OzNzBound

First of all, thank you all for providing such good information.... I have tried not to book too much in but I wonder if there is room for improvement - specifically last night in Sydney & Christchurch & Auckland stays..
We leave 3rd week in Sept...
Day1) Sydney, Park Hyatt, open day
Day2) Will try to do the opera house, aquarium, explorer bus, a cruise, perhaps a helicopter ride - nothing booked
Day3) Blue Mnts tour (Monday) - struggled w/ tour vs on our own.. picked Dal Myles for less people
Day4) Cairns, Shangri_La marina - open afternoon
Day5) GBR w/ Ocean Spirit
Day6) Open - probably just do Kuranda/float plane ride, dh's day to pick...
Day7) Ayers Rock, Sails in the Desert, Trip to Olgas w/ Discovery Eco tours & Dinner in the desert
Day8) Melbourne, Crown Towers, open afternoon
Day9) Great Ocean Rd w/ private driver
Day10) open day- probably do explorer bus and/or 1/2 tour of city
Day11) Christchurch, Crowne Plaza - Open afternoon
Day12) Alpine Safari tour
Day13) Queenstown, Sofitel Queenstown, open afternoon
Day14) Mt Cook/ Fox Glacier & Milford Sound tours by air with Glenorchy Air
Day15) Open - was considering Skipper Canyon or TSS Earnslaw cruise?
Day16) Rotorua, Novotel Royal Lakeside, visit thermal village
Day17) Volcanic Discovery tour incls White Island, Hell's Gate, & Mt.Tarawera w/ Volcanic Air
Day18) Auckland (arrived night before) - open - Mt Eden, considering Crowne Plaza or Quay West or Sebel Suites??
Day19) Auckland to Sydney for one last afternoon/evening - where to stay?? Quay West, Observatory?
Day20) afternoon flight back to USA.

I've tried to leave open days in each major city to go on the explorer bus etc.. see things at our own pace... What do you think?

mlgb

Is there a particular reason you selected the Crowne Plaza in Christchurch, like hotel points? It doesn't get especially good reviews, and I think there are better locations.

myaustralia

The Sydney Explorer is a great option to see the best sides in Sydney in a short amount of time, at your own pace and it is cheap too.
Your free day in Cairns, I would recommend to visit the Daintree Rainforest rather than Kuranda. Kuranda is very touristy and can be crowded.
Daintree - to me - is a must see when you are up in the Far North, just as the GBR

OzNzBound

mlgb - have club room at Crowne Plaza Christchurch for 280 nz... picked only because of 2004 Frommer guide... George is too pricely, looking at Heritage but definitely want A/C which means towers only... this is one of those places where I can't tell what is a better choice. I'm definitely open to suggestions...

myaustralia... yes the Sydney explorer is definitely what I was thinking... at first I was going to hire a 1/2 day driver to see the city.. but really don't think we have the time... I'm working at adding another day (coming a day earlier) I agree w/ you on Daintree... actually was looking at a flight to cooktown w/ 4wd back, but dh is not an all day tour person... so the GBR won... I'm playing it by ear to see if he will be wanting to do 2 big tours back-to-back... again, I would... wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't 12 hrs. in length.

Thanks for the input... I'm really concerned w/ hotel in Christchurch and too confused w/ Auckland.

Ya'll are great...

someotherguy

I've stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Christchurch. It's perfectly ordinary.

It's a moderate walk (10 or 15 minutes) to Cathedral Square and there's not much of interest in the immediate vicinity. If I were going again, I'd stay closer to the center. Maybe the Millenium. Check out the reviews at tripadvisor.com

BTW. I'd have thought you are more likely to need heating than air conditioning.

prue

I can highly recommend the Millenium in Christchurch - the location is excellent right in the middle of the Square - close to most attractions. Rooms are a good size and breakfast was above average.

mlgb

True, you will not need A/C (perhaps in Australia but not CHC in Sept or Oct). It will be early spring. Christchurch might also be a good place to give a small boutique type bed and breakfast a try, eg, Orari. If you prefer large hotels, the Millenium does have a great location.

Al_Mo

For your last night in Sydney stay in the Harbour Rocks Hotel. It's a small clean friendly hotel with a brilliant location. Have dinner that night in one of the restaurants down near the harbour bridge looking back over towards the Opera House... (Wildfire or Wolfies are two that come to mind). A great way to imprint a last memory of Sydney...

RalphR

Sorry, OzNz I think rushed itineraries like this do little justice to both countries, especially Australia. With just 3 weeks, I'd stick with one country. Barring that, I'd leave one leg out of the Australia part (say Melbourne or Ayers Rock) take it a bit slower, and relax.

Neil_Oz

I fully agree with RalphR - some judicious pruning seems in order. Day 6 North Queensland - Day 7 Uluru - Day 8 Melbourne? And 8 days for both islands of NZ? My feeling is that your recollections of Australia and New Zealand will be a confusing blur.

pat_woolford

OzNzBound - the Cairns segment gives very little margin for bad weather for your reef trip - Ocean Spirit is very good about letting you change days, if they have availability. You do need to let them know if you intend changing days by 6pm the previous evening. Would agree with myaustralia on Cape Tribulation versus Kuranda, especially the Cairns-Cooktown flight over reef (again pretty weather dependent) with return to Cairns by road via Cape Trib and Daintree, which covers some marvellous scenery. As you say, its a very long day as it covers a lot of distance. The Bloomfield Track from Cooktown to Cape Tribulation isn't sealed so it's slow 4WD for that segment. Agree with above posters, to do any sort of justice to an area where two World Heritage sites are side-by-side, I'd be shaving several days at least off another portion of your planned trip.

OzNzBound

Thanks to all so far. To answer previous posts..
- I have changed my hotel to the Millenium. Dh likes to keep temps under 69 deg F. So a/c was only for afternoon sun if needed.
- Can't really change much of the plans due to purchased flights. Cutting out Ayers Rock was a big debate for me... It's expensive and has the least draw for us.. but, we may change our minds once we're actually there.
- Pat,doing the Ocean Spirit was based largely on your suggestions (when I started this madness in Feb).. I'm very excited about this. And am taking your advice about changing days if the weather is bad the 1st full day. If all goes well, I really hope we can do a last minute Daintree tour.. but I'm definitely waiting to see how things pan out.. again.. I'd plan differently now if I could.. I've learned so much from this site. I'm just glad I didn't do my 1st thought which was an organized tour...not to say those are bad.. just not us..

Thanks again

Sarvowinner

The TSS Earnslaw cruise and visit to the sheep station will provided a peaceful respite during a very busy trip. Arrowtown - an old mining town is also worth a visit.

JohnFitz

I know that this is a rather late response to your question and you may be quite settled now on what you want to do but in relation to Cairns may I say that it is not a gorgeous city ( it is not horrible either ) but about 20 minutes drive up the highway north is Palm Cove .Lovely relaxed with a pier where boats going to the Reef dock for passengers. The Angsana or Sea Temple Hotels are lovely. White sand and Palm trees and a protected / netted beach to keep stingers out at which you can swim as against Cairns which is mud flats .
You can get a car and driver or drive yourself and head up to Port Douglas which is about 40km ??.further North along a coastal highway with wonderful vistas .Port Douglas has great views along the coast and plenty of options to eat . From there drive to Mosman Gorge .That is a fabulous rainforest , managed by the local Aboriginal community with an easy walking track through it with explanatory signs identifying certain trees and plants with a crystal clear river in which you can paddle . As I recall Mosman is only about 20 mins. drive from Port Douglas . You would need to pack drinks etc for Mosman.I did this about 15 months ago and was very happy that I did so. All of this can be done easily in a day . Hope this is of some use to you .

pat_woolford

The harbour in Cairns city is indeed mudflats, that's why migratory birds, some coming from as far as Siberia, find it so attractive as there is much more feed for them than they'll find on sterile sand and that's why Cairns city attracts so many birdwatchers from all over the world.
But birdwatching isn't everyone's cup of tea, and Cairns city does have quite a few attributes, namely a wonderful variety of great restaurants at reasonable prices. Because Cairns is a small regional Qld city, and not exclusively a tourist haven, local business people with no connection with tourism, live, work and eat there. I live about half way between Cairns city and one of its suburbs, Palm Cove, and unless I eat in walking distance restaurants from where I live I'll give it to Cairns city for dining every time against Palm Cove. And a lot more variety than Port Douglas.

OzNz bound, You're well situated at Shangrila for Ocean Spirit, about one minute's walk, whilst it is true that a couple only of mega-passenger reef boats pick up at Palm Cove jetty, Ocean Spirit doesn't. It will pick up there by coach, but it adds a lot of time to your day, and Ocean Spirit is a far better reef experience than those that do.

Today there was yet another traffic jam at Mossman Gorge with tourist buses everywhere, Crystal Cascades, just out of Cairns offers the same, no tourist buses, indeed no public bus, so you would need to rent a car.

whilst I'm at it, was just talking to some Americans who spent a wonderful 4-5 days on Atherton Tableland, near Cairns. I was a bit surprised as guide books give very little info on this area, the Americans thought it was wonderful as they found very few tourists there, they only knew about the area as they were travelling with Oz relatives. They were pleased to hear that it has very little mention in guidebooks.