Originally Posted by
Alex Jimenez
We are not into Michelin restaurants, less upscale than that. Just good quality food, ambiance is less important. Spending half the time in Sydney or Melbourne or Auckland seeing the sights and then the other half on a more remote beach resort would probably be ideal. We would probably pick only one city to visit rather than try and make it to many.
Forget Auckland. It's not a plain sort of city, and if this is a once in a lifetime trip, I certainly wouldn't suggest spending half your time there. If you want to visit NZ then go to the south island. Natural beauty, great food and wine. I'm slightly biased, but if this is a once in a lifetime trip, I'd suggest Sydney over Melbourne *ducking*. Melbourne is an awesome city, but the wow factor of Sydney Harbour with the bridge and the opera house is hard to beat. You can tie in a trip to the Blue Mountains and maybe the Hunter Valley depending on how you're going for time.