Sydney, Auckland, Wellington, Melbourne etc.

[chrismch]

Just booked a Princess cruise for Jan 2005 to Australia & New Zealand with all the major stops. As we've never been there before any suggestions for things to do in any & all of the ports. Thanks!

[chrismch]

Just booked a Princess cruise for Jan 2005 to Australia & New Zealand with all the major stops. As we've never been there before any suggestions for things to do in any & all of the ports. Thanks!

[Oggy Boy]

I did this itinerary a couple of years ago and loved it. We used private taxis in most ports (Auckland and Sidney are the exceptions) and found that this is the way to go. We took a ship's shore excursion to Rotorua Lake for trout fishing and were sorely disappointed and found that a simple taxi driver would have put us on much better fishing.

Here is a link to the review with blow by blow descriptions of each port.

http://www.cruisereviews.com/Norwegi...egianWind9.htm

Have a great cruise!

Tom

[BC Happy Gal]

We did this cruise in 2002 - you will love it.

Melbourne is fabulous but 1 day is not nearly enough so we wnet to Melbourne on our pre-cruise time (which we did on our own) and explored the surrounding areas - especially liked Ballarat the old gold mining area and home of the Soveriegn Hill museum. The show "Blood on the Southern Cross" which is a reenactment of the Eurika Uprising was very well done. Spent a day on Philip Island so that in the evening we could watch the Fairy Penquins come ashore to return to their young and their borrows. It was great but cold!!! (take a blanket from your hotel room to use)
On the day we were in Melbourne with the ship I had actually booked a free walking tour of downtown Melbourne thru the Melbourne Visitors Bureau (Melbourne City Web Site) - a local volunteer spent the morning with us walking around the city pointing out the various heritage sites. If you are there overnight make sure you book for dinner on the Old Colonial Tram Car - expensive at $100. pp but worth every penny. It is a total evening and the $ includes your drinks.

In Hobart book a private guide to take you out to see Port Arthur - we used Ralph and he was great - unfortunately I have lost his e-mail - we didn't save any money over what the ship charged but we sure saw a lot more.

In Dunedin We took the Gorge Train & city tour. If I had it to do over I would go for the Albatross tour as the gorge & train ride was nice but nothing special.

In Christchurch - we took a city bus into downtown Christchurch. On the dock there is a free shuttle bus (mini-van) operated by the visitors bureau that will take you to the bus stop. Once in downtown we went into the visitors bureau and booked a half day (afternoon) city tour for a lot less than what the ship was charging and the tour bus returned us to the dock. We had plenty of time to walk around the center of Christchurch and take a punt ride on the River as well as ride the free trolley around the downtown core.

In Wellington we took a 2 hour taxi tour of the city. A staff member of the Wellington Visitors Bureau will set you up with a taxi driver / guide right at the dock. Make sure you ride the cable car.

In Auckland once we left the ship we rented a car and drove south to see the glow worm caves and then on to Rotoua area which is well worth 3 days of your time. We only had 2 and it wasn't enough. you don't need to pre book a hotel in Rotorua as there are lots of small motels.

Enjoy