I have been trying to learn as much as I can from these boards and several blogs over the past few months. My husband and I are looking to go to NZ and/or Australia in the November/December time frame. We are very flexible with the exact dates and will fly coach. We hope to book a United or Star Alliance award (hopefully at the 80K saver rate) and that is where I am having trouble understanding the routing rules.

The three main places we want to go are:
1) Sydney for a few days
2) Brisbane or Cairns (or any city in-between where we can easily take a great barrier reef trip from)
3) Queenstown or Christchurch (or somewhere in Southern NZ)

What is the best way to route these three areas? We are willing to pay for segments outside the award ticket but would like to minimize the cost.

My understanding is that we get one stop over per round trip ticket and an open jaw? My question is what are the limitations on the �stop over�? Does it have to be in a hub city like Sydney or Auckland? Or could it be in Queenstown, NZ? For example could we go�

LAX�Brisbane (I am sure there would be connections in-between but not taking a stop over)
SYD�Queenstown�LAX (With a stop over in Queenstown)

We would then pay for our own flight or train from Brisbane to Sydney.

Would this kind or routing be allowed if it was available? Are there any better routing options to consider getting to and from the 3 areas listed above? For those who have been to the area before, would you recommend going to different areas than the one listed above?

Sorry if this is confusing, it is my first time attempting to make an award booking. I just want to know as much as I can about what is allowed before I search on ANA or call United.

Thanks for your help!

I might have misread this, but you can't easily take a trip to the Great Barrier Reef from Brisbane - distances in Australia are vast. As a tourist with limited time, I wouldn't bother at all with Brisbane. Cairns is a nice cosmopolitan city, spend your time either there or at Port Douglas instead.

Enjoy your trip, sorry I can't help with more but I'm sure there will be a wealth of knowledge from other people here.

Welcome to FT. I'm moving this to the *A forum where I think you'll get more help.

That routing would be allowed per CO rules. Although I haven't tried booking since the merger was completed.

A side note to consider though...there isn't any way to get to the Great Barrier Reef from Brisbane (BNE). Cairns (CNS) is the most popular spot to get to the Reef, since it only takes about a 30 min boat ride to get out there.

Thanks for the information on Cairns vs Brisbane. I am still figuring out where places are in realtion to one another. My original plan was to take the snorkeling tour from Airlie beach, so I could either take the train from Cairns to Airleie beach or Brisbane to Airlie Beach. However, if it is possible to just take the tour straight from Cairns that seems much better. We were interested in doing one of those 2-3 night sailing/snorkling trips.

Research places like Cairns and Airlie Beach to see what you'd like best. For me, Cairns would be the place being a small to medium sized city, but for you Airlie Beach might well be a better choice. I'd hate to see you waste your time when there's a better choice nearby.

Count on a full day at least for the GBR. A lot of people are under the impression that it's just a little walk out into the water, but to go from Cairns it's a decent bus ride to wherever you get your boat, then probably a 45 minute boat ride. And if you're offered sea sickness pills be sure to take them - a lot of people get sick on the way, even people who have never experience motion sickness in their lives. I speak as a victim

If you are looking for a 2-3 night sailing/snorkeling trip the Whitsunday Islands by airlie beach might be a good choice. You can find fairly cheap flights to a nearby airport. Taking a bus/train is not recommended because the distance from Brisbane is far, and from Cairns even farther.

The Whitsunday is a group of ~70 islands with great snorkeling, and you can get to the reef as well, but it's a bit farther out. To be honest, I think the snorkeling at the islands are just as good at the reef. If you are diving then that's a different story...

I'll add a vote for Port Douglas. Cairns just feels like a big industrial town, Port Douglas is much smaller and more of a tourist town.

From memory Airlie Beach is also a pretty huge backpacker destination. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, just don't go their expecting it to be a quaint seaside village

Depending on your view on camping I'd highly recommend a camper van rental as the best way to see the South Island of NZ. With regards to Christchurch, it seems like the area that's still off limits after the earthquake is relatively small, and there's some good info here.