Yes, that's all i'm having without risking my income, otherwise it gets prohibitively expensive. Apart from the flights which i'm pretty much settled on(not RTW), and the F1GP in Melbourne at the end of March, i will have 30 days to fill with all sorts of things on my first trip to the southern hemisphere.
Thinking about spending my time in NZ and Aus roughly 50/50, with the bar slightly tilted towards Aus, as it is larger and consequently takes more time to get around.
A loosely work out plan is fly UK>Auckland, overland NZ top to toe, fly Christchurch>Melbourne, see Victoria, S.Australia, back to Melbourne for F1GP, fly to Perth>fly UK.
KOYLI(M 39)
Reply to this Hello Koyli
You are lucky to be heading to Victoria as you can cover a lot in a short amount of time - areas within a drive of Melbourne (but need to stay overnight in some places) include Philip Island (with the nightly Penguin Parade) the Great Ocean Road and Port Campbell National Park (wonderful coastal scenery), the Grampians (national park area), Ballarat (Sovereign Hill historical gold mining village) and the historic Bendigo/Echuca area - Echuca is on the banks of the Murray River and with some of the old paddle steamers still ply the waters.
Once you are in Adelaide, there is the Barossa Valley (wineries), Victor Harbour and Kangaroo Island (the last has a lot of natural beauty). You will not need a lot of time in the Adelaide area and surrounds. If you are travelling between Adelaide and Melbourne by road, go via the coastal route and stop in at Mount Gambier - former volcanic area with lakes and other natural formations.
There is plenty to see around Perth, Namburg National Park is not far north, and the Karri forests are south to name just two.
Try to give yourself about 18-20 days in Oz and 10-12 days in New Zealand - which would include spending a few days at the Grand Prix. NZ has some stunning scenery and you will want to spend some time in that part of the world.
Reply to this I would maybe spend the 30days in New Zealand.You would be able to see quite a bit of that beautiful country in this time.
Come back to Australia when you have more time.I have travelled 25years in Australia and there is still places I haven't seen.It is a BIG country
Reply to this Thanks Travel Camel & ElAustraliano
Some good, interesting ideas there. I'm not looking to do all of Aus in 2 weeks, that just nuts. As ElAustraliano says, plenty of time to see other parts of the country at other times. But as it is the first time that i'll be venturing south, then i would like to see some if not nearly all of NZ. Defo go to Barossa valley for the vineyards, and planning to see some mates in Melbourne which will tie in nicely with the GP. As for NZ, it's back to the drawing board then.
KOYLI
Reply to this NZ is well worth visiting even for just a week - you'll get a pretty good idea of what the country is like and it will make you want to come back! If you are heading in to Auckland you could head straight up to the Bay of Islands for a couple of days, then head back down to Rotorua and Taupo for some extreme sports. The best thing about the North Island is that so much is only a few hours from Auckland. You can head to Gisborne on the East Coast to try out the wine and come back to Auckland in a day. In the South Island, the best place to have a base is Queenstown as you can do lots of day trips from here, you can head right down to Stewart Island from Queenstown for the day. All you need to remember about NZ is that it's not that big so places are much more accessible than OZ.
Sounds like you'll have an awesome trip whatever you plan to do!
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Right then. Been back to drawing board and come up with a question or two about my renewed itinerary. Flying Singapore airlines LHR-MEL. Land in Melbourne around 10am, but then fly from Melbourne to Christchurch 6pm the following day. So, i get roughly 30hrs in Melbourne to have a quick look around before moving onto NewZealand. Once in Christchurch, pick-up the rental campervan, head south for 10-12 days taking in Mt.Cook and surrounding area, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Fjordland, westcoast & Arthurs Pass back to Christchurch, train to Picton, ferry across to Wellington, Taupo, vineyards and then up to Auckland.
I'm applying for the Tourist ETA visa because:
1) i'm not in transit - i have a different flight to NZ altogether and intend to leave the confines of Tullamarine
2) i'm coming back into Australia from NZ because my return flight to the UK leaves from Perth.
Just for the record. Is it neccessary for a UK national to obtain a visa to enter NZ from Australia?
Thanks in advance, Koyli
Reply to this I'm pretty sure you don't Koyli if you're only there as a tourist. Kiwis don't need one entering the UK.
Reply to this Koyli
in case you need to book lots of stuff, look at www.isango.com - they have a thing called "multisave" which gives you more discount the more things you book. It's valid to get discounts for hotels and things to do in Oz and NZ like
Sydney Bridge Climb, vineyards and extreme sports etc.
Jen
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Hi Jen - yeah, I still need to book lots of stuff. I'll def have a look at the website. Skates on!
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