In 2017 I flew with my husband from Chicago to Sydney, Australia for our honeymoon. We then took a 10 day cruise to New Zealand before returning to Sydney. This post tells about our time in both countries and my thoughts on them!

Australia – Part 1

Sydney

From Los Angeles the flight to Sydney is 15 hours. From Chicago it’s basically over a full day of travel and we felt super jet-lagged touching down on a rainy April morning. The surprising thing, at least for me, is that some part of that day we just accepted the fact that we weren’t going to get any sleep until we could check into our hotel around 3 pm, at the Ovolo Woolloomooloo. We did a lot around Sydney, as tired as we were, because Sydney does not have a large downtown area.

Royal Botanic Gardens

The natural first thing to do was to walk to Royal Botanic Gardens that bordered the hotel. It also leads right into downtown and gives a pleasant walk to the more iconic parts of Sydney. To me it felt more like an outdoor park with a couple of tropical plants like bamboo trees. It’s a good idea to visit just for the view you get of downtown Sydney and a perfect spot to snap some photos.

Downtown

From the park the pathways brought us right to downtown Sydney which is really where the city spreads out from. Here we found the neighborhood boats coming in and out of Sydney harbor as well as massive cruise ships. Our cruise ship, the Celebrity Solstice, was due to leave the next day, so we had about a day and half to really explore the downtown part of Sydney. This part of Sydney is more corporate than any part, but they have great restaurants nearby like the Spice Room where we ate lunch that day.

Right in Sydney Harbor there is also the famous Sydney Harbor Bridge which overlooks the old part of Sydney called The Rocks. This is a trendy part of Sydney with many boutique hotels and many touristy restaurants. This is also where we boarded our cruise ship too.

Shopping District

Now I’m not even sure that this area is even called the shopping district but it’s certainly where we found the most touristy shops and by afternoon this place was packed. We walked from the downtown area south for about 20 minutes, stopping at shops and entering some iconic buildings in the city like the Queen Victoria Building. Today it houses many shops and dates back to the 19th century. Nearby there is also Sydney Town Hall and St. Andrews Cathedral.

New Zealand

Celebrity Solstice

On midday we boarded our cruise, the Celebrity Solstice, from the Overseas Passenger Terminal in The Rocks neighborhood. The cruise ship was the nicest cruise ship we’ve been on and we had the best cabin we’ve ever had. One with a balcony on a higher floor with midday in-room services. It was perfect and well worth the price with a balcony for the views alone. This cruise happened to cruise counter-clockwise around New Zealand so we made sure to grab a cabin on the left hand side of the ship to always have a view of the coast line.

Two Days at Sea

Once you board, you can’t get off the ship like we had in other ports around the world. So once we got on we explored the ship, and sat down to eat an afternoon meal only reserved for cabins in the Concierge Class and above. It was these types of perks that made the experience great for us because we felt like it was a more elite experience. On other ships, dining can be crowded but not on the Celebrity Solstice.

The cruise left Sydney and then went straight into the Tasman Sea and wouldn’t reach New Zealand for at least two days. This ship surprisingly had many Australian nationals on board followed by Canadians and Americans. The ship had many activities during the day but the ship is packed with elder people so we didn’t expect anything too crazy. Most of those days were spent playing trivia, watching shows, playing games, eating and drinking. I have to say the journey from Sydney to New Zealand was rough through the Tasman Sea so there is some sea sickness.

Fiordland National Park

On day 3 we arrived at the Fiordland National Park on the southern island of New Zealand. It’s a beautiful park and a large part of the southern island. If you’re traveling to New Zealand on your own it would be hard and expensive to travel to these parts of the country. So in this case a cruise ship was perfect for viewing the beautiful fjords, right from our cabin, with food, drinks, and a guide that came on the ship intercom.

Milford Sound

A stunning fjord that happens to be one of the wettest places in the world. Fortunately the day we showed up the skies were clear and we had stunning views of the surrounding sound.

Doubtful Sound

This sound is about an hour or two cruises trip from Milford Sound. The sound is not as imposing as it’s more popular brother, Milford, but it retains it’s own beauty and we enjoyed viewing while eating lunch.

Dusky Sound

It is one of the most southern fjords, and was the last sound we saw for the day. The sound has many islands among it and is sometimes visited by whales as a place of protection. Our cruise ship toured the sound for about an hour and half before continuing on to our first port of call.

Dunedin

We finally were able to get off the ship after 3 days at sea. The ship actually docked in nearby Port Chalmers and given that there wasn’t a whole lot to do in the city, we opted to do an excursion. We signed up for the Taieri Gorge Railway that directly left from the docks of the cruise ship. The train ride is a full day experience and brought us to the upper hinterland of Otago. The train is a classical train and although expensive we were served two meals on board. At least we were one of the first people on the train and got to choose our seats!

Taieri Gorge

The first part of the train ride is relatively low key. We passed farms, sheep and small towns. And then the train enters the beautiful Taieri Gorge and slowly wines it’s way up. The ride takes a long time but you basically go from beautiful farm land to a rocky mountain-like landscape. The train would stop at certain points so we could take photos and there was always an open train car to take photos without glare.

Pukerangi

The train completed its journey at the little village known as Pukerangi. There is nothing here but a train stop, a few homes, a makeshift stand selling crafts and beautiful rolling farmland. Here we got about 30 minutes to stretch our legs, buy some local crafts and take some beautiful picture of the New Zealand countryside. For us this was a chance to see the inner part of New Zealand and we both recommend it.

On our way back we drank coffee and enjoyed the views more instead of trying to snap a photo every 5 minutes. It did rain but being inside a train, it was actually quite nice. When we got back to Dunedin, we only had time to view the train station for about 10 minutes before we got back on the train back to our cruise ship.

This wasn’t the most exciting excursion I’ve been on but if you like train rides, beautiful scenery and food along the way; I recommend it!

Akaroa

The next day our ship docked in beautiful Akaroa in the middle of the South Island. This dock is actually in the remnants of an extinct volcano and ships only dock here now since the docks in Christchurch were destroyed from an earthquake. It’s a beautiful setting but for excursions we had to depend on Celebrity to take us for our excursion. We opted to travel to the mountains of New Zealand in the far west on an 8 hour journey.

Canterbury Plains

The bus ride takes about an hour to get out of the weaving roads of Akaroa. It’s very beautiful and I highly recommend this area. This tour was to visit the mountains in the far west of New Zealand and also one of the sites of filming for the movie “Lord of the Rings.” Our guide was knowledgeable as he had worked on all 3 films as a sound producer.

The Canterbury Plains are insanely flat compared to Akaroa and the mountains to the west. The drive can be somewhat boring but luckily we were able to break up the ride with pit-stops in cafes and restaurants. Along the way we learned about the history of “Lord of the Rings,” and how they were made including about the site we were visiting.

Mount Sunday

From the city of Mount Somers, that sits at the bottom of the Southern Alps, we drove about an hour on some rough roads and first visited at Lake Clearwater. We were told that it may be cloudy the day we came but we had nothing but clear skies by mid-morning. Just perfect and an example of the true beauty of New Zealand. We felt remote and truly were happy to see this beautiful scenery.

From there it’s only about a 20 minute drive through gravel roads down to the valley where “Lord of the Rings,” was filmed. The fictional city of Rohan, was filmed on a little outcrop, called Mount Sunday, that lays in this valley surrounded by stunning mountains. We had perfect warm weather and about 40 minutes to walk around the area. Absolutely perfect and totally worth the 4 hour drive one-way.

By the way in the film, the city of Rohan was actually built on top of this outcrop. They built all these structures, filmed for a few days, and then tore it all down to leave this area pristine. If you’re in New Zealand and on the Southern Island, we obviously highly recommend Mount Sunday.

Akaroa

On our way back we did eat lunch in Mount Somers and then went straight back to the Akaroa area. We were promised a chance to take snapshots from one of the passes of the volcanoes and got a beautiful view before heading back to our ship. Out of all the excursions we did in New Zealand this one was my favorite!

Wellington

From the South Island we spent one day on the North Island in the capital city of New Zealand, Wellington. I have a special connection with Wellington since I wrote about it in one of my articles as being the windiest major city on earth! Ironically the day we visited there was no wind.

We thought the city itself is nothing to write home about. The best I can say about it is, it’s just a city. The best part about it is the beautiful landscape around it. It’s certainly a great place to hike and explore.

Wellington Cable Car and Botanic Gardens

We were one of the first people off the ship and went straight to the cable car before it became crowded with tourists. I think we were one of the first people in line. The cable car is pretty cool and it brought us up to the Botanic Gardens that overlooks the city. The Botanic Gardens is a great place to walk around, take some photos and enjoy the beautiful landscapes. We completed this in less than an hour and before every tourist.

Mount Victoria Lookout

It’s actually a far walk from the cable cars but given that we had time we decided to walk. We strolled right through downtown and then went up some steep hills before coming to the start of the lookout. The paths aren’t all that steep but because it had just rained, they were muddy. It’s a beautiful walk but we didn’t have athletic outfits and we were quite sweaty by the time we reached the top. From Mount Victoria Lookout you get a great view of Wellington, the airport and of the surrounding area.

From here we walked back in the city and decided to take it slow. We could have gone to other excursions like the WETA cave but opted to save money and explore downtown. Like I said Wellington is nice but nothing to write home about.

Picton

On our last excursion in New Zealand we went back to the South Island and to one of its most northern towns, Picton. Picton is a very tiny town and was dwarfed by our cruise ship. There isn’t much to do in the city center, although we looked around before our excursion. Wine tasting white wine is what everybody should do when in Picton!

Saint Clair Family Estate

Our tour was a small group from the ship and we had so much fun with them. Everybody wanted to taste white wine and nobody complained, making the excursion enjoyable. We first went to Saint Clair Family Estate and did a round of tasting. The valley that all the wineries sit in remind me of Napa, with beautiful wineries, a relatively warm climate with beautiful mountains surrounding the area.

Omaka Springs

This was one of the more rustic wineries and further out from others. We got to see how wine is produced and do an impromptu taste tasting. This winery has a great view of the hills to the south.

Spy Valley

I really enjoyed this winery as it was one of the most modern and had a spectacular place to taste wine. They also had a taco stand outside which was unique. We got lucky with the weather because we had a beautiful sunny day. Felt great to sip some wine and be carefree.

Giesen

Our last winery was an old school European style type of winery and where we also had a beautiful lunch. We were able to taste test before and then order some more wine while we enjoyed our food outside!

Two Days Back

We really enjoyed our time in New Zealand and on our last excursion we happen to meet some Australians. So on our way back we would hang out with them before dinner or during the daily trivia! Australians love their trivia. On our last time on the ship we had dinner with them.

It was also a time to enjoy the ship and our cabin before we got off. The trip back was a little rough in the Tasman Sea but at least the ship kept us mostly occupied and had great food.

Overall we really loved this cruise and it was the perfect amount of days on a ship. By the time we pulled back into Sydney Harbor we were ready to be on land.

Australia – Part 2

Sydney Again

Back in Sydney we were happy to be back on land and a chance to explore more of Sydney. I was given two free nights with Hyatt so I choose to use them at one of the most expensive hotels in the world, the Park Hyatt Sydney. It’s a wonderful hotel, that overlooks the Sydney Harbor, and was a 5 minute walk from the cruise ship.

Haymarket

Because we had explored much of downtown we decided to walk over to Haymarket. It’s a huge indoor market that’s about a 30 minute walk from the Park Hyatt and worth a visit. I don’t remember if we bought anything I believe we didn’t since we felt they weren’t authentic.

Tumbalong Park

It’s a beautiful modern park that has some restaurants that line the circular park. We stopped to have some coffee and enjoyed the sunny weather. Australian wildlife was out and about!

Downtown Sydney

From here we went back north into downtown and really didn’t do much beside shopping. Downtown is pretty walk-able and we had seen most of it the first time around so this time we kept it easy.

We spent the rest of the night at our hotel and enjoyed how luxurious it was!

Blue Mountains

On our last full day in Sydney we decided to take a tour to the Blue Mountains. They are located pretty far to the west of Sydney and so we took a tour that would bring us to several different sites.

Featherdale

Our first stop was in the burbs of Sydney and really the only time we got to see true Australian wildlife. All I wanted to do was some kangaroos given that we were in Australia and this was a perfect place to see them. In fact the joy of the sanctuary was the ability to see so many of the iconic Australian wildlife including, kangaroos, wallabies, birds, koalas, wombats, crocodiles, echidnas, dingos, etc.

The cool part is that you can buy some feed and let the kangaroos or wallabies eat from your hand. They also had a set up so that we could take a photo and touch a koala.

Leura

From the sanctuary we went west and spent so much time in traffic to get to the Blue Mountains. Because of good weather, and that it was the weekend, the roads were packed and we were delayed getting to Leura. Here we got to take a break, have some lunch and walk around the city for a bit.

Scenic World

Here we got a great view of the Blue Mountains. They are named that since the eucalyptus trees that dot the mountains look blue from a far. This place was packed and made the experience not so enjoyable as there was a line everywhere we went. We only had time to go down to the bottom of the valley and come back up once in this cool cable car. Overall it was fun but to me something that can be missed.

Parramatta to Sydney

We drove back to Sydney but before we ended the tour we got to board a boat and cruise into Sydney on the Parramatta River. Although crowded this was a spectacular way to see the Sydney area and amazing to see Sydney at dusk.

Kangaroo Meal

Our last meal in Sydney we invited a friend we met on our excursion and went to the Marina Harbor to eat some kangaroo. It’s actually not to bad; a little grainy.

Thoughts

Australia and New Zealand are wonderful countries and it was a great honeymoon. I can highly recommend both. Ultimately there is so much more to explore in Australia and I would love to go to the outback. We saw more of New Zealand but even then there was much we missed. The downside for Americans is that both countries are really far and can be expensive but personally are worth at least one visit.