Mr SB and I will be making our first trip to Australia and New Zealand starting in October this year -- so needless to say, I've been hanging round these boards for a while now. I've seen a lot of advice to avoid travelling, or at least book well ahead, for school holiday periods. That would be great advice if I only knew when they were! Christmas and New Year would be obvious -- but we will be back in the US by December 18.

Are there other holidays we might not know about between mid October and mid December? Are schedules similar all over Australia and in New Zealand?

Thanks for the help!

Good question, SB_Travlr,

As it happens, the Australian School holidays will finish about your arrival time in October, with October 3 or 10 being the most common term-start dates.

Here's the NZ Schedule: http://www.minedu.govt.nz/theMinistr...dHolidays.aspx


And the Australian:
http://www.travelmate.com.au/Interna..._holidays.html

October is a nice time to visit - but then, any time's a good time to be down here. Not that I'm biased, of course!

Once the school holidays are over, you have a fairly clear run through until Christmas in NZ. Labour Day is on Monday, 25 October this year, so the traffic over that long weekend can get bit heavy around the main centres, particularly Auckland, on the afternoon of 25 October as all of the locals return home from their weekend holiday.
Rob.

Many thanks, Bokhara and Kiwi Rob -- looks as if we won't have any conflicts with major holidays. One less thing to be concerned about... Planning a trip like this is a pretty big undertaking, but I really do enjoy it!

Melbourne has Cup Day holiday on the first Tuesday in November so hotels & flights will be heavily booked at that time. The Cup is a massively popular horse race and fashion event. If you are interested in horses it is a fascinating experience. The streets of Melbourne and many shops are decked out with flowers --- definitely worth a look and it brings many thousands of tourists. Of course there are many other wonderful places to visit here in Melbourne --- penguins, unique animals etc.

Universities take a break around end Sept - beginning of October, but how each uni plans the break is different. Some have 2 weeks, others only 1 week. Then the next break comes at the end of October. Mostly people are still studying with exams after that time but a few fortunates will be travelling, especially those who are studying away from home. I don't know if this is likely to affect you, given that your trip starts in October, but it's something else to factor in.

Lavandula