Trip of a Lifetime!!
Australia
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Feb 16 - Feb 25, 2024
Liz did an amazing job in planning our family trip to New Zealand and Australia! The only thing I wish is that we could have stayed for longer! Queenstown (New Zealand) was amazing...the most adorable small town with many great restaurants and shops. Milford Sound was simply stunning! The e-bike tour through the vineyards was so much fun! Sydney was wonderful as well. We climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge at night with the beautiful skyline and Sydney Opera House in full view - awesome (Anna, our guide, was amazing)! Not only did we tour the Opera House, but we were able to squeeze in a play while we were there (RBG: Of Many, One). The tour of Sydney was great and we took the ferry over to Manly Beach, which was fun and nice to get out onto the harbor! Auckland was nice (Sky Tower visit was neat) and Rotorua provided great insight on indigenous people with the Matai Maori Village show. Glow Worm Kayak tour at night was great (Jess was an amazing guide) and we saw the Southern Cross and Orion constellations. Stunning!! I wish we had more time in Australia and we will definitely be using Liz again when we head back to Australia. I would also definitely go back to the southern island of New Zealand again as well!
Hotel Reviews
Great location close to town. Friendly front desk personnel.
My least favorite accommodation of the trip. The resort was a couple of miles out of town and lacked amenities due to changes from COVID. The restaurant had been closed for a couple of years, and even basic services like housekeeping and access to water were limited. Not the best experience.
I stayed at Crowne Plaza Auckland for one night. The location was pretty good, there was a lot of construction nearby. Overall, it was fine for a short stay.
Our stay at PARKROYAL Darling Harbour was great. The location was fantastic, and we had a pleasant experience overall.
Activity Reviews
Jess did an amazing job in taking us through tunnels and caves to see the glow worms...stunning! She also showed us the southern cross and orion constellations - very knowledgable!
Cool to see the geothermal mud pools, geysers and boiling pools at this location.
Our originally-scheduled time slot of 4:30 had to be changed due to a flight cancellation. Onsen was able to move our time slot to the following day at 9:30pm - which happens to be sunset this time of year. It was stunning. The glass of champagne and chocolates was perfect and 1 hour was a perfect way to end our busy day!!
Super interesting to learn about the design, construction and operations of Sydney Opera House. We enjoyed it so much that we squeezed in a trip back to see a play while we were there (FYI - there are several venues in the Opera House in addition to the Concert Hall).
While I've never seen any Lord of the Rings movies, this was a very interesting and beautiful tour.
Wonderful exposure to Maori culture with the dinner and show. Great job!
The weather the day of our visit was PERFECTION, which I hear is not normal for Milford Sound since it rains there 180+ days a year. We had perfect blue skies and the scenery was gorgeous! The boat tour was awesome! Highly recommend!
One of the highlights of our trip! Anna did an amazing job in leading us to the summit of the bridge - perfectly clear night so we could see the Opera House, Sydney Skyline and wonderful views of boats in the harbor! Definitely recommend!!
Great overlook for Queenstown! Would highly recommend!
Great overview of Sydney! Seeing Bondi Beach and the Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge was very cool, among other sights!
Hello Susan!!
Thanks for the wonderful review and I am super glad you enjoyed Australia and NZ as much as we do !
How lucky you got to see the constellations on the Kayak Tour, and yes, Jess is my favorite guide also!!
(for the Kayak) I have many favorites :)
I'd love to organize another trip for you anytime ! it was a pleasure to work with you
Liz