Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - OZ or OZ+NZ?

I am now planning my holiday trip to Australia next October for about 2 weeks. Question which I keep asking myself is: if I will be in Australia anyway, shall I extend my holidays for one more week to visit NZ or it would be too much for one single go and NZ deserves one more separate holiday? I am based in UK so it's 22 hour trip for me.
Any comments will be appreciated.
AX

Absolutely yes. You've gone out so far, why not make the most of it. There are some great sies in New Zealand. Lots of sports and whalewatching. I had a great time there.

If natural beauty is your thing, the South Island of NZ fits the bill. The Haast River Valley and the Queenstown areas are spectacular.

Question which I keep asking myself is: if I will be in Australia anyway, shall I extend my holidays for one more week to visit NZ or it would be too much for one single go and NZ deserves one more separate holiday?If you can extend your holiday by one more week, I'd do that - but stay in Oz. There's no shortage of things to see in NZ, which is a great place too - but it can't be done in a week and it deserves its own holiday. And don't waste 12 hours of your extra week just travelling to and back from NZ - save NZ for next time.

definitely not long enough to see both countries other than too superficially (rick steeve's style). do one and then go back and do the other.

definitely not long enough to see both countries other than too superficially (rick steeve's style). do one and then go back and do the other.

I agree I spent 6 weeks in NZ and still did not see all. I will do Australia on a separate trip and hope to return in NZ as well in the future.

If you dont foresee yourself travelling again to this part of the world after this trip, yes you should also include NZ ;but be selective on cities to visit in both Aust and NZ since you dont have 2 months to travel around.

For Aust I would suggest SYD (most beautiful city in the world ! ), CNS (for a taste of tropical Aust and Great Barrier Reef) and PER (Western Aust, if time permits). I would leave out MEL since its too similar to London and you are based in the UK, and BNE is just plain boring.

For NZ I would suggest exploring mainly the South Island for natural beauty and if time permits Rotorua (North Island) for Maori culture. For South Island, dont spend too much time in CHC since its too similar to the UK; but Lake Tekapo, Queenstown and Milford Sound should not be missed.

I'm bringing my family down next spring/summer and wanted to see more of the countryside (only really seen SYD to date, and my wife has been to Canberra)... I had contemplated visiting NZ as well, but we have a nearly-three-week itinerary covering Sydney, the north coast, Brisbane, Cairns, and Alice Springs/Uluru, and I still don't think we'll have scratched the surface. Dying to visit NZ for the first time but unless I am fortunate enough to land a client there it will have to be a subsequent trip.

I agree with Globaliser and jtkauai

The 2-3 weeks you have will hardly make a dent in AU. We have spent almost 3 months in several trips and finally feel we have seen what is the highlights for us. NZ was, for us, 18 days for No and 19 days for So.

Then, we have been to Kaua'i three times and still pine to go back. Hi jt!