Best of Australia’s Biggest City Tour: 10 Days in Sydney

Last year we used Zicasso for a trip to Argentina and chose to use you again for our three week vacation to New Zealand and Australia. Our travel agent did a wonderful job helping us plan our trip. The itinerary details for each location were very helpful. We also appreciated her checking in on us during our trip to ensure all was going well.

We had outstanding service during our entire stay. At each city we were greeted by someone who would take us to our hotel. All the hotels we stayed at were wonderful; the food was fantastic. Everyone we were in contact with was friendly and professional.

The views in New Zealand were stunning. We traveled to both the north and south islands of New Zealand.

On the north island, we toured small islands, caves, and a beautiful thermal park. We learned about the Māori culture in Rotorua.

On the south island, we saw magnificent glaciers and visited Milford Sound. The views were magnificent. 

We enjoyed all of New Zealand and should we return, we wish to spend more time in Christchurch and Queenstown.

Australia was also beautiful. There is so much to see here and we hope to return to explore more of Australia. We got to visit Sydney and Port Douglas. We enjoyed hikes in the Blue Mountains, wine tasting in Hunter Valley, and the Great Barrier Reef. 

Thank you for helping us plan a most memorable and beautiful trip to these amazing countries. We were so impressed by how clean everything was and how incredibly friendly people treated us during our visit.  

Aracely and Drew Rankin

Our agent planned our fantastic trip to Australia with tours, dining and superb hotels.  We absolutely loved hotel in Tasmania and would highly recommend it.  The food, wine and staff were some of the best I have ever experienced.  The Yarra Valley wine tour was super fun and the lunch was one of the best on the entire trip.  

In Sydney, the Toronga Zoo was amazing and we loved the bird show as well as "The Rocks" tour with a local guide. Eleven Bridge in Sydney was divine and the food was delicious.  The Hunter Valley wine tour was a blast and we loved our guide.  The restaurant in Hunter Valley was tied for the best meal of our trip.  

Overall, the trip ran smoothly and we loved the sites, food & wine of Australia.  However, the people in this country are truly kind and very thoughtful.  We loved it!  Thanks so much!

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. 

Overall we give the trip and the company a B+.  Several of the tour descriptions were out of date and the companies giving the tour said they hadn't done such and such in years.  We never received a gift after our tour of the opera house.  The Hunter Valley tour was not a good value.  Lunch was at a wedding hall.  There was little to no explanations of the wine and we had an inferior buffet lunch .  .In Melbourne, the tramcar restaurant tour did not include the "very best" of Australian wines, our table was tiny, andthe food was mediocre.  Great Ocean Road was truly GREAT.  The boat tour was rather rough and not too relaxing.  On the Kangaroo Island tour, we never saw birds of prey as advertized.  In Ayers Rock, if we had followed our given plan, we would have completely missed being up close and personal with the Great Rock.  We changed our plan and the tour company was very accommodating. The train was neat however, the scenery was not exciting, totally repetitious, and we could have spent the money in a better way.  In Darwin, and our two days in Kakadu National Park, we enjoyed it all.  Port Douglas, the resort was terrific, the opposite of the hotel in Melbourne, a place you should not use until they do a total rennovation. We ate our best two meals in Port Douglas at two wonderful restaurants.

5-Star Travel support to Australia!--

 Our agent coordinated a spectacular initial visit to Australia for our anniversary celebration.  Some highlights:-- EVERY ground transfer was flawless.  Drivers were professional, arrived early and safely got us to every hotel and airport.  Your initial impression of a location is frequently from the driver/taxi operator.  All our Australian connections were superb ambassadors.  Our thanks to all the companies that supported us in Sydney, Adelaide, Cairns, Port Douglas and Brisbane.-- Hotel accommodations were on target. Perfectly located to encourage walkable touring. Modern and comfortable.  A special note to the charming boutique hotel in Port Douglas.  Ocean view, welcoming staff really went the extra mile and a solid restaurant.-- Tour operators had all our info; operated on time and the recommendations were spot on for our visit. Notably:  ---Sydney Opera House: Good timing, had a chance to hear the Symphony practice (We probably should have pre-booked tickets to a performance; my oversight)  ---Blue Mountain tour: Good size for group; very knowledgeable guide. Beautiful views.  ---Taste of South Australia: Barossa full day- This turned out to be a private tour, individualized route, winery and selections to our particular taste.  This one was exceptional.  --- Kangaroo Island: Flew in and out, an efficient way.  Tour with only one other couple.  Beautiful weather, superb lunch and we saw Australian wildlife in their own setting; not a petting zoo or in cages.  A most memorable day.  ---Sail in Port Douglas: A minor disappointment for us as the boat was very full with a lot of kids.  Snorkeling tour was crowded and hard to avoid both coral and people.  If I did it over, I might have looked to snorkel in the outer reef rather than the inner one but the tour operated professionally and on time; just didn't fit our taste.  ---Daintree: Very memorable taste of indigenous culture.  Guide was THE senior elder who set up the walkabout process in its current form.  He's a treasure.  Great lunch and river cruise to follow.  ---Brisbane visit: This was mostly positioning to fly out of Australia.  Had I to do it over, I would have stayed longer.  An energetic city, striking mix of historic mix and modern.  We took an OK river cruise to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.  With our experience on Kangaroo Island, this fell a bit flat for us and we should have spent a bit more time in Brisbane proper.

Again,  every arrangement worked as advertised.  Our agent was open, communicative, responsive and most helpful in coordinating one of our most memorable visits to any country.