Australia / New Zealand - tour & restaurant recs?

[basilosaurus]

I've only been to NZ, so I'll stick to just these.

Te Anau, New Zealand - We went with Southern Discoveries on Milford. Don't bother with the extra stop for the underwater observatory. I can't remember who we used for Doubtful, but it was the 1 day, and it wasn't real journeys. It was a smaller operator. Good experiences with both. Food: there's a fabulous game restaurant in Te Anau. Also, the meat pies are good for taking on the cruise.

Queenstown, New Zealand - We only passed through as we stayed in Wanaka. Honestly, the 2 meals we had were underwhelming, so hopefully you get better recs.

Blenheim, New Zealand - 3 days - Why just 1 day of wine? We did a few days there, almost all wine Stayed at Stonehaven, loved it and our hosts. Wairau was our favorite winery (send me some of their chards, please), only partially for the blue cheese souffle. Few wineries have food, so plan accordingly. The No. 1 sparkling tasting was good for something different. The fancy restaurant (blanking on the name) wasn't all that special, at least not for the price. For something non-wine there's an aviation museum. It was very well done, but I was bored b/c H loves that stuff, and we spent hours there. But, it happened to be pouring rain all morning, so we had time to kill.

Picton / Wellington - just transiting through... is this a mistake? We spent 3 days in Welly. I thought it would be my favorite town, and it wasn't. So, I don't think it's a mistake if you'd be spending more time somewhere else. If you're adding on to the trip as a whole, though, it's worth it.

[mrsjrd23]

We drove to Milford on our own and did a day cruise with Juicy. Just OK. but it was a bit cheaper and took the same route as the others so what the hell?

We used Real Journeys for Doubtful and I highly recommend them. It was one of my more surreal, amazing experiences I've ever had traveling on our day trip - I recommend booking the early day cruise. We stayed in Te Anau and drove down to the boat area about 20 minutes south in a town I can't remember.

As far as Kaikoura, I HIGHLY recommend Dolphin Encounter for swimming with the dolphins. This was also one of the most awesome experiences of my life. we swam with 400+ wild dolphins - they were everywhere! and interacting with us in the water. SO cool.

[MissusTexas]

There's a link in my siggy to my blog and there's an entry from last October where I recapped our 2 week vacation to Melbourne, Sydney, and Taranaki in NZ.

I wasn't too impressed with Melbourne, it just felt like another city to me, but we really enjoyed out GOR tour with GoWest tours. It was long, but we felt like we got to see everything we wanted.

We LOVED Sydney even though we were only there for a day, and we were even able to take the ferry to Manly Beach. The ferry is cheap and you get an awesome view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House from the water. We had the best raw oysters ever at a little place right on the water at Circular Quay. I don't recall the name but I may have put it on the blog. It's an open air cafe on the opposite side from the bridge.

[MissusTexas]

Just a note- I really regret that we didn't get outside the cities and see the outback. In fact, the only kangaroos we saw were at the Melbourne Zoo. The zoo got awesome reviews on Tripadvisor, but honestly it was just another zoo and took a while to get to so I definitely wouldn't recommend it.

[dorothyinAus]

I can recommend the Golden Mile Heritage Walking Tour in Melbourne (information and booklets are available at the Tourist Information Centre at Federation Square) as well as a tour of Victorian Parliament. The National Gallery of Victoria is well worth the visit (and free!) as is a visit to the Shrine of Remembrance.

I would skip the Penguin Parade at Phillip Island (two-hour drive south of Melbourne), but it is well worth the visit to see the seal colony at the Nobbies. Healesville Animal Sanctuary is worth it. There are tours that stop at Healesville and other places in the Dandenong Ranges.

If you have time, the Botanic Gardens and Lake Wendouree in Ballarat are very nice and certainly worth the visit, but it is a two-hour drive out of Melbourne.

[jenn248]

Here's my trip review with all of my recommendations - we went to all of the South Island towns that you mentioned. Personally, I would add a second night in Kaikoura so you can do the dolphin swim, and only do two nights in Blenheim (FYI, we preferred Picton over Blenheim, if you were trying to decide between the two). One of the highlights of our trip was an overnight tour on Doubtful Sound, which I would highly recommend if you have the time and money. Feel free to email me if you have any questions - jenn248 at gmail.

sites.google.com/site/newzealandtripreview/

[Deleted]

I've been to most of the places in NZ you've mention you can check my recs here
aroundtheworldwithrebecca.blogspot.com.au/search/label/New%20Zealand
For Oz I don't really have that many recs! In Syd a walk around the rocks and the harbour is worth it, I like Chinta Ria at darling harbour for Malysian food, The Waterfront at the Rocks for seafood and Sailors Thai also at the Rocks (communal tables).

[ChiKate]

We just got back from a 2 week trip to Australia. We had 5 nights in Sydney (broken into 2 parts), 3 nights in Alice Springs with a full day trip to Uluru, and 5 nights at Trinity Beach.

In Sydney we mostly ate at pubs but I recommend China Lane if you're looking for a nicer place. If you're okay with pub grub-The Australian and Hart's Pub were both fun places. We actually went to Hart's Pub twice because of the beer options.

For Uluru, we used Emu Tours and I recommend them but it sounds like you already have something set up for the 3 days.

Our best meals were in Trinity Beach (it's one of the Northern Beaches by Cairns).

[Deleted]

In Sydney, we did the Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb. It was pricey but a great experience and I highly recommend it.