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Sydney to New Zealand and around, Dec 22


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My husband and I are booked onto Celebrity Eclipse from 20th December for 13 nights. We’ve booked an Aqua Class cabin as it’s our joint 50th celebrations. Anyone have any tips for us? 2nd time doing a cruise, first one was a med one with Royal Caribbean. We’re doing 4 nights in Sydney before and 3 nights in Tasmania after and we’ve already booked excursions. Any advice or tips appreciated.

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When your ship docks at Dunedin try to visit Larnach Castle.  Lively bus ride to castle and interesting back story to the history of Larnach.  Very nice cafe within the castle as well and grounds are beautiful.   Not as grand as castles in England but worth a visit.  Olveston Historic Home close to Dunedin CBD is stunning too.  In the past we have also used the Dunedin HoHo bus which gives you a snap shot of the top tourist sites within Dunedin.   Check out this website as well     https://www.dunedinnz.com/visit/see-and-do/heritage

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It's got a turret! It's a castle! Albeit a small one. 

 

I lived in Dunedin until I was eight. My dad loved Larnach Castle. It was very run down back then. My dad was a master builder and I think he would have loved to have been able to buy it and restore it but, of course, couldn't afford to. 

 

It has been beautifully restored now.

 

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5 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

If you go to Lanarch Castle, I suggest you forget the word 'castle'. Think of it as a large and imposing house.🙂

Yes, calling it a castle is getting a bit carried away lol. 🙂 

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Keeping to the Dunedin theme, if you are not on a tour, and find yourself in the centre of town, the Octagon, the gothic style St. Paul's Cathedral is one of the best designed churches in the country, Auckland, in Parnell, has the very modern and imposing Holy Trinity Cathedral, and in Wellington, it's worth seeking out the small but lovely Old St. Paul's. 

When docked in Wellington, it's a pleasant walk along the waterfront to the far end to the must visit superb Te Papa Museum, and if you have time, a guided tour of Parliament House is much more interesting than you might imagine. Walking round Christchurch is a delight, with it's lovely parks and gardens along the Avon River, and while there , do visit the Settler's Museum. 

Tasmania is a great place to hire a car and do some sightseeing, as distances are not long, and many places are like a step back in time.

Whatever you choose to do, you are certain to have a memorable Christmas and New Year in our balmy summer clime.

 

 

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Well in Tasmania in my opinion Port Arthur is a not to miss.

 

But so much depends on what your interests are.

 

Sydney the zoo is well worth a visit.

 

We loved Picton, but others find it a touch quiet.

 

 

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2 hours ago, cruisermsoon said:

Keeping to the Dunedin theme, if you are not on a tour, and find yourself in the centre of town, the Octagon, the gothic style St. Paul's Cathedral is one of the best designed churches in the country, Auckland, in Parnell, has the very modern and imposing Holy Trinity Cathedral, and in Wellington, it's worth seeking out the small but lovely Old St. Paul's. 

When docked in Wellington, it's a pleasant walk along the waterfront to the far end to the must visit superb Te Papa Museum, and if you have time, a guided tour of Parliament House is much more interesting than you might imagine. Walking round Christchurch is a delight, with it's lovely parks and gardens along the Avon River, and while there , do visit the Settler's Museum. 

Tasmania is a great place to hire a car and do some sightseeing, as distances are not long, and many places are like a step back in time.

Whatever you choose to do, you are certain to have a memorable Christmas and New Year in our balmy summer clime.

 

 

I'll add the Cardboard Cathedral in Christchurch.

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1 hour ago, GUT2407 said:

Well in Tasmania in my opinion Port Arthur is a not to miss.

 

But so much depends on what your interests are.

 

Sydney the zoo is well worth a visit.

 

We loved Picton, but others find it a touch quiet.

 

 

What did you do in Hobart, I'm looking for activities/tour for up to 7 hours. Is Port Arthur doable in this timeframe?

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12 minutes ago, JTHoli said:

What did you do in Hobart, I'm looking for activities/tour for up to 7 hours. Is Port Arthur doable in this timeframe?

Port Arthur is 100 km (by road) - around 90 minutes' drive. It is doable if you have a hire car.

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35 minutes ago, JTHoli said:

What did you do in Hobart, I'm looking for activities/tour for up to 7 hours. Is Port Arthur doable in this timeframe?

If it's a nice day ask one of the taxi drivers how much it would cost to take you up Mt Wellington, wait half an hour or so, then bring you back down again. The views are spectacular. That would take about 90 minutes all up. It cost us $120 in 2019. There is a HoHo bus too but they don't run that often, about one every hour when we were there last. I think it was about $70pp. I can't remember what the other stops were.

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My next cruise to Hobart in November I have booked the HoHo bus at $35 pp.  I always try this excursion ( Auckland, Hobart, Melbourne) it allows you to see all the main sites and hop off at any that takes my fancy.  Cruisermsoon above has given a lot of good advice and suggestions.   Also,  if you dock at Picton NZ (not sure if you do) the best excursion I have ever taken in NZ was from the local wharf area.   It was swimming with wild dolphins.   My daughter actually donned a wet suit and swam with the dolphins but I stayed on the small cruiser boat and took photos. You can't touch them but they are curious and will come to you to check you out.  And there were 100s of dolphins.  Absolutely unforgettable.

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On 7/7/2022 at 8:00 AM, Aus Traveller said:

If you go to Lanarch Castle, I suggest you forget the word 'castle'. Think of it as a large and imposing house.🙂

There's an interesting old building behind the "castle" where all the poop went into tanks. The methane from it was then piped back to the castle for gas lighting IIRC.

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Porky55, how do you book it privately?  I'd love to do this, but the price quoted by the ship is very high.

If you make it a DIY, how hard is it to get to the railway station from the ship?

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33 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

Porky55, how do you book it privately?  I'd love to do this, but the price quoted by the ship is very high.

If you make it a DIY, how hard is it to get to the railway station from the ship?

I’m really sorry - it looks like this tour might have been a victim of Covid. All I can find is it closed in 2020 because of Covid and can’t find if it’s reopened yet. Perhaps the ship knows something that we don’t ? 
 

Just Google it yourself; Viator, TripAdvisor - or someone on here from NZ might have more info. Good luck, if you can organise it you will enjoy it I’m sure.

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7 hours ago, Porky55 said:

My recommendation is the Taieri Gorge Railway - brilliant scenery, lots of fun.

 

You can book it through the cruise line or privately.

 

I have to confess that we were rather under-whelmed with the Taieri Gorge Railway trip. We were on the Princess tour that included lunch and wine. I don't remember what the lunch consisted of, but I do remember the 'unlimited' supply of wine. After topping up our glasses a few times, the waiter left the bottle with us.

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1 hour ago, Porky55 said:

I’m really sorry - it looks like this tour might have been a victim of Covid. All I can find is it closed in 2020 because of Covid and can’t find if it’s reopened yet. Perhaps the ship knows something that we don’t ? 
 

Just Google it yourself; Viator, TripAdvisor - or someone on here from NZ might have more info. Good luck, if you can organise it you will enjoy it I’m sure.

No it's shut. Covid killed it. They haven't disposed of the assets yet and have effectively mothballed it.. but I don't see it opening anytime soon.. if ever. There was talk of turning it into a cycle trail which is probably a better solution. 

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15 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I have to confess that we were rather under-whelmed with the Taieri Gorge Railway trip. We were on the Princess tour that included lunch and wine. I don't remember what the lunch consisted of, but I do remember the 'unlimited' supply of wine. After topping up our glasses a few times, the waiter left the bottle with us.

Haha - I have a hubby who loves trains, so this covered one of  his ”want to dos”.  
 

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2 hours ago, Porky55 said:

Haha - I have a hubby who loves trains, so this covered one of  his ”want to dos”.  
 

If you ever come back - do the TranzAlpine from Christchurch. It's much better. Don't bother doing it if you're coming on a cruise though (they used to offer it to the cruisers, however they only took them the first half and then turn back due to time constraints.. and you miss the better second half). 

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