Travel Review: Australia & New Zealand Tour, Port Douglas, Auckland, Rotorua Thermal Pools, Ayers Rock, Great Barrier Reef

The south island of New Zealand was a highlight for me and Ayres rock for my husband. A summary of the highlights from beginning to end- We started our first full day to Tiritiri bird sanctuary island in Auckland. Day 2-3 Headed to the glow worm caves then to Rotoura geothermal tour. 

Flew to Christchurch (not anything exciting there- it rained all day. The Antiartic museum was interesting). This was the beginning of the south island excursions. We took a 4 hour Alpiine train ride then bus trip to Franz Josef glaciers. The mountains and valleys were amazing. The whole trip was a Kodak moment. The heli ride and walk on the glaciers was exciting. They give you all the equipment. My husband and I aren't very athletic but were able to keep up. Day 11 we took a 6 hour coach ride through rainforests to Queenstown. They stopped every hour for bathroom and food and talked about the culture and history of New Zealand. Queenstown tour to Doubtful Sound was spectacular! You can look up pictures on the internet. Stayed here 4 days to rest up and enjoy the sights. Queenstown was really cute with lots of eateries. A craft market is held on Sunday's, as it is also in Port Douglas. 

Headed to Ayers Rock/Arulu (took an overnight in Sydney to get there but was super easy to do). Stayed at the nicest hotel there. Had a lovely breakfast buffet. The plane ride over Ayers and Kata Juga was defiinitely worth the money as that is the only way to really see them entirely. Much is off limits to walk on as it is owned by the Anulu people. I found the dot painting really fun. I'm not an artist but realized anyone can do it!  I would suggest doing the field of lights on your last night there. You have to get up early for your other tours, but the day we left, we didn't get the shuttle bus till noon. So plenty of time to rest up and pack.

Flew to Cairns then drove to Port Douglas for a week. If this is the first time you are driving on the left side of the road, try to go when it is still light out! Very windy! The boutique hotel/studio apt. was adorable. The diving and snorkeling trips were outstanding. Go on a day that it is not windy! The company was good about changing my day. The boat ride out of the channel is choppy. But the boat is a very large with changing rooms and an awesome hot lunch.

The wildlife Habitat is a must! There is a 5 acre (about that) tropical bird avairy with a small sitting area in the middle. So many different birds. The guided tours are interesting because they feed the birds so they fly over for a close up. You can also feed the wallabys which are roaming everywhere. The pass is good for 4 days to you can return for different tours.

We ended our trip with a side trip to Kauai which was wonderful! We found a cottage on the beach and relaxed for a week. We didn't realize it would take 27 hours travel to get there, but it was worth it! We then only had 13 hours travel to get back home to Philadelphia.