Just booked

[Gunner22aa]

 

It's a long way off in Feb of 2015 but this one is the last cruise on the bucket list for DW and I.

 

We are looking at flying into Sydney about 4-5 days early to get over the 18 hour flight and see some of the sights. Things to see and do in any of the ports that we are going to visit would be greatly appreciated by a Canadian who has never visited you land.

 

Thanks for any info in advance.

[By The Bay]

Things to see and do in any of the ports that we are going to visit would be greatly appreciated by a Canadian who has never visited you land.

 

Thanks for any info in advance.

 

I will start the ball rolling by suggesting a visit to Port Arthur, MONA and Mount Wellington whilst in Hobart. An easy way for getting around is by hiring a rental car. The car companies are a 15 minute walk from the cruise terminal. :)

[GradUT]

Aren't you lucky to have over a year to savor planning your port excursions! Based on the trips I've made to Australia (and the years I lived there), I would recommend the following guidebooks--Lonely Planet and Rough Guide (because they will include sights/activities not mentioned in most guidebooks) and Eyewitness (because of the great photos, maps and diagrams).

[t60]

We did this cruise earlier this year, although we went to Lombok instead of Bali. We´d been to Sydney before, so this time chose a trip into the Blue Mts to use up one of outr pre cruise days, walking round the Opera ouse and Quay was great, make use of the free CBD bus to visit places.

Brisbane. We were docked quite a way out so metup with some others on the roll call for a taxi into town, where we´d booked a ferry cruise to Lone Pine Koala sanctuary.

Airlie Beach, we had intended to go to GBR from here, but it was too rough and local tour operators wouldn´t take private tours as they couldn´t guarantee getting you back to the ship on time. So we spent the day in town, there is a small market, it´s really a pack backers town, although they do have a free swimming Lagoons.

Port Douglas is another place to try and get out to the GBR, but we took a private trip to Tjapukai Cultural Park for some Maori history. The rain cut short some of the activities there, but we took he cable car/sky rail to Kurranda, then a train back to Freshwater then Port Douglas

Darwin was great we walked into town and picked up a local tour to see the jumping crocodiles. There´s a lot to see and do in darwin and if we´d had time we would have liked to go to Kakadu National Park.

Bunbury was cancelled on our cruise...lack of depth in berthing space

Albany, we took the HO HO bus, but do not recommend tis, as once we hopped off we couldn´t get back on for about 2hr, all the buses were passing full up. People used it as a tourbus!!!! it was quite cute town with some interesting history

Adelaide was cancelled in sight of the port due to bad weather

Melbourne Again we booked a private tour to Ballarat, a living replica history town, representing the old gold mining days

Tasmania was great, again we had a private tour with Heather Henri (http://www.showyoutasmania.com.au/) which was great, although I personally found Pt Arthur a bit of a disappointment. We has over night in Hobart, and their HOHO bus was great. Good reports of MONA as well

I forgot Perth, just loved it, ots of free bus services, shops etc

I hope you have a super time planning your trip

 

Sandy in Spain

[Buckeye 6]

We did a walking tour with John at jj walking albany tours. Go to his website for more information. It is a very reasonable price for 2-3 hr tour. This is not a strenuous walk as he stops often to talk. He has a great sense of humor that made it very interesting. He includes many highlights. We were there last March 2013 and it was too cool to swim and wore light weight jacket in the morning. It did warm up as the day progressed.

[Keith1010]

I too would start by reading about each port on line and in guide books.

 

Then come back with specific questions.

 

Keith

[ladybugscrapper]

Hi there from just up the highway! I've just started thinking about an Australian/NewZealand cruise for one - two years from now. Didn't even know where to start looking until I read your post and saw the map...lol We are leaving in 30 days for a 15 day Hawaiin cruise. Can't wait to get out of the cold of Fort McMurray. Would love to keep in touch and see what you discover and how your plans go in the next year.

 

Debbie Tompkins

[ladybugscrapper]

 

It's a long way off in Feb of 2015 but this one is the last cruise on the bucket list for DW and I.

 

We are looking at flying into Sydney about 4-5 days early to get over the 18 hour flight and see some of the sights. Things to see and do in any of the ports that we are going to visit would be greatly appreciated by a Canadian who has never visited you land.

 

Thanks for any info in advance.

 

 

I will be following this one as best I can. We're just up the road in Fort McMurray, and this is just what I've been looking for. We leave in one month for a 15 day Hawaiin cruise, and I can hardly wait to get out of this cold...lol

 

Debbie