Hey everyone,

Thanks for all your help over the last few months. Here is my almost final itinerary for my 2 week trip to Australia and NZ. Here you go

Sunday, Feb 6 - Sydney
Chinese Garden of Friendship
Fish market
Botanic Gardens.
Perhaps a Sydney Harbor Cruise

Monday - Sydney
Manly beach
Twilight bridgeclimb

Tuesday - Fly to Queenstown
Drive to Te Anau
See Glowworm Caves

Wednesday - Leisurly drive to Milford Sound
Do the overnight Milford Sound Cruise - should be relaxing!

Thursday - Drive to Otago Peninsula
Twilight Penguin Place tour

Friday - Otago Peninsula
Albatross colony in AM
Larnach Castle for lunch
Cadbury factory in afternoon
In evening, drive to Queenstown

Saturday - Queenstown
Gondola, ?jet boat? Relax. Other activity suggestions? (no extreme sports please )

Sunday - Fly to Sydney
See Sydney Tower

Monday - Fly to Cairns
Kuranda

Tuesday - Cairns
One day lizard island trip on Daintree Air

Wednesday - Cairns
Cairns zoo - hopefully will get to hold a koala

Thursday - early AM flight to Sydney
No planned activities yet - ? Powerhouse museum?

Friday - Sydney
? Taronga Zoo
Opera house tour

Saturday - back to Chicago!

1. Any feedback?
2. Am I missing any fun things in Sydney or Cairns?
3. Is this too hectic?

Thanks. I am eagerly awaiting this vacation. Will be nice to be out of the Chicago winter!

Hello air1975,

I can't comment on New Zealand, because I haven't been there.

As far as Sydney is concerned, I think you will find that the ferries will give you splendid views of the harbour, and I don't know that you need to do an official harbour cruise.

I don't know how you plan to get to Kuranda, but I wonder if you will have time to visit it after flying from Sydney to Cairns. I guess it depends on which town you'll be using as your base for Far North Queensland and which method(s) of transportation you intend to use.

Your stay in FNQ has very little wiggle room for weather contingencies (weather conditions that might preclude your visit to Lizard Island on the Tuesday).

If it was my trip, I would spend the Wednesday visiting the tropical rainforest from the Daintree River to Cape Tribulation. Many day tours that do that include a visit to Mossman Gorge, which also is lovely.

>>>Is this too hectic?<<<

What do you mean by "too hectic"? This is a slacker's itinerary.

You can holda koala in Kuranda also.
Why are go spending time in Sydeny 3 times? Why not get a connecting flight from NZ to Cairns?

Just returned from NZ. When you are on the Otago Peninsula as you are heading out to the Albatross Colony there is a scenic boat tour on the left side of the road called Monarch Cruises. We did this one hour cruise and it was SO worth the $16 US! We did the one at 12 noon and we saw a huge pod of dolphins which swam along with our boat for about 20 minutes, we saw albaross gliding (which we did not see on our albaross tour as the wind died down), little blue penguins swimming and diving, and every sea bird you can think of. This little cruise is a gem! Also, do the Shotover River Jetboat in Queenstown-it is expensive but well worth the money for the uniqueness and the excitement Little Nell

Just a little comment re Cairns - as you're going to Kuranda you can hold a koala at Koala Gardens there, so no need for Cairns Tropical Zoo. Would be more inclined to spend that day visiting Daintree or Atherton Tableland (Cairns Highlands)a full day is far too long for the zoo. A much better wildlife park is Rainforest Habitat near Port Douglas - Trek North does a day trip to Daintree River which includes the Habitat - www.treknorth.com.au - tour D2. There are koalas at the Habitat as well as many other native animals and birds, including the rare Lumholtz tree kangaroo, but you can't hold koalas there.

Hi, air1975,
Why not fly to Brisbane from NZ, rather than Sydney, then to Cairns from there? There is a direct flight to Cairns from NZ but when I looked into it last September it was only from Auckland and only on a Tuesday or Friday.
Dot