Thailand 1st.....then Australia to Sydney on Princess Sapphire

[LKJ]

Our son lives in Thailand, so we're going there for 10 days before flying to Auckland to start the cruise. Will be in Auckland for 3 days before the cruise, then 3 days post in Sydney. 31 days total trip will be quite a cultural experience. Still working on cruise excursions. We went on a 14-day, 10 country cruise in August, so this almost seems simple compared to all the different languages and monetary differences. What we discovered though is we much prefer private excursions compared to ship excursions.

[Jane110]

ummmm.....so do you have a question?

[LKJ]

Thanks Jane110 for getting me back on track. What I was wondering is what are some favorite NZ/Australian excursions (private or ship)? Auckland, Tauranga,Christchurch, Dunedin, Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney.

[Jane110]

From Hobart, I highly recommend seeing the prison. (I forget the name of it, sorry). Also walking around Salmanca Place in Hobart is nice.

 

Aside from Melbourne itself which is a fantastic city to walk around I'd recommend an excursion to see the fairy penguins at Phillips Point.

 

From Auckland, go to Rotorura - Maori Culture and bubbling thermals. I also loved visiting Napier which is an all Art Deco city.

From Tauranga, the glow worm caves are a great excursion.

 

Sydney, it's great to see the whole city. Take a harbour cruise. Go to the zoo, walk around The Rocks area. Go across the harbour to Manly Beach. Visit trendy Bondi beach.

 

Food in Australia is the best cuisine in the world. Have dinner at Tetsuya in Sydney - the number one restaurant in Australia.

In Melbourne - I like MoMo's and Ezard at Adelphi.

[LKJ]

These sound like interesting suggestions Jane. I'll definitely follow up on these ideas. Thanks. Now I'm looking forward to it even more.

 

Our friends are going on an all day Princess tour from Auckland to see the Glow Worm Caves. I'm wondering if it's better from Tauranga Jane? Is it necessary to use an entire day for this? The princess tour is about 7 hrs long and takes in a few other things. We personally will probably go for a smaller group.

 

How about Christchurch? What would you suggest doing there. Stay mainly in the city or explore by train and/or bus the countryside?

 

I just did a google search for Hobart and found this info about a prison : "The Penitentiary, Chapel and Criminal Courts, a National Trust Property and one of Tasmania's oldest convict buildings, sits on Brisbane Street -a tour of this site will reveal eerie underground tunnels which once led to execution yards."........... Perhaps this is the one you were referring to Jane.

[Jane110]

The famous prision in Tasmania is called Port Arthur. It's the one not to miss.

 

Hmmm...Glow Worm caves. Gee, I honestly don't recall if it would be closer to Auckland or Tauranga. They're near Waitmo, so perhaps a look on a map to see where Waitmois located will reveal some insight. I'm sorry, but I was in NZ probably about 6 - 8 years ago and we traveled on our own by car. We've never done a cruise in this part of the world.

 

We didn't get to Christchurch, so I have no recommendations there. Same with Dunedin. Sorry.

 

Also, from Melbourne, the Fairy Penguins are on Phillips Island, not Phillips Point as I said yesterday. (sorry brain malfunction!)

 

Any chance you'll make it to Adelaide, Australia? That's a great place, especially a couple of days on Kangeroo Island.

[LKJ]

Jane I just looked up the location of Adelaide, Australia and it appears quite a distance from Sydney. We'll only be there 3 days at the end of our month long trip, so for this time we'll probably just explore around Sydney. It does sound like a great place to go visit. Thanks for the info. You've been very helpful. I enjoy so much hearing about interesting places for future visits.

[Jane110]

LKJ,

 

Oh yes Adelaide is too far an excursion from a Sydney based stay! I just suggested it as an option in case you had the time.

 

I also see that you're not getting up to the tropics - Cairns. So, my guess is you'll be going back to Oz and you can save those area's for your next visit! ;)

 

I've been to Oz 5 times and looking forward to my 6th visit which will hopefully be next year. I've only been to NZ once, and hope to get back there as well.

 

Jane

[ozland]

LKJ:

 

If you check this site www.thepreismans.com you will find lots of links to places/tour groups in NZ and Australia. They have been to most of the same ports and have a wonderful site.

[KiwiIan]

These sound like interesting suggestions Jane. I'll definitely follow up on these ideas. Thanks. Now I'm looking forward to it even more.

 

Our friends are going on an all day Princess tour from Auckland to see the Glow Worm Caves. I'm wondering if it's better from Tauranga Jane? Is it necessary to use an entire day for this? The princess tour is about 7 hrs long and takes in a few other things. We personally will probably go for a smaller group.

 

How about Christchurch? What would you suggest doing there. Stay mainly in the city or explore by train and/or bus the countryside?

 

I just did a google search for Hobart and found this info about a prison : "The Penitentiary, Chapel and Criminal Courts, a National Trust Property and one of Tasmania's oldest convict buildings, sits on Brisbane Street -a tour of this site will reveal eerie underground tunnels which once led to execution yards."........... Perhaps this is the one you were referring to Jane.

Glow worms at waitomo are about the same distance from both Auckland and tauranga, but the drive from tauranga is much nicer and tyou do not have to navigate the whole way though the city of Auckland. It is possible to combine both Waitomo and Rotorua in a day tour from Tauranga and if you have an early start then you can also fit in a private tour to Hobbiton. The ships do not offer such a tour as they are always using large buses and 50 people getting on and off take s a long time, need to find a local tour company to do this, just Google "shore trips Tauranga' and you should find some to help or post an email address here for more info. Regards ian [tauranga]