Opinions of Australia/New Zealand tour please
My friend and I are looking at the Australia/New Zealand tour for next year. Like most of you, we have had the good fortune to be able to see a lot of spectacular scenery over the years especially in Alaska, Hawaii, most of the Pacific Coast, Norway, Austrian and Swiss Alps and Italian Dolomites plus many national parks in the USA. Patagonia is coming later this year and poor Iceland has been bumped 3 times but we’ll get there.
Australia/New Zealand via Tauck sounds like a great trip based on your reviews, but also very expensive, especially if you add in the airfare to get there. I’m a Tauck traveler because I enjoy the tours, the directors and the guests but this time I am focusing on scenery and culture. The food and wine experiences look great but not my main focus this trip.
Can anyone who has taken this tour please tell me: Did you get to experience as much natural beauty, wildlife and cultural immersion as you wanted, and how did that particular aspect compare with your other travels? Would you have added any other locations to this itinerary? Thank you.
Comments
Grand Australia & New Zealand was my favorite of 13 Tauck tours. I'm not an animal enthusiast, so I appreciated the lack of wildlife on the tour. (I don't think that you can count Hartley's Crocodile Adventure as real wildlife!) The scenery in Queenstown, New Zealand was breathtaking, and there were other instances of natural beauty, such as Ayers Rock. I loved snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, even though the colors had faded. I enjoyed Melbourne, especially the Shrine of Remembrance, that I visited on my own. You have an opportunity to learn about Maori culture in New Zealand, starting with the Te Papa Museum in Wellington. Tauck took us there, and then I spent several hours there on my own. I started my tour with 3 days in Tasmania on my own before the Tauck tour started, mainly because I wanted to visit the Port Arthur penal colony, but I know others who have enjoyed hiking in Tasmania. I took the tour in 2018, and don't know whether the itinerary has changed.
Wan, I took this tour in 2015 and out of my 14 Tauck tours, it was definitely not one of my favorites. When we went to Ayers Rock early evening, it was extremely hot and there were so many flies, we had to wear head netting for protection. On the way to the Great Barrier Reef, the water was so rough, about 100 of us got sick all at the same time and never got to snorkel because it was so crowded. I could go on and on but blame myself as I knew that this wasn't the tour for me but went anyway.
We took this tour in September of 2019 and loved it. I recommend arriving early in Melbourne and focusing on what interests you. We did a Great Ocean Road Tour - beautiful scenery and we did see kangaroos. Some people did a wine country tour for a few nights pre-tour.
Enjoyed Ayers Rock area. It was hot, but the flies were not out in force. A few people wore the face netting just for a laugh. Loved the rainforest stay. We were lucky with the Reef. No wind and not crowded. And Sydney is a beautiful and vibrant city.
New Zealand is stunning. I would like to return there some day.
There are two points here. Ayres Rock has not been called that for many years now, it is called ULURU and I thought anyone who has been on the tour would know that and understand how important that sacred place is to the native peoples and that is what they call it.
Secondly, choose the time of year when you go wisely. It’s better to go to Australia in their winter when temperatures are comfortable, no flies at Uluru and no cyclones at the Barrier reef. This is when we went. Although a more expensive way to do it, we deliberately went to NZ separately in their summer for a better experience there. We added days at the beginning and end of each trip and it was awesome.
Ouch
May I correct myself, this from Wikipedia. It now has a dual name Uluru/Ayres Rock
From Wikipedia
Contents
Name
Look up Uluru in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
The local Aṉangu, the Pitjantjatjara people, call the landmark Uluṟu (Pitjantjatjara: [ʊlʊɻʊ]). This word is a proper noun, with no further particular meaning in the Pitjantjatjara dialect, although it is used as a local family name by the senior traditional owners of Uluru.[2]
On 19 July 1873, the surveyor William Gosse sighted the landmark and named it Ayers Rock in honour of the then Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers.[3] Since then, both names have been used.
In 1993, a dual naming policy was adopted that allowed official names that consist of both the traditional Aboriginal name (in the Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara and other local languages) and the English name. On 15 December 1993, it was renamed "Ayers Rock / Uluru" and became the first official dual-named feature in the Northern Territory. The order of the dual names was officially reversed to "Uluru / Ayers Rock" on 6 November 2002 following a request from the Regional Tourism Association in Alice Springs.[4
Thanks for the opinions, and to British for the valuable information. But getting back to the structure of the tour/itinerary, I am possibly hearing that extra days on our own would significantly add to the nature/scenery/culture experience in Australia, and that extra time in New Zealand would have been nice. We are in fact looking at other tours with longer itineraries in New Zealand, but it is tough to forego the overall Tauck experience.
Sending a private message Wan
I had 3 prior Tauck tours but this remains my favorite of them all! We were lucky to have great weather on our January 23 departure but other subsequent tours did not and struggled with an avalanche of rain in Queensland followed by the devastating cyclone Gabrielle in NZ. Prior Tauck tours were China in 2018, England,Scotland Wales in 2019 and Germany in 2022. What I did love was that I booked my own airfare to arrive several days in advance into Sydney, then flew to MEL and did a great ocean road tour AND the Australian Open in Melbourne! A lot depends on when you wish to travel down under. I would have loved to be in Sydney for New Years! Best plan is to choose what other tours you want to do but it is so very helpful to arrive a few days early due to jet lag! Australia was VERY safe, transportation was a breeze and cheap as was New Zealand. Cash is NOT necessary as your CC gets you everything you would need.
Hi, Wan! We took this tour about four years ago and we absolutely loved it! I would say it was one of my very favorite trips - probably even #1. That was due in part to our outstanding TD and TD in-training (both awesome!!!), wonderful tour mates, the amazing countries, spectacular scenery, fabulous, humorous, hospitable and friendly people, charter flights (this was HUGE!) unique animals, varied and interesting itinerary, and the sense of being somewhere so far and different from home, yet strangely familiar. We, too, love wildlife as well as scenery and nature. Although it’s not the wild, we really enjoyed Hartley’s and interacting with the native animals. However, we arrived two days early to Melbourne and did a small group tour of the Great Ocean Road which I highly recommend! The scenery is beautiful (Australia is much more scenic than I expected since I thought New Zealand was mainly where we’d see the beautiful scenery) and we saw koalas in the wild (in eucalyptus trees) as well as cockatoos and other very friendly parrots who enjoyed landing on people. Friends we met on our tour went on their own to a golf course in the Melbourne area and saw many kangaroos hopping about. We also got to see an Aussie Rules match in Melbourne which was so much fun. We were there in September. We had excellent weather in Uluru - no flies, but our friends who went in February had a ton of flies. So that may be related to time of year. Our TD told us that the tour group before us actually saw camels in Uluru, but we did not. There is just so much to see and do in Australia & New Zealand. We also saw wallabies in the wild (hanging out on a golf course) one day when we were returning from the hot air balloon ride in Queensland (fun adventure!). We saw some other animals on the Great Ocean Road (in Victoria) including the elusive echidna. Silky Oaks Lodge, located in the Daintree Rainforest in Queensland, was “dreamy” and so relaxing. The staff was extremely welcoming and hospitable and our stay there was one of many highlights of the trip. We loved listening to the unusual bird calls at night from our treehouse room and it was fun to see the exotic birds running around in the rainforest as we would walk around the grounds to and from the lodge. The accommodations were lovely. Absolutely loved it!! We did not have time for this, but a friend of ours visited Phillip Island to see the “penguin parade” and really enjoyed that. That would be a day trip outside of Melbourne. So if you want to see penguins, that’s an option. But get VIP tickets for that for the best view. I don’t believe they allow photos at all though so just be aware of that. We had a blast snorkeling in the GBR. Go with the smaller boat option to get away from the crowds - it’s sooooo much better. (Apparently, Tauck had recently added that option.) My husband did a dive but I just snorkeled with a wonderful snorkeling buddy and we couldn’t get enough of it. We were fortunate to have excellent weather and didn’t have any issues with rough waters. Saw a giant clam - that was cool! Also saw giant grouper - wow! It was interesting to see some of the big fish. In Sydney we went to Manly Beach and walked along the scenic coast. We also did the Sydney Bridge Climb - that was an exhilarating experience with great sweeping views. I recommend going on the twilight climb so you can see the sights during the day while climbing up, and then the city lights from atop the bridge at night. We skipped the hotel buffet the first night (which I was told was just o.k.) and instead had a delicious meal at Aria with a table by the window with a great view of the Opera House. We saw a show at the Opera House another night. The hotel in Sydney also has a terrific view of the harbor from your room. Not that we were in the room much! 😁 We really would have liked an extra day in Sydney - Tauck used to spend an extra night there but changed that the year we went. We want to go back. New Zealand is just stunning and the views of the Southern Alps from the charter planes were breathtaking. We especially enjoyed the boat rides on Milford and Marlborough Sounds. Queenstown is gorgeous, too. The helicopter ride was scenic and fun. We appreciated the fact that for one night in both Sydney and Auckland, Tauck gave us the option of dining on our own - we had several different restaurants to choose from, and they picked up the bill. In these countries, I think it’s really fun to explore some of the local restaurants and culture that way. There is so much to see and do in Australia and New Zealand and I feel like this trip really gives you the opportunity to maximize the time that you have there considering the scope of the geography and distance (thanks to the charter flights). Can you tell we loved this trip? 😉 It was absolutely awesome and we were all truly sad when it ended! This destination was always a bucket list for me, and it exceeded expectations. We really want to go back again, someday. We really would love to see Tasmania, too, which we heard is gorgeous, so if you have the opportunity to get there before the tour, I would go for it. This was a great trip and I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in visiting that part of the world. Tauck made it so easy and definitely spoiled us - especially with those charter flights! 😂 I enjoyed reminiscing by writing this post! 😀
And I believe we were on the tour preceding your’s. Here are the wild camels.
Great photo, Lotusgirl. I'm very glad that most people had a great experience on the trip, which I never doubted. I guess with any tour, or anything in life, it always helps to have extra time, money and luck😁
By the way, were the chartered flights in jets? We might not be brave enough for "puddle-jumpers".
Wan - the charters were jets. As others have stated, they were a huge plus - time saving, convenient and comfortable.
Wow, Lotusgirl - that’s amazing! Must have been such fun to see all of those camels in person! Wan - yes, as Lotusgirl mentioned, the charter flights were all jets. I actually enjoyed these flights and I’m not a fan of flying! It felt rather glamorous! ☺️ I found that aspect of the tour to be a big bonus.
We did this tour in Dec. of 2019. We arrived a day early in Melbourne. If you are interested in seeing wildlife in their natural habitat, I would strongly suggest Echidna Walk-About. You must reserve a ticket in advance. It's a preserve.
We enjoyed Australia but LOVED LOVED New Zealand.
Wan - The locals appreciate when the rock is called Uluru. New Zealand is stunning, extending the tour in Auckland will give you the opportunity to visit Hobbit Town and the glow worm caves which I regret not doing. This is a wonderful trip and one of my favorites.
Hi Wan - I took this trip this past December/January and had a truly wonderful time. We got very lucky with weather for almost the entire trip. As for "natural beauty, wildlife, and cultural immersion" I would say yes. I am an animal lover and used the "gift of time" before the tour started. I booked a private tour up to Phillip Island to see the little penguins - we stopped at an animal sanctuary on the way. It was wonderful. As others have mentioned, the trip out to Uluru was terrific and the guide was exceptional. It was a treat to hear about the legends from a native, Aboriginal person. We enjoyed several interactions with wildlife on land and in the sea including snorkeling the reef. The highlight for me was the Silky Oaks Lodge in Queensland - truly immersed in the rain forrest. Nature abounded in New Zealand including visiting a sheep farm and the river trip. As mentioned by another traveler, I returned on my own to the Te Papa Museum in Wellington and was fortunate to get a Maori guide. One of the coolest things was that our Tauck guide was also Maori. His name was Miles and he was terrific. All in all, I would say yes, I felt I got plenty of natural beauty, wildlife, and cultural immersion and found the trip to be worth every penny. I hope you have a similar experience. Safe travels!
All great suggestions and feedback, thank you. Lots to think about!
This is one of our top 3 trips. Yes go to Melbourne a few days early. Check out the "fairy" or little penguins and book with a naturalist if you can, so you'll get up close. In Sydney we booked a performance ahead to experience the opera house. We loved the flexibility with charter jets because we were able to see so many extra places. DO this trip! Now, while you can!
Make sure you do the tour of the Great Ocean Road, terrific scenery.
We went with Tauck in Nov of 2017. I think they’ve changed the itinerary a bit now, but we loved our tour and it was the perfect time of year. Tauck offered an excellent blend of activities thar were interspersed with free time. Surprisingly, we enjoyed the rainforest stay and the wildlife park—and everything else was as fabulous or more so than we expected. Uluru was a pleasant surprise, plus we had no bugs. The Australia and New Zealand activities were equally good so we didn’t prefer one country over the other.
We did that tour in 2019. It was a good tour. I'd recommend it.
Compared to many similar tours, the flew us to New Zealand from Australia. Many other tours use a ship to go from Australia to New Zealand which takes several days and can be rough.
Mike