tomarkot

Melnq8, since you know the South Island so well, we'd appreciate your input into this possible "Plan B" question. If we should encounter yucky weather (we hope not!) around Te Anau/Queenstown, or find that the same is predicted for Mt. Cook, do you think a change of itinerary routing us from Te Anau to Dunedin is worth it? We have flexibility with one night. Our plans now are to spend another night in Queenstown following our two nights in Te Anau, en route to Mt. Cook, with an overnight in Lake Tekapo. From there, we're returning to Christchurch, via your suggested Rt. 72. The change would be going from Te Anau to Dundedin for one night, and then. . .would it be too far to pick up Lake Tekapo for our last night before Christchurch? Or do you have any suggestion for Plan B activities in case of inclement weather? We'll be in this area at the end of February.
Thanks for any ideas!

Melnq8

tomarkot -

Well...I'm of two minds on this one. Considering it's just over a four hour drive from Te Anau to Dunedin and a near 4.5 hour drive from Dunedin back to Tekapo, I personally wouldn't do it for just one night.

Granted, there's plenty to see and do in Dunedin (as Diamantina's informative posts clearly indicate), but for this you'd need more time.

However, I absolutely would consider driving from Te Anau to the Catlins, spending a night somewhere in the Catlins (Fortrose, Owaka, etc) and then heading back up to Tekapo.

My only hesitation with making this suggestion is that I'm not sure whether to recommend the route via SH8 from Milton to Alexandra or suggest a secondary road (in terms of scenery). There's also a time component, as the drive from Te Anau to Owaka (an arbitrary choice as NZ distance calculators don't list smaller towns) is about 3:45, but the drive from Owaka to Tekapo is closer to six hours, so this is actually a longer drive.

My thinking is that you'd need time to explore the city of Dunedin, whereas you could get a nice scenic taste of the windswept Catlin coastline and do a bit of exploring on both drive days, to and from Te Anau/Tekapo.

Clear as mud, huh?

tomarkot

Melnq8, thanks for your input. It does seems like a toss-up of choices. . .just hoping that the weather is decent so that we don't have to follow a Plan B.

Another question: Do you know if there are any wineries in between Queenstown and/or Te Anau and Tekapo? That might be another thing to have in our back pockets.

Our latest anxiety: the rain/floods in Fiji. We're scheduled to spend 5 days there when we leave NZ, en route home to the US. Flooded out roads and resorts aren't exactly what we had in mind when planning this R & R stop. So we're juggling the planning of activities in NZ as well as this situation in Fiji.

Thanks again, Melnq8.

Melnq8

Yeah, I read your thread about Fiji, unfortunate timing for you and a huge mess for the residents. As Fiji is your last stop on a long trip, hopefully the situation will improve between now and then. Fingers crossed it all works out - I know how much planning you've done.

No shortage of wineries between Queenstown and Tekapo. Northburn Station is right off of SH8 near Lake Dunstan. Bannockburn and Cromwell have some excellent wineries and you'll drive right through there on SH 8 from Queenstown to Tekapo.

I can't think of any wineries between Queenstown and Te Anau, but there are so many in and around QT, that you can certainly fit in a few before driving to Te Anau.

Melnq8

Wine trail map here:

http://www.otagowine.com/otagowine/winetrailmap.html

tomarkot

Thanks, Melnq8, for the link to the wine trail map, as well as all the other helpful information you've provided. Having a resource such as yourself was invaluable for our South Island planning. No matter what happens, weatherwise or otherwise, we always seem to have a good time on vacation. But it helps to have some alternatives in mind. We'll give you a report when we return in mid-March.

Just a note regarding the Fiji situation: We tried to change our flight itinerary, and delete that part of our trip. It was intended as an R & R stop on our return to the US. But perhaps because we're using FF miles, we can't find any half-convenient way around it. So we'll just "go with the flow" and possibly make it a learning experience rather than R & R. We do feel sorry for the Fijian people, and their economy probably needs the tourism.

Melnq8

I'll look forward to that report tomarkot. Have a wonderful trip!

SydneyCloseup

Hi Tomarkot,

You asked about breakfast places around the Circular Quay Marriott. As raincitygirl said, there are lots of cafes around Circular Quay, but none are inexpensive.

However, if you're prepared to do without the harbour view for breakfast, duck into one of the shopping centre food courts around your hotel. There's one pretty much across the street, off Circular Quay and another just up the road in Pitt Street, under Australia Square. There you'll find a selection of different eateries. You buy what you want and eat it at one of the tables they all share. There'll be everything from muffins to muesli to more exotic offerings. Juice, tea, coffee etc as well.

And while you're in Sydney, do go for at least one yum cha (you might know it as dim sum) breakfast/brunch/lunch. There are places serving yum cha throughout the city, and every Sydneysider you ask will have a different best yum cha restaurant. In Chinatown the Marigold or East Ocean are traditional yum cha favourites, Palace, in the Piccadilly Tower in Castlereagh St in the city is a newer yum cha hangout and, for something a little different, you could try Bodhi, in Cook and Phillip Park (by the Cathedral) which is both vegan and outside. We go there whenever my vegetarian daughter is in town and it's excellent.

As far as Opera House tickets go, there's no economic reason for waiting to book tickets, as there's no price advantage in booking on the day. Unless, that is, you're prepared to run a bit of a risk and go for standing room tickets - the risk being that you may really have to stand if the performance is fully sold. And there are a few other seats released on the day at a lower price - but it's their normal price, they're often reduced view seats and they're not bookable in advance. Some of them are still pretty good though. If you're interested in these have a look at http://www.sydneycloseup.com/discoun..._house_tickets for description and directions.

It sounds as though you have an excellent holiday planned. Have a great trip!

tomarkot

SydneyCloseup, thanks for your information. Regarding the Opera. . .we weren't thinking that we'd be able to purchase less expensive tickets. . .just that we like to remain flexible and weren't sure what we'll end of doing day by day in Sydney. But your suggestion of possible "standing room" tickets has us re-thinking things and just choosing a night for the Opera and working around it.

Since your name indicates that you live in/around Sydney, one other question we have: Is a day-trip to the Blue Mountains worth it? We have 5 days in Sydney, including the first day of "jet lag". Someone told us that if we've been to the mts. of the western US, which we have a number of times, that we shouldn't take a day from Sydney to see the Blue Mountains. What is your opinion? Is there something unique about them? We appreciate your thoughts.

SydneyCloseup

Although I love going there, I wouldn't take a day out of only 5 to go to the Blue Mountains. Unless you're particularly interested in steam trains (the zig zag railway), bushwalking (lots) or you really can't stand the Sydney heat and humidity (people traditionally went to the Blue Mountains to escape the Sydney summer).

I'd be more inclined to spend a whole day exploring the harbour, its islands and surrounds. Buy a day pass that covers all public trains, buses and ferries - even better: weekly city passes http://www.sydneycloseup.com/city-passes.html which will cover all your public transport without your having to work out what the right fare is each time.

Regarding the opera - there are three current productions showing: Mozart's The Magic Flute, his Marriage of Figaro and Puccini's Turandot (it's the summer season). The Magic Flute production was originally staged by the Met in NY. It is sung in English and very large puppets play a big role. When I went there were lots of families with children in the audience and they all seemed to be engrossed. So it could be a good choice. We enjoyed it. I haven't seen the other two yet. I'm also noticing plenty of seats available for most things at the Opera House - the economic downturn again.

tomarkot

Thanks so much, SydneyCloseup. That helps us with the decision to spend our time enjoying the attractions around Sydney. We like the idea of that weekly pass for transportation. And thanks for the info on the current productions at the Opera House. We've never seen "The Marriage of Figaro" so we'll probably go for that.

We've read that the Sydney airport will have plenty of taxis waiting to take us into the city, so no need to pre-book a transport. Would that be your assessment?

Thanks, again, for all of your helpful info.

SydneyCloseup

Every day has a couple of short periods where lots of planes come in at once. One of those is the pre 7am slot. But even then the wait is quite short. At other times there are taxis to burn. So no, I wouldn't pre-book.

If you're planning to get a weekly public transport pass anyway, you could get that immediately at the station under the airport, pay a small add-on fee for the airport gateway ticket (which will be valid for your return as well, once you have a weekly pass) and take the train right from the start. It will take you directly to Circular Quay, no change of train required.

The train runs every 10 minutes or so, and it will take about 15 minutes to get you into the city. So, if there's a queue for the taxis just carry on down to the train. It's very convenient. Taxis will take at least that time, considerably more during morning peak hour traffic. It can get bad around the airport. That link I gave you in the last mail has the details on the airport link.

I guess I'd go for taxis for convenience provided it's not peak hour and there's not much of a queue. Otherwise I'd just take the train. The Marriott is less than 5 minutes walk from Circular Quay station.

The one thing you would need to do in advance, if you decide to go with the train option, is to decide how far afield you wanted to go with your weekly ticket so you know which one to ask for. I'd probably take the MyMulti 3 which would take you west as far as the Blue Mountains (if you change your mind), north as far as Newcastle and the Hunter Valley and to the Southern Highlands, Wollongong and Kiama in the south. That covers a lot of territory. You can pay by credit card as well, if you haven't organised much Australian cash that soon into your holiday.

tomarkot

SydneyCloseup, once again, thanks so much for taking the time to give us this info. It's very helpful!