Australia & New Zealand Reopening to Travel
Big News: Australia to reopen borders to international travel Feb. 21. NZ announces July reopening. At this point Tauck has cancelled all tours through August.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-60284491
https://www.cntraveler.com/story/new-zealand-is-slowly-opening-its-borders
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NZ is reopening to US visitors in July but requires a 10 day self-isolation when you arrive. As long as you have to self-isolate on arrival NZ is "open", but realistically remains closed to tourists. With the Australian announcement, the first half of our October Grand ANZ is now possible. Here's hoping NZ removes their self-isolation requirement before then to make the second half possible.
https://covid19.govt.nz/international-travel/travel-to-new-zealand/when-new-zealand-borders-open/#self-isolation-requirements
You can always change it to just Spotlight on Australia. New Zealand can be pretty cold in July and even snow.
The old Spotlight on Australia, which was the first half of Grand ANZ, is no longer offered. It was replaced by Australia Adventure with a completly different itinerary. For now I'm holding out in hope NZ relaxes their entry requirements before our October tour is canceled.
July and August are when I love to head to Australia and NZ (and South America)…to escape the heat and avoid the crowds. And yes, I’ve been asked why I’m there in “winter” lol. Tauck has told me repeatedly the majority of its travelers prefer warmer weather.
The Tasmania part of the new tour looks interesting. We had plans to take a long tour of New Zealand last year because we liked it so much and there is so much more to see there. Covid has been a real bummer for travelers, but at least we are still alive to try again.
Warm is nice but hot as heck in Australia in the summer, no thank you. I guess Tauck never asks me what I like when I book yet another tour with them.
We are booked on the Australia Adventure: Adelaide, Tasmania & Sydney for mid October. That is only about 6 weeks after Tauck plans to open up tours to Australia. We haven’t booked any air yet but I am reluctant to do so since there still is a lot of uncertainty in my opinion.
We are also booked on the Australia Adventure, but in early October. We are letting Tauck book our air - too much of a struggle to get a refund for air shortly after Covid hit and everything shut down. I had little hope for this tour until today when MarketArt shared the article about Australia reopening.
I took the Grand Australia-New Zealand tour in December. The AU weather was perfect. The New Zealand portion was cooler. There was snow when we took the helicopter excursion in Queenstown. I'm wearing a windbreaker-type jacket with a light lining in my photos.
For airfare to AU/NZ: If booking business class, I suggest you have Tauck secure seats sooner rather than later and continue looking for other fares on your own. Hopefully Tauck will allow you to hold off payment until 60 days prior to beginning of tour. The Business Class seats fill up quickly for these routes. I was almost in that pickle for my return flight. Tauck was able to book the flight with Air New Zealand instead of Qantas which turned out to be just fine.
not crazy at all with Australia/NZ. did it last 2019... pretty, but not much to do.
Sorry.
mil - proof that everyone's interests are different, though I think you would like Queenstown region. I spent an entire morning at the fantastic Hobart Saturday market chatting with the charming locals (there was also a Buddhist Festival with visiting Tibetan monks), so am disappointed that Tauck isn’t there on a weekend. Similarly, Tauck skips the Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi. I may be flagged for mentioning that in Patagonia people told me it looked just like Alaska; if you’ve seen one glacier…
MarketArt Hi.
)s
Don't get me wrong... it is beautiful and I had a great time, also the Coral reef was a amazing... but that was it; no cultural venues.. only
the Opera House, which by the way.. I saw "Hair" and it was incredible!
I just like to combine my trip with something else... and this trip is one of those that you visit around 2-3 things.. and then back to the Hotel.. which I think, after that long flight it should offer a little more.
The Points Guy posted great info about Australian this morning. It looks as of there is still going to be a great deal of hassle to be able to enter Australia. What concerns me is testing positive and having to quarantine and miss the tour after a long and expensive flight.
From what we are seeing and experiencing all around us, there is no rhyme or reason who and when people are testing positive for Covid. My husband is nervous to leave the country again now after our recent first experience outside of the US. 20% of our group tested positive and not being able to return to the US. We are not concerned with contracting Omicron as it is likely to be mild or totally asymptomatic , but we don’t want to be stuck in quarantine…the people who were stuck in quarantine, the hotel even forgot to send them meals on some days.
The Hobart part of the tour looks good.
From the Points Guy
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/visiting-australia-now/
Tauck wasn't offering trips to Tasmania when I took Grand Australia and New Zealand in 2018, but I went early and spent 3 nights in Hobart on my own. I did a walking tour of the city, went on my own to the Salamanca Place Saturday market that MarketArt mentioned, did a day trip to the penal colony of Port Arthur (the real impetus for the trip to Tasmania) and spent a morning at the very unusual Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). I'm glad that Tauck is including the latter two stops on its new tour. A close family friend (my daughter's age) did a solo hiking tour in Tasmania, and loved it. It appears that Tauck's time at Freycinet National Park will give people time to get out and enjoy nature.