Nelsonian, Thanks for the information about the school holidays. Right now we are thinking of spending the last 3 weeks of October in Australia and the first 3 weeks of November in NZ. And the Nelson area sounds good: in the vicinity of Abel Tasman NP and Marlborough Sounds.

Tripplanner, I am about half-way through your NZ and Sydney TR, and I am loving it! It's entertaining and very helpful. The food and restaurants sound so delicious. And your day on the Milford Sound is glorious! Will consider the tour operator you used. I have a question about your hike on the Hooker Valley Track. Am I right that it is fairly flat and easy? You describe it as gravel paths and wooden planks. So it doesn't sound too difficult. Would love to be able to do that. Did you wear sneakers or hiking boots?

Yes, Karen, the Hooker Valley Track is one of the easier walks. I used sneakers for all of my walks / hikes in NZ as well as Australia. The only one where I needed something more substantial is the Cradle Mountain Summit on Tasmania.

As for the food, it's some of the best we've had anywhere. Some of the food you described in your trip report for Scotland reminded me of what I enjoyed in NZ.

Thank you! This is all very helpful information.

Dreamon, once again thanks for the suggestion to do this roadtrip and the tip about the ferry. I never would have thought of this. I am in the process of researching this roadtrip. The Queenscliff to Sorrento ferry does take cars. I notice that you specifically advise to check if they take a hire car. So are you saying they might not allow rental cars?

Edited to add: Dreamon, just answered my own question. I read their FAQ, and they do allow hire cars on the ferry but they suggest confirming with the car hire company. Thanks again!

Karen Woo: Victoria has a good trip planner which may be useful for you. https://www.visitvictoria.com/practi.../route-planner

I like the idea of a loop including Phillip Island (1 night + a day), Sorento - Queenscliff Ferry, Great Ocean Road (2-3 nights) to the Grampians. Stay a night at Halls Gap. Then head off to Canberra via Bendigo, Wangaratta, Holbrook, Yass. 1-2 nights (2 days) in Canberra. It's Australia's Capital City and an absolute gem in my opinion & experience. From there, you have a few options to take you into Sydney.

1) Via Bungendore, Braidwood and Batemans Bay to the South Coast .... follow it to Sydney. Some lovely places to stop a night or 2.

2) Via the Southern Highlands - Bowral, Mittagong - and into Sydney via the Hume Highway. You could stay a night in Bowral if you like - but it's only about 3 1/2 hour's drive, so you might just make the detour in for lunch. Depends on how you feel at the time.

3) Out through the Central West and Blue Mountains. Either Canberra - Yass - Cowra - Canowindra - Orange OR
Canberra - Gunning - Crookwell- Blayney - Millthorpe - Orange. Orange or one of the smaller towns, Carcoar, Canowindra, Millthorpe are all well worth a night. This is a great food & wine growing (and partaking of!) area. Have a look at visitNSW - Central West.

From Orange - Bathurst - Lithgow - Katoomba (Blue Mountains) Stay a night or preferably 2-3 and enjoy some stunning bushwalking/ hiking. I like Leura & Blackheath to stay.
And .... then on to Sydney. It's about 90 mins from Katoomba.

There's no shortage of options - or deliciously agonising decisions to make. The good thing is though - you can't really go wrong!

Bokhara2, thank you for the link to the Victoria trip planner, and thank you for all of your detailed information. I had already tentatively decided on Batemans Bay as an overnight, and staying in Leura for at least 2 nights in the Blue Mountains, so I'm happy to know that you agree! You are right; there's no shortage of options, and it will be very difficult to decide what to leave out. When I have a more detailed itinerary, I will post it for review.

Karen - about that UA Premium Plus - we rather liked it, but it certainly wasn't on par with NZ Premium Economy (nor did we expect it to be). There was plenty of legroom and seat width. We were on a 767. The toilet facilities were shared with Economy. The seat configuration was 2-2-2, vs 2-3-2 in Economy.

The food wasn't very exciting, and they ran out of one of the two choices very quickly - we were in the third row back with 12 people in front of us. This seems to be a theme with UA - not sure why they can't figure that out. Real glassware and silverware - the wine was okay, served in individual bottles, but not NZ wine quality. They offered cocktails as well.

Neither of us slept. The leg rest and calf lifter thing fought with each other, could only use one or the other.

Would I do it again? Yes, even though the value wasn't really there, it was a big step up from Economy.

We will by trying out Swiss International Premium Economy on our return from Europe in late October

Not sure if this helps but there you go.

Melnq8, thank you so much for reporting back to me. I will take all of this under consideration. I’ll see how prices and schedules compare when we are ready to book our airline reservations.

Hi karen. I live in Melbourne and the time you have picked to come is a really nice time of the year. End of Sept to the first week of October is school holidays, so anything after the 7th or 8th of October is best.

I have flown premium economy on Air New Zealand and Qantas to the US with my last flight last October on Qantas and can definately say that both are excellent. I would definately fly with one of these airlines.
Please reveiw the United airlines premium economy offering. It may just be a bit extra leg room and not much else. For such a long flight you want to be as comfortable as possible as that 15 hour crossing across the pacific is very very long..
Also with these airlines you get prior boarding as well and smaller cabin for premium economy seats. The entire experience is so much nicer.

Driving from Melbourne to Sydney using the coastal road is a great plan as well. I do not think 5 days is too long in Sydney. There is lots to do and it is different to Melbourne.

Millie2112, thank you for your helpful comments. Will plan on arriving in Melbourne around October 7 or 8. I know we will find plenty to do in Sydney for 5 nights. And at our ages we don’t want to be on the move every 2 or 3 nights. Am seriously considering Quantas and Air New Zealand. Thanks!

KarenWoo Hi, it's nice to see you here on the Australia and Pacific forum. I've enjoyed your content in Europe, especially Spain and France! I'm planning my first visit to New Zealand too. I'll be there THIS November (coming up soon). The majority of my trip is for work on the North Island, but I'm staying a few extra days and flying from Auckland to Queenstown. I got some good advice from Diamantina about the botanical gardens and gondola, which I plan to do. I'm planning a day cruise on Lake Whakatipu and the part I'm really excited about: an overnight cruise on the Milford Sound. Of course, the more I study the more I want to do, but I think my schedule is completely full for the few days I have. I also got the ETA visa online and it went fine. The last things I need to do are book hotels in Queenstown and one last night near the airport in Auckland. I've been dragging my feet on making those decisions, but I need to just do it. I hope to write a trip report once I'm back, and it will be my first one!

Magsrose, thank you for posting. I look forward to reading your trip report when you return. What company are you using for the overnight cruise of Milford Sound? An overnight cruise sounds very interesting!

Great info - and nice to see so many Fodor's "old timers"
 

I haven't been on Fodor's in quite awhile - it's nice to see so many familiar names!

This thread could not be more timely and helpful. We're thinking of going to Australia and New Zealand next October/November too (it came up only because we realized we have plenty of Chase Sapphire Reserve points (enough to fly round-trip on Singapore Airlines from the west coast).

One fundamental question about New Zealand (and I'm sure to be back with more). If you're driving yourself, and it's all about being outdoors/nature/parks/glaciers/views, etc., where do you stay? And how do you plan your stays -- do you do it yourself (our norm), or use a local agent? I know my first order of business is to get a New Zealand map, and see where all these places are.

Thanks for your help!

Hi SF! How are you? We have a TR on Australia in 2017. Definitely visit Tasmania.

We were in NZ for 5 weeks in 2020.
Wr booked both trips on our own with no problems. We used the usual booking sites hotels and apts.

Are you on FB? We post trip info and photos there more than here,

KarenWoo I used RealNZ for my booking of both the overnight Milford Sound cruise and the day cruise on TSS Earnslaw. I like that their meeting place is walking distance to my hotel and for the Milford Sound trip, they pick you up near your hotel and bring you back after the 2-day experience. That works for my situation as a solo-traveler just getting a taste of the South Island for a couple days. But if I had more time and freedom, having my own vehicle would be optimal. The part I'm regretting is not having the freedom or time to do some hiking around the Milford Sound.

yestravel, we are on Facebook (email hasn't changed - send me your user name). Also, we're in DC until the end of October - maybe we can get together for dinner!

Sent you email. Sorry Karen to be an interloper here!

Sf7307, Yestravel’s TR on Australia is awesome! For my trip, I found it very helpful for Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Blue Mountains, and Sydney.

Tripplanner001 has several awesome trip reports, too, for Australia and New Zealand.

Yestravel, no need to apologize! Not a problem!