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How much do you budget for 5 day vacations?
Yesterday night at SD it was fun.
AU - Sydney; NZ - Queenstown. I stayed in these two places and drove/flew around to other places. Best bang for your buck.
Hmm, that’s tough. My wife’s family is Australian and mostly in Melbourne, which would be my personal pick. But if you’ve never been it’s pretty hard to ignore Sydney. You definitely need to use that extra week to explore places like Melbourne, the Yarra, Gold Coast (noosa isn’t too far from there). Adelaide are Perth are awesome too.
For NZ, Auckland (waiheke island is amazing) is easiest I’d say but most of the fun stuff is on the South Island. Say I’d look at Christchurch or Queenstown
Agreed on Sydney and Queenstown as your places to work - we loved both. But in Australia I loved staying in Port Douglas because then you can hit the Great Barrier Reef (or what’s left of it 🤕) and then the oldest rain forest on the planet another day for a day trip, so I would be sure to hit that town as you travel. Keep in mind how big Australia is so even travel between cities can eat up a day.
In NZ, you could honestly spend weeks exploring there. We took the kids there for 11 days and only hit a small portion, and my husband and I are dying to go back. Te Anau is a must for I’d say three days to be able to see the general Milford Sound area (the Southern Alps). Breathtaking - I highly recommend a helicopter tour because you’ll get out to places that would take you days to hike to. The rest of your exploratory time, you could drive a camper van out of Queenstown and do a loop - there is so much to see, whether you want to hit cities like Christchurch or go mini-penguin spotting in Oamaru or hike Aoraki (Mount Cook). Wanaka is also a designated Dark Sky preserve if you hit it cloud-free (and there is an amazing cushy yurt Airbnb that we stayed in and loved), but that’s a one-night kind of place.
Very jealous of your plan - I would LOVE to do that and get back down there. We did three weeks between the two countries and barely scaratched the surface.
How long do you have (so how many cities)?
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One week travel around Australia, stay in one city for a week straight
One week travel around New Zealand, stay in one city for a week straight
Four weeks total
Lived in NZ for six months and Christchurch is a great place to start. Recommend renting a car if you can and checking out all the South Island has to offer, like Queenstown and Dunedin. You also have the option of bringing the car on the ferry to the north island (Wellington, Auckland, Bay of Islands, and Shakespear Lodge are great visits). granted, I lived there in their winter, so your options may be a little different, but South Island highlights included Abel Tasman, Dunedin, Queenstown, Stewart Island, Franz Josef glacier, and Kaikoura. Dunedin has penguins and albatrosses, and Queenstown is the adventure capital. Christchurch has beautiful botanical gardens, the university, the Antarctic center, and great bars and restaurants. Kaikoura is the big whale-watching hub.
For Australia, definitely visit Sydney and Melbourne, along with Queensland. In Sydney, Bondi Beach and Icebergs are must-sees. Skip the Harbor Bridge climb/excursion. Cliff walks are spectacular along Bondi Beach. Also did a two-night stay on Fraser Island up in Queenstown. PM me if you want more info on anything!
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Ugh lucky. I still have my flight credits from March 2020 and have no idea when to reschedule 😩
Probably Sydney and either Christchurch or Queenstown
Are you able to work remotely from other countries? EY US is not allowing for tax purposes unless granted an exception.