We plan to take just over 3 weeks driving from Cairns to Brisbane. We stop at Airlie beach to catch a ferry over to Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays for 5 days of beach living.
Our time in New Zealand is about 10 days, driving through the heart of the South Island, and finishing in Dunedin, where we hop on a plane back up to Christchurch.
Australia
This is our biggest adventure to date, and possibly the biggest one we will ever embark upon.
With flights from our local airport, London Stansted, we head to Dubai where we will spend 3 nights, catching up with our friend Becca, and then fly on to Perth in Western Australia. Taking care of some family business, after a 3 night stay we then take a Qantas to Sydney where we will spend 10 nights, including a trip to the Blue Mountains as well as taking in an opera at the iconic Opera House. Then we are off for our 4th flight so far for a short hop up to Cairns. Here we hire a car and spend 22 days driving down the coast to Brisbane. We are especially looking forward to the 5 days we will spend on the Whitsunday Islands where our accomodation includes bed, breakfast and golf buggy!
After 3 nights in Brisbane, we leave Australia and head to Christchurch in New Zealand. With another car hired, we have 10 nights booked to tour the South Island, including the Lord of the Rings tour and the Dark Sky project on Mount Cook.
No doubt exhausted, we then start to head home, via Singapore and the world famous Raffles hotel where we will no doubt sling down a few Singapore Slings. After 4 days R&R in Singapore it really is head home time, back to Stansted with a brief stopover once again in Dubai.
Our round trip takes in the airports at London Stansted, Dubai, Perth, Sydney, Cairns, Brisbane, Christchurch, Dunedin and Singapore. Fortunately, other than a couple of internal flights, we are bsuiness class all the way!