Australia Trip Planner

Pre-wedding Honeymoon: Hamilton Island. Silky Oaks Lodge. Daintree Rainforest. Port Douglas. Cairns. Kuranda. Uluru and Kata Tjuta. Blue Mountains. Sydney.Our pre-wedding honeymoon was absolutely amazing! It was very enjoyable and flawless. Zicasso's travel plan for us was perfect. Our agent's knowledge of the country and her suggestions made in the planning of this trip made the transition to each place easy. She was so helpful and accommodating. One of the days during our trip, it was suppose to rain and we had an outdoor tour schedule that day. Less than 24 hours before a scheduled tour, at our request, she switched our tour with one of our free days. As a result, we were able to enjoy our tour, rain free. She was absolutely amazing, I feel as if she were with us throughout the entire trip.

I'm not sure it matters how much time you spend in Australia, it won't be enough. Certainly our 14 days weren't.  We decided to try to 'do it all'. Sydney with the Blue Mountain, Kangaroo Island, Melbourne with the Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island, Ayers Rock (Uluru), Cairns (Port Douglas) with the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest. This meant 5 separate flights in-country with 5 travel days in addition to our arrival and departure. After gently warning us that this was a lot, our travel agency did everything they could to make our trip as memorable as they possibly could. This involved multiple email exchanges, discussions of possible tour sites, several changes of itinerary and all done with good humor and efficiency. Their hotel recommendations were uniformly excellent - or as good as the area allowed. The tours they arranged were equally excellent. While not providing dining recommendations they did suggest contacting hotel concierges, well before our departure, which allowed us to make several restaurant reservations at the begining of the trip, making our lives much easier. They arranged transport to and from airports which was uniformly good other than one episode of being forgotten. The taxi cost was subsequently covered.  They had a harder time getting the transport company to spell our name correctly. Fortunately they were only one letter off so easily recognizable. We were provided thorough lists of contacts with phone numbers which did occasionally come in handy. Our travel agency made all of our in country flight reservations. We were suprised at our first flight that seats had not been chosen. While we understood the reasoning, some prefer an aisle versus a window it was an unnecessary worry.  We were pleased that this was rectified for the remainig flights after we contacted them. Overall, we felt that our agency did an excellent job for us. If we were to return to Australia or New Zealand we would certainly contact this company again.

Our agent did a terrific job of suggesting places to go and things to see. With her planning, we were able to forget about the logistic hassles and were met at each airport by our limo (usually a Mercedes and one Rolls Royce!)..

Our accommodations were top notch (except for Kangaroo Island where there weren't as many choices). I especially liked reclining on our bed in Sydney and looking out at the harbor traffic under the bridge. Also, the apartment in Port Douglas was timed just right so we could have a free afternoon to relax and do laundry. And the service at our Hobart hotel was outstanding.

The small tour groups - from just us in the Daintree & Melbourne to just four and a guide in Kangaroo Island - were terrific. Larger groups weren't bad, though our van driver in Sydney kept stalling the vehicle.

I really thought the Zicasso travel partner was fabulous and so thorough and easy to use. I would rate it the best travel app. It had my itinerary down to the minute detail, info on how to contact various people if there were any questions, and was so easy to navigate.  I would rate my trip to Australia my favorite so far. I recently went to Japan through a different travel agent and was able to compare the difference. Our travel team was so much better! 

My husband and I went to Australia to drop off my daughter, who was doing an exchange study in Sydney. We started in Melbourne and had a full-day tour to Phillip Island, with a moonlit animal sanctuary and penguins. I would recommend the penguins. I saw thousands of penguins. What an experience! I did not like the sanctuary part. Tickets were sold out for the koala petting and there were not very many animals to see. I have heard there are other sanctuaries/zoos in other parts of Australia that are much better.  

The Melbourne food tour was fantastic! Our tour guide did a wonderful job of explaining Melbourne's history with the food. We flew to Cairns, to Port Douglas, and had two excursions: a boat ride with snorkeling in the Great Reef Barrier and a Daintree safari.  The full-day cruise with snorkeling was wonderful, with so much food! The Daintree tour was a bit long and could have been condensed into half the time. I probably would not recommend that tour. 

Finally, we went to Sydney to drop off my daughter. We did the bridge walk, which was fantastic. Each person was so well protected and the safety checks were top-notch! 

Our trip went without any problems and our drivers were well-coordinated and on schedule. I would use this company for future trips to Australia. I plan to visit New Zealand and would use them again.