MilesBuzz! - Australia and New Zealand itenerary advice

I just booked an itinerary with BA miles for travel on QF for next year.

I plan to be gone for a little over two weeks. One option available from BA is to have a stopover for a few days in Auckland. Is this something any of you recommend or would you suggest spending the extra days in Australia?

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i would recommend a week on the north island. rent a car and circle it . the next trip ,we are going to spend a week or more on the south island [we haven't done it]. so much to do, so little time!

[This message has been edited by clacko (edited 12-19-2001).]

I have done the same thing using AA miles. I am spending 2 weeks there next year. My itinerary is taking me to Auckland for 4.5 days, Cairns for 6.5 days, and Sydney for 4.5 days. If you can get up the Queensland coast, try to, I have heard the area is beautiful and there is more to do than vanilla sightseeing. From Cairns I am intending on doing some: diving, off road biking, rainforest hiking, etc. Cheers and have fun!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by clacko:
i would recommend a week on the north island. rent a car and circle it . the next trip ,we are going to spend a week or more on the south island [we haven't done it]. so much to do, so little time!

[This message has been edited by clacko (edited 12-19-2001).]</font>

You only have 2 weeks. Australia is a huge country, with 'so much to do, so little time'. Even 2 weeks is nowhere near enough to see Australia alone(imagine trying to 'do' America in 2 weeks). You need to decide if just a taste of NZ is going to be enough for you, or not.

If you can stop in New Zealand, do it. It is awesome. I have never seen such a gorgeous place. In addition to the natural beauty, you will find that the Kiwis are the friendliest people in the world. They love Americans, too.

I spent a week down on the South Island in Queenstown, and I wish I could have stayed there forever!

we did australia only with our first trip. sydney, cairns, gold coast, ayers rock, melbourne, hunter valley. we plan to cover ground we weren't able to get to on next trip. melbourne (wasn't there long enough), adelaide/SA wine regions, tasmania, and then on to NZ. just be sure to do your research and hit the spots that are most important to you for your first trip.

its so far away, you should treat the trip as if it might be the only time you get down under.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by duxfan:
its so far away, you should treat the trip as if it might be the only time you get down under. </font> We TRIED to do that, but after a a few days on the New Zealand North Island followed by over three weeks in Australia, we've told ourselves that we MUST come back someday to do all the things we missed and enjoy a lot of the things we did all over again. I agree that New Zealand is worth a trip (and we MUST see the South Island someday), but with only two weeks, there is more than enough to see in Australia alone.
(fixed typoes)


[This message has been edited by rtpflyer (edited 12-19-2001).]

what does this have to do w/miles & points?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by clacko:
what does this have to do w/miles & points?</font>

If we actually had a proper forum for trip advice, I'd post it there. In order to satisfy your complaint in the meantime...I'm using BA miles for partner use on Qantas. I transferred them from Diners Club to British Airways during their 2x promo a few months ago. My hotel stays will be completely free using some of my Hilton and Hyatt points. Since the QF flight only originates in LAX or JFK, I'm using AS miles for an AA flight that connects in LAX.


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mileage addict- right on!

I've made numerous trips to both countries. Australia is obviously large. New Zealand is deceptively large.

Given only two weeks, I'd spend it all in Australia. If you've earned enough miles to go there now and feel like you may earn enough to go again someday, save New Zealand for another time. N.Z. is a spectacular country but believe me, despite its size 2 weeks is only a taste of New Zealand.

Also, consider that even though N.Z. is only a 3 1/2 hour hop across the Tasman, you'll be heading to the airport 2 or more hours before the flight departs, flying there, then dealing with customs and immigration on the other end before getting to your hotel. You'll have lost a fair part of your first day in N.Z. especially as they are an hour later than E. Coast Australia.

The comments so far have been consistent in one theme - both countries are deserving of your time. The variation in opinions revolves around how much time you should allocate to each country. I've been to both countries twice, and if I go back, I would probably make NZ my focus and use Australia as a short stopover.

As others have mentioned, if you can reasonbly expect to return to the Antipodes someday, then you can devout your attention to one country on this trip; a later trip can be spent in the other one. But, if this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip down under, then you should definitely allocate time for each country. I would be so bold as to suggest a 50/50 split.

I could spend two weeks alone in Australia's wine valleys!

I have noticed that all previous responses have come from your own countrymen.

Without denigrating their efforts, perhaps you may prefer some insight from what one of your respondents would describe as an "Antipodean".

You couldn't see half of the North Island in a week. Get the idea ? If your intention on this trip is to see a bit of Australia, forget the idea of seeing anything of NZ. In two weeks, you could see a fraction of NZ, or a minuscule amount of Australia.

If you like large cities, spend two weeks in Sydney. If not, go to Queensland, and tour up the coast. They are the viable options for a two-week stay.

New Zealand is a beautiful place, and worthy of a month on its own. But, if your intention is to come to Australia for two weeks, you certainly have no time to spare for a cursory look at NZ. Next trip, perhaps.

We spent 3 weeks in Australia and New Zealand earlier this year. Fantastic trip. I agree with the sentiments above about whether to do one or the other or both. It depends on when you expect to go back and whether you want a sample many places or delve deeply into a few.

My partner and I (along with Jamiel from this board)decided to spend a few days in several places because we were not sure when we would have the time to go back. It was great to see a lot, but it did just whet our appetite. My partner, not a big fan of the flying process, would have preferred to spend less time in transit and more on the ground seeing things. Seat 2A is right about that cutting into your time.

Both countries were absolutely beautiful and we found the people we met in each to be among the friendliest anywhere we have been. So far, we have seen a little bit of a lot of places. Next time we will have to flip a coin to decide between the two countries and then stay in just one.

Mileage Addict:It seems Australia and New Zealand are popular destinations for 2002. I've seen several other people mention they are going. I'll be vacationing there for four weeks in March and April. Let me know if you'll be there during that time.

In Australia we're spending time at Jervis Bay, Sydney, Port Douglas and in Daintree. We fly to Brisbane for one day and then to Auckland to catch the market before we charter a sailboat for several days to sail in the gulf (If you're around at the same time, we could take you sailing). Then to Rotorua, Tongarino (to do the trek - beautiful hotel there, Grand Chateau,is very cheap) and back to Auckland for several days.

Not to piss off the Aussies here, but after spending a week in New Zealand, I really don't want to go to Australia until I'm bored with New Zealand. Let's put it this way -- I plan on going back there next year in late August again, and this time, I'm staying for longer. Of course, since I'll be using miles to get there this time and not paying for the airfare, I'll be able to.

MileageAddict -- Your post didn't say when you were going (month or time of year), but parts of Australia can get pretty hot in summertime (Jan-Feb). I spent over two months in NZ a few years ago and still didn't see it all, while meeting many Australians who were on holiday and/or escaping from the heat.
Cheers

If taking in the activities on the Great Barrier Reef in Oz is part of your plans, note that north Queensland (around Cairns) is VERY rainy from January to March, which might factor in to your decision.

-Zombie-

Just did this exact trip in August (even down to using 2 for 1 BA miles from Diner's Club to book on Qantas).

We ended up spending 5 days on the North Island and saw Auckland, Bay of Islands, Rotorua, drove around the National Park and Waitomo Caves). We then flew to Sydney and spent 3 days seeing the sights (Opera, Harbor, Zoo, Museums, Bridge Climb, etc.). Finally, we flew to Cairns and did 2 1/2 days (1/2 day Kuranda, 1 day snorkelling, 1 day rainforest tour). When we returned to Sydney, we had a day to go to a couple of places we missed the first time (Featherdale Wildlife Park, Aquarium) and flew back to the States.

My philosophy was: get a taste of as much as we could in the time allowed. Who knows if we will ever get back there again? If you don't mind driving (except Sydney) and make early starts each day (we have a 2 year old, so we were used to it), you can easily manage a similar itinerary.

One more thing, if I had gone during the Aussie summer, I may have picked Tasmania or Melbourne instead of Far North Queensland due to weather concerns.

This could be posted under Australia

As for your question, think the US. I going to the US and can stop in Canada. I have two weeks can I see both counties in that time?

Two weeks is enough to overdo North Island (should only take 12 days). 14 days is enough to do Sydney average. I would suggest 12 days North Island, 10 days South Island, 14 days Sydney and surrounds, X days in Brisbane (we have not done yet), 6 days in Caines and area, 7 days in Melbourne, 25 days in Perth and the areas North and South, 7 days in Adelaide, and 6 days in Taz (we have not done this yet either), 7 days in Canberra, and then you can think about the outback, Ayers Rock, Alice Springs as well as the train ride, and a restful stay on one of the resort islands.

We will be on our 5th trip (one was only to Auckland for 2 days before a cruise in the South Pacific, a repeat visit for us) in March.

As you can see, it takes, at least in my opinion, a long time to visit NZ and Oz. If you skip around on a 2 week visit, then you really need to go back to all those places again to see the places and sights you missed. With an area so vast,that is normally a mistake, often made. If your young, then take a long term approach.

Use the web to tour the city you plan as your primary place to visit. Write down all the places and things you want to do. Then map out the travel in that area and time to do those things. That will give you YOUR appropriate time for each place you want to go and help you decide how many places you can visit. Do NOT waste your time making extra stops, just because they are available. You waste time in travel that could otherwise be put to better use.

Having said all that, IF you are older OR do not plan to return, then sign up for a tour. They get you around the fastest.

You're never going to have enough time for anywhere that's worth visiting. Having said that, I just finished a 18-day tour through NZ and, for the first time in my traveling life, I managed to avoid spending any real time in the major cities (and I love cities). I flew into and out of Auckland International but never set foot in Auckland proper. I spent 45 minutes connecting flights in Wellington and I spent one hour driving through Christchurch on my way from the airport. The major cities in NZ look nice, but I thought that the real highlight of a visit to NZ is seeing the countryside. The North and South Islands are both gorgeous but I liked the South Island more. Milford Sound, Abel Tasman National Park, the West Coast...all were magnificent.

As for Australia, I think you can do it in five days. One day in Melbourne, one day in Sydney, one day in Cairns, one day in Perth, one day in Ayers Rock. And since you are a FF addict, you can probably manage to get good flight times and even squeeze in Tasmania for a half day. OK, I am obviously joking! But I am very serious when I say ignore all the folks who keep repeating the obvious that Australia is a big country and that you need to really spend a lot of time to see it...blah blah blah...The same can be said for practically any country (I mean would you not visit New York City because you couldn't visit New Orleans on the same trip?). The point is that you don't have unlimited time. However, that should not deter you from visiting the place (of course, given the flight times, I really think a trip of less than 8-10 days is a waste of time). My suggestion is not to be too ambitious in seeing as much of the country as possible in "X" days. See what you can and hope to see more on a future visit. If you want any suggestions on NZ, there is a good thread in the "Air New Zealand" forum called "NZ in the Spring". The Kiwis on FT make a strong case for visiting their beautiful country.

Have a good trip.

[This message has been edited by fallinasleep (edited 12-21-2001).]