Australia and New Zealand
Discussion
So the OH and I are planning a longish trip to Oz and NZ later this year. We are going for 6 weeks and at the moment our itinerary is from the UK to Singapore, Sydney, Cairns, Queenstown NZ (via another stopover in Sydney), spend 3 weeks driving through NZ to Auckland, fly to Melbourne, then to Hong Kong and then back to the UK.
So from what I can tell we just need a visa for going to Australia, am I right or have I missed something?
We are also looking for a way of getting internet while we are in Oz and NZ, so does anyone know if there is a cheap PAYG mobile service that has data you would recommend that would cover both countries? I am hoping I can just get a sim for an iphone that will give us access to look stuff up while we are travelling. Even if there is a specific telecom's operator we should look at that would be really helpful!
So from what I can tell we just need a visa for going to Australia, am I right or have I missed something?
We are also looking for a way of getting internet while we are in Oz and NZ, so does anyone know if there is a cheap PAYG mobile service that has data you would recommend that would cover both countries? I am hoping I can just get a sim for an iphone that will give us access to look stuff up while we are travelling. Even if there is a specific telecom's operator we should look at that would be really helpful!
I had a working holiday visa for Oz but I'm pretty sure I needed a separate Visa for NZ too. I seem to remember it was incredibly easy to sort out online.
Both Oz and NZ are built for travelling round so you'll find internet cafe's everywhere you're going. You're visiting the most populated areas so you'll never be far away from one
Both Oz and NZ are built for travelling round so you'll find internet cafe's everywhere you're going. You're visiting the most populated areas so you'll never be far away from one
Give us a more detailed idea of what your doing? Are you flying from Sydney to Cairnes for example, are you stopping in HK, Melbourne and Singapore or just transferring plane? From there I can give you a better idea of if your going to fast or too slow.
3 weeks isnt a huge amount of time to see NZ. Queenstown is fantastic, and the South Island in general is beautiful and defiantly worth exploring. The North Island, less so, but still has areas worth seeing.
There is no mobile operator which covers NZ and Oz. Vodafone will cover both, but they are separate companies so you pay roaming charges if trying to use a NZ sim in Oz or visa versa. Also be aware that, particualy in NZ there are places without phone reception. I guess more when your driving from place to place than where your sleeping. Population centres have reception but you dont need to go far out of town before it disspaears.
3 weeks isnt a huge amount of time to see NZ. Queenstown is fantastic, and the South Island in general is beautiful and defiantly worth exploring. The North Island, less so, but still has areas worth seeing.
There is no mobile operator which covers NZ and Oz. Vodafone will cover both, but they are separate companies so you pay roaming charges if trying to use a NZ sim in Oz or visa versa. Also be aware that, particualy in NZ there are places without phone reception. I guess more when your driving from place to place than where your sleeping. Population centres have reception but you dont need to go far out of town before it disspaears.
We looked into NZ and Aus for an extended honeymoon this year. We got really far down the planning stages, had singled out individual hotel, full itinerary, flights etc but then pulled the plug as while doing this the exchange rate just continued to nose dive.
I know it’s not the be all and end all but it really adds up when you’re talking 1000’s over 7 weeks we had planned and didn’t want to scrimp with it being our honeymoon. I def want to go but will wait until at least next year or the year after. Not that the exchange rate will have improved any by then
It was $1.70 (Aus) to £1 when we started looking and now 1.48.
I know it’s not the be all and end all but it really adds up when you’re talking 1000’s over 7 weeks we had planned and didn’t want to scrimp with it being our honeymoon. I def want to go but will wait until at least next year or the year after. Not that the exchange rate will have improved any by then
It was $1.70 (Aus) to £1 when we started looking and now 1.48.
Condi said:
3 weeks isnt a huge amount of time to see NZ. Queenstown is fantastic, and the South Island in general is beautiful and defiantly worth exploring. The North Island, less so, but still has areas worth seeing.
We did both islands in about three weeks so it's feasible although we had been on the road for almost two years by then so were extremely well practiced! It is a lot of driving though and it's worth bearing in mind that many of the roads on the south island are very twisty so distances can be deceptive.
The worst thing about doing it in such a short time is that you're at the mercy of the weather, particularly on the south island. You should expect to miss out on a few things if roads are closed due to snow / avalanches, for example.
durbster said:
We did both islands in about three weeks so it's feasible although we had been on the road for almost two years by then so were extremely well practiced!
It is a lot of driving though and it's worth bearing in mind that many of the roads on the south island are very twisty so distances can be deceptive.
The worst thing about doing it in such a short time is that you're at the mercy of the weather, particularly on the south island. You should expect to miss out on a few things if roads are closed due to snow / avalanches, for example.
I know its feasible, but you will be left wishing you had spent a bit more time and seen more things. A guy I was working with did both islands when his gf came over - 8000km in 5 weeks - and by the end he was very fed up with doing so many miles, even if they did get to see a lot. It is a lot of driving though and it's worth bearing in mind that many of the roads on the south island are very twisty so distances can be deceptive.
The worst thing about doing it in such a short time is that you're at the mercy of the weather, particularly on the south island. You should expect to miss out on a few things if roads are closed due to snow / avalanches, for example.
mathmos said:
So from what I can tell we just need a visa for going to Australia, am I right or have I missed something?
No, you aren't missing anything, you don't need a visa for NZ as a tourist for up to six months with a British passport.mathmos said:
We are also looking for a way of getting internet while we are in Oz and NZ, so does anyone know if there is a cheap PAYG mobile service that has data you would recommend that would cover both countries? I am hoping I can just get a sim for an iphone that will give us access to look stuff up while we are travelling. Even if there is a specific telecom's operator we should look at that would be really helpful!
In Oz there are various providers - Telstra, Sprint, Vodafone.... Telstra have the best coverage and will sell you a PAYG sim but it is expensive compared to the UK. Oz sims will work in NZ but as foreign sims so are (even more) expensive to operate there.mathmos said:
So the OH and I are planning a longish trip to Oz and NZ later this year. We are going for 6 weeks and at the moment our itinerary is from the UK to Singapore, Sydney, Cairns, Queenstown NZ (via another stopover in Sydney), spend 3 weeks driving through NZ to Auckland, fly to Melbourne, then to Hong Kong and then back to the UK.
So from what I can tell we just need a visa for going to Australia, am I right or have I missed something?
We are also looking for a way of getting internet while we are in Oz and NZ, so does anyone know if there is a cheap PAYG mobile service that has data you would recommend that would cover both countries? I am hoping I can just get a sim for an iphone that will give us access to look stuff up while we are travelling. Even if there is a specific telecom's operator we should look at that would be really helpful!
Hope you like airline food, that's a lot of flying to get to what is essentially nothing with sun.So from what I can tell we just need a visa for going to Australia, am I right or have I missed something?
We are also looking for a way of getting internet while we are in Oz and NZ, so does anyone know if there is a cheap PAYG mobile service that has data you would recommend that would cover both countries? I am hoping I can just get a sim for an iphone that will give us access to look stuff up while we are travelling. Even if there is a specific telecom's operator we should look at that would be really helpful!
Singapore is horrible, hot, humid, suffacating, if it's a stop over and nothing else go to dubai, at least you can't drink yourself into depression. Sydney is just like newcastle, cairns is good if you can afford to get the boat out to the reef and spend time out there, especially if you dive, if not it's just a harbour town with mountain backdrop - think cornwall, Queenstown = Manchester, driving through newzealand, think lake district stretched way tooo far... Auckland - proper s
t hole. Melbourne = birmingham with sun. HongKong is pretty much rammed with people, mostly orientals.Anyway have a nice time - yes you need a visa for Oz.
3 weeks driving for all NZ?
It's ample, but......
If you fly into Queenstown you'll only see 1/2 of the South Island as you drive back up.
The classic South Island trip and a nicer way to do it is to fly into Christchurch (quake city is still an epic attraction) drive across Arthurs Pass to Greymouth/Hokitika. Down the west coast (top 5 scenic drives in the world) to Wanaka and Queenstown. Do all your Q/town activities including scenic flight to Milford Sound (that way you choose the weather in the sounds) then drive back north via the beautiful Lindis Pass, vast 200 lepton Mckenzie Basin and inland scenic route through to Hanmer Springs for a good soak in the hot pools.
Carrying on through to Nelson (meh) would be an option from Hanmer. Or straight up the east coast to Picton for the ferry.
That lot would/could be under 1000miles and done in 7 - 10 fantastic easy days.
Can't help with visa info sorry.
It's ample, but......
If you fly into Queenstown you'll only see 1/2 of the South Island as you drive back up.
The classic South Island trip and a nicer way to do it is to fly into Christchurch (quake city is still an epic attraction) drive across Arthurs Pass to Greymouth/Hokitika. Down the west coast (top 5 scenic drives in the world) to Wanaka and Queenstown. Do all your Q/town activities including scenic flight to Milford Sound (that way you choose the weather in the sounds) then drive back north via the beautiful Lindis Pass, vast 200 lepton Mckenzie Basin and inland scenic route through to Hanmer Springs for a good soak in the hot pools.
Carrying on through to Nelson (meh) would be an option from Hanmer. Or straight up the east coast to Picton for the ferry.
That lot would/could be under 1000miles and done in 7 - 10 fantastic easy days.
Can't help with visa info sorry.
mattnunn said:
Hope you like airline food, that's a lot of flying to get to what is essentially nothing with sun.
Singapore is horrible, hot, humid, suffacating, if it's a stop over and nothing else go to dubai, at least you can't drink yourself into depression. Sydney is just like newcastle, cairns is good if you can afford to get the boat out to the reef and spend time out there, especially if you dive, if not it's just a harbour town with mountain backdrop - think cornwall, Queenstown = Manchester, driving through newzealand, think lake district stretched way tooo far... Auckland - proper st hole. Melbourne = birmingham with sun. HongKong is pretty much rammed with people, mostly orientals.
Anyway have a nice time - yes you need a visa for Oz.
Dismiss this post completely OP.Singapore is horrible, hot, humid, suffacating, if it's a stop over and nothing else go to dubai, at least you can't drink yourself into depression. Sydney is just like newcastle, cairns is good if you can afford to get the boat out to the reef and spend time out there, especially if you dive, if not it's just a harbour town with mountain backdrop - think cornwall, Queenstown = Manchester, driving through newzealand, think lake district stretched way tooo far... Auckland - proper s
t hole. Melbourne = birmingham with sun. HongKong is pretty much rammed with people, mostly orientals.Anyway have a nice time - yes you need a visa for Oz.
Data tariffs on Vodafone PAYG in Australia aren't bad at all, as long as you get the right bundle enabled - a Voda shop should sort that out for you. NZ is still pretty expensive, $10 per 100MB on PAYG last time I was there, and they'll even charge you for a PAYG SIM.
My first trip to NZ was for 3 weeks, we had a great time but it was a big rush and we missed out plenty of stuff - no Milford or Doubtful Sound, and not a lot of the North Island at all. As said, don't expect to cover the distances at the pace you might be used to, there's barely any dual carriageway or motorway outside of main commuter routes. We spent very few nights in the same place, it was normally doing something in the morning, driving all afternoon, finding a place to stay around 5.30pm, dinner, bed, repeat. Even having been 3 times now (about 10 weeks in all), I could still happily spend 6 weeks there seeing more.
The area around Cairns (atherton tablelands) is lovely, you can do a good week in a car if you do a loop heading up to Port Douglas, then south and inland, looping round to Innisfail before heading up the coast again. Cairns doesn't have a lot to recommend other than as a place to get a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef for diving. Already covered, but Australia feels very very expensive these days, especially if you're driving everywhere and staying in hotels.
On a 6 week itinerary I'd probably want to go for fewer places (and flights), add a week to your NZ plan, and skip Melbourne/HK and just head home from Auckland via LA.
My first trip to NZ was for 3 weeks, we had a great time but it was a big rush and we missed out plenty of stuff - no Milford or Doubtful Sound, and not a lot of the North Island at all. As said, don't expect to cover the distances at the pace you might be used to, there's barely any dual carriageway or motorway outside of main commuter routes. We spent very few nights in the same place, it was normally doing something in the morning, driving all afternoon, finding a place to stay around 5.30pm, dinner, bed, repeat. Even having been 3 times now (about 10 weeks in all), I could still happily spend 6 weeks there seeing more.
The area around Cairns (atherton tablelands) is lovely, you can do a good week in a car if you do a loop heading up to Port Douglas, then south and inland, looping round to Innisfail before heading up the coast again. Cairns doesn't have a lot to recommend other than as a place to get a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef for diving. Already covered, but Australia feels very very expensive these days, especially if you're driving everywhere and staying in hotels.
On a 6 week itinerary I'd probably want to go for fewer places (and flights), add a week to your NZ plan, and skip Melbourne/HK and just head home from Auckland via LA.
Condi said:
I know its feasible, but you will be left wishing you had spent a bit more time and seen more things. A guy I was working with did both islands when his gf came over - 8000km in 5 weeks - and by the end he was very fed up with doing so many miles, even if they did get to see a lot.
Yeah, we went after driving all the way round Australia (and more) so our concept of distance was somewhat unreal. I'm sure if I did it now it'd be a bit more like work! Having said that, every single mile of the NZ south island is like staring out of your windscreen into a postcard so it rarely gets boring.
cheddar said:
The classic South Island trip...
That's sort of what we did on the south island: Christchurch, Dunedin, Queenstown, up the west coast to the glaciers then across to Kaikoura and up to get the ferry. Highly recommend it.Then north island we went Wellington, Taupo, Rotorua, Whangamata, Auckland, Bay of Islands, Cape Reinga and back to Auckland to fly out.
That all took about three weeks, and we had a couple of days in a few places so it wasn't too relentless.
Edit: In fact, I've just found a map hastily drawn in Paint at the time
It's just missing the trip to the very top.
Edited by durbster on Wednesday 14th March 21:54
audidoody said:
>Sydney is just like newcastle,
Well, the bridges share a remarkable similarity.
But Newcastle, to my certain knowledge, is not a coastal city built around a perfect harbour and fringed by surf beaches and enjoying 340 days of sunshine a year.
340 days of sunshine? Not this year...Well, the bridges share a remarkable similarity.
But Newcastle, to my certain knowledge, is not a coastal city built around a perfect harbour and fringed by surf beaches and enjoying 340 days of sunshine a year.
durbster said:
Condi said:
I know its feasible, but you will be left wishing you had spent a bit more time and seen more things. A guy I was working with did both islands when his gf came over - 8000km in 5 weeks - and by the end he was very fed up with doing so many miles, even if they did get to see a lot.
Yeah, we went after driving all the way round Australia (and more) so our concept of distance was somewhat unreal. I'm sure if I did it now it'd be a bit more like work! Having said that, every single mile of the NZ south island is like staring out of your windscreen into a postcard so it rarely gets boring.
cheddar said:
The classic South Island trip...
That's sort of what we did on the south island: Christchurch, Dunedin, Queenstown, up the west coast to the glaciers then across to Kaikoura and up to get the ferry. Highly recommend it.Then north island we went Wellington, Taupo, Rotorua, Whangamata, Auckland, Bay of Islands, Cape Reinga and back to Auckland to fly out.
That all took about three weeks, and we had a couple of days in a few places so it wasn't too relentless.
Edit: In fact, I've just found a map hastily drawn in Paint at the time
It's just missing the trip to the very top.
Edited by durbster on Wednesday 14th March 21:54
The east coast of the South Island is the least attractive as you leave Christchurch - straight, busy, heavily trafficked road for the first 3 hours.
Going south down the West Coast always seems to reward more than coming north up it and the trip out of Christchurch across the Southern Alps is a great start.
If I was planning the OP's trip I'd do:
Singapore 2 nights - breaks up the journey, incredible food, great easy initiation into Asia
Melbourne 3 nights - Culture.
Sydney 5 nights - ferry to Manly, Bondi/Tamarama/Bronte beaches, shopping, Opera House, Circular Quay.
I'd skip Cairns altogether unless you really want to do the Barrier Reef
Then I'd start my NZ trip in Christchurch, spend 12 days in the south Island and 9 going north.
We were a bit bored of Sydney after a couple of days to be honest. The harbour is undoubtedly beautiful but after you've seen the sights it's pretty much like any western city really i.e. busy, expensive and full of traffic and shopping. Getting drunk in Sydney is very similar to getting drunk anywhere in Europe
So if the OP isn't a fan of cities like me, how about dashing down to Jervis bay for a couple of nights? Better beaches than Sydney, good chance of seeing dolphins and they're not full of sunburnt Europeans. In fact they weren't full of anyone at all when we went...
So if the OP isn't a fan of cities like me, how about dashing down to Jervis bay for a couple of nights? Better beaches than Sydney, good chance of seeing dolphins and they're not full of sunburnt Europeans. In fact they weren't full of anyone at all when we went...
Virgin mobile are good, when I was in oz at the beginning of the year got $500 credit + 1gb of data for $29 with a 30 day expiry and we never got anywhere near using it all. They use the Optus network who are one of the big players. Just make sure your phone is unlocked before you get there, if it's an iPhone you will need access to iTunes as well to activate the change in network, I don't think that can be done over the air yet.
Gah...sorry...when I last looked at the thread no one had answered! There's some fantastic info here, thanks all!
Thanks for the heads up about phones....I think a sim for NZ may be our best bet since that's where we will be roaming most of all.
Condi said:
Give us a more detailed idea of what your doing? Are you flying from Sydney to Cairnes for example, are you stopping in HK, Melbourne and Singapore or just transferring plane? From there I can give you a better idea of if your going to fast or too slow.
3 weeks isnt a huge amount of time to see NZ. Queenstown is fantastic, and the South Island in general is beautiful and defiantly worth exploring. The North Island, less so, but still has areas worth seeing.
There is no mobile operator which covers NZ and Oz. Vodafone will cover both, but they are separate companies so you pay roaming charges if trying to use a NZ sim in Oz or visa versa. Also be aware that, particualy in NZ there are places without phone reception. I guess more when your driving from place to place than where your sleeping. Population centres have reception but you dont need to go far out of town before it disspaears.
So in the 6 weeks we've got 2 nights in Singapore (including the night we fly in from the UK so I can imagine we'll be knackered, so really just 1 day and a night), 5 nights in Sydney, 4 nights in Port Douglas, 1 night stopover in Sydney on the way to Queenstown. Then from queens town we have a camper that we are picking up and dropping of in Auckland 3 weeks later, but we haven't fixed a route yet so we still have that on our list to plan, although I am expecting to spend most of it in the south island. Then 4 nights in Melbourne, 3 in HK then home. 3 weeks isnt a huge amount of time to see NZ. Queenstown is fantastic, and the South Island in general is beautiful and defiantly worth exploring. The North Island, less so, but still has areas worth seeing.
There is no mobile operator which covers NZ and Oz. Vodafone will cover both, but they are separate companies so you pay roaming charges if trying to use a NZ sim in Oz or visa versa. Also be aware that, particualy in NZ there are places without phone reception. I guess more when your driving from place to place than where your sleeping. Population centres have reception but you dont need to go far out of town before it disspaears.
Thanks for the heads up about phones....I think a sim for NZ may be our best bet since that's where we will be roaming most of all.
- edit - flights are booked by the way, so they are pretty set in stone, although where we go in NZ is all open
Edited by mathmos on Thursday 15th March 17:20
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