Australia & New Zealand 2/20/17

Ceecee

My husband and I are arriving on the 19th early in the morning so we have two days foe adventure before the official start the evening of the 20th. Does anyone have any ideas? Has anyone been to the Dadenong Ranges? I have spent the morning on line but decided it might be best to go to other Tauck travelers.

joycesw

Since it was some huge wine celebration weekend in the wine area, we did not do a wine tour which would have been our first choice. However, we loved the City Circle Tram and the FREE tourist shuttle bus. Both of these stop at city attractions and will give you an idea of some areas you might want to explore further. Or, you can hop on and off. We also stopped at the Old Melbourne Gaol (jail) and were lucky enough to see a reenactment of the Ned Kelly story performed (if you don't know who Ned Kelly is, check out his story...he is considered an Australian folk hero...better yet, read The Ned Kelly Gang by Peter Carrey). And, be sure to walk/jog along the Yarra River trail at about 6 AM. It is a hub of activity with walkers, joggers, people hustling to work, crews rowing on the river and their coaches riding along the trail on bikes. By 8 AM everyone is gone.

AshvEd

We took this trip in Feb 2015 and it was an amazing experience. The Langham is perfectly located to explore Melbourne's shops, museums, and street scene. We had a fun time at Eau de Vie which is a specialty cocktail lounge and serves some food. We had dinner one evening on the Colonial Tramcar. We did a day trip to see the little penguins with a company called GoWest and paid extra to sit on the sand to watch them come ashore. We enjoyed the Immigration Museum and hopping on/off the tram that circles Melbourne. Many great museums depending on your needs.

This was our 1st trip with Tauck. Since then we have been with them to Tetons and Yellowstone, the Blue Danube River cruise, and have booked Hawaii and S. Africa in 2017.

Have a fabulous time down under.

Ed and Vicki

PF606590

The Dandelongs are very interesting. We took a 1/2 day tour thru Viator, before our opening group meeting. The tour included a bus ride, a steam train ride and an hour in a small town in the Dandelongs. It was definitely worth it and we saw something that was not on the Tauck tour.

Also, be sure to se Confederation Square.

The Tauck trip is superb, you will have a great time.