With exactly 3 weeks to go until my "Down Under" holiday commences, thought I'd share some of my intended travel plans.
Nov 29
Depart T Dot 09:35 am for LAX. Yey for friend's buddy pass!
Transfer to Quantas flight to Wellington departing 20:30 PT.
Nov 30
Loose it somewhere over the Pacific!
Dec 1 Arrive into Wellington, NZ - local time 0930 hrs.Chill out at friend's place, get over jet lag!!
Dec 2Wander around Wellington city
Dec 3Tongariro Trek - hopefully can be done as a day trip. (More deets needed)
Dec 4Catch ferry to south island (Picton); Transfer onto train to Kaikoura. Spend evening/night/morning exploring Kaikoura
Dec 5
Catch train to Christchurch. (3:30pm) Arrive Christchurch at 6:45.
Dec 6Christchurch
Dec 7
TranzAlpine Train to Greymouth on the west coast. I've heard that this is one of the top 5 most beautiful train journeys in the world, and having recently seen snippits of the same on a tv special, I'd have to agree! Arrive Greymouth 12:45pm.
Dec 7/8
Greymouth and surrounding areas.
Back to Wellington either late Dec 8 or early Dec 9.
Flight to Sydney Dec 9 at 3pm. Have to figure out best/quickest way back. Hoping I can fly back to save time.
Dec 9Dep Wellington 3pm. Fly to Sydney, NSW. Arrive local time 1650
Staying with cousin and hubby next 2 nights.
Dec 10-12
General Sydney sightseeing/exploring that could include all/some of the following:
- Walk in The Rocks
- Sydney Harbour boat cruise
- Climb the Harbour Bridge (if I have the gumption)
- Bondi to Coogee Walk (recommended by Sydney cousin) - start on Bondi Beach and then walk along the coast/beach line of about 5 beaches. Apparently the best views of ocean and (v imp) surfer boys?!! Cap off walk with meat pie and chips at the other end.
- Meet the Ant (friend from TO) and do some catching up.
- Find out about cheap/discounted tickets to see "Priscilla, the Musical" (apparently, very Sydney thing to do!)
- Find time to rehearse solo for friend Bitch's wedding. Ack!
Dec 12Move to good friend Bitch's place. Bitch is getting married to childhood friend/sweetheart and am tres happy to be part of it. Bitch's 2 bridesmaids also spending pre wedding night at her place. Huuum, can anyone say PJ party???
Dec 13Bitch's wedding! Yey!! (Dammit, need to find nice dress to wear. Bridesmaid dress too big and cumbersome to carry)
Dec 14Post wedding brunch with close family et friends followed by cruise in Sydney harbour.
Dec 15/16More general touring around Sydney organized by Bitch for out-of-town guests
Dec 17Fly to Alice Springs.
Dec 18Poke around Alice Springs
Dec 19Day trip to Ayers Rock
Dec 20-22Camping in the East MacDonnell Ranges. **Still have to figure out if I can join a group here. Don't fancy doing this on my own! Any ideas/suggestions??***
Dec 23Fly to Melbourne. From Melbourne, head out to Mansfield - approx 2 hrs north east. Cousin and wife and kids have a ranch outside of town. The entire clan is meeting up for Christmas.
Dec 24-26Mansfield with dad's family
Dec 27-31In/around Melbourne. Spending some time with various bits of mum's family
**again, accepting suggestions of sites to see, things to do, places to eat at***
Jan 1Fly to Gold Coast with cousin. (Did not feel like spending 2 days in a car with Aunt, Uncle and 3 of their grand kids)
Jan 2-6Gold Coast - wide open (Looking at you Jules!)
Jan 7Fly back home. Brisbane to LAX, then on to the T Dot.
Jan 8Back to work (and reality) Euck!
3 comments:
Hmmmm... the GC... I'm not a huge fan of the GC, much prefering the (north of Brisbane) Sunshine Coast, but here's some ideas:
1. Theme parks - Sea World, Dream World, Movie World, and Wet & Wild (a water theme park).
2. Hiking in the Tambourine Mountains.
3. Learn to surf school.
4. Currumbin Sanctuary - a wildlife type park, where you can feed the rainbow lorikeets.
5. Shopping at Harbour Town, a discount shopping mall.
Enough to keep you busy?
And if you go into Brisbane, you can visit Lone Pine Sanctuary, where you can cuddle a koala.
Getting from the GC to Brisbane is pretty easy - there is a train that runs from Robina (on the GC) to Brisbane Central, and then through to the airport.
Does good friend Bitch know her 'snappy nic' is the Bitch? I'm very entertained by that one - thought I was the only one who did not mind being referred to or referring to people as a bitch!
Jules - Ta v much for all these suggestions. I'm going to work in as much as I can, combined with relaxing on some beach somewhere!
CG - oh she knows all right; and revels in the name. It's something left over from the college days, and an episode of Friends.
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