Australia: Discovery Down Under Meets Thread

[acndis]

I have booked my flights! This trip has turned into a Leviathan. It may be the longest, most complicated trip I have ever taken! Here's what we are doing:

Pre-days Auckland (got an award ticket via Sapphire Miles on United). Spending 2 days at Bethells Beach. My husband will be driving! I am scared already. Bethells Beach looks gorgeous and remote. It seems the perfect way to unwind and get ready for the ABD

Auckland to Syd (used Sapphire Miles on Ultimate Rewards site to book Virgin Australia)

ABD!!!!

Post-ABD, Brisbane to Honolulu--unfortunately I had to pay for this ticket. It's a direct flight on Hawaiian Air. December in Australia and Hawaii is very expensive but I got a great fare on this.

The plan was to stay at Aulani until Thursday but it is booked already for New Year's Eve. My family has decided to jump over to the Big Island and stay at the Volcano House (looks really cool!) and head back to Honolulu on New Year's day. We hope to book Aulani Monday-Friday with our DVC points at 7 months.

This is going to be fun but crazy! I can't wait to hear about the new itinerary this summer and thanks to Travel Hacking, my flights ended up VERY affordable. I'll try and do a trip report. We don't leave until December but I already can't wait!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Aulani at NYE should be incredible!

 

[DCPhotoGal]

My family booked the Dec 16 2017 tour (looks like we will be just missing some of the others here on the board) It will be myself, DH and my daughters ages 12 and 13/turning 14 on the trip.

 

[Grifdog22]

We are now exactly 8 weeks out for our departure to Australia on the revised itinerary, our fifth ABD. Our first was 10 years ago. ABD was very helpful on our many requests and very flexible on our requested “adjustments.” This is a huge thank you to “ABD Lisa” for everything. We learned to “Plane sleep” on our direct ABD flight from Dulles DC to Johanasburg South Africa some years back, and that will come in handy on this one. To share some additional things we are doing on top of an already very strong ABD itinerary:

We depart Wednesday June 14 for an overnight stay near the airport for our car drop and depart Thursday to fly from BWI to Dallas, and take the big bird from Dallas TX direct to Syndey. Loved Cousin Orville's description of the plane - we had to try it. We arrive for a pre-day Saturday morning and ABD agrees to pick us up early at 6:15 am and we have (booked direct) a nice suite at Shangri-la hotel for a pre night. We have tickets to see the Sydney Symphony Orchestra perform at the Opera House that afternoon. We expect an early crash at the hotel. The next morning we will be up and taking the Manly Beach ferry to tour the area and the twins (and maybe me) will take 3 hours of surfing lessons (thanks to WDW Groupie for the pictures and the recommendations) at Manly Beach.

At 3 pm the ABD trip starts! For Monday morning OYO time we have rented bikes to ride across the Harbor bridge and swim in the Olympic pool fed by the Harbor waters. We love to swim! For Tuesday OYO time we have Harbor Bridge Climb tickets. The following Saturday is pretty much a travel and OYO day. We’ve arranged to stay at the Gold Coast Beach airport when the ABD plane lands and not travel with ABD north to the Main Beach hotel and instead spend the afternoon for a 12,000 foot tandem skydive onto the beach. The transport up to Main Beach we arranged on our own. For Monday’s OYO time, we’ve arranged for additional surf lessons for the whole family. On the last day, which is a farewell/travel day, we arranged with ABD to drop us at a hotel by the Brisbane airport, and we have private pickup to spend the day out in the bay whale watching, as this is the primary migration route and popular resting areas for the humpback. This will be an add on day, and the next day we return home. Love how we depart Sydney at 12:30 pm and the same day at 1:00 pm we arrive in Dallas Texas. Our bodies will never be the same. Then we have the horrific, multiple-rerouted attempts to get back home from Dallas. AA cancelled flights, rescheduled flights, and it promises to be a nightmare to get back to BWI by 1 am the following day. I’m running out of domestic airlines that I am willing to fly!

Thanks to the board for help on getting special trip insurance (for things like skydiving), for great trip reports, restaurant and guiding reports. We really appreciate the positive and good things folks bring to these boards. We would welcome any additional tips or guidance! I know I promised a trip report on a previous trip, but that detailed report just didn’t work out. I promise to share on this one, especially on the new aspects of the trip, unless we fall off the bridge, the skydiving goes wrong, or we get eaten by a croc. My DW worries about those things for some reason.

 

[DCPhotoGal]

I promise to share on this one, especially on the new aspects of the trip, unless we fall off the bridge, the skydiving goes wrong, or we get eaten by a croc. My DW worries about those things for some reason.

Yes, pease share! I need to get planning for our December Australia trip now that we're back from Costa Rica and our summer Wyoming trip is all set.

 

[acndis]

Yes, pease share! I need to get planning for our December Australia trip now that we're back from Costa Rica and our summer Wyoming trip is all set.

Cannot wait to hear about the trip! We are December, too! I am already ready to go.

 

[OhanaCuz]

Can't wait to read your trip report. Australia is definitely on the bucket list.