How many days pre & post cruise?

[Moose Tracks]

DH and I are booked on the Feb 4/07 Sydney-Auckland Sapphire Princess. We'd like to stay some pre and post cruise days. I know it's difficult to tell what others would enjoy, but I'm just trying to get an idea of how long we should spend at each end of the cruise. Any recommendations on how many days we should plan for would be appreciated. We realize Austrailia is another trip in itself, so we're leaning toward spending more time in New Zealand...renting a car and driving around the north island at least...think adding in the south island would be a bit too long. How long should we allow for the north island? Would seven days be enough? We tend to like travelling on a loose itinerary...would we need to plan our accommodations before leaving home or would we be able to find a place to stay if we arrived in a town and decided to stay there? I'm sure there will be many more questions in the coming months...but this is a start!

Thanks, Lynn

[stebul]

I think your choice to focus on NZ is a good one. The Sydney area needs about 4 busy days to see the bridge, opera house, Blue Mountains, Rocks, gardens, Sydney Tower, cruise the harbor, etc. Barrier Reef needs 3 or 4, Rainforests need 1 or 2, Kangaroo Island needs 2, Ayers Rock needs 2 or 3. And you have to fly between all these sights so the travel days add up (travel days really add up if you decide to take rail). It is easy to spend 3 weeks in Australia alone without a cruise.

 

You could also fly down to the South Island from Auckland if you wanted to see the glaciers, Mt. Cook, and Queenstown. There are non stop flights to and from Los Angeles / Christchurch on Air NZ (then connect from LA to Canada). Airfare from Auckland to Christchurch isn't too expensive.

[Spikesgirl]

Moose tracks,

 

I can only tell you from our experiences. We went into Auckland three days early - one day was just to rest up from jet lag, then we hit the penguin experience and took a very interesting, if not slightly bizarre taxi trip around the city. We didn't try to do a lot of touristy stuff, but rather walked the streets and talked to the natives. Found a couple really great restaurants that way. Also had a great time at the Museum of Modern Art - they had a cartoon exhibit and we had lts of fun reading all the comic strips. It was pretty laid back all-in-all and we feel in love with Auckland then and there.

 

We also spent three days in Sydney and stebul is right - there is was too much to do for that amount of time. We did the Sydney Harbour Bridge Walk and the backstage tour of the Opera House. We walked the botanical gardens (in part) and had an interesting run in with the fruit bats. Again, it was pretty laid back and we don't regret a minute of it, excpet that it did make us long for more. But, hey, that's not a bad thing. My advice is spend a few days both pre and post, take a couple of tours, but most just get out and see the cities for what they are away form the tourists.

 

if you's like any more info, feel free to e mail me at ckirby@deltacollege.edu.

 

Happy Sails,

 

Charlie

[Moose Tracks]

Thanks, Charlie. We sail from Sydney on Sunday so we're going to arrive around mid-day on the prior Tuesday. This will give us the rest of the day to relax and get adjusted a bit to the time change. Then we'll have 4 1/2 days. We'd like to take a day to see the Blue Mountains and then the rest of the time seeing the sights in Sydney. When we arrive in Auckland on the Thursday morning, we'll spend the rest of that day and then all of the next day looking around Auckland and then fly out late Friday night. We had planned originally to spend more time in New Zealand, but decided a few days at the end will suffice. As you said, there's no way we can see everything and we don't want to exhaust ourselves. If we like what we see, we'll just have to make the effort to come back again and do a land tour.:)

Lynn

[Jane110]

From Auckland we drove to Rotorua and spent about 5 nights there, doing a different day trip (on our own). It was just great.

 

I think doing NZ on this first trip is a good idea. If you're travelers, you'll get back to Sydney and explore other parts of Oz in future trips.

 

Jane

[Spikesgirl]

Moosetracks,

 

I don't know if you are a fan of the above series, but in Sydney, we spent a lot of time wandering around Grace Brothers. We did actually go the men's wear department, but there was no sign of Mr. Humphries. The staff knew all about the show and were very obliging to us.

 

We also ran into someone in Auckland who had taken vacation and come to Stockton (of all places). She had a Manteca tee shirt on and when we commented, she was thrilled. Also we were looking for some books on "Footrot Flats" and when a local heard our questions, he guided us to a bookstore and then ran into us later and wanted to see what we had purchased - no "Footrots," but lots of "Giles."

 

This is why we loved this cruise so much. Make sure you talk to people!

They are, by large, just so, so nice and so delighted that you are visiting!

 

Happy Sails!

 

Charlie

[Moose Tracks]

Charlie....I have to admit "Are You Being Served" was pretty low on my list of shows to watch:eek:. I did a Google search for Grace Brothers though and have now learned about the GB corporation. I'll definitely check out the store in Sydney. Also had to Google the other things you mentioned (how did we ever survive without the internet!?). I'm assuming you're from Stockton, CA. You're right about meeting the locals...you can read all the tour books in the world, but unless you speak with the locals you're missing the local flavour. We were in Venice last summer and spent a long time speaking with the owner of the inn we stayed at. She was so passionate about her beloved Venice. I find it hard to believe, but I've never met and Aussie or Kiwi, so I'm looking forward to the opportunity.

Lynn

[Spikesgirl]

Lynn,

 

No worries! That's why there are so many different shows on - still it was funny to find Grace Brothers - did get a really nice scarf for a friend there, but I confess it was mostly just to get the bag...

 

Yup, Stockton, CA on the nose and you're right about the Internet. What did we do without it? It wasn't even around a few years ago and now life would be pretty tough without it. It certainly brings the world much closer and give us so many more options.

 

What really surprised me about everyone we spoke with was how much they knew about their history and their country. People here aren't as well versed as they are. The pride and the investment that they have was just incredible. You don't find many Americans that are so knowledgable and proud of the US. It was a bit of an eye opener to be honest.

 

Cheers!

 

Charlie

[kaseyoz]

Just a quick heads up guys , if you go looking for "Grace bros" you will have a long search. It changed names about a year ago to "MYER", still dont think mr. Humpries is there!!

But i am sure we sydneyites will find something for you to see..LOL

[Spikesgirl]

No more Grace Brothers? Say it isn't so! Thanks for the heads up. I'm glad I held onto the bag and got photos. I can still think of a hundred reasons (at least) to go back to Sydney though!

 

Happy sails!

 

Charlie

[Globaliser]

Fear not, they've just changed the name. Grace Brothers has been owned by the Coles Myer group for ages, and they've just re-branded the GB shops to match the Myer name used elsewhere in Australia. See this Wikipedia article.

[Spikesgirl]

I had no idea that Coles Myer had such a history. I wonder if this is why the series was retooled for Australian tv. Thanks so much for the insight and the web site - gosh, is there anything wikipedia doesn't have a listing for?

 

Happy Sails!

 

Charlie

[Globaliser]

Since my last post, the Myer department stores have now been sold by Coles Myer. See this news item and this news item at the time, and some comment here.

 

The Wikipedia entry has not yet been updated.

 

If the new owners run Myer anything like they have run Debenhams, a thriving UK department store that they acquired about 3 years ago, fans of Grace Brothers/Myer have nothing to fear.