Reference for 2018 trip
To provide clarity on the many posts about our trip to Australia and New Zealand, I’ve created this wonderful post to serve as a Table of Contents and reference card. It will be updated regularly to provide links to all relevant content.
Let’s get started!
There are three types of blog posts from our trip: Planning, Daily Updates, & Full Posts.
Planning
These three posts were written before we left on our trip and was an attempt to provide context on what we were expecting for our upcoming trip.
Daily Updates
These were written near the end of the day while we were on vacation. They act as a quick summary of what we did. These short blogs are great to get an idea of what we did, how we felt and impression of what we saw, or did that particular day.
Full Posts
I hope these will be worth the wait!
These will contain many pictures to better describe what we did during our trip, including maps to provide context where needed. The goal to publish twice a week, every Monday & Thursday (late afternoon Toronto time). The timing on publication isn’t to draw the story of our trip out over a long period, instead it is to give us time to write the posts!
These will generally cover a day of our trip, however separate posts that specifically review hotels, and flights will also occur. As well, if we did a lot of neat things in one day, we might break it up into shorter posts.
At minimum we hope to post twice a week.
If heading to Australia
I hope these can serve as reference posts for future travellers who are off to Australia & New Zealand.
Videos
Yes there will be videos! All videos will be posted on our YouTube channel. Click here, to go to our channel. As best as possible, videos will be linked in the full blog posts and will be available when the full post are published.
Table of Contents
If heading to Australia
Domestic Airlines: The four major domestic airline options in Australia
Full Posts
Lounge Report:Toronto KLM Crown Lounge
Flight Report: KLM World Business Class Toronto to Amsterdam (YYZ-AMS)
Stopover in Amsterdam – What we did in 9 hours, and Lounge Review of Amsterdam KLM Crown Lounge
Flight Report: KLM World Business Class Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur (AMS-KUL)
Lounge Report: Garuda Indonesia International Business Class Lounge in Jakarta (CGK)
Flight Report: Garuda Indonesia Business Class Jakarta to Sydney (CGK-SYD)
Australia! Sydney Airport to Blue Mountains
Hotel Report: The Carrington Hotel, Katoomba, NSW
Katoomba to Canberra: Bathurst’s Mount Panorama and National Motor Racing Museum
Hotel Report: Rydges Capitol Hill Canberra
Canberra: Royal Australian Mint, Mount Ainslie, Australian Museum
Road trip! Driving 1,000km in one day
Hotel Report: Best Western Southgate Motel, Mt. Gambier, South Australia
Mt. Gambier: Blue Lake, Cacti, and Umpherston Sinkhole
Road trip, part 1 – Mt. Gambier to Warrnambool
Road trip part 2 – Great Ocean Road, Bay of Islands park
Road trip part 3 – Great Ocean Road, Bay of Martyrs park
Road trip part 4 – Great Ocean Road, The Grotto park
Road trip part 5 – Great Ocean Road, London Bridge
Road trip part 6 – Great Ocean Road, 12 Apostles park
Hotel Report: Novotel Melbourne St. Kilda
A wildlife inspired day trip from Melbourne
Melbourne: Albert Park, Botanical Gardens & South Melbourne Market
Hotel Report: Best Western Airport Motel Convention Centre, Melbourne Airport
Flight Report: Jetstar Melbourne to Hobart
Hobart: Mount Wellington & Botanical Gardens
Animals! Night Tour of Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary
Driving Adventure – Great Eastern Drive, St Columba Falls & Tasmania Roads
Hotel Report: Mercure Launceston
Attending ANZAC Day sunrise service in Launceston
Back to Hobart and its harbour
Hotel Report: Best Western Hobart, and Best Western Balmoral Motor Inn
Flight Report: Hobart to Melbourne
Hotel Review: Treasury on Collins, Melbourne
Scenic route between Melbourne and Sydney
Hotel Review: Twofold Bay Motor Inn, Eden, NSW
Hotel Review: Rydges Sydney Airport Hotel
Plane spotting from the hotel room by Sydney Airport
Lounge Report: Air New Zealand Lounge, Sydney International Airport
Flight Report: Air New Zealand, Business Class, Sydney to Auckland (SYD-AKL)
Hotel Report: Ibis Hamilton Tainui, New Zealand
Driving across New Zealand’s North Island in one day
Hotel Report: The County Hotel, Napier, New Zealand
A Day in Napier, New Zealand. A visit to an Aquarium, Winery, and Art Deco downtown.
Crossing New Zealand’s North Island, and visiting different things
Hotel Report: Ibis Budget Auckland Airport
Lounge Report: Air New Zealand Lounge, Auckland International Airport
Flight Report: Air New Zealand, Business Class, Auckland to Brisbane (BNE-SYD)
Hotel Report: Alexandra on the Pacific, Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast
Fraser Island – Day trip to a spectacular island of sand
Animal time! The Australia Zoo
Sunshine Coast to Brisbane – highlight was Glass Mountains
Hotel Report: Ibis Brisbane Hotel
Flight Report: Jetstar, Economy Class, Brisbane to Cairns (BNE-CNS)
Hotel Report: Hilton Cairns
Let’s go Snorkelling: Great Barrier Reef
Impressions of Cairns
Flight Report: Qantaslink, Economy Class, Cairns to Ayers Rock (CNS-AYQ)
Hotel Report: Luxury in the middle of Australia, Longitude 131
Hotel Report: Meals while staying at Longitude 131
Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park – Tours taken
Flight Report: Virgin Australia, Economy X Class, Ayers Rock to Sydney (AYQ-SYD)
Hotel Report: Best Western Hotel Stellar Sydney
Sydney: Visit to the Australian Museum
Sydney: Visit to Sydney Tower & 360 Restaurant
Sydney: Circular Quay
Sydney: Bondi Beach
Sydney: Royal Botanic Gardens
Sydney: National Maritime Museum
Sydney: Australian Reptile Park
Lounge Report: Skyteam Sydney International Airport
Flight Report: Garuda Indonesia, Business Class, Sydney to Bali (SYD-DPS)
Lounge Report: Garuda Indonesia Business class lounge, Bali
Flight Report: KLM World Business Class, Bali to Singapore (DPS-SIN)
Flight Report: KLM World Business Class, Singapore to Amsterdam (SIN-AMS)
Flight Report: KLM World Business Class, Amsterdam to Toronto (AMS-YYZ)
Remember new posts every Monday & Thursday
Videos
These are links to the YouTube video pages, posted in chronological order of the trip occurring:
View of Malaysia Airlines Airbus 380 landing at Kuala Lumpur International Airport from our KLM Boeing 777
Lap of Mount Panorama Circuit, Bathurst. Time-lapse video turning a leisurely drive into an exciting 30 second video
Canberra to Mt. Gambier. Time-lapse video of our 1,000+km drive in one day
Lap of Melbourne F1 Grand Prix Track. Time-lapse video of us doing a lap of the F1 track in Albert Park.
Mt. Gambier to Colac via the Great Ocean Road. Time-lapse video of the sights behind the five blog posts about the Great Ocean Road.
More to come…
Trip Planning
Trip planning Update #1- Destination and items ready to go
Trip planning Update #2 – Idea to Plan
Trip planning Update #3- Which flight to take to Australia
Daily Updates
Daily Update #1 – Toronto to Amsterdam
Daily Update #2 – First post in Australia
Daily Update #3 – Blue Mountains to Canberra
Daily Update #5 – A Short 1,000km drive
Daily Update #6 – Sinkhole & Great Ocean Road
Daily Update #8 – Melbourne Day 2
Daily Update #9 – Tasmania & Wildlife sanctuary
Daily Update #10 – Tasmania Day 2
Daily Update #11 – ANZAC Day in Tasmania
Daily Update #12 – Return to Melbourne
Daily Update #13 – CBD Melbourne
Daily Update #14 – Part 1 of return journey to Sydney
Daily Update #15 – Part 2 of return journey to Sydney
Daily Update #16 – Trip Planning vs. Life
Daily Update #17 – New Zealand Day 1
Daily Update #18 – New Zealand Day 2
Daily Update #19 – Being Tourists in New Zealand
Daily Update #20 – Sunshine Coast
Daily Update #21 – Fraser Island
Daily Update #22 – Australia Zoo
Daily Update #23 – Return to Brisbane
Daily Update #25 – Green Island
Daily Update #26 – In the middle of the country
Daily Update #27 – Uluru (Ayers Rock) & Kata Kjuta
Daily Update #28 – Uluru to Sydney
Daily Update #29 – Sydney Day 1 – Happy Mother’s Day
Daily Update #30 – Sydney Day 2 – Australian Museum
Daily Update #31 – Sydney Day 3 – Botanical Gardens & Bondi Beach
Daily Update #32 – Sydney Day 4 – Movie Day!
Daily Update #33 – Sydney Day 5 – Australian Reptile Park
Daily Update #34 – Sydney Day 6 – Maritime Museum vs. Migraine
Daily Update #35 – Flying home part 1 via Bali and Singapore
Daily Update #36 – Flying home part 2 – European Stopover
Daily Update #37 – Flying home part 3 – Return to Schiphol and flight home