Australia, New Zealand, Vacation Review: Great Ocean Road, Arthur's Pass, Phillip Island, Milford Sound, Wildlife, 16 Days

We were very pleased with the service we received from our Zicasso travel agent. She designed an itinerary that was perfect for us, focused on seeing wildlife and some of the beautiful, must-see places in Australia and New Zealand. The accommodations she picked exceeded our expectations and the tours were great. After my sister and I had an initial conversation with her, we knew we wanted to work with her.

We spent about eight days in Australia. We flew into Sydney, spent a night there, then on to the Port Douglas area, where we visited an excellent wildlife habitat where we were able to hold koalas and feed kangaroos. A cruise to the Great Barrier Reef was enjoyable, but unfortunately, it had rained quite a bit and the water was murky and very choppy. Next, we flew to Melbourne (a beautiful city) and had a wonderful time in that area. For tours, we went to Phillip Island and a wildlife sanctuary to see the smallest penguins emerge from the sea. The next day, we went on a two-day/one-night Great Ocean tour, which was spectacular.

We started the New Zealand part of the trip in Queenstown, a very scenic town. From there, we had a day trip to Milford Sound, which was beautiful, and a very enjoyable paradise walk. We next traveled to the Mount Cook area, but unfortunately, the stargazing was canceled due to cloudy skies. Our last excursion was to Christchurch. There we visited the Arthur’s Pass National Park, which included a TranzAlpine train trip.