First Time in Australia and NZ looking for an advice

[cassamanda]

Hello everyone..

 

we are going to celebrate our honeymoon in Australia- NZ, I am 35 years old my wife 31, like the extreme sports, sightseeing, love to eat as a local and looking forwards to experience Australia and NZ.

 

 

I will come back with reviews of course and truly appreciate your advice. :)

 

In which case, a must do in Sydney for you will be the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Also try the outside walk at the top of the Sydney Tower:eek::eek:

[josephml1]

In which case, a must do in Sydney for you will be the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Also try the outside walk at the top of the Sydney Tower:eek::eek:

 

sound great thanks for the advice.

[GUT2407]

In which case, a must do in Sydney for you will be the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. Also try the outside walk at the top of the Sydney Tower:eek::eek:

 

 

And NZ is the home of organised modern day bunjee jumping.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

And NZ is the home of organised modern day bunjee jumping.

 

and the controlled jump from the Sky Tower in Auckland..

 

 

 

google images

[lyndarra]

sound great thanks for the advice.

 

The harbour bridge climb is very popular. You need to book in advance.

[josephml1]

I am taking notes...

 

sound great...

 

Bungee its going to be my first time :eek:

[josephml1]

and the controlled jump from the Sky Tower in Auckland..

 

 

 

 

google images

 

 

it looks great!!!! definitive will try it.

[BQaz]

Hello, all,

 

Have read for several years, never posted, love all the great information!

 

Our group is looking at a cruise to either Australia/NZ or the South Seas in the near future...is there a better time of year or season to go, or a time to avoid?

 

We're novice cruisers, only 8, to different parts of the Caribbean, and all on Princess so far.

 

Thanks so much!

(apologies for the font size, I have some eye issues, currently.)

 

BQaz

[GUT2407]

Hello, all,

 

Have read for several years, never posted, love all the great information!

 

Our group is looking at a cruise to either Australia/NZ or the South Seas in the near future...is there a better time of year or season to go, or a time to avoid?

 

We're novice cruisers, only 8, to different parts of the Caribbean, and all on Princess so far.

 

Thanks so much!

(apologies for the font size, I have some eye issues, currently.)

 

BQaz

 

 

G'day BQaz

 

A lot will depend on itinerary.

 

Avoid the Christmas School holidays if you can [December and January].

 

Try and skip April and a few eek either side [Cyclones].

 

What are you actually looking at in terms of a cruise?

[OzKiwiJJ]

Our group is looking at a cruise to either Australia/NZ or the South Seas in the near future...is there a better time of year or season to go, or a time to avoid?

 

BQaz

 

Hi BQaz,

 

There are very few cruises to New Zealand in our cooler months - May to September. The best time for NZ is late February and March.

 

Unfortunately that is cyclone season in the South Pacific, however we did a cruise there in March this year, about two weeks after Cyclone Pam went through, and had beautiful weather and very calm seas - much better than our Christmas cruise to the same region.

[TLCOhio]

Hello everyone. I truly apreciate the help and advice. I read many threads, cruisecritic, tripadvisor, frommers etc. I made some notes. Now I am looking for an inside tip for 2 or 3 most do... dont miss in this places. Maybe your favorite restaurant or a bar or a place please feel free to post it... all the help is truly apreciated.

-Auckland

-Bay of Islands

-Tauranga

-Wellington

-Akaroa Harbour

-Dunedin

-Milford Sound

-Hobart

-Sydney

-Melbourne.

 

josephml1: we are going to celebrate our honeymoon in Australia- NZ' date=' I am 35 years old my wife 31, like the extreme sports, sightseeing, love to eat as a local and looking forwards to experience Australia and NZ. [/quote']

 

Great to know of your upcoming "adventure"!! Lots of options to consider. From my below-linked live/blog, you can see many details, potentials and pictures of various fun, exciting things to see and do in these two amazing countries with such great people there. This includes doing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Very interesting and exciting to have those views from up, UP, UP there and learn more for how this icon bridge was constructed, etc.

 

On dining, there are "trade-offs" to consider. In certain cities, some of the "better" places are not open for lunch. They are a dinner-only place. Then, there is the question for whether, in some places, if you want to take the time to go in, order, wait for food prep, dine, do dessert, etc., in some places. A "good lunch" at a higher-end place might take two hours. Is that how to best spend your limited time in some ports with many other great options to consider? Your choice!!

 

Below are some various pictures to give ideas on thrilling options. This includes a super wonderful dining place in Auckland. How early will you get to that town and how much time will you have there before your cruise?

 

Will your cruise ship offer an overnight option to stay in Queenstown and give you a chance to see more of the super scenic NZ South Island? My live/blog details what all we did during that excursion.

 

Bungee Jumping?? Where It All Started 25 Years Ago!! We stopped at the Kawarau Suspension Bridge near Queenstown to see its rugged gorge where bungee-jumping was invented twenty-five years ago. This bridge is 141 feet above the river and was completed in 1881. It replaced a "punt" that was used to cross this river. The bridge formed a key access route to the Central Otago goldfields in the late 1800's. No “flying leaps” were included for our tour. Yes, we caught a number of jumpers making a dive into the gorge. And one person from our cruise on our bus did arrange in advance to do this jump. Could I have done this also? Yes, but after doing the Sydney Harbor BridgeClimb, I did not want to drive my wife too, too crazy with such a daring idea. There's always the next time in Queenstown. Maybe? This operation, with its multi-level viewing areas, a gift shop (of course), is operated by the AJ Hackett Bungy Company. The "madness" began here in November 1988. More info at:

http://www.bungy.co.nz

By the way, this fun activity can be spelled as either bungee or bungy.

 

Auckland's Sky Tower is the tallest man-made structure in the country. At 1,076 feet tall, it is a place to take in 360-degree views for one of the world's better harbour cities. Thrill seekers can also leap from the tower's 192-metre SkyJump, the highest tethered jump in the country. Sky Tower has a few restaurants and bars compared to the costly ride up to the top of the observatory tower. Their website: http://www.skycityauckland.co.nz. There is a casino here (where we watched a quarter of the 2014 SuperBore football "game" where the Broncos got destroyed. We stayed at the Sky City Grand hotel and really enjoyed that first-class experience. Great, handy location!! There are two large hotels in the Sky City complex, plus a number nearby.

 

Auckland has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world. The 2011 Mercer Quality of Living Survey ranked Auckland 3rd best in the world on its list, while The Economist's World's Most Livable Cities index of 2011 ranked Auckland in 9th place. Auckland has a warm-temperate climate, with somewhat humid summers. Auckland has more yachts per capita than any other city in the world, with around 135,000 yachts and launches. Around 60,500 of the country's 149,900 registered yachtsmen come from the Auckland Region. According to web sources, about one in three Auckland households owns a boat. Viaduct Basin hosted two America's Cup challenges (2000 Cup and 2003 Cup).

 

For shopaholics, there are lots of treats in Auckland. To get high fashion, they suggest strolling around O'Connell Street and High Street. That area ishome to designer stores, including that of New Zealand's Karen Walker. Parnell is where you'll find interesting speciality stores. Craft, vintage and market stalls are popping up all over the city.

 

If you're an interested foodie and have some budget flexibility would be O'Connell Street Bistro, 3 O'Connell Street, Auckland Central, From Travel Advisor, it is ranked #18 of 1,084 restaurants in that town. Their website is: http://www.oconnellstbistro.com

 

In my wife's view, this might have been the best meal of the whole trip. We had lots of super dining and this charming, small dining room in Auckland was super excellent. Can I prove it? Look at five of the pictures at post #359 of my live/blog!! My camera does not fib. Looked great and tasted even better. The next night in Auckland, we dined at a more casual but at a very good location in the North part of the harbor/dock area. We dined here after doing the day on Waikeke Island. We walked to dinner at Marvel Grill. Worked well.

 

Added questions? Tell us more! Happy to share additional info, etc.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 109,731 views for this posting.

 

 

Here are two of my pictures from the Kawarau Suspension Bridge and its dramatic gorge nearby to Queenstown. It's a classy bridge design in a setting that is world-class. The second picture shows a young lady getting ready to make this famous bungee-jumping leap. It is a narrow bridge!! It was built way before cars and trucks had been invented and built.:

 

 

 

 

 

 

From our group's Bay of Islands water fun, we got to do real sailing, including going out into the nearby Pacific Ocean! See the proof and success below. It was both a perfect weather day and such fun sampling this great region of northern NZ. One of the options for those in our Central Ohio group on this custom, private sailing was to help to do as much (or as little as desired) in helping make this sail experience happen. Here you can see Captain Murray guiding the ship from this great vantage point on the back of the Zindabar. Was this exciting and scenic for our group?:

 

 

 

Here is a picture from our New Zealand South Island JetBoat ride that my wife loved so much. Me, too!! Notice her hands and those of others in our row super tightly gripping the safety bar? That says so much about the speed and thrills while roaring up and down this amazing stretch of scenic river. I showed my wife this picture (and several others like this but where the wind was blowing her hair in the opposite direction). She liked this picture so much, that she said to put this one in her obituary (not that this need is upcoming anytime soon). It showed her having fun and she said this ride was the most fun of the whole cruise/trip. We've had lots of great moments on this trip, but one was a unique and special ride in a location that is spectacularly world-class near the NZ Southern Alps. And, perfect weather with good friends adds to the great joy!!:

 

 

 

At Te Puia near Rotorua in northern New Zealand, this Maori performance starts its ceremonies outside and then we entered the Wahiao Meeting House. Fortunately (with some skill), I was in a prime front row seat to be able to get great pictures, video, etc. Plus, experience the quality for how these members share these cultural traditions.:

 

 

 

For the foodies who like such dining "porn" visual samples, here was my dining delight when we had lunch on Cuba Street at Logan-Brown, 192 Cuba St. This classy place wins top honors and marks from TripAdvisor and in other ratings. We enjoyed lunch in this historic corner bank building with interesting architecture and art. Two of the couples in Central Ohio group were with us for this enjoyable lunch. Their website is: http://www.loganbrown.co.nz. :

 

[BQaz]

OzKiwiJJ and GUT2407.

 

'Cyclone season' is the sort of thing I was looking for ...what time to avoid, and good season to cruise the South Pacific.

 

I've been tasked for doing the research for our next cruise, and several of us expressed interest in Australia/NZ. 4 of us are retired, and the other 2 are close, so we're planning a bigger/longer trip for 2017.

 

Read about the Ft Lauderdale-around S.America-Pacific- Panama Canal to Ft Lauderdale route, and that definitely intrigues me.

 

So fun to be here and read all the fantastic stories/experiences! :D

 

BQaz

[OzKiwiJJ]

Look out for Transpacific cruises too. The US to Australia ones are usually September/October and often go via New Zealand. The ships head back to the US around April, I think.

[SinbadThePorter]

Our group is looking at a cruise to either Australia/NZ or the South Seas in the near future...is there a better time of year or season to go, or a time to avoid?

 

Hi BQaz,

 

A good site for that kind of stuff is here:

 

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/ahead/archive/tropical-cyclone/south-pacific/2014-2015-tc.shtml

 

As others have said, even though you are from Wisconsin, you still won't want to be visiting NZ or the southern half of Australia from around May to September. Too cold.

 

NZ is best from December to March, but it is also known for very variable weather.

 

Cyclones in Australia and the South Pacific mostly run from December to April. However they are easily avoided by ships and don't generally last for more than a few days. After the cyclone passes the weather is usually very good.

 

On the East Australia coast you might see 5 or 6 cyclones in an average season, but they are separated by weeks or months and hundreds of miles.

 

If it were me, I would go southern Australia/NZ in February/March and northern Australia/South Pacific anytime.

 

School holidays are mid-December to end of January, and two weeks in April, July and September.

 

Just as aside, if you are looking for something out of the ordinary, there are now some very interesting cruises out of Brisbane to New Guinea.

[GUT2407]

I would avoid Northern Australia Nov-Jan hot and humid.

[SinbadThePorter]

I would avoid Northern Australia Nov-Jan hot and humid.

 

Hot and humid holds no fears for a Brisbane boy:cool:

[josephml1]

amazing post thanks for sharing...

[GUT2407]

Hot and humid holds no fears for a Brisbane boy:cool:

 

Darwin can be a lot more humid than Brissy though.

[SinbadThePorter]

Darwin can be a lot more humid than Brissy though.

 

I know, I've been up there. Out on Bathurst Island the upside was that you could get out in the afternoon with a bar of soap and have a nice shower.:eek:

[GUT2407]

I know, I've been up there. Out on Bathurst Island the upside was that you could get out in the afternoon with a bar of soap and have a nice shower.:eek:

 

 

Replace "shower" with "bath" and I agree.

[cassamanda]

So the gist of this for the benefit of our North American friends is that if you are from Florida then sailing around Australia's top end in Jan would not be a problem.

Peoples from cooler parts of the US and Europe would struggle with the heat and would benefit from a NZ cruise.

[GUT2407]

So the gist of this for the benefit of our North American friends is that if you are from Florida then sailing around Australia's top end in Jan would not be a problem.

Peoples from cooler parts of the US and Europe would struggle with the heat and would benefit from a NZ cruise.

 

 

Tick!

[cassamanda]

Simples :)

[TLCOhio]

So the gist of this for the benefit of our North American friends is that if you are from Florida then sailing around Australia's top end in Jan would not be a problem. Peoples from cooler parts of the US and Europe would struggle with the heat and would benefit from a NZ cruise.

 

Interesting and potentially valid comments above. We are from the Midwest and a year plus ago and really enjoyed our four days in the Cairns area doing the Great Barrier Reef, Rainforest, etc. It was warm, but very manageable for our group of six people. We decided to skip central and northern Australia largely due to the warning on the heat and bugs at Ayers Rock, etc. We also wanted time to do Kangaroo Island prior to departing on our Sydney to Auckland cruise. Our plan went very well as detailed below in my live/blog.

 

AUSSIE CHALLENGE?: Like the USA, Australia is a big, big country with such amazing diversity and size. You cannot do it "ALL" or even half during just one trip. We loved what we did and hope to be back in the future to see some of these other interesting areas at the right time of year.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 109,958 views for this posting.

[karenbeanpole]

We will be in Sydney from early Wednesday, staying 2 nights at Travelodge Wynyard, embarking our ship on the Friday. Is it ambitious to do the Blue Mountains? Is it worth seeing and forgoing a day in Sydney? Basically can we do the landmarks in Sydney on Wednesday and leave Thursday for BM?

 

We are not sure about BM, having seen many mountains and great scenery in USA, we think maybe best to stick around Sydney and enjoy the sights at a more leisurely pace. Unless someone tells us we are missing out.....