7-Day Sydney Vacation for Seniors: Opera to Blue Mountains

We were 3 couples from New York looking to plan a trip of alifetime visiting French Polynesia, New Zealand, and Australia. Welooked at cruises, land tours offered by tour companies and couldn't find anitinerary that captured all of the bucket list items each of us had. Icompleted a Zicasso travel questionnaire and they connected us with a travel plannerfrom this travel company.  Our travel planner was phenomenal from the start - responsive, attentive,understood our travel objectives and immediately began putting together anitinerary for us. With us in New York and our travel planner based in New Zealand you mightthink the time difference would complicate the planning process - not at all.We worked collaboratively over the phone, text, and email planning our trip (aU.S. number was provided so there was no international communication charges).Our planner drafted an itinerary (including destinations and air flights); offeredtour options, suggestions and recommendations; and wherever possible providedsmall personal tours. With our travel plan nearly complete we decided to dropone of our destinations (Melbourne) and add a new destination (AyersRock/Uluru). In order to make this work the Australia part of our itinerary hadto be reworked. No problem at all - our travel planner quickly had all of the hotel, flight,tour and transport arrangements made and the pricing finalized. Our finalvacation plan had us traveling almost 4 weeks visiting Moorea, Auckland,Rotorua, Queenstown (NZ), Cairns/Port Douglas, Ayers Rock, and Sydney - allwith amazing tours to enrich and highlight our destinations. 

About 2-3 weeks before our trip we received our detailed electronicitinerary complete with flight, hotel, tour, and transport (to/fromhotel & airport) information. Also provided was travel tips for each of thecountries being visited and local contact information should we have any issuesat all during our journey.

Our trip started in Moorea where we stayed at a Resort and Spa. The pool was closed due to renovation - something we and our travel planner did not know when the reservation was made and found out about 3 weeks prior to arrival - but the hotel provided us a room credit and upgraded our accommodations to an OTW bungalow. The hotel beach was beautiful, accommodations amazing, staff warm & friendly and our stay in Moorea incredible - would highly recommend this island and hotel. While in Moorea we did two tours - Private Sailing Cruise on the Taboo - Half Day, and Private 4WD Safari Tour - Half Day. I would recommend both tours but the Sailing Cruise on the Taboo was exceptional and highly recommended.  

From Moorea our next destination was New Zealand - we spent an evening in Papeete, Tahiti to catch an early morning flight to Auckland. The hotel in Papeete we stayed at - we would not recommend this hotel at all. It was dated, very low level exterior nighttime lighting, and a host of other problems and issues. I strongly suggest staying at a better hotel on the outskirts of town.  

Our New Zealand itinerary was magnificent. In Auckland we stayed at a Hotel (highly recommend) and took the Auckland Luxury Day Tour. We enjoyed the tour and our guides (our primary guide and driver and our Maori guide) - Our primary guide was excellent (knowledgeable, informative and fun) and our Maori guide flavored the tour with Maori history, culture and traditions. Our next tour was a coach tour taking us from Auckland to Rotorua stopping along the way at Hobbiton and Waitomo. Hobbiton was beautiful and although the six of us did not read the books or see the movies we all loved the tour, the beautiful landscape, and the stories provided by our guide. The Waitomo caves and glowworms is something you should see but we found the tour groups large and clustered to close together making it difficult to hear the guides. Our day ended in Rotorua where we stayed at a lakeside hotel - a nice hotel located on Lake Rotorua. In Rotorua  we did a Geothermal Hotspots and Boat Cruise. This was a small personal tour and our tour guide was excellent providing the history, insight and science to this geothermal park. That evening we attended a tour of a Tamaki Maori Village, dinner, and a cultural show - a fun time had by all. Our last stop in New Zealand was Queenstown where we stayed at a beautiful and charming hotel - located on a hill top overlooking the lake and walking distance to town - we loved our stay here and highly recommend this hotel. From Queenstown we did the Milford Sound Nature Cruise - this is a long day with a lot of hours riding the coach bus but the cruise and beautiful landscapes are well worth it. Our last tour out of Queenstown was the Dart River Jet Safari. Our tour bus driver to the start station and river was fun, knowledgeable, and very passionate about the beautiful natural resources and landscapes of this wonderful country. The jet boat part of the tour was exhilarating with scenic stops coupled with jet spins and zooming down the scenic river. From Queenstown we left New Zealand for Cairns/Port Douglas Australia.

Australia was incredible. Our first stop was Port Douglas. Here we stayed at a Resort and Spa – a boutique type hotel that was just a few minute walk to the town and restaurants. We loved our poolside rooms and enjoyed the pool after a day of touring – definitely recommend this hotel. Our first tour here was where we explored Daintree National Park. As we cruised the river, hiked in the rain forest, walked the beaches, and toured the park, our tour guide was terrific providing information and  insight into the cultural history, the ecosystem, wildlife, and plant life. From the rain forest one day to the Great Barrier Reef the next - here we experienced the reef - Outer Reef and Snorkel Tour. Our tour group of 10 boarded the beautiful catamaran and was greeted by the captain and two mates. It was the crew that made this day fun and special. There were some that were apprehensive about swimming/snorkeling the reef - they took the time and patience to make sure everyone was comfortable and had the opportunity to enjoy this magnificent experience. The next morning was a very early start to catch our 6:25am flight to Ayers Rock. At Ayers Rock where we stayed had a beautiful room with a view of Uluru. Given the early start, we had a chance to relax and enjoy the pools our first day here. Two of our friends did the helicopter tour of Uluru in the early evening and thoroughly enjoyed the spectacular views from the air. The next morning we did the Desert Tour Including Breakfast with our guide. We enjoyed a pre-dawn breakfast and witnessed the beautiful sunrise over the desert and Uluru, and then toured Uluru where our guide told us about the history, culture, people, and geology of this incredible landmark. That night we enjoyed the A Night at the Field of Light with the Dinner tour. Here we were able to see the breathtaking views of Uluru across the desert at dusk and the sunsetting on Kata Tjuta, enjoyed an outdoor buffet dinner, and walked the pathways through the Field of Light - a wonderful way to cap the end of our last night at Uluru. Our last destination - the beautiful city of Sydney. Here we stayed at a Sydney Harbour  hotel - a beautiful boutique hotel with friendly attentive staff, delicious food, and is walking distance to many restaurants and city attractions. Our first tour, was a full day tour that took us to the Featherdale Wildlife Park (where we were able to feed kangaroos and pet koalas) and tour Blue Mountains National Park. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and due to the cloud cover we were only able to get a glimpse of this beautiful park. We did get to see kangaroos in the wild and our tour guide made the outing fun and informative. Our last tour of this incredible journey was the Full Day Sydney Including Harbour Sailing tour. The tour included all the key city points of interest, and a pretty drive through the suburbs to Bondi Beach, all insightfully narrated by our guide. Our tour continued with a sailboat cruise around Sydney harbor. We had some on and off rain during the cruise but the captain made the trip enjoyable with his knowledge, tidbits of information, and stories about the surrounding harbor sites and homes.  From the tropical Port Douglas; the deserts of Uluru; to the harbor, sites and mountains of Sydney - this was an amazing Australian adventure.  

There were many moving parts to this trip of a lifetime, and everything executed like precision clock work. I have to complement our travel planner and her attention to detail for the seamless execution that allowed us to fully enjoy this amazing journey. What also made this special were the tours - most of our tours were small personal tours of  6-10 in very comfortable luxury vehicles with guides that were engaging, knowledgeable, friendly and made the experience both informative and fun. 

Our trip was awesome!  Our travel agent stayed in contact with us while planning our trip. All of the hotels we stayed in were booked by her.  Each place could take your breath away.  We were always made comfortable and if we needed anything, they would make sure we had it. We even had turn down service in some of the hotels.  We felt so pampered!  We are not use to this.  This trip was a lifetime of experiences and memories. 

You are awesome at what you do!  We will never be able to repay you for all your services to us in helping us plan our trip!  We have also given your name to our Sisters' in Law because they plan on making a trip to Australia and New Zealand in a few years.  I hope you are still there. 

We were able to sit back and enjoy all the views because we did not have to drive anywhere!  To us, that was a plus, plus, plus! Our agent made all travel arrangements for us in Australia and New Zealand. 

Itinerary:  day 1:  flew into Sydney, Australia.  Slept for about an hour and then took a cruise around the harbor-took the premium cruise and had a glass of champagne.  We were taken around the harbor and saw the water view and learned of the history of Australia.

day 2:  Took the tour of the Opera House-this was a back stage tour.  After this we took a guided tour of the harbor in land.  We were the only ones on this tour.  Our guide was so patient with us and took into consideration that I had a problem with stairs. He was awesome.  I am bad about names, but I would recommend him anytime. We had a fabulous lunch at the Crusing Yacht Club of Australia.  We were able to walk some of the beach and see sights from a different view.  All along we are being giving the history of Australia.  He was very nice!

day 3:  Took a guided tour to the Blue Mountains.  Our guide was really great. I want to tell him that he is a good Story Teller!  In the Native American Culture, that is what he would be considered.  He even brought a snack that he prepared himself.  This was pretty much an all day tour.  We had lunch at a restaurant in the Blue Mountains.  I so loved this part of the trip.  An absolute must to see this part of Australia.

day 4:  took a shuttle to the Airport to Cairns, Australia.  Checked into the hotel-It was so beautiful!  We were across a small street from the beach and ocean. 

day 5:  took a full day tour through sailing and snorkeling in at the Great Barrier Reef.  It was awesome.  It was a catamaran.  We had lunch while we were out. 

day 6:  Took a 1 hour hot air balloon ride.  It was so exciting.  You just have to do this.

day 7:  Our transportation company took us to the Cairns Airport and we flew to New Zealand.  We checked into the Auckland hotel.  It was beautiful.  We asked the concierge for a place to eat that would give us an idea of the culture.  We walked and went to Danny Doolans.  We loved it.

day 8:  We took a guided tour to the Glow Worm Caves. Our driver was so nice.  There was only one other person that joined us.  Even though I have a problem with stairs, I was able to walk this tour.  It was so cool to see this. We then ate at a farm that had a luncheon set up.  I loved the potatoes and the chicken. 

day 9. We were picked up by a private chauffer who took us to the Hobbiton Shires.  It is exactly as I expected!  We also had the buffet. It also was wonderful. He was a wonderful chauffer.  He took really good care of us.  We returned at 11:30 pm at our hotel.  We were exhausted.

day 10.  flew from Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney Austrailia.  Then flew from Sydney, Austrailia to LAX, Los Angels, California.  Then flew from Los Angels, LAX to Medford, Oregon. 

Our Australian vacation was awesome & a dream come true. Snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef was by far the highlight of our trip. We loved riding camels to see the sunrise over Ayers Rock, watching the sunset with the Parade of Lights near Ayers Rock, being able to hold a koala, and the Penguin March was adorable.

Our travel agent was incredible and always reachable. The only suggestions we made were to put "seniors" on the first floor of a hotel when there is not an elevator and to not schedule the Sydney Harbor Bridge climb on the day you arrive. Even though we climbed it and have bragging rights, it would have been easier with a day of rest first.

I would love to go back!!!!

Dana

We love this agent! She was wonderful to work with. We used this travel company to book our honeymoon to Australia. We were in Australia for about 10 days and went to the cities of Sydney, Cairns, and Brisbane. She informed the airlines and hotels that it was our honeymoon, so we received free champagne on the plane and a bottle of champagne in two of our hotels rooms upon arrival.  When we arrived in Sydney, she had us picked up in a shiny black Mercedes, where even the back seats reclined. Our agent absolutely knew what she was talking about. In Sydney, she booked a tour to the Blue Mountains for us. The views on this tour were simply breath taking. The stop at the wildlife park was a once in a lifetime opportunity to hangout up close and personal with kangaroos. The hotel in Cairns had a stunning view from our balcony. We were able to overlook the water as well the rain forest mountains. The hotel in Brisbane was fantastic as well seeing as it was right across from the Botanical Gardens. Our agent filled out our visas for us so that we did not have any problem entering the country. She arranged for us to be picked up by transportation to and from all airports and to be picked up for our tours close to our hotels. Whenever we wanted to make changes to our travel itinerary she updated our documents so that we could see how it changed the dates and duration of our trip. We had a few options that were not in the original itinerary that she was able to accommodate, although her choices wound up being much better than ours! The tours that she booked for us were fantastic with fun and knowledgeable tour guides. She is a fantastic travel agent and we would recommend that anyone visiting Australia book through her and her company.