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Returned recently from Australia and NZ tour
Hi,
We returned on Dec 28 from the combined Australia and NZ tour. We rarely take tours, but because the logistics of this trip and the number of flights were so complex, I researched nine companies. Only Tauck did justice to an itinerary I thought was important in the combined 22 days. Food and accommodations were excellent. We had some free time to explore on our own.
Here are a few notes that you may find of interest.
Color coordinating your clothes helped greatly in cutting down on the number of pairs of shoes needed. And shoes weigh a lot.
While Tauck tells you to bring only 1 checked bag, a number of couples had three bags between them and there was no problem. You are allowed 2 checked bags, no more than 50 lbs, per person on international flights at no extra charge. While internal flights from Quantaqs specify 44 lbs, not one of us had a problem if our bags were over that, but under 50 lbs.. They will question, however, if your carry on (limit 15 lbs) looks like it is bulging.
Food in restaurants in Australia and NZ is very pricy, at least double what we are used to in the U.S.for each type of item because the minimum wage is high in those countries, about $17 an hour. During our stay the Australian dollar and the American dollar were the same. In New Zealand, we paid .70 cents American and received $1 NZ.
There was no problem with internet access. In some cases, wi fi was available for 20 minutes in some hotels if you had an I PAD or I Pod touch or similar. In other hotels there was computer access for 15 minutes. And there were internet cafes around.
Melbourne: There are two free on off tram (trolley) type shuttles if you have time and want to explore on your own. One is more local, the other goes further afield. There is also a pedestrian shopping street not far from your hotel. We arrived a day early and took a trolley to St. Kilda beach which is close by.
Urulu-Ayre’s Rock—If there is a fly problem, your tour director should provide head nets.
PORT DOUGLAS
The main street with shops and restaurants is two blocks to the right of Peppers Resort hotel as you exit the hotel. Walk to the main street and make a left. You can walk as far as the ocean, about 5-6 blocks There are many restaurants. It is very hot and humid in their summer. At the restaurants, it appears that everyone is sitting outside in the heat, but many are air conditioned inside. You need to walk in to see if there is air conditioning or ask.
Do not eat in the Mexican restaurant. Not good except for the appetizer with the three sauces and chips for dipping, which is very good. Otherwise, the entrees were terrible; definitely not Mexican food. No Mexicans could be seen operating the restaurant.
Most stores in Port Douglas close at 5 or 6. There are two pharmacies and they are open until 8 pm if you need something.
There is an internet café in the same place as the ice cream store that advertises 48 flavors. They too are open later.
Some restaurants have special early bird prices before 6:30 pm. No tipping is expected.
Try The Iron Bar Restaurant-walk into the interior if you need air conditioning. They had a good price for 3 courses before 6:30 pm—about $16.30 Good food.
The Great Barrier Reef experience: Most people rush to do the snorkeling first resulting in a wait. Instead, do the semi-submersible first. Take your own mask for snorkeling if you have one. The ones they gave me leaked. My husband’s was fine. We rented the lycra wet suits for $5 because it was the summer jelly fish season and it was a precautionary thing, just in case.
The Hot Air Balloon Experience. Eleven people died a few days ago when a balloon caught fire in Wellington NZ. I wouldn’t do it.
Sidney: Also has a free tourist shuttle bus we found very helpful. If you like museums, there are plenty. If you like to be outside and walking, plan out an itinerary based on your inclination and where these places are located on the map you can download in advance or use the one you will be given.
On our dinner on our own evening, we walked to Chinatown, stopped in at the Victoria Market Building along the way. Stores were closed but building was open. It is awesome. Was decorated for Christmas when we were there.
Your map of Sidney shows a pedestrian street called Dixon in Chinatown.. Outdoor seating restaurants line the street. Find one with cloth tablecloths and eat there. Good food and good prices for a three course meal.
On our full day free in Sidney, we started the day by taking the free tourist bus outside our hotel (ask where exactly to hop on it at concierge desk) to the Queen Victoria Building and see it again when the shops were open. Go to just look at the detail, the interior, architecture –it’s beautiful.
Then, we walked on to Paddy’s market. Find it on the bottom part of your map if you like that kind of thing. It’s a huge indoor market with a shopping center above it. Paddy’s has Asian and non Asian vendors, good prices. My husband bought an Australian hat he kept noticing in the tourist shops for double the price. They did bargain. I bought reasonably priced linen handkerchiefs from a Chinese lady selling linens in her store in the more formal shopping center. Walk outside Paddy’s to shopping center entrance and take the escalator to the first floor and walk along the right side. You’ll see her store on the right.
We walked to The Chinese Garden of Friendship – The Chinese Garden of Friendship is “a breath taking oasis in Darling Harbour” It was lovely, peaceful and worth spending time there.
Then we took the monorail to the Maritime Museum Area: Definitely stroll there You walk through the Museum entrance onto the promenade along the water. You do not need to pay Museum admission to do this. Just walk through the museum to the promenade. Lots of outdoor entertainment. Walk to the free tourist bus and take it back to the hotel.
Restaurant in the Langham Hotel in Aukland. You will have a choice one evening of Eight or Barolo. While Eight is a buffet, it is unlike any you may have experienced. It is composed of eight different kitchens where the chefs cook what you select. The choices are excellent and delicious. Well worth it. Reviews from our group about their experience at Barolo were not as good.
The Whisper Jets that got us from place to place were wonderful. Literally red carpet treatment.
Queenstown was another highlight because of the sheer beauty of the place and the wonderful activities. !!! One day we visited the Kiwi Bird Park (a guided tour—and they opened for us on Christmas day) followed by a delicious lunch there. Our tour director gave us Gondola tickets for the Skyline Queenstown Gondola, which is around the corner from the Bird Park.. These tickets were for both going up and returning on the gondola. Two people on our tour did not realize this and walked down—it took two hours and was not pleasant because one was elderly. See people up there doing the parasail jump with an experienced pilot with them. We had fun individually taking our own luge down the track. There is reputed to be a zip line experience, but we never saw it. Great Views.
Laundry:
On day 3 at Ayres Rock Resort Sails in the Dessert, there is self service laundry. You need your own soap
On day 8 in Sydney, by the time you arrive at the hotel, you may have only one hour to gather your laundry and find the outside the hotel independent laundry, which we couldn’t find. It is open Mon-Fri only. Here are the directions based on revised info other people gave us later that day.
There are 3 doors to the Intercontinental Sydney One where you enter/ exit for the bus, one by front desk,the other one right on a corner. Use that door. There are two intersecting streets you will face. Turn a bit left and, walk across street staying on left side of street. Go down that street to an alley like street on left. Go down the alley/street, turn right at next alley/street and it will be on left. VERY small store front. less then 5 minutes from hotel. Prices are supposed to be fair.
You can buy in your local food market Purell sheets that have detergent/fabric softener impregnated in them—or similar -and use the bath tub. There is a pull out line. You can also use the room hangers and bring an additional pull out line. We did and it worked out fine.
In Rotarua, which for us was day 14, at the Amora Lake Resort there are complementary washing machines with soap provided.
That’s it in terms of availability of laundry service.
You will have a spectacular time!
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I did this trip in November and the Jet Boat Ride was one of the highlights for me! It was fantastic!! I was nervous that there would be a lot of jerking around, especially on my neck, but that wasn't the case at all. I think they have to give warnings just to cover themselves, but it wasn't bad at all!! I highly recommend it!!!
Our farewell dinner was in the restaurant in Sky Tower so we were able to see people jumping during the cocktail hour. It looked cool, but not enough for me to do! :-)
Enjoy!!
Kathy
Sue
Captaingail,
I can't thank you enough for all your information on your Australia/New Zeland trip. It will make our trip much easier (we're booked on the September 24 trip).
Acqua
PACK LIGHT! Email Tauck and find out ahead of time what the longest number of days between laundry facilities will be---in NZ I think it was only 2-3 days. Pack ONLY what you need for that period of time and hit the laundry IMMEDIATELY when you arrive at the hotel which has the facilities. In addition, take some of those tiny tide packets to do small stuff in the hotel sink (like underwear and socks) if you don't want to pay exhorbitant hotel laundry service charges (in auckland I believe the Langham charged $5.00/pair for laundering one pair of socks!) Take one of those disposable rain ponchos you can buy for a few dollars and take at least one sweater and jacket---Auckland is like any other island country (like Japan or Ireland), the weather is unbelievably changeable, with rain, mist, hot sun and cold winds all within one hour! The winds on Milford Sound are also strong and it rains frequently, and its downright COLD! Personally I took a raincoat with a zip-out wool liner and I was fine in every type of weather. If you take hiking boots, prepare for SERIOUS questioning in both AU and NZ. Both countries have had catostrophic economic damage from invasive species and disease, and they are DEAD SERIOUS when they ask if you have 'trainers or hiking shoes'. If you're taking either, make SURE the soles of them are CLEAN! And when you leave, do the same thing. Don't even THINK about LYING and saying you don't have them! Its a $10,000 fine if they catch you, and they mean business!
In Auckland, opt to stop at Devonport on the ferry ride back from Waiheke Island, its a lovely and quaint island with great architecutre, cafes and shopping! And if you have any extra time DO NOT MISS RANGITOTO ISLAND! Rated Auckland's #1 attraction on Trip Advisor. You need several hours there but you will see flora and lava caves like you have NEVER seen before! Wear shoes with thick soles if you are going to hike up to the look-out, or hike down---the lava rocks and trails are very uneven and difficult without thick soles!
Take advantage of the amazing fun things to do in Queenstown! My husband and I are pretty conservative people in our 50's but we LOVED the zipline down the mountain after the gondola ride up! And we're both afraid of heights! We also went fly-fishing and caught some huge and gorgeous trout and horseback-riding on the "Middle Earth/LOTR" tour. I have posted in detail on Trip Advisor on some other sites and excursions we did on the Tauck tour, under my name, Jean Geib-Balloon.
We have seen much of the world in our lifetime, but NZ is TRULY one of the most BEAUTIFUL places we have EVER been!Our tour guide, Greg Dickey, was EXCELLENT in handling every detail and making our trip flawless! If you're on this trip, you will NOT be disappointed!
Another vote for Devonport, a really lovely place to spend a day away from, but within view, of downtown Auckland. Rather than the Langham, we extended our stay a couple nights at the Hilton which is located at the end of Princes Wharf downtown Auckland. Stunning views of the harbor and there are many interesting restaurants and nightlife opportunities easy walking distance from that hotel. The Langham has the shuttle, but there is some hassle to that as opposed to just walking out the front door and being in the midst of all the harbor front activity. I will cast a solid vote for the beds in the Langham Hotel, among the most comfortable I've ever slept in.
My Dad and I, also arriving on 23 of April and I booked a tour with MPT(Melbourne Private Tours) they came highly recommended and were very easy to work with. We are actually doing the Phillip Island Penguin Experience and part of the Great Ocean Road, unfortunately we won't be making the dinner the first night, we have very little time in Melbourne and I really wanted to see the penguins. Did anybody do extra's anywhere else like Sydney?
I really liked your suggestions--looks like I have some more "surfing" to do! We are looking forward to meeting you.
Then we just followed our noses on a circuitous and scenic walk back to the InterContinental just letting things pop up as they may, guide book tucked in the backpack. Along George Street there are a lot of interesting shopping ops as well as galleries which you will see on your prior city tour. We did want to see the Hyde Park Barracks which is a great intro to the convict history of Sydney and Australia. There was plenty to see along the way and I warn first timers to Sydney as we were, you WILL fall in love with this city. End your walkabout in the Royal Botanical Garden just across from the hotel. The large bats are fascinating and late in the afternoon the cockatoos all come out, noisy and boisterous, many quasi-tame, one took a shine to my wife's water bottle and chewed the cap off. Great photo ops there of the harbor, flowers, trees, expansive lawns and skyline views. Birds too, I got a great shot of a close by Kookaburra in a pine tree.
We felt we hardly scratched the surface in Sydney although our days were filled, Tauck Tour and otherwise. Sydney is definitely on our return list someday soon.