Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Down Under 2006

My friend and I are planning a trip in 2006 to Australia/NZ (yes I know its way early :p ). He's been to Sydney and Melbourne, but this will be my first trip and he's totally cool to doing the same things he's done before again with me (which is nice).

We'll be there probably over the span of a 2 week period. I'd like to do the trip Sydney, Aukland, Melbourne. We've kind of decided on April or May but haven't pinpointed an exact month, let alone 2 week span.

My questions are:

April or May? Or does it really matter? Weather isn't a factor per se. We want to avoid the summer season and the hot weather which is why I chose autumn.

How long to stay in each respective city? 6 days Sydney, 4 Aukland, 3 Melbourne??

Any help would be awesome. I read a few past threads but didn't see anything that really hit my questions on the nose. Thanks!

Personally, I think your split is about right. It obviously depends on your preference on what to do, etc... With that length of time, you can take a car and do a couple of day-trips around the region.

You may want to consider whether you want to avoid/join the crowd - Easter and maybe school holidays will be around then.

There isn't a great deal of difference in the weather between April and May. Summer will be over by then and when you run into May, there will be a nip in the air during mornings and evenings. Maybe in Aus, but it won't be t-shirt weather in NZ.

Public and school holidays for NZ are in the key dates thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=320780).

Exact dates for school holidays in 2006 are not yet known but you can get the idea from past years.