TR - Perth - Melbourne - Auckland - Queenstown - Sydney - Perth

[clazman]

In and around the marina there are plenty of choices of food, drink and great views.

What we enjoyed was the sun sets between 9 and 10, so plenty of time to grab a feed, drink and enjoy the view... oh to have day light saving in WA


Ice bar - $30 admission which includes, jackets, gloves and free coughtail



Dinner that night was at the Fox Sporting Bar and Restaurant Auckland City, a sports bar at the Marina.. no complaints

 

[clazman]

Early start the next day, a unplanned day trip out to Waiheke island with explore (big yellow ferry) at $36 an adult.

Picked the wrong day to go, no hire cars, bikes, scooters available, every tour was fully booked, thank god for public transport.

Took the bus to the other side of the island, waited 2 hours for lunch, paddled in the ocean it as cold and then back to Auckland

 

[clazman]

Decided to have a lazy day, a trip to the zoo. Jumped into a taxi for the ride out, Sky City to the Zoo $12, great value.

Paid $28 per adult to get in and it has to be the worst zoo I have been too in years, empty enclosures, poorly designed enclosures where the animals can hide, wouldn't waste your time.

Being a warm 26', the only animals that were active where the animals in the Australian enclosure?

As the taxi driver said when we left it is a cough zoo... should have spent the $56 on beer instead.

 

[clazman]

That is enough of Auckland, now to spend 3 days exploring Rotorua - Taupo region.

Picked up two Toyota Camry hybrids from Rental Cars NZ - Car Rental From $31/day - GO Rentals , one had 700klm on clock and the other 2300klm. Great service, daughters booking was upgraded to the same car as mine, the only disappointment was the daughter was up sold a GPS device which she didn't need as the car had in built Sat Nav.

Leaving Auckland mid morning heading to Hamilton for lunch and then on Waitomo caves to see the glow worms.

Mental note, check GPS settings before driving, ours had been set to drive on back roads and avoid motorways, which led to some awesome views and rally roads. and probably 30 minutes extra driving





Glow Worms Waitomo Glowworm Caves
Admission price is $49 per adult and tours run every half an hour in groups of up to 30. We counted 4 groups going through the caves at the same time as us, so they can certainly push people through.

Basic tour outline,
- history of the cave
- show stalactites and stalagmites
- first glimpse of glow worms at the deepest part of the cave, but you have to be on hands and knees to see
- dingy ride for about 50 metres where the roof of the cave is full of glow worms, the dingy takes you to the exit of the cave

Notes: no cameras allowed, multiple sets of stairs to climb,

Exiting the cave



Size of boat

 

[cory]

I'd been told the boat ride through the caves was average and did the cave abseiling trip which lasted half a day and was about $200aud. Amazing experience and awesome value and only 4 ppl on the day we did it (winter admittedly so it was freezing). Same rule, no photography although they took pictures and e-mailed them all to us which was part of the package.

 

[clazman]

I'd been told the boat ride through the caves was average and did the cave abseiling trip which lasted half a day and was about $200aud. Amazing experience and awesome value and only 4 ppl on the day we did it (winter admittedly so it was freezing). Same rule, no photography although they took pictures and e-mailed them all to us which was part of the package.

I thought the caves boat ride was a complete waste of time and money....

 

[clazman]

After the caves we headed to our accommodation until new years day, the Hilton Lake Taupo.

Decent bed and good sized room,



View out of the shared balcony was nice over the gravel carpark



Entrance to the hotel



Three bookings, two upgrades, one booking got upgraded to a larger room but was designated a disabled room and the other got a 1 bed room apartment.

Ironically i wasn't upgraded and I am the only member of the group with Hilton rewards

Great hotel, average views, out of town to much to my liking

 

[clazman]

Many activities to do in and around Lake Taupo, the first was Craters of the Moon Craters of the Moon | Craters of the Moon NZ only $8 to get in, but if time is short give it a miss, pretty bland

Access around is either on dirt tracks or wooden boards takes about an hour all up to walk around







Sorry no ideas why images are on the side, any ideas?

 

[clazman]

Next stop was Hukafalls .... wow the colour of the water and volume of flow is incredible.

 

[clazman]

Great places to eat, and a good idea to book

The Steak House, Steak and Ale Bar, Best Restaurant Lake Taupo New Zealand

Lava Rock Cafe , sorry no website

Avoid at all costs

Lone Star - About Taupo

Want to see some amazing paintings of the area visit Graham Moeller Landscape Artist in town and have a yarn with Graham

 

[njba]

How did the 'new' A330 seating work as a couple? The central divider between seats is both high and fixed, right?

 

[clazman]

Depends on the number of years married ... would have been nice if it could have been lowered, but found access similar to Emirates and CX center seats in J.

 

[clazman]

Day trip to Rotorua.... have to experience the smell about a hour drive from Taupo


First activity about 10 minutes drive out of the city center was the Redwoods Treewalk Redwoods Treewalk Rotorua a new activity opened about 6-8 weeks ago.

As there advertising says a birds eye perspective of a world famous forest setting

Things to note

- You never go above the canopy
- Adults $25
- Expect delays as it is hard to move around slow groups and number limitation on each section
- I prefer the Pemberton WA tree top walk
- Think going after rain would be awesome

 

[clazman]

Our next stop was Paradise Valley Springs, which is a Wildlife park about 30 minutes drive out of town Paradise Valley Springs Wildlife Park

Surprisingly this was a excellent choice and great way to spend the afternoon.

They have a pride of Lions which you can see being fed at 2:30 every day, we never found out how the pride got to NZ.

The rest of the park is a leisurely walk, predominately in the shade, where you can feed deer, birds, trout and farm animals that is very kids friendly.

About half way round you realize you have climbed up the side of a hill you can fill your water bottle with fresh spring water ... and it is a nice drop.

 

[clazman]

Time to head back to Taupo, but making a few stops on the return drive.

Next stop was the Waimangu volcanic valley, upon arriving the ticketing office told us that we didn't have time to complete the tour....hmmm it was like 3pm.

No problems we drove down the road 5 minutes and went to Wai-O-Tapu thermal wonderland Home - Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland | Rotorua, NZWaiotapu Thermal Wonderland | Rotorua, NZ

Prepare yourself, with good walking shoes, water, hat and sun screen, there is a lot of walking, up and down hills and steps, and definitely worth it.

 

[clazman]

Time to relocate to Queenstown, the day starts with a 3 hour drive back to Auckland, followed by a internal flight from Air New Zealand.

If you are hungry before the flight eat before you go through security as there is nothing air side, apart from a newsagent.

Really wanted to fly Jetstar, but all flights were early AM flights, so took my first flight with ANZ (6 + flights a day, whilst Jetstar do 2 early AM flights only).

ANZ had no J class so paid the extra for the exit row, thinking it would be a full flight on New Years day, counted about 25 passengers on board.

Captain announced due to a storm of the north coast this was going to be a rough turbulent flight. I can say it was the most intense turbulence i have experienced, glad to get off.

Exit row leg room, despite having IFE it played tourism adverts for the entire flight




Coming into Queenstown, you get some amazing views out of the window



Grab a window seat to enjoy the view.

Later on we were speaking to one of the ATC guys who was telling us pilots don't flying into Queenstown due the winds, manual approach and flying below the terrain.

 

[clazman]

Our hotel for Queenstown was The Rees, The Rees Queenstown Luxury Hotel Apartments. located just outside of the city center.

Built lake side of Frankton rd, with lake views of Lake Wakatipu a combination of apartments and hotel room.

Many choices of access to Queenstown, hourly hotel shuttle, taxi $15 or walk trail along the lake

Our room included breakfast, no complaints from anyone about the range or quality.

Rooms also includes a good selection of "pay to view" movies that are free

What we found strange is no air conditioning in the rooms

View from the balcony





The room



Excellent water pressure


For the nana naps

 

[clazman]

In and around images - Queenstown Jetty

End of the jetty looking back to Queenstown



Building on the left has a under water viewing area



Today activity for Hydro Attack - Hydro Attack | The ultimate blend of shark and machine.

Passengers sit in the rear and you have to become a contortionist to get into the seat.
I managed to get it, but started to cramp so i pulled the pin.


So instead we explored Queenstown shopping district... you have to try the free fudge at Remarkable Sweet Shop http://www.rss.co.nz/

 

[clazman]

Today's activity is early start and a fishing trip, had to be down the jetty at 7am

Son in law and I booked the river fish with Unreel Fishing tour Unreel Fishing » Fishing Tours, Queenstown, NZ

Due to bad weather it was canceled and fully booked for the next 4 days, money happily refunded

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[clazman]

After heading back to the hotel and getting changed we decided to head back to town, play a few hands of black jack and then take the lake tour on TSS Earnslaw Queenstown Lake Cruises | TSS Earnslaw Steamship - Everything New Zealand

Built the same year as the Titanic but with a slightly better safety record

45 minute cruise to Walter Peak, where you can get off and have lunch at a sheep farm or head straight back to Queenstown.

Food an drinks available on board and if you sit at the stern you can enjoy the cruise in the piano lounge

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