We are planning to take a 3 week honeymoon in September to Australia and New Zealand. I know we will not be able to see everything in 3 weeks, but that is all the time we have. We like to do active things but also want to combine that with relaxing. We also enjoy wine and definitely want to include a trip to the wine regions. We do not want to spend the whole time traveling to different locations. We were thinking of spending perhaps 5 days in Sydney, 5 days at the reef, 3 in Melbourne and the balance in New Zealand. We are looking for any feedback or suggestions on other possible locations we should include. Thanks.

Hi gms<BR>Your idea of only three areas in Australia is a good one but perhaps I would miss out Melbourne as it will still be cold and possibly not as attractive as it can be. What about 5 Sydney 5 at Port Douglas and then some time around either S.E Queensland and norther NSW or add on places like Canberra and the Hunter Valley for wines and the Blue Mountains. S.E. Qld is enroute to the reef anyway and therefore you would only be hopping off so to speak. The National Parks in this area are fantastic for either relaxing, hiking or wild-life watching.

Hi gms,<BR>3 weeks enjoying your honeymoon will go very fast. I would be doing 5 days Sydney (include a trip to the Hunter Valley wine region) 4 days reef &amp; then head to New Zealand.<BR>New Zealand is an amazing country you will regret not spending more time there. Do both Islands if time will allow you will not regret it... I live near Melbourne &amp; while I could give you a few things to do nothing will compare it with various parts of New Zealand. Good luck &amp; enjoy

I think I replied to you above about NZ, but I have a couple suggestions about Australia also, having lived there for 6 months and travelled a lot during that time. Because of the time of year you are going, I agree that Melbourne could be skipped (it will be cold and rainy). September is the dry season up North, however, and the best time to visit that area (including the GBR, Darwin/Kakadu). There is a place in the outback sort of near Darwin called El Questro Station that is supposed to be really neat, and you might want to look into that. Either stay there or do a few nights in Darwin with tours of Kakadu (my favorite place in the whole country). As far as the GBR area goes, I recommend staying in Cairns, one of the islands nearby (i.e. Bedarra, Lizard), or the Whitsundays. I would also consider doing only 3-4 nights in Sydney to give yourself more time somewhere else. It is a great city but I found myself getting bored after a couple days. If you are really into city-type sightseeing you might want to ignore this advice though. Also, it might be hard to fit in but Margaret River wine region near Perth is amazing, one of the highlights of my trip. Perth was a very nice city also.

If you are wanting to take in some great wine country in NZ, here are the best regions. Hawkes Bay including Gisborne and Napier, the winery at mission vineyards is excellent and they do entertaining tours, it is a short distance from Napier. Other wineries also sell and do tours but this one is still run by the monks and has a long history of wine making.<BR>Martinborough north of Wellington, Marlborough at the top of the south island and the area around Queenstown which now has some highly sought after reds comparable to the best in France. From auckland you could take a day trip to Waiheke island and visit the boutique wineries there, once again of superb quality and highly sought after and the price of some reflects this.