NZ/Aust.: Top Recognition, Honors, etc.??!!

Here are a couple of updates regarding New Zealand that might be of interest. First, yesterday the latest edition of Travel+Leisure magazine arrived with their "Best in the World" rankings. These are not always perfect surveys, but they are interesting. Among their list for the 100 best hotels in the world, they had the "Farm at Cape Kidnapper" at Hawke's Bay as 40th on this international listing with an outstanding 96.54 rating. During our 2014 cruise, we had an excellent tour and lunch there. It was fabulous!! It's nice to see this well-deserved recognition for a place that we super loved.

For Australia, The Louise in the Barossa Valley was on this T+L Top 100 listings being at the number 53 position with a 96.22 rating. In this area of the world, The Langham in Auckland, QT in Sydney and Crown Towers in Melbourne also received high recognition in this report. When these rankings looked just at Australia, NZ and the South Pacific, they had Sydney as the top city. Second was Queenstown with Melbourne, Wellington and Auckland following. For islands in this region, they had NZ's Waiheke ranked as the best, beating Moorea and Bora-Bora. Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island got high marks, plus in Sydney, The Langham, Pullman Quay and Park Hyatt also received nice mentions. NZ's Lodge at Kauri Cliffs also got very, very high marks. Let the debates start on the pro/con factors with such surveys.

From People Magazine this past week, they have this headline: “New Zealand Travel Guide: Her 5 Must-See Destinations” from Bryce Dallas Howard, an actress and daughter of well-known director Ron Howard. Her overall summary for NZ is: “It was like stepping into a portal and stepping out into a magical kingdom. The green was shocking, the mountains epic, the water full of what looked to me to be sparkling diamonds. I have been chasing this experience my whole life. New Zealand is truly my ‘happy place.' ”

Here are two of the key highlights for two different locations that we were able to very much have enjoyed. This included Arrowtown: “This charming town is an example of a historic gold mining town. It almost feels like the Wild West out there. Autumn in particular is so beautiful with the leaves falling around you in these little towns — it feels like a movie!”.

And she said this about Bay of Islands as this location: "must be one of the most beautiful and peaceful places that I’ve ever been. Looking outside of my hotel room one day I thought to myself that it looked like Neverland. There are little sandy coves with untouched beaches, dozens of private islands, and pods of hundreds of dolphins diving in and out of the water. Being there is such a serene experience. It’s transformative to see and experience such natural beauty. It’s my favorite place in contrast to Queenstown, which is more mountainous and gets snow in the winter. It’s a perfect example of how everything in New Zealand is so geographically close yet so different."

Nice thoughts and comments that bring back wonderful memories from traveling in New Zealand.

Full story at:

http://people.com/home/bryce-dallas-howard-new-zealand-travel-guide/

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 183,986 views for this posting.

Thanks for the read Terry. Hope you are going well over there in Oh Hi O.:D In the Land of Donald T.

Thanks Terry, love your work.

Thanks for the read Terry. Hope you are going well over there in Oh Hi O

Appreciate these nice follow-ups from Les and MicCanberra. Kind and fun postings. Enjoying a mild and reasonable period of summer weather here in mid August. Mostly low 80's as high temperatures for now.

A s a follow-up to my initial post, here is the direct link to the Travel+Leisure magazine that has all of the details for the various "BEST" listings in their most recent 2017 edition. Good luck with your future research and planning.

Go for "IT" in doing your upcoming adventures!!

Check at:

www.travelandleisure.com/worlds-best

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 218,699 views.

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

From Harper's Bazaar magazine earlier this week, they have this headline: “The 18 Places to Travel in 2018”with these highlights about wonderful Sydney: “Landing in Sydney for the first time feels a little like walking into a fantasy world. With azulene beaches and green nature parks, friendly locals, and exotic animals making appearances around every corner, Australia's best-known city is an adventure a minute. A stop at the Sydney Opera House is an absolute must, as is taking in the foaming swell of the world-famous Bondi Beach, but there’s much more to Sydney than it’s big-name sights. Learn more about the area’s original inhabitants, the aboriginal Guringai people, at the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, where over 800 sites have been preserved. Admire some of Australia’s astounding native animals as well as samplings from all over the world at the Taronga Zoo or the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, then take an afternoon break at one of the many (many) excellent coffee shops in the city–Australians don’t kid around about coffee. Grab dinner in the city’s revered Chinatown (or Koreatown, Thaitown, or the Singaporean Spice Alley); Sydney is home to some of the most delicious and authentic Asian food outside of the continent. ”

This is the time of the year when many publications are highlighting the best places to visit for the upcoming year. Nice that Sydney gets lots of these top mentions. Well deserved honors!!

Full story at:

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/travel-dining/a14427100/travel-destinations-2018/

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

AFRICA?!!?: Lots of interesting, dramatic pictures can be seen from this live/blog at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2310337

Now at 36,297 views for this visual sharing including Cape Town, along South Africa’s coast, Mozambique, Victoria Falls/Zambia and Botswana's famed Okavango Delta area.

Here is the Sydney graphic used in this magazine article. Brings back nice memories for us about the Opera House, Sydney, etc.:

(Open your screen/viewer wider to see these pictures larger!)

Hard to beat.

Hi Terry,

Thanks for your great work, hope the holiday season is going well.

Sydney is a wonderful place to visit and a real tourist mecca. I may well be biased, as I am someone who grew up in Sydney and also worked for many years, although having done that it does have it's drawbacks.

I am still proud to call it one of the best places in world to live or visit.

A great place to visit, but I doubt I could live there

A great place to visit, but I doubt I could live there

Yeah, all the reasons I left Sydney still exist or have gotten worse.

I enjoyed the list, but on small resort style accommodation "'The Louise" in the Barossa valley, I feel Coles Bay in Tasmania is some what better, have a look at "Saffire" is you want and more, all inclusive with great views ( 20 suites only )

cheers Don

What's the ship at the OPT?

A great place to visit, but I doubt I could live there

Seems lots disagree with you....it's a popular spot

Looking back last six years of Sydney’s population, the growth rate is very consistent and strong ranging from 3.96% to 10.88%, adding around 200,000 to 467,000 people each year to the overall population

Source: http://www.population.net.au/sydney-population/

Yeah, all the reasons I left Sydney still exist or have gotten worse.

Without knowing what those reasons were it's hard to comment but the bane of many Sydneysiders life is the traffic - there's quite an investment going on around public transport and more (toll) roads being built - so there is some improvement coming on that front

Yes, there are some new transport options in progress but not enough, especially with the huge amount of redevelopment going on in certain areas, with blocks of single dwellings being replaced by hundreds/thousands of apartments. And a lot of those redevelopments aren't where the new transport options are so roads are getting more and more choked and public transport isn't coping either. Thank goodness we're retired so we can avoid most of the traffic hassles.

But there are still some benefits to living here, one major one being close to the cruise terminals. :D

Without knowing what those reasons were it's hard to comment but the bane of many Sydneysiders life is the traffic - there's quite an investment going on around public transport and more (toll) roads being built - so there is some improvement coming on that front

It doesn't seem to be improvement, unless you have bags of cash for the latter. But it's not a solution for the populace.

Similarly with public transport the investment is solely in disparate transport modes. That means more time connecting rather than an integrated network, so isn't going to improve things.

From the Travel Section of the London/UK Telegraph this morning, they have this headline: “Why Sydney is the greatest city on Earth right now” with these highlights: “Find culture, couture and cocktails in Australia’s most vibrant metropolis this winter, says Ariela Bard. Sydney’s beaches aren’t the only spots that heat up over summer. The place lights up from Jan 6-28 as the annual Sydney Festival (sydneyfestival.org.au/2018/) transforms pockets of the city into a cultural hub of ideas, theatre, dance, art, music and circus. And if you are in the city tomorrow night, the New Year celebrations are world class.”

It would be super fun to be in Sydney for the spectacular fireworks in the harbor area.

Full story at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/oceania/australia/new-south-wales/sydney/articles/why-sydney-is-the-greatest-city-on-earth-right-now/

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Lisbon, NWSpain, Bordeaux/Brittany: Just finished June 2017 sailing from Portugal to France along the scenic Atlantic Coast, plus great pre- and post-cruise experiences. Many interesting pictures and details on history, food, culture, etc., from my live/blog at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2511358

Seems lots disagree with you....it's a popular spot

 

Looking back last six years of Sydney’s population, the growth rate is very consistent and strong ranging from 3.96% to 10.88%, adding around 200,000 to 467,000 people each year to the overall population

 

Source: http://www.population.net.au/sydney-population/

 

 

 

 

Without knowing what those reasons were it's hard to comment but the bane of many Sydneysiders life is the traffic - there's quite an investment going on around public transport and more (toll) roads being built - so there is some improvement coming on that front

Traffic was the big one for me, my wife had a few others.:D

But there are still some benefits to living here, one major one being close to the cruise terminals. :D

That is a nice benefit but I have seemed to manage okay, without having to put up with Sydney's flaws.

From the Travel Section of the London/UK Telegraph this morning, they have this headline: “Why Sydney is the greatest city on Earth right now” with these highlights: “Find culture, couture and cocktails in Australia’s most vibrant metropolis this winter, says Ariela Bard. Sydney’s beaches aren’t the only spots that heat up over summer. The place lights up from Jan 6-28 as the annual Sydney Festival (sydneyfestival.org.au/2018/) transforms pockets of the city into a cultural hub of ideas, theatre, dance, art, music and circus. And if you are in the city tomorrow night, the New Year celebrations are world class.”

 

It would be super fun to be in Sydney for the spectacular fireworks in the harbor area.

 

Full story at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/oceania/australia/new-south-wales/sydney/articles/why-sydney-is-the-greatest-city-on-earth-right-now/

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Lisbon, NWSpain, Bordeaux/Brittany: Just finished June 2017 sailing from Portugal to France along the scenic Atlantic Coast, plus great pre- and post-cruise experiences. Many interesting pictures and details on history, food, culture, etc., from my live/blog at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2511358

Cheers Terry.