Luxury South Pacific Vacation Review: Australia, New Zealand, Sydney, Tasmania, Wellington, Abel Tasman National Park Kayaking

I would really look into a camper van. I thought our agent told us they were super expensive, but I saw tons of young people with them and can't imagine they cost more than what our trip cost. It was nice having hotel rooms, but many were really average so it would have been great to be able to keep everything in the van and not transport suitcases in/out of hotels every few days. I wouldn't use shuttle services to/from the airport either. The shuttle in Sydney was an hour ordeal and they didn't even help with our luggage. A cab would have been much easier/faster, and I doubt that much more money.

Skipping Australia would have avoided the short flights, but it was nice to get a taste of it since we were already so close. I wasn't a fan of Hobart or Launceston in Tasmania, but having those areas as our home base worked well for what we were doing during the day. 

I would have stayed in Auckland and checked out an island in the North. Our agent talked us out of that, but I feel like I missed a big part of the North island by getting right in the rental and heading South. I'm sure he was right in that we wouldn't want to drive in Auckland, but we could have taken a shuttle and hung out in the city two days. We also skipped Mt. Cook for the glaciers, which the agent recommended, but they were less than impressive because there is hardly anything left to them!

It rained for our big Tongariro and Walls of Jerusalem hikes so it would have been great if we had another day or two in those areas for more chances. However, time was an issue for us, so that wasn't a possibility. Plus, I wouldn't have really wanted to stay IN Tongariro more than two nights. It could have rained the whole trip and luckily didn't, so at least we still did part of the hike, but were disappointed we couldn't finish cause of the weather.

[Travel Company's Comments]

I am so glad that your trip went well, other than the awful weather that you experienced in a few of the places.  This was the worst summer Down Under weather wise in anyone’s memory with unseasonal wind and rain in the temperate areas and several near misses from cyclones (hurricanes) in the north that nonetheless wreaked havoc with scheduled tours.

I am sorry that you feel that I wasn’t as responsive in the months leading up to your departure as I was initially in the trip planning stage and near to your departure and during the trip itself.  It’s my goal that every client feels as though they are my ONLY client, but of course that cannot be the case and from time to time I have to prioritize my time.  My first priority is to clients who are in destination should they need help with anything.  My second priority is getting my clients prepared for their trip, which typically takes hours on the phone and via WebEx, which is a service that I provided to you as well.  The fact is most of the additional emails that you sent me were for things that we were already going to cover in the departure review and most came at a time when I had many clients near departure that needed a lot of hand holding.  When the time came for your departure I was just as focused on you.

It’s easy but unfair to second guess advice that I provide that lead to decisions a Traveler makes in regards to what could have been done during a trip, but didn’t.  My advice is predicated on many things that include my experience with the destination, the season of travel, allocated time one has, budget requirements, and the stated objectives and requests of the Traveler.  From that emerges a complex itinerary (or trip plan) that must account for these multitude of variables.  A Traveler sets many of these trip parameters up front and from there I assist in connecting the dots in the best way possible.  A Traveler could make any changes to the itinerary, but then must evaluate what options to cut out to make room for these changes, as well as to factor the available transportation options and costs.  It’s awfully complicated and more than I can hope to address in a few paragraphs.