Some questions about Australia

[yeahdisney]

Where is the board for Austrilia? We are looking dates for 2017. Would you guys skip sidney to go to New Zealand? We are not city explorers. We would look at the Sidney opera house and then move on. We are thinking LA to Fuji, Caines for the Great Barrier Reef, rainforest tours, kangaroo and koala trek. Sidney but really just for the opera house. Could we trade out sidney four days for New Zealand? We are just in the beginning planning stages. Any input will be welcome.

 

[sayhello]

Hi, yeahdisney, I've moved your post to the Australia Forum!

Sayhello

 

[LivingforDisney]

You could fly L.A to Fiji, then onto Sydney. If you stay around The a Rocks area which is opposite the Opera House you could catch a ferry to Taronga Park Zoo , which has amazing views of Sydney Harbour. The giraffes have the best view , amazing.
You could also get a ferry across to Manly beach.
Staying at the Rocks can be expensive, but anywhere in the city centre you are able to catch a bus or train or walk to Circular Quay where the opera house is.
I just suggested the Rocks area as it is very nice and you can do lots of exploring by foot, cobblestone streets ect.
You could also climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge for a fee of course.
From Sydney you could fly to Cairns and then on to New Zealand and home from there.
Not sure if that would work out to expensive.
If you miss Fiji and fly Air New Zealand their flight from L.A go via Auckland, this might work for you.
A few ideas for you.

 

[ozliz]

The harbour area in Sydney is quite nice. You can see a couple of the main sights in a day or two so you might as well stay there briefly since you will probably have to fly through there anyway. Cairns is really just a point from which to go elsewhere to see the sights. The last time I was there I was not impressed by the city at all. Port Douglass not far north is nicer although possibly a little more expensive. Most of the main rainforest and reef type tours leave from both as the whole area runs on tourism. I have only been to NZ once but it really depends on what you want to see. Hot springs and old volcanic sights or wilderness and extreme sports? I wouldn't stop in Auckland for 4 nights if you are not even that interested in Sydney, get out of the city and see what makes NZ different.

 

[crazy Cat Lady]

I agree with Ozliz, Cairns the city, is not that nice at all, just a jumping off point for reef trips etc. There is a lot to do in Sydney if you stay in the harbour/Rocks area and you can do day trips to the Blue Mountains to see more of the Australian countryside.

Auckland is "just a city" . If you like the great outdoors and want to see a bit of what makes NZ different, have a look at what Queenstown on the South Island has to offer. You can see snow, tour the Milford Sound, do some wine tasting, do some extreme sports etc.

 

[BecBennett]

New Zealand is more than a 4 day country. We spent 10 days just driving around the South Island, and could have easily spent more. We met some people over there who had been doing the same thing for over a month, and still weren't finished.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Welcome to the ANZAC section of the Boards!


If you don't want to stay in Sydney, there is always the Blue Mountains....

http://www.disboards.com/threads/it...-sydney-home-and-end-of-tr-284-08-31.3299907/

The alternative is to look towards Port Stephens/Hunter Valley.


Where in New Zealand are you thinking of going to? @WanderlustNZ does check in from time to time on the boards; but hasn't done so in a while. She might check in and provide some advice on NZ travel, if you have some destinations in mind.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Hi YeahDisney,

Not sure if you are interested any longer to answers on your post, but like PrincessinOZ said, I am happy to help with suggestions if you let us know what sort of scenery specifically interests you. I can also provide a little bit of advice on Fiji.

 

[zanzibar138]

I honestly wouldn't bother to go to Sydney just for the opera house, although it's possible that you'll have to fly through Sydney anyway. I'm not much of a big city person either, but I've enjoyed wandering around Sydney. There are some very nice gardens, and the scenery around the harbour is great too. If you're interested in the Sydney Harbour Bridge, you can do the very expensive (but so worth it if you can do it) Bridgeclimb, or the good value climb up one of the pylons to a little museum and views over the harbour. If you really can't find 4 days worth of stuff to do in the Sydney, you could hire a car and check out some of the surrounding areas. A lot of places you can probably even get to on a train if you don't want to hire a car. There's Bondi and other beachy places, the wine region north of Sydney, and the Blue Mountains to the west. PIO has written a short TR on the Blue Mountains and they look fantastic - I'm definitely interested in checking them out some day.

I don't think it's worth going to NZ for just 4 days. It's a big place and there is a huge variety of scenery and things to do and see. If you do decide to go, I would try Queenstown instead of Auckland, and use it as a base for short day trips in the area. Air New Zealand is a great airline if that's what you decide to do.

If you're thinking of doing Fiji, I would do it on the way back. It would be a nice way to break up the long journey home and have a few days of R & R on the way home.

 

[yeahdisney]

Got an Australia book to scope it out. I think I would like to be by the great Barrie reef. I think we would rather do Fiji then New Zealand. And I applied to reissue the kids expired passports last week. And I think I would go to California stay there for 3 to 4 days and then go to Fiji first.

 

[bjmort]

**cough cough** Melbourne is better than Sydney **cough cough**

 

[PrincessInOz]

**cough cough**


http://awol.com.au/10-melbourne-things-that-are-almost-too-hip-to-be-true/9124

 

[Princess Jes]

**cough** I agree with ^^ them **cough**

 

[bjmort]

Must be some bronchitis going around Melbourne...