Premier New Zealand South Island Tour: Natural and Cultural Gems

The island of Matamanoa Island in Fiji was wonderful.  The adult only island was small enough to give a real tropical getaway feel and had all the necessary amenities to make us feel well taken care of.  Walking 50 feet out our room and snorkeling in the reef was just what we had hoped for.  The trip to Castaway island (where the movie was filmed) was fun.  The snorkeling here was incredible!!!  The staff was friendly and helpful and the restaurant had a variety of dishes that both my wife and I were pleased with.  The table side crepe suzette was to die for. 

Port Douglas  is a wonderful seaside tourist town with lots of great restaurants and night life.  The Great Barrier Reef snorkel was one of highlights.  The sea was especially calm the day we went out and the water was clear.  The fish and coral were magnificent. The reef tour was exceptional and the  staff  very knowlegable and took great care of us.  In town, we especially liked "The Inlet" restaurant. Our hotel  was right downtown close to all the restaurant's, but far enough off the street as not to have any street or bar noise.  We went to the Sunday market and enjoyed the people, street entertainment and venders. 

Sydney is a wonderful big city. Again, our hotel  was very nice and short walking distance to everything. The Circular Quay, Opera house, Darling Harbor .  The small  group city tour was just what we wanted. We climbed the bridge at sunset, went to the Opera house and took a ferry to Manley and had a sunset dinner in a beach side restaurant, "Manley's". Returned on the 8:30 ferry under a wonderful clear full moon night to see the city lights, Opera House and the Bridge" welcoming us.  A truly wonderful view!!! 

We found it to be quite cooler in New Zealand (Christchurch). We arrived the morning of the Rugby World Cup, The New Zealand All Blacks won so everyone was in good mood.   What's left of the city (after the earthquake of 2011) is slowly being rebuilt. Ricks suggestion of the  Botanical Gardens was perfect.  They are breathtaking and the museum was very worth while. The hotel  was wonderfully comfortable and the courtyard beautiful. We  left early to catch our train to Greymouth, which was spectacular! 

We rented a car in Greymouth and drove south down the coast.  Unfortunately we were weathered out in Franz Josef for our heli-hike.  It turned out to be no problem as 20 miles down the road the weather cleared and we were able to stop and see the waterfalls and blue pools.  We had a leisurely drive down the coast to Wanaka where we stay in a B&B.  The owners are from England and are wonderful. They helped us with restaurant recommendations and  reservations.  They have a happy hour for all the guests and real fun.  We got to meet other couples from other countries and shared travel stories.  The nature hike was a hoot. Our guide was very informative, funny and took wonderful care of everyone on the trip.  A real must do.

We had the most spectacular view of the lake from our room  in Queentown.   A highlight of the trip was the Dart River jet boat tour.  What a fun ride and hike through the forest.  At night we took the Gondola up the mountain and had dinner overlooking the city. Milford sound was also spectacular.

We ended our vacation in  Dunedin and arrived early enough to go to the beer tour (fun).  The following morning  tour took us to  where we saw giant Albatross' and the endangered yellowed eyed penguins with a boat cruise. 

When we contacted Rick, we had a time line, a budget and  a general idea of where we wanted to go but no specifics on anything.  Rick put together an outstanding trip for us with many great tours and accommodations. We especially appreciated all the personal time Rick gave us with our numerous questions and concerns.  We are highly recommending him.

Aussie Open, 44C/111F on second day - Wow that’s hot.  106 & 108 F on first and third days.  A bit cooler.  Saw some amazing tennis and had fun despite the heat, suspended play and Williams sisters pulling out of the doubles.

Great Ocean Road is fabulous, though the coach tour is bit long, 15 hours, and stops at anything that looks interesting.  I enjoyed it all, but Debbie was less thrilled due to the length and constant dialog from the guide.  We learned our tolerance of guided tours is not very high.

Cairns was great: Great Barrier Reef was just spectacular. The tour was absolutely first rate. Fabulous!! Best snorkeling conditions ever and of course the reef is awesome.  No sharks unfortunately.

Kurnda was wonderful and I especially loved the trip through the tree tops in the gondola.

We rented bikes in Cairns and had a blast riding along the coast.  The hotel is surrounded by trees with thousands of fruit bats living in them.  At dusk they all take off flying around the hotel and nearby streets. I thought it was great but the wife was a little freaked out.

Uluru was nice … and hot.  Sunset was pretty, but we attracted a lot of flies. The hiking was a bit much for some of the party.  Sunrise was early … and not as good as sunset.  We had the same guide for both, a French woman, which was a bit disappointing for the wife - she wanted an Aussie.  Beautiful place with wonderful stories.

Sydney was wonderful.  Opera house tour and story of the architect made us cry.  Harbor cruise was spectacular.  Loved Sydney and the Rocks area. 

Blue mountains were fogged in, but we had fun on the high angle train.  Debbie screamed the whole way down on purpose for a Frenchman videoing the trip.. He spoke no english and we no french, but he loved the soundtrack he got.  This was on Australia day.

Driving in New Zealand, South island was a snap.  Te Anau was beautiful as was Milford Sound and Doubtful was the best of all.  The overnight was great and we saw millions of stars, Wow!  We Kayaked and swam in the Tasman sea.  Cold - 59F!

Queenstown was wonderful, though the day before a couple from India told us there was nothing to do there.  Ha!  There was plenty to do.  The gondola and luge were a blast and we really enjoyed the city.  If we ever go back, Queenstown will be one of the cities we visit, along with Auckland.  

We got fogged out of our helicopter trip to the Franz Josef Glacier.  Refund in the works.  But we did hike out to see the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers.  Not too bad, but tough to take pictures under a cloudy sky.

TranzAlpine railroad was very nice, relaxing and beautiful.  Christchurch looked like a war zone.  We were surprised at the apparent slow progress some 3+ years after the earthquake.  But NZ doesn’t have the resources for a quick rebuild I guess.  

North Island driving was a bit more challenging due to more people, but not bad.  We got a smaller car this time and it was easier to fit on the slightly narrower roads of NZ.

The Scenic Hotel in Napier was fabulous.  We were sorry we were staying only one night.  The view from the window was spectacular.  Walked quite a bit and enjoyed the area.

The Copthorne in Rotorua was likely the worst place we stayed.  Not bad (the others were great), but it needs updating.  Rainy day for the area attractions tour, but we enjoyed most of it, especially the Agrodome show - wonderful!  Rotorua does have a pervasive sulfur smell to it, but I got used to it.

Auckland was wonderful.  We each captained (steered) a 50 foot sailboat in the harbor on a beautiful 1hr 30min cruise.  Highly recommended.  The Explorer hop on/hop off was OK, but not a big hit.  We did see some very nice sights.  

Highlight of Auckland, besides the sailing, was being “kidnapped” by a local woman, about 65-70 years old, and driven to Mount Victoria, after we took the ferry across the harbor. She gave us a history lesson, showed us all around and took us to her favorite bar afterwards. I was quite wary to start with, but we decided to accompany her in her car.  Worked out very nicely.

All flights were very good, with wonderful service on the LAX-Melbourne and Sydney-LAX legs.  The latter flight was about 40% full, so we could really stretch out and sleep.  No jet lag to speak of on either end - we planned our sleep times well.