some spa time, consider going to Daylesford, the spa capital of Victoria. Blow the budget and stay at the Lake House. Have dinner at the Farmers Arms or the Mercato.

http://www.visitmelbourne.com/Region...on-Ranges.aspx

If you go to Daylesford, the Convent Gallery is worth a visit.

http://www.conventgallery.com.au/

It may not be the best weather but on the way to Daylesford (or the way back), you can always have a Picnic at Hanging Rock.

http://www.visitmacedonranges.com/na...-hanging-rock/

Daylesford looks lovely but I think we are getting our fill of spa time at the GBR and Daintree.
We took out NZ and will leave that for another trip.
I looked at domestic flights to get a sense of travel time. It seems our biggest issue will be flying from Ayers Rock.

Now we have revised our itinerary as follows:

Sydney 4 nights
Palm Cove 4 nights
Daintree 3 nights (waking up very early the last morning for an early flight to Ayers Rock)
Ayers Rock 2 nights
Adelaide 1 night
Picking up a car in Adelaide the next morning and driving to Melbourne spending 3 nights on the way
Melbourne 4 nights

I am curious about tips for the drive from Adelaide to Melbourne. After my research, I thought this would be a good way to stop at 1 or 2 vineyards and then drive along the Great Ocean Road. I know from the forum that it is better to drive in the opposite direction -- Melbourne to Adelaide. But that does not work for us. I saw that the GOR was on a lot of lists of must-sees for Australia and the photos I have seen look amazing. If we drive from Adelaide to Coonawarra and spend one night there, where on the GOR should we spend the two nights we have allocated to the GOR? A more general question is whether this is a good plan to add instead of staying in Adelaide for 4 nights and then flying to Melbourne?

Thanks so much for all of the help.

I would definitely vote for driving from Adelaide to Melbourne rather than staying 4 days in Adelaide and then flying. It's about 400 kilometres from Adelaide to Coonawarra, so an early morning start should get you there in time for lunch. I'm no GOR expert so others may have better suggestions but after a night at Coonawarra, head down through Mt. Gambier to the GOR and maybe spend the next night in Port Fairy or Warnambool (or a bit further along to Port Campbell if you want to get to the 12 Apostles that day). You could then spend the third night in Apollo Bay or Lorne (or in that vicinity) before moving on to Melbourne.

For the GBR area: Thala Beach Lodge. FABULOUS!!!

I loved Abel Tasman (South Island, NZ) in June. Very mild weather.

In Sydney, I recently stayed at the Sir Stamford Circular Quay. I found it very lovely and charming and not over the top expensive for how nice it is. I would stay again in a heartbeat. There are other fancy name brands like Four Seasons that is very popular, but I did not see that hotel at all on my visit