2.5 Weeks in Australia / NZ - Itinerary Help Needed

Old Apr 6th, 2013, 07:37 PM
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2.5 Weeks in Australia / NZ - Itinerary Help Needed

My family and I (me, my wife, 7 yr. old, & 4 yr. old) are planning a 2.5 week trip to Australia and/or NZ in Dec 13/Jan 14. We are reasonably experienced travelers and prefer renting cars to have maximum flexibility. We typically spend 2-3 nights per city rather than settle too long in one place. That being said, our recent trip experiences (with kids) have been in western and eastern europe primarily where distances between cities are a little more manageble.

When tackling these types of trips with small children, I do my best to know my limits (i.e. not pack too much in as we tend to move slower than most given the kids). We try to avoid traveling by plane domestically as it is difficult to do so with samll children after a long international haul. That being said, I am not sure I will have any choice if we want to tackle this trip.

My wife wants to see both Australia and NZ, I am concerned that may be too much to do. I am willing to try anything but do not know what would be best for our family.

We plan on flying in / out Sydney (that is only city we could get in / out of with miles).

I would appreciate any itinerary advice that would allow us to hit a few key places in Australia and / or NZ. We know we will miss more than most but will enjoy whatever we see.
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Old Apr 6th, 2013, 11:08 PM
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Where are you coming from? When we come home from Europe the jetlag is awful so allow a few days to get over that. As you've already realised distances in Australia are huge and driving will cut into a lot of your time. Sydney-Brisbane is a minimum 10 hour drive. Sydney-Melbourne is about the same.

Your children are a great age to enjoy Taronga zoo but don't go there on a hot day, it's murder! It's a lovely view with wonderful views across the harbour to the city.

I'm sure you will get lots of help. To be honest, I don't think you have enough time to do both countries, but maybe others will help you work that out,
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Old Apr 6th, 2013, 11:42 PM
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Just to give you somewhere to start: many people do Sydney - Melbourne - Cairns if they have limited time (the latter to see the Great Barrier Reef), and fly between the three. Also just a thought about your timing: you've picked the hottest part of the year to visit (okay, February is often hotter still), and also smack bang in the middle of school holidays. Make sure you get onto reservations sharpish because you are competing with the domestic market. Cairns may be starting to get warm at that time, ask the opinions here of people who know Cairns better than I do.
People also often try to do New Year's Eve in Sydney because of the fireworks. If you are concerned about the children, there are two sessions, one at 9:00 so the children can see the fireworks and then go to bed, and then a session at midnight for the grown-ups (only slightly better and longer than the early one, so if you go back to the hotel with the kids, you won't feel dudded). Hotel rooms at that time also book out fast, especially at the lower end, so again if that will be part of your plan, move decisively. Hope you have a great trip, it will be a lifetime of memories for the little people.

Lavandula
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Old Apr 7th, 2013, 01:42 AM
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Hi MT,

I've dropped into your thread because I'm planning a trip to Aus and NZ in late 2013, and though it'll be our first trip, i think that I can say that to try to fit both of them into 2-3 weeks and hope to see anything meaningful would be impossible.

if that's the most time you've got, only 2 ways to do it, IMO - pick 2-3 places and fly between them as Lavendula says, or choose Aus OR NZ.

and though I've never been to that part of the world before i have travelled a lot with kids, and IME 2-3 days in each place is really pushing your luck. our most successful trips were where we spend at least a week in one place, getting familiar with an area, seeing the sights locally, and fitting in a couple of long day trips [or even an overnight] before changing our base.

with your interests, if you can stretch to 3 weeks, you could fly into Sydney, spend a few days there, then fly to the South Island, perhaps staying in Queenstown or Christchurch for a weeek, then fly to Brisbane/Cairns spending a week there before going back to Sydney to finish your trip.
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Old Apr 7th, 2013, 02:00 PM
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Thanks for all of the great input...we are coming from the US. We have batted around the idea of connecting to a flight from Sydney to NZ immediately so we can slightly reduce (a relative term) the amount of time dealing with airports. We figured we can spend 5-6 in NZ (not sure where would be the best area to focus on). From there, possibly fly to Cairns (if that is even possible) and stay for 4-5 days. Then we might and head down to Sydney and stay for 4-5 days. We would like to be able to drive a little but I am not sure if that is possible. If you could only pick 2 cities in Australia, wouldyou pick Cairns and Sydney (I am flying into Sydney so that is probably a requirement)?

I am still just investigating options so please keep sending ideas/suggestions.
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Old Apr 7th, 2013, 02:03 PM
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If you could only pick 2 cities in Australia, wouldyou pick Cairns and Sydney (I am flying into Sydney so that is probably a requirement)?>>

we are probably going to be picking Cairns and Brisbane - the first for the diving, the second for the cricket. We have been warned that it can get +++hot in Cairns in summer [Jan & Feb] but are hoping that when we arrive in November, it wouldn't be too hot.
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Old Apr 7th, 2013, 02:11 PM
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I forgot to ask but does anyone have suggestions on which where in NZ to go, NI or SI?
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Old Apr 7th, 2013, 06:10 PM
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The SI is my personal favorite, but you won't see much of it in 5-6 days.

With only 2.5 weeks and small kids in tow, I strongly recommend that you choose either Australia or NZ, not both.
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Old Apr 7th, 2013, 07:58 PM
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Hi MTLUBIN,
I'm going to be watching your topic, because I'll have similar questions, sorry to hop in here.

We have November 14 to the 30th, need to visit a friend for a couple of days who lives 3 hours south of Sydney, and want to see the reef and Uluru. We are NOT city people, and although people will think we are horrible, we can skip Sydney. I have found a good possible fare on Air New Zealand, into Sydney from LA and then to Auckland and then home. I am amazed that it's only a 3 hour flight from Sydney to Auckland!
We don't mind hopping around, as long as we don't blow TOO much time in airports or on the road.

So, visiting the North Island for about 6-7 days will be it. Our interests are hiking, nature and fishing, hope your little kids will have a good time, and hope you get some good suggestions here.
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Old Apr 7th, 2013, 09:23 PM
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My advice is based on traveling to Australia and New Zealand (at separate times) when our children were a bit younger than yours and then living in Australia (and re-visiting NZ a couple times) when our children we a bit older than yours. I would urge you to choose either Australia or New Zealand, but not both. With your time frame, you'd have to rush around too much if you tried to visit both countries.

First of all, it's going to be quite hot pretty much everywhere in Australia during the time you traveling. Due to that fact and due to ages of your children, I would totally skip two places that are often visited by overseas tourists--Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef. Uluru will be much too hot, especially for the children. The GBR area (Cairns, Port Douglas, etc.) will also be hot and humid and since your children are too young for snorkel tours on the Reef, I don't see much point in going there. There's plenty of other places in Australia that you could all enjoy together.

I actually think you could have an excellent driving trip from Sydney to Adelaide/Kangaroo Island with your children. There would be lots of family friendly attractions and sights in such places as Sydney, Canberra, Thredbo, Ballarat, Melbourne, along the Great Ocean Road, Naracoorte, Adelaide and Kangaroo Island. (Don't miss the chance to climb on top of a real submarine in the middle of Holbrook and check out adventure playgrounds in all of the Australian towns.) This would easily take 2.5 weeks.

If you prefer to go to New Zealand, you could also do a great driving trip as well. Note: Since NZ is further south than Australia, the weather should be a little cooler than you'll find in Australia. I'd spend a week driving around the North Island and then 1.5 weeks driving around the South Island. You could either fly between the islands or take the ferry. We loved the great scenery and found plenty to do everywhere with our kids. (Puzzling World in Wanaka was a big hit!)

The guidebooks that I found the most useful when we lived in Australia were Lonely Planet guides which were specific to each state. So, for the driving trip I recommended, you'd want to read Lonely Planet New South Wales, Lonely Planet Victoria and Lonely Planet South Australia. They will have information about small towns and "hidden gems" that you won't find in the large Lonely Planet Australia book.
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Old Apr 8th, 2013, 02:31 AM
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Longhorn - that's very useful for me too.

we'll have about 2 1/2 weeks in NZ, so the suggestion of 1 week for NI and 1 1/2 for SI is perfect.

any suggestions as to where we might base our selves on each island? we'll be there at the end of Nov/beg of December.

[MTL - sorry to hijack your thread!]
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Old Apr 8th, 2013, 03:38 AM
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annhig, Cairns will not be hotter than Brisbane. It will be humid more of the time but Brisbane will get just as humid some of the time and could well be hotter. Sydney and Adelaide get even hotter but usually not for long and it is then fairly dry.
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Old Apr 8th, 2013, 05:24 AM
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Thanks, alan.

just more elements to take into account!
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Old Apr 8th, 2013, 01:45 PM
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<although people will think we are horrible, we can skip Sydney.>

I don't think you're horrible. I don't like cities either.
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Old Apr 10th, 2013, 04:08 AM
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I am originally from Melbourne and I have never driven in Sydney City as it is always so busy and the streets are a nightmare. So many one way streets where you have to go miles out of your way to get to your destination. My hubby is a native Sydneysider but there have been times when even he is stumped. I've driven in LA.. but I hate Sydney traffic.
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Old Apr 10th, 2013, 07:07 AM
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Several years ago, we did a two week driving trip of NZ with one of our children - it was her college graduation present, though so not the same. Anyway, we had a great time, saw a lot, and the NZ driving distances were not bad and there were plenty of stops for sightseeing each day. So why not spend a couple days in Sydney, then do NZ? This was our itinerary. The hotels, rental cars, ferry, and train tickets were arranged by Holiday New Zealand as a package:
Day 1 - fly into Auckland, arrived very early in the AM, toured city.
2 - Picked up rental car and drove to Rotorua, stopping at Waitomo to do a blackwater rafting tour. Toured Rotorua
3 - Rotorua
4 - drive to Mt. Ruapehu via Lake Tupo and Turangi and Tonariro NP
5 - drive to Wellington via Bruce Road, Ohakune, Waioru, Bulls, Otaki
6 - return rental car. Take the ferry to the South Island. Take train from Picton to Christchurch.
7 - pick up new rental car and drive to Mt. Cook village via Geraldine, Lake Tekapo and Lake Pukaki
8 - drive Mt. Cook to Dunedin via Omarama, Oamaru, Blue Skin Bay
9 - drive from Dunedin to Otago Peninsula to Te Anau
10 - Drive Te Anau to Milford Sound (do the cruise) then to Queenstown
11 - Queenstown
12 - drive Queenstown to Franz Josef Glacier via Kawarau Gorge, Cromwell, Lake Wanaka, Haast
13 - drive Franz Josef to Greymouth. Turn in rental car, take the trans-alpine train to Christchurch
14 - fly back to Aukland (or in your case, Sydney)
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Old Apr 10th, 2013, 09:33 AM
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thanks very much, fb for posting that.

I'll have a look at Holiday New Zealand.

would you recommend them? any down sides? any places you really loved/hated?
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Old Apr 10th, 2013, 09:38 AM
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fb - I tried to google Holiday New Zealand but drew a blank.

could you post a link please?

thanks
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Old Apr 10th, 2013, 10:01 AM
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For 2.5 weeks in Dec/Jan I would do Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart in Tasmania. It would be much easier to fly between these cities.
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Old Apr 10th, 2013, 11:47 AM
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annhig - We did that trip in 2003 and the web address I have for "Holiday New Zealand" is no longer working, so I guess they are out of business. However, I found this company which offered a nearly identical trip: http://www.newzealand.com.au/selfdri...iday-packages/
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