Australia / New Zealand

[user1465146157]

I’d like to plan a trip to Australia and New Zealand in the future but I have no idea where to start, where to go etc

it will take me a long time to save for this, years - so I have time to plan!

it would be for 2 adults and 2 kids aged 9-12

any thoughts on where to go first, what order to do things, who to fly with, where to stay etc, would love to see the tourist spots as well as some of the NZ beauty I’ve heard about

thanks in advance

How long would the trip be

Where in Australia? it's an enormous country.

I’d say maybe 2 weeks but not dead set yet on anything

in terms of location - that’s my question really I don’t know where to start so all options are on the table

do you recommend anywhere?

Going by friends of mine who have been, you would need at least a month for Australia alone. I hear the jetlag can be shocking.

How long are you planning on going for?
i have been to NZ and Australia multiple times, but each time focussed on a relatively small area-eg Perth, Margaret River and down to Albany/ NZ Christchurch to Dunedin/ Sydney and Tasmania.

Two weeks is not at all realistic - it’s not worth it, especially as it’s so expensive to get there. The jet lag will take out 3-4 days and you lose a day going out there. To do the East Coast of Australia you’d need at least 3 weeks, without rushing.
NZ is slightly larger than the UK so you could spent weeks exploring there too. .

2 weeks to do Aus and NZ isn’t really doable, you are best off concentrating on one place if you only have a fortnight otherwise you will be using so much of your holiday travelling. You will lose at least a day to jet lag for a start so choose either Oz or NZ and where, you have your big hitters like Sydney and the Gold Coast which you could just about do in a fortnight, you could do South Island or North Island in NZ which are both beautiful in different ways or you could do west coast Oz, Perth, Margaret River etc which has the benefit of being the shortest flight.

I wouldn’t do both countries in two weeks - nowhere near enough time.
for two weeks I would pick NZ - I’ve done the following:
auckland Glow worm caves, Rotorua, Napier and Wellington-two weeks
Christchurch, Akaroa, Omaru, Dunedin, Invercargill - two weeks
picton, Nelson, Kaikoura, golden Bay Area - two weeks
Auckland, Waiheke island, Coromandel, rotorua, hobbiton, Napier two weeks
christchurch, trans alpine train to greymouth, fox glacier, wanaka, queenstown - about 12 days
Each trip was fabulous and we enjoyed spending time in each place: wineries, great walks, museums, whale watching, dolphin watching, amazing natural scenery, watching the penguins return to their nests at night in Oamaru- it’s an amazing country.

We lived in China when we visited NZ so a much shorter journey. When I started planning I intended to cover both islands, but felt that was unrealistic in two weeks.

2 weeks is completely unrealistic.

"just" going to New Zealand needs about 2 months.

Visiting Australia and New Zealand 'well' would take you a good 6 months.

Really not worth the cost and the jet lag for 2 weeks.

We go to Aus for a minimum of 3 weeks, have family there. Jet lag wipes out at least 1 day on arrival, often 2. It is very difficult to comprehend just how vast Aus is until you experience it, East coast cities are at least 2hr flight apart, East to West 5 hours.

What do you most like to do / most want to see (in terms of landscapes; mountains, beaches, vineyards, lakes…)?

I went to NZ for 7 weeks. It wasn't long enough. Although it was an incredible trip. Happy memories.

You can do it in 2 weeks but you’d will be very limited in what you can see and do. You will have to be very tight on locations.
remember you will lose a day flying between Aus and NZ as an early flight out of Aus will have you getting to your NZ hotel around 4/5pm. It’s a 3 hr flight and a 2 hr time difference.

If you only have 2 weeks, forget about visiting both Australia and New Zealand. They are not close together. Sydney to Auckland is almost a 4 hour flight.

I would focus on Australia and I would focus on seeing the things which are completely different to the UK, i.e. not the cities. In that timescale you will be able to visit probably 3 places. I would go for whichever city you fly into (Sydney or Melbourne), the red centre and Queensland. That will mean flying to Alice Springs and then to Cairns. I would plan on a couple of days in Sydney, then maybe 3 days in the red centre to see Alice, Uluru and maybe the Olgas and then the rest in Queensland to see the rainforest, barrier reef etc. before flying back to Sydney to get home.

But that's just what I like. You may have different ideas of what you want from a holiday.