Tour 'Down Under'

Faye we visited Montville and Maleny last time we were there and agree that the views across to the Glasshouse Mountains and the coast are just stunning. We really enjoyed our stay there.
Australia Zoo is en route too if anyone is interested in going there.

NQ does not really have seasons like the UK though - summer and winter - the dry and the wet (with possible cyclones, fingers crossed there are none this year).
But I will check out Melbourne - don't they say four seasons in one day?

Wait until you see all the little children in the infant schools walking down the street in their uniforms, sun hat and glasses included, so cute! They often have lessons on the beach and sit eating a picnic.

Make sure you have some spare memory cards so you can take pictures of the birds and flowers because they are so different to ours.

Don't worry about chemist shop items. They have lots in Australia and also whopping great supermarkets too.

You can buy almost the same things as you can get here. Might be different brands but they do not all live far away from the towns and cities.

Try and climb the bell tower in Perth. The bells there came from St Martin-in-the-Fields, UK and date back to the 14th century.

Take a picture of Sydney harbour including the bridge and opera house from the Royal Botanic Gardens.

If you want to see Koala you will have to look for a wildlife centre. They are not easy to see living wild.

It is easy to work out which months to go to Australia if you want mild sunshine. Just remember they celebrate Christmas on the beach in July! Their seasons are the opposite to ours.

Pigglywiggly my son lived in Perth for 6 years. We went on two visits. Each time we had storms. His car was seriously damaged when there was a hailstone storm and the stones were as big as table tennis balls. It was parked in the works carpark so no cover to protect it and you could not go out to drive it away.

After a summer storm I was wandering around taking photos in the wilderness (we were on holiday). I turned round to see two male kangaroos right behind me! They were busy sucking nectar from flowers on the ground which they love so I was able to slowly tiptoe between them back to our little hut.

My son encouraged me to walk through the water to climb elephant rocks. Later when we got back to England there was a shark sighting right where I had been paddling! Near miss, I would have been hysterical if I had seen one.

For those of you visiting Adelaide, which is my home town, there is lots to see in South Australia. The Tour Down Under is held here in January then from the 17th February to the 19th March the Adelaide Fringe We went last year and saw a great show at The Garden of Unearthley Delights, street theatre at its best. Then there is the Adelaide Central Market, great place for fresh food and lots of places to eat for lunch. I think the other places worth seeing besides Adelaide's amazing beaches are Stirling, Aldgate, Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills. You can drive through the Adelaide Hills to the Barossa Valley and the wineries or turn off towards the mid north, which has lovely little towns such as Clare and the Flinders Ranges. Also the Riverlands driving from the Adelaide Hills driving past Lobethal to Birdwood. Another lovely drive from the Adelaide Hills through Strathalbyn to Victor Harbor and Goolwa. Great places for whale watching during the winter months.

Qld has extreme muggy heat from around December through to February which is hard to take. I lived there for eight months during 2015 and the most amazing places to see are the Glasshouse Mountains and a visit Montville and Maleny is worthwhile. The views from Montville are absolutely breathtaking. I am also visiting my niece who lives near Gladstone during the middle of this year and will be taking my GSs, we are travelling on the Tilt train. I have been wanting to take this trip for awhile now. Train travel in Australia is cheaper than the UK.

granfromafar the rain bounced up and soaked my trousers in Sydney!

We thought of doing the Great Ocean Road but must check the temperatures first.
The thing is, Cairns and NQ can be lovely in July but far too hot and humid in their summer whereas Melbourne is much like home - cold and wet in July.

grannypiper, that is a very good tip. Think I would use my smaller cabin bag for that, as well as putting basic toiletries and other essentials in. Having to keep to the 20kg limit for the hold luggage will ensure that we only pack the essentials. I have a tendency to overpack for UK trips so will have to be very strist with myself when planning what to pack Thanks to everyone for all the useful suggestions.

granfromafar my tip would be have a small suitcase that you can pack with clothes/toileteries/ medication for a couple of days when you are only in a hotel for a night or two as it save you having to rummage through and re pack your big case every day. Have a great time next year

We were in NSW in 2011 when they had the wettest July for 50 years. It felt just like home. People kept apologising for the rain, and we smiled on, because we're English. It was also freezing down the Great Ocean Road and the leaden skies in Melbourne were just like home. Makes me laugh when people say the sun always shines in Australia.

You're right Jalima - about Ibis hotels and the rain. We stayed in an Ibis in Brisbane in 2000 and it was fine. It also bucketed down and I remember buying a brolly there as it caught us unawares!

Izabella We're planning on seeing Lion later this week. Have heard it's a real tear-jerker so will go prepared with tissues!

I was reminded of th thread in the cinema earlier. My saw Lion some of which was filmed in Tasmania great stuff.

I have been looking at those packing cubes, they look great and I think I'll send for some.

I usually use zipped net laundry bags to keep underclothes and nightwear separate but the cubes look much better.

Don't be put off Ibis hotels, if you are in Sydney the one in Darling Harbour is fine (or was).
There are lots of restaurants for evening meal near the hotel on the harbour.

ps take a light waterproof (not showerproof) because if it does rain, oh boy does it rain!

I'm on a round the world trip with my grand child after GCSE so found some excellent ideas here. I do take packing cubes and start with one for night wear, one for underwear etc. i take a net for the dirty laundry so that as soon as I get a chance I can wash it. Some cubes here though I have some Eagle Creek though they are quite expensive.
www.amazon.co.uk/Packing-Organizers/b?ie=UTF8&node=1769603031&tag=gransnetforum-21

When I am actually moving between hotels I pack a combination of clhes in the blocks so that I can pick up one for the day and one for the night etc.

Re disposable undies. I bought packs of v cheap cotton ones from Tesco 6 for £5.00. They worked out cheaper than disposables. Packing cubes or clear plastic bags with underwear in one, t shirts in another I find helpful when hopping from place to place.
Thanks for this thread. I'm touring Australia in October so it's been very useful to me.

We went with austravel I think about 10 years ago. Check that they are not bolting various tours together. For instance we arrived in Brisbane and stayed at a beautiful hotel. The car hire was from another hotel ,a different package and they wouldn't deliver to the one we were in but had to move to a horrid Ibis one. My fault for not going through it with a fine tooth comb. DH thought it was fine but he never packs or unpacks.

Wow - so many brilliant replies from all you lovely people!I may PM some of you for extra info but am already compiling a list of things to take or ask travel agent about.
Struggling2do1 - Our trip is exactly 1 year after yours so will lookout for your post-trip report! We are going with Austravel. It starts in Perth then goes to Alice Springs, Uluru (doing the sunrise trip),Port Douglas, Cairns, Melbourne and Sydney. Did the bridge climb in Sydney and trip to Rottnest island off Perth on 1st visit. Fancy seeing the penguins on Phillip Island near Melbourne after seeing it on Martin Clunes' recent programme on Australian islands. Just seen that Magrithea has recommended that.
In NZ it includes Aukland, Rotorua, Wellington, Christchurch, Lake Tekapo & Fox Glacier.
Izabella mentioned holiday insurance which I have looking into as would normally book it at same time as the trip. Several companies that I have tried have said that they can't arrange it more than a year in advance. As we are only a few days away from that time frame, I have accepted that it will get sorted then, and hope that nothing happens to either of us in the coming week!
ClaraB - good luck with persuading your DH to retire.
Kim - disposable undies are a brill idea which I had thought of for me. Not sure that DH would be keen to use them though.
Pleas keep your comments coming, they are really appreciated.

Take your prescription for your specs and get some new ones in Hong Kong. The amount you save will almost pay for your flight!
We left Sydney to go to the Blue mountains and I only took a pair of jeans because I thought we were only staying overnight before returning to our daughters house en route south. Wrong!
We went south straight to Canberra, oophs. I bought 2 tee shirts, a pair of shorts some cut off trousers and a pair of thongs. They did me for 2 weeks. It was always warm and dry so a quick swish in the bathroom sink did the job! I did look a bit crumpled but who cares.
Have a fabulous time.

I think from what she's said that the OP's itinerary is already set and booked. It'd be interesting to know just where you're going, granfromafar then we can all look forward to it with you (or in my case, get really jealous).

What a fab trip! There are so many different things to see in Oz that it's hard to know where to start! If you can, do the Ayres Rock/Uluru sunrise, it really is spectacular. Sydney is fabulous, Melbourne too. Get out of the cities and see some of the countryside too - the Blue Mountains are an easy drive from Sydney. We went to the southern coast with friends when we stayed with them, Albany is the main town and the coast and sea were wonderful. Go to Rottnest Island too if you're in Perth. Go to the Barrier Reef (who knows how much longer we'll have it if the reports are to be believed). Any area that does wine will have great restaurants but we have visited the Yarra Valley many times and love it there! That's just the tip of the iceberg. Yes, all the other things mentioned are important (health etc.) but the most important is to remember to enjoy yourselves!!!!

PS Philip Island, south of Melbourne for the penguin parade at sunset is a must too!

Jalima, yes I vaguely remember them telling us that, but in DH's case it wasn't necessary.

Hospital care at Cairns Base Hospital was brilliant, by the way.
It does depend on the condition as sometimes patients have to be airlifted to Brisbane and of course hospitals in the outback may be good but limited in their resources; make sure you have good travel insurance.

But I'm glad to hear your treatment was brilliant there!

I'm New Zealand born, (of Scottish/Irish ancestry) and love to hear the tales of people who have come here to NZ from the UK on holiday. I've done the opposite twice, visiting the UK, and all I can say is that I would do it again tomorrow!! If I could afford it. One thing I would recommend regarding prescription medication is - take more than you need. I took an extra week's worth of my daily meds just in case we were held up in London for some reason. It would have given me just an extra bit of time to arrange for more from a UK pharmacy. Apart from my GP's note I had a typed out list of my daily meds and at which time of the day I took them in my wallet too. Sounds a bit 'fussy' maybe but it's sometimes good to be on the cautious side when travelling. Have a grand trip!

Load up your Kindle for holiday reading in NZ....books are very expensive.

Hi currently sitting in Franz Josef township having done a helicopter tour of the glacier which I would definitely recommend. We spent Christmas in Sydney with our daughter and grandson as part of a month long trip (our 4th to Australia). We had 5 days in Tasmaina which was great and wished we had a longer visit. Whilst in this part of the world we thought we would do New Zealand one week in North island and one week in south Island. I disagree with a previous poster that there is more to do in South island I think there is just the same amount to do in bother and a week is not long enough in either. I would also say the food is variable everywhere on Oz or NZ just like the UK.

My tip would be get a Caxton card. It's work a treat just like a bank card in UK and you just top it up from UK account as needed and does both Aus and NZ dollars.

Have a good trip it's been a wet and cold trip to NZ but have fried in Oz!