3 Days Post Cruise - What should we see ?

[BDKnel]

Our cruise leaves Sydney, Australia on December 24 and ends in Auckland, New Zealand on January 6th.

My son is a Biology major in college and when I told him I was booking our Australia cruise, he said he wanted to go to the Australia Zoo. (Home of Steve Irwin & Family).

We are already going to the Sydney Aquarium and Taronga Zoo on December 22 & 23 before the cruise departs out of Sydney.

Does the Australia Zoo offer exhibits that we would not have seen already ?

 

We will have 3 extra days Post Cruise.

 

Here are some options I have been thinking about:

1. We could stay in Auckland (maybe do a Fishing Charter or Horseback Riding adventure)
   
2. We could fly to Brisbane and go to the Australia Zoo. Has anybody been to this zoo ? Is it a Tourist Trap or a "Must See" attraction while visiting Australia ?
   
3. We could fly to Cairns and go snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef (My Bucket List of places to Snorkel)
   
4. We could fly back to Sydney and take a Train to the Blue Mountains.
   

There is so much to see and so little time. I don't know if we will ever have the opportunity to see Australia or New Zealand again.

We can fly pretty cheap since my husband is a retired Airline Employee.

What can we accomplish in 3 days without breaking the bank ??

[eh2zed]

As for the Australia Zoo it is amazing IMO. Certainly the best zoo we have ever seen. Not a toursit trap at all. Very well done and extremely interactive where possible. On the other hand GBR. Three days just not enough to get it all done. IMO Cairns and GBR and other area attractions if you don't expect to return.

[Waynetor]

We are doing a round trip from Sydney around NZ in Dec and then doing 2 weeks between Sydney and Cairns. It is hard trying to fit everything in but will include the Australia Zoo.

A couple points on your plan. You can do the aquarium and zoo in Sydney in one day - may be a bit rushed but not too bad if you start as soon as one opens. This would give you a day for the Blue Mountains.

If you can't extend your post cruise time I would recommend flying to Brisbane after the cruise, you can do an afternoon tour of Brisbane that day, then rent a car and next day go to the Australia Zoo and after it closes you can drive to the Fraser Island area and next day do a day tour to the reef. You can fly back to the US from Brisbane.

While Cairns sounds great, I think for your short time you would be spending too much time flying between cities.

[BDKnel]

We are doing a round trip from Sydney around NZ in Dec and then doing 2 weeks between Sydney and Cairns. It is hard trying to fit everything in but will include the Australia Zoo.

A couple points on your plan. You can do the aquarium and zoo in Sydney in one day - may be a bit rushed but not too bad if you start as soon as one opens. This would give you a day for the Blue Mountains.

If you can't extend your post cruise time I would recommend flying to Brisbane after the cruise, you can do an afternoon tour of Brisbane that day, then rent a car and next day go to the Australia Zoo and after it closes you can drive to the Fraser Island area and next day do a day tour to the reef. You can fly back to the US from Brisbane.

While Cairns sounds great, I think for your short time you would be spending too much time flying between cities.

 

Thank You for the valuable information :rolleyes:

[Aquarians]

Our cruise leaves Sydney, Australia on December 24 and ends in Auckland, New Zealand on January 6th.

My son is a Biology major in college and when I told him I was booking our Australia cruise, he said he wanted to go to the Australia Zoo. (Home of Steve Irwin & Family).

We are already going to the Sydney Aquarium and Taronga Zoo on December 22 & 23 before the cruise departs out of Sydney.

Does the Australia Zoo offer exhibits that we would not have seen already ?

 

We will have 3 extra days Post Cruise.

 

 

Here are some options I have been thinking about:

1. We could stay in Auckland (maybe do a Fishing Charter or Horseback Riding adventure)
   
2. We could fly to Brisbane and go to the Australia Zoo. Has anybody been to this zoo ? Is it a Tourist Trap or a "Must See" attraction while visiting Australia ?
   
3. We could fly to Cairns and go snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef (My Bucket List of places to Snorkel)
   
4. We could fly back to Sydney and take a Train to the Blue Mountains.
   

There is so much to see and so little time. I don't know if we will ever have the opportunity to see Australia or New Zealand again.

We can fly pretty cheap since my husband is a retired Airline Employee.

What can we accomplish in 3 days without breaking the bank ??

Kia ora,

I note that your cruise finishes in New Zealand and that 2-4 above are in another country. Australia is about three hours flying time from Auckland (longer to Cairns) so with 'airport time etc.' you would probably use up the best part of a day just getting there. As you start in Australia, if you have the time, it may be worth considering doing the Aus bits pre-cruise.

Aquarians

[moyaroo]

I am pretty much with everyone on this in that all of your ideas are good; however, getting to Cairns will take all of your time and leaving from Cairns to the US requires a very early flight and tight connections in Brisbane so you will have to pay dearly for what is otherwise a do not miss destination for Australia.

 

Australia Zoo Fraser island and the lot great brilliant, but again a lot of traveling to get somewhere.

 

So that gives NZ. If you are for sure into flying, go back to the South Island and get over to Queenstown. it would be cheaper to see it this way than on the ship's overnight ($$$$) and Queenstown is a beautiful, if touristy place (we prefer Lake Wanaka ourselves but that is us)

 

Other ideas include seeing the area N. of Auckland check out tane mahuta see some secluded and breathtaking beaches at Mimiwhangata.

 

Go back to the south a bit and see Rotorua area in depth,. or take the Overlander from Auckland to Wellington enjoying among other thrilling sights the Raurimu Spiral.

 

Take some time in any of the wine country. Drink wine, eat too much fushandchups (aussies on board should approve the styling) eat too much good rich food. (Go to Whangarei birthplace to famous "Australian" country singer Keith Urban and eat at a fabulous restaurant called Art Deco.)

 

Go sailing. Kiwis think themselves pretty fair sailors.

 

I could go on, you get the idea.

[BDKnel]

I am pretty much with everyone on this in that all of your ideas are good; however, getting to Cairns will take all of your time and leaving from Cairns to the US requires a very early flight and tight connections in Brisbane so you will have to pay dearly for what is otherwise a do not miss destination for Australia.

 

Australia Zoo Fraser island and the lot great brilliant, but again a lot of traveling to get somewhere.

 

So that gives NZ. If you are for sure into flying, go back to the South Island and get over to Queenstown. it would be cheaper to see it this way than on the ship's overnight ($$$$) and Queenstown is a beautiful, if touristy place (we prefer Lake Wanaka ourselves but that is us)

 

Other ideas include seeing the area N. of Auckland check out tane mahuta see some secluded and breathtaking beaches at Mimiwhangata.

 

Go back to the south a bit and see Rotorua area in depth,. or take the Overlander from Auckland to Wellington enjoying among other thrilling sights the Raurimu Spiral.

 

Take some time in any of the wine country. Drink wine, eat too much fushandchups (aussies on board should approve the styling) eat too much good rich food. (Go to Whangarei birthplace to famous "Australian" country singer Keith Urban and eat at a fabulous restaurant called Art Deco.)

 

Go sailing. Kiwis think themselves pretty fair sailors.

 

I could go on, you get the idea.

 

 

Thank You,

I think we will stay in New Zealand and fly back to USA from Auckland.

"Other ideas include seeing the area N. of Auckland check out tane mahuta see some secluded and breathtaking beaches at Mimiwhangata."

Do you know if there is a good place to Snorkel here ??

[SuiteTraveler]

One possibility, if you can get extra time off PRIOR to your cruise would be to fly from Chicago to DFW, then take the new direct flight on Quantas from DFW to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Spend the night in Brisbane, then in the morning, drive to Beerwah (it's like a north suburb of Brisbane - not that far away - about 1 hour and 5 minutes to get there by car from Brisbane) and go see Australia Zoo - which is fairly expensive (but worth it) so get there when they open and read the schedule and plan your day first thing. Then the next day, fly from Brisbane down to Sydney to board your ship (or spend a day or two in Sydney.) Terry Irwin, Bindi, Bob and Steve's best friend Wes Mannion ALL still appear in the shows at Australia Zoo (Terry, Bindi and Bob's home is actually on property that adjoins the zoo), so there is a very good chance you will get to see them feeding crocs - which may mean a lot to your son, whom I'm guessing was a Crocodile Hunter fan. Brisbane is a nice city - reminds me of Seattle in some ways, but it's not all that great for tourism, so I don't see any reason for you to spend much time there when your time is limited.

 

After the cruise, see all of New Zealand that you can. It is an AWESOME place and well worth touring.

[moyaroo]

Would agree about Brisbane itself, but there is a lot in the area around Brisbane for tourism. Check out O'Reilly's Rainforest Resort, Get down to Byron Bay on the NSW border, Moreton Island has it's fans.

 

I would steer away from the Orlando atmosphere at Surfer's Paradise (Just noted for irony and weirdness that there are a Miami and a Palm Beach on the Gold Coast of the Sunshine State !!!!) that said I loved the wildlife park at Currumbin It is not the production hat Australia Zoo is but offers one of the best native wildlife interactions in Australia.

[BDKnel]

One possibility, if you can get extra time off PRIOR to your cruise would be to fly from Chicago to DFW, then take the new direct flight on Quantas from DFW to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Spend the night in Brisbane, then in the morning, drive to Beerwah (it's like a north suburb of Brisbane - not that far away - about 1 hour and 5 minutes to get there by car from Brisbane) and go see Australia Zoo - which is fairly expensive (but worth it) so get there when they open and read the schedule and plan your day first thing. Then the next day, fly from Brisbane down to Sydney to board your ship (or spend a day or two in Sydney.) Terry Irwin, Bindi, Bob and Steve's best friend Wes Mannion ALL still appear in the shows at Australia Zoo (Terry, Bindi and Bob's home is actually on property that adjoins the zoo), so there is a very good chance you will get to see them feeding crocs - which may mean a lot to your son, whom I'm guessing was a Crocodile Hunter fan. Brisbane is a nice city - reminds me of Seattle in some ways, but it's not all that great for tourism, so I don't see any reason for you to spend much time there when your time is limited.

 

After the cruise, see all of New Zealand that you can. It is an AWESOME place and well worth touring.

 

Hmmm - More great ideas. Maybe I can squeeze another day Pre-Cruise.

I will see about that direct flight from DFW to Brisbane. Thanks

~ Doreen

[Globaliser]

I will see about that direct flight from DFW to Brisbane.

You don't say whether this trip is for this year, but you might want to be aware of one thing: Although the vast majority of those Dallas to Brisbane flights operate as scheduled, the experience so far on this (relatively new) route is that it's a bit less reliable than other flights because it's operating on the edge of the current aircraft's capability. There have been a number of occasions on which the aircraft has had to divert or make an unscheduled stop for fuel en route. That isn't unusual in itself (nor are there any safety implications), but the length of the flight means that sometimes the crew run out of hours when they have to do this, so there's then a longer delay while a replacement crew is flown out to wherever the aircraft is.

 

This wouldn't stop me booking the flight, if the routing made sense for my itinerary. But if being able to make the stop in Brisbane is an absolute must, you should bear in mind that there is a higher-than-normal disruption risk involved at the moment. This may get better with more operating experience; but it won't be fully sorted out until the airline starts being able to operate this route with the aircraft which was really intended for it.