Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Christmas In Sydney/Melbourne

I am planning on spending Dec. 24, 25 and 26, '03 in Sydney or Melbourne. Will any attractions be open at that time, such as the Ferries, Manly restaurants, Taronga Zoo, etc. And, the same question for Melbourne, if you please.
Thanks for the help.

Most attractions in Sydney, Taronga Zoo etc, are open every day of the year except for Christmas day and Good Friday. This is pretty much the same throughout Australia so I can imagine Melbourne attractions would be the same.

Public transport (trains, buses, ferries etc) do run to a public holiday schedule..in other words don't expect one every ten minutes.

You should find restaurants open Christmas Eve, and some on Boxing Day, but few will be open Christmas Day and you may have to book in advance at those that are open and pay a hefty price.

Don't forget that the 26th is also a holiday in Australia.

Phoebe

Taronga Zoo is open on Christmas Day. Most, if not all, of the fast-food type places at Manly, Bondi, etc are open on Christmas Day as well.

Wow..Taronga open on xmas day...now that's something I didn't know.

Just goes to show that you can live in a city for 37 years and still not know everything http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

Phoebe

glenngpr-

If you are using FF miles, book as soon as possible, perhaps at the beginning of February when award inventory for late December/early January opens up.

It's very difficult as it is to secure even paid seats to Australia/New Zealand at a reasonable price.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by francophile:
glenngpr-

If you are using FF miles, book as soon as possible, perhaps at the beginning of February when award inventory for late December/early January opens up.

It's very difficult as it is to secure even paid seats to Australia/New Zealand at a reasonable price. </font>

Francophile,

Thanks for the input. I already have the date circled when I need to call. I'm looking for five J seats on QF. If this is in the realm of fantasy, my backup is five seats on Air Pacific, which limits my travel options a little bit.

Glenn

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by glenngpr:
Francophile,

Thanks for the input. I already have the date circled when I need to call. I'm looking for five J seats on QF. If this is in the realm of fantasy, my backup is five seats on Air Pacific, which limits my travel options a little bit.

Glenn </font>

You are using AAdvantage miles, right? Well, if QF doesn't have 5 seats in J, then I would consider using CX. The mileage requirement is almost the same in J (a bit less, in fact). However, you would need to stopover in HKG.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by francophile:
You are using AAdvantage miles, right? Well, if QF doesn't have 5 seats in J, then I would consider using CX. The mileage requirement is almost the same in J (a bit less, in fact). However, you would need to stopover in HKG.
</font>

I thought about Cathay, but we want a Hawaiian stopover, and I was able to reserve the Hilton ALON award for HHV. Cathay, of course, doesn't fly to Hawaii, so that's why I'm crossing my fingers on the QF award. Plus, we are stopping over on the South Island of NZ, which makes a HKG routing even less convenient.

It sounds like you know what you are doing http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/smile.gif

Well, thanks for the kind words. I have read your posts, and you have been a source of information to me.
Of course, my plans can fall apart very quickly if there are no FF seats available. In fact, I spoke with the EXP desk today, and they said Air Pacific awards are even more scarce than Qantas. So, now I'm starting to worry. Don't want to do that trip in coach!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by glenngpr:
Well, thanks for the kind words. I have read your posts, and you have been a source of information to me.
Of course, my plans can fall apart very quickly if there are no FF seats available. In fact, I spoke with the EXP desk today, and they said Air Pacific awards are even more scarce than Qantas. So, now I'm starting to worry. Don't want to do that trip in coach!</font>

Thanks for the compliment!

I'm assuming you are traveling with your spouse and three kids. If you can't find 5 seats in J, find 2 seats in J and then put the kids in coach. HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by glenngpr:
I'm looking for five J seats on QF. If this is in the realm of fantasy</font>Limit of 4 seats per award booking, anything above that has to be manually reviewed and approved. Usually this means you must have Qantas Platinum status, but maybe other Emerald status will be enough to get the exemption. Alternative is to split the tickets on multiple flights (unfortunately for HNL that means different days). HNL is much harder than LAX to get this special favour (QF only has 3 flights a week at HNL versus 10x that at LAX). Unless you have QF Plat status this plan has zero chance, in my opinion (and only a slim chance out of LAX).

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by number_6:
Limit of 4 seats per award booking, anything above that has to be manually reviewed and approved. Usually this means you must have Qantas Platinum status, but maybe other Emerald status will be enough to get the exemption. Alternative is to split the tickets on multiple flights (unfortunately for HNL that means different days). HNL is much harder than LAX to get this special favour (QF only has 3 flights a week at HNL versus 10x that at LAX). Unless you have QF Plat status this plan has zero chance, in my opinion (and only a slim chance out of LAX).[/B]</font>

I am EXP on AA, if that means anything. The EXP desk said it is possible to obtain five J seats on QF. What you're saying is thatI should make plans to go via NAN. But do you too have the impression that are Air Pacific awards are at least as difficult to obtain?

If finding award availability using all QF is not possible, especially due to limited award availability flying through HNL during late December, then consider using the oneworld award in business class for 130,000 miles using the following routing:

JFK/LGA/EWR-HNL/KOA/OGG/LIH AA (F/J)
HNL/KOA/OGG/LIH-LAX/SFO AA (F)
LAX/SFO-SYD/BNE/CNS/AKL QF (J)
SYD/BNE/CNS/AKL-HKG CX (J)
HKG-JFK CX (J)

If your transfer is less than 24 hours before an international flight, then the departure city to arrival city distance should be counted when determining mileage requirement, not departure city to transfer city plus transfer city to arrival city.

ditto feebster's thoughts - if you want to do anything on X'mas day... i doubt it, and would suggest you pack a picnic lunch and go to centennial park! or down to the harbour.

all other days are fine, including x'mas eve. it's just x'mas day.... as I noticed this year!

JFK/LGA/EWR-HNL/KOA/OGG/LIH AA (F/J)
HNL/KOA/OGG/LIH-LAX/SFO AA (F)
LAX/SFO-SYD/BNE/CNS/AKL QF (J)
SYD/BNE/CNS/AKL-HKG CX (J)
HKG-JFK CX (J)

Wow! I'm exhausted just reading this itinerary. If I can't get any QF or FJ awards seats, then I will go for CX to OZ/NZ, and move the Hawaiian vacation to President's Week in February. Which would probably be a coach award, unless I can get very creative and very lucky.