Leisure Time

David14

There seems to be a lot of "leisure" time on this trip. Our booklet says the tour director will have suggestions for the leisure time, but I am wondering if we need to book activities in advance. I am looking for suggested activities for Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns, Auckland and anywhere else we are "at leisure." Many thanks in advance.

British

Reading the forum is a good start for ideas. There is plenty to see in Melbourne city, but many people chose the long drive to the penguins, just to see them toddle down the beach to the sea at dusk. Sydney, the Bridege walk is a favorite, or tickets for the opera house, one of the things we did, awesome. Cairns, the tour pretty much covered everything when we were there. Auckland, we missed out here, my husband caught the infection being passed around the group, so he spent our extra day in bed, got home and spent the next four days in the hospital, he nearly died.
Google “things to do in .... for ideas

MCD

I am going early for my tour next month and will spend three nights in Tasmania, where I am staying in Hobart. I have booked a day trip to the Tasman Peninsula that includes the Convict Trail (my primary reason for going to Tasmania). I will spend 2 nights in Melbourne before the Tauck tour starts. I booked a full day trip out of Melbourne to the Great Ocean Road on the completely free day. On the day that the Tauck tour begins in the evening, I booked a foodie walking tour in Melbourne. In Sydney, I bought tickets for "Evita" at the Sydney Opera House for one of the free evenings, and, on a free day, booked a full day trip to the Blue Mountains. I'm staying a couple of extra days in Auckland at the end of the tour. I booked a day trip to the Bay of Islands on one day and to Rotorua on the other day. I know that I will be exhausted, but I don't expect to get "down under" again. Go to Viator.com and see all of the trips that they offer. They don't conduct the tours themselves; they're a broker. They are a Trip Advisor company, so I trust them. I hope my trust is not misplaced.

MCD

I should add, British, that I'm sorry about your husband's illness and glad that he recovered!

David14

Thanks for the input. We are on the tour that begins Sept 24. Evita looks like a great choice. We've thought about the Penguins, but aren't sure if that is worth the it. We are considering skipping the Tauck activity on the last morning in Auckland and taking a day trip to Hobbiton. Seems a shame to go this far and not see it. Any thoughts?

MFinkel

For what it's worth, we've been on 12 Tauck tours. There is always leisure time built in, your Tour Director will have ideas, usually the day before, or that morning. We've never been steered wrong.

CatLover8

David14- My husband and I returned from this trip in March 2018. It's wonderful, but made more so by planning ahead and adding in extra tours. We added several:

Melbourne - arrived one day early; walked around Melbourne arrival day; next day we did GREAT OCEAN ROAD tour with The Private Tour Guide. NOT TO BE MISSED! We had a 6 a.m. early departure and were gone for 11 hrs and made it back for Tauck welcome reception. Next day Tauck toured us in Melbourne and during free time we went to St. Kitts for dinner followed by going to their pier to watch the fairy penguins come in at dusk.

Cairns - torrential rains prevented us from getting back to our hotel after the Great Barrier Reef (travel is an adventure!). Hot Air balloon was cancelled for next day when we finally got back. Ended up doing a massage at Spa. Silky Oaks is gorgeous!!!!

Sydney - saw La Traviata (booked with concierge well in advance) and also did Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb (not strenuous - great views; lovely picture at top; book when arrive so you have a sense of weather; they run these all the time).

Wellington - wandered around "windy" city. Wish we had booked a Weta Cave Tour (Peter Jackson studio); saw Weta's WWI display in museum - amazing!

Te Anu - did a glow worm cave tour after Milford Sounds - easy walk from hotel to boat company that runs tours - one block away. I can't imagine OSHA would approve this (watch your head!), but very unique and glad we did it.

Queenstown - get your adrenaline fix! We did souvenir shopping, but others did alpine luge and ziplining; weather not good for paragiding. We did a LOTR tour to Glenorchy - it was fine; definitely saw some specific scenery, but it is really for geeks including costumes if you want. My husband indulged me, but hated it. Like I said, should have done Weta Cave tour in Wellington instead.

Auckland - don't skip out on the Waiheke Island - fabulous lunch at winery. But don't miss Hobbiton either. We were lucky that our departure flight wasn't until 7:30 p.m., so we did a Hobbiton Express Tour with Bush & Beach - picked us up at 6:45 a.m. and had us back to the hotel at 3:15 and left for the airport at 4 p.m. Call us crazy. It worked! Bush & Beach knew our constraints and had a back-up plan.

So, lots of ways to enhance your "down under" experience. Have a wonderful time!

AlanS

Wow, and I thought we packed in a lot of extras on Classic Italy- you have us beat!! Thanks for the follow-up!