On Shawn and I’s first date we talked about traveling to Australia to see the Great Barrier Reef. Ā It only took two years but we finally pulled the trigger and took the trip of a lifetime. Ā We took just a few pictures (it took over 24 hours to download them all) so I thought this would be a good place to share. Ā So I am going to break this into a post per town. Ā I did want to give an over view of the path that we took and some planning tools and tips.
Here is a break down of where we went, the length of stay and how we got there!
CLT > LAX > SYD > CNS > Rental car to stop #1 Port Douglas – 35+ hours of traveling, 5 movies, entire season of New Girl and 1.5 books completed!
One of the best travel tools I found was a website called Inspirock. Ā On this site you are able to start with the length of time that you will be there and answer a few other questions ( adventure level, pace, etc.). Ā It will not only suggest a route but also give you tips on what to do, where to stay and some history about the location. Ā Once you save your trip you can drill down to the day and the hour. Ā We were not able to get that detailed but this was a huge help in planning how much time to spend in each location.
From Cairns we flew back to Sydney. Ā We flew on Jetstar which dispite an extra flight booked with a hard time cancelling we received very good service. Ā I would fly them again if traveling in that area – I would just pay for the full price ticket (including bags) before hand because trying to make changes the day of was unneccessary!
After a few days in Sydney we flew Jetstar again to Queenstown, New Zealand.
Once we landed in New Zealand, we rented a car for the entire week from Eurocar. Ā After 2+ hours we finally were able to leave the airport and travel the projected 37 mins to Queenstown. Ā The rental car company was extremely slow and overwhelmed with only a few customers waiting. Ā Not sure it was entirely their fault as they only had one person in the lot actually cleaning the cars for all the rental companies. Ā Frustrating but everything in stride! Ā Luckily the drive from the airport only took about 20 mins and we were able to enjoy the spoils of Queenstown. Ā From Queenstown we drive to Lake Wanaka, from there to Fox Glacier, staying in Franz Joseph, then the last bit of driving to Christchurch. Ā The rental car was a crucial piece of the trip and I would highly recommend splurging on an upgrade.
Once in Christchurch we flew to Auckland once again on Jetstar. Ā We did not spend long in Auckland and hoped a bus, then a ferry over to Waiheke Island near Auckland. Ā Once on Waiheke, we had debated on getting a rental car, but were really glad that we didn’t because they had an awesome bus system that took you all over the island! Ā After our stay there, a quick bus ride, ferry ride, another bus and back to the airport to take the “short” flight home to Charlotte!
One of the biggest headaches was keeping track of all of the reservation numbers and making sure the dates lined up and guys…I did not do a good job at all.
We booked an extra flight, and an extra hotel room. Ā We were able to get most cancelled and our money back but again unneccessary stress while traveling. Ā So I wish that there were better tools to use!
Inspirock was great for planning the route and # days etc. Ā Google Trips was great once all the reservations were made and came through on email. Ā We booked most of the hotels through Booking.com and once booked we were able to add to the calendar but the flights didn’t offer that function. Ā Hence booking an extra flight and an extra hotel! Ā Inspirock would not let you import reservations from other sites. Ā Also there is no app version so it was not useful while we were there. Ā Google trips did send reminder emails and import reservations into the calendar. Ā It may have been best to use Kayak for all the reservations but the prices were not always the best. Ā Of course being a problem solver I would love to come up with a good solution but this would probably take a lifetime to develop and it TOO complicate for me:)
For our excusions we looked at booking them ahead of time and I am really glad that we had researched them, but waited to book. Ā This is risky as they could have filled up or prices could have been at a premium but we rolled the dice. Ā Our main reason for doing this is that we were a bit unsure about drive times and travel delays. Ā We booked our snorkeling trip as soon as we arrived in Port Douglas through our hotel. Ā The price was the same and we were able to be assured it was the best company to go out with. Ā We booked our jet boat and whitewater rafting once we arrived in Queenstown, very easy to do and again we were able to confirm that it was the best company to go out with. Ā We booked our Heli-Hike a few days before arriving in New Zealand because we did read that these fill up. Ā We read a bunch of review and were glad that we chose the company we went out with. Ā More details on all of these in the next few posts!
