new zealand and/or australia?!

jstinkz

hello all! 

My FI and I would really love to go to new zealand and possibly australia for our honeymoon.  However, I have not had great luck with travel agents or just looking up stuff myself.  The travel agent I have been talking to is basically telling me I am not going to get a trip out there for less than 6000 pp.  YIKES. not in our price range.  the other travel agent i talked to was completely worthless and told me all trips and packages start november 2011 and we would really like to leave the week of our wedding.  

We are looking to depart for our honeymoon sometime during the week of October 10th 2011.   Has anyone been to these places for their honeymoon?  More specifically during October?  Any must go see places? Any suggestions for travel agents?  Any info would be great.

TIA

New MIL

We went in 2009 for 3 weeks.  I spent months researching and booking everything myself because we didn't want to be on a tour the whole time and wanted to set our own timetable.  We spent 2 weeks in Australia and a week on the north island of New Zealand.  Our trip was spent in Sydney, Ayers Rock, Port Douglas (Australia) and Auckland, Taupo, and 1 other place that I can't think of right now

We spent about $10,000- we got the Aussie Airpass from Quantas which included all our flights to and from the US and 3 in-country flights in Australia.  I booked the flight to New Zealand on Argentine Airlines because it was dirt cheap.  It worked out but I would NEVER book a flight with them again!!  It was very nearly a disaster due to our tight schedule (thank goodness for the kind soul that was working at the airport in Auckland and really helped us out

The roundtrip airfare w/the airpass ended up being about $1600 pp  plus we had to purchase another ticket to get to Chicago because of where we live.  I checked into every possible way and that was the cheapest at the time so that's something you have to take into consideration.

A local girl had booked her Australian honeymoon through a trave agent and was kind enough to share her itenerary/cost with me.  We took a longer trip and did many many more activities than they did for about the same amount of money.

[Deleted User]

I lived in Aus in 2005.  I had a working Holiday visa.  I worked in Sydney and then traveled for 3 months.  

I spent $1600 on airfare from LA to Sydney stopping on Fiji, I stayed for a week on the way home.  

Look into Qantas, sometimes they have deals with overseas flights and 3 or 4 domestic flights.  

I did everything myself, although I did take a few day trips along the way.  I have no idea how much I spent because I worked along the way etc, plus I stayed in hostels.

I went to most the the major spots up the East Coast, Alice Springs, Uluru (Ayers Rock), Coober Pedy (one of my fav spots), Adelaide, Kangaroo Island, The Great Ocean Rd, Melbourne, and Outback Victoria.

You can totally do it on your own for less money then a trip.  However it is an expensive trip, esp. the airfare.  

I didn't go to NZ.  

aylakate

I'm a New Zealander Can't help you out with prices but must sees in NZ = South Island, it has BEAUTIFUL scenery. I live in Auckland which is nice but the North Island scenery isn't quite as stunning as the SI. Queenstown, Wanaka, Milford South & West Coast would all be on my recommendation list. HTH!

aylakate

^ That should be Milford Sound.