Down Under 2024
I booked the OAT Pure New Zealand tour in March 2023 and scheduled it for March-April 2024. The tour had an optional 6‑night pre-trip extension in Australia and a 3‑night post-trip extension in far northern New Zealand’s Bay of Islands.
I decided to book my airfare on Fiji Airways so I could enjoy a few nights in Fiji and get over jetlag before starting the tour. I made a reservation at a resort on a small island with easy ferry access from the airport.
But three months before the tour, I heard from OAT that they canceled the pre-trip in Australia. I did some quick planning and arranged for my own personal six-day pre-trip holiday in Australia, divided between Sydney and Cairns. I think this worked out even better than if I’d been there with OAT, and it cost less.
The New Zealand tour with OAT was eighteen days and included both the North and South Islands. We had city time and spectacular scenery.
Photos and Videos
Fiji
Everything (67 items)
Australia
Everything (391 items)
Sydney (174 items)
Great Barrier Reef (53 items)
Kuranda (133 items)
Cairns (29 items)
New Zealand
Everything (1228 items)
Auckland (112 items)
Hamilton Gardens (96 items)
Rotorua (67 items)
Redwood Memorial Grove, Rotorua (28 items)
Murumara and Kohutapu Lodge (16 items)
Waimangu Volcanic Valley (59 items)
Christchurch (98 items)
Rubicon Valley Farm Show (32 items)
Christchurch Botanical Gardens (98 items)
Christchurch Art Gallery (21 items)
Oamaru (31 items)
Dunedin (73 items)
Otago Peninsula (100 items)
From Dunedin to Milford Sound (55 items)
Milford Sound (55 items)
Plane ride, Milford Sound to Queenstown (30 items)
Queenstown (51 items)
Dart River (31 items)
Arrowtown (34 items)
Bay of Islands (144 items)
Our Trip Experience Leader, Mark Stevenson, made a great video of our entire New Zealand adventure (minus the last three days at Bay of Islands). A lot of it is shots of other travelers on the tour, but there’s some of me as well, plus lots of the sights we saw.
Blog Posts
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The year ahead: 2023–2024
I like to say that if I’m not currently traveling, I’m busy planning my next trip(s). In this case, I have three upcoming trips in the next thirteen months, and possibly will squeeze in one or two more. Here’s a preview.
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Heading Down Under
I wasn’t sure “Down Under” was the right umbrella term for my next trip. I was thinking “Down Under” might refer specifically to Australia. But according to Wikipedia, The term Down Under is a colloquialism differently construed to refer to Australia and New Zealand, or the Pacific island countries collectively. The term originally referred solely to Australia and gradually expanded in scope. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Under In two weeks…
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Ten-Hour Layover at LAX
I am sitting in the One World Lounge, 40 minutes into my ten-hour LAX layover. Since I have no idea how to spend ten hours in this lounge, I thought I would write about it.
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Four days in Fiji
I’m in Fiji. Here’s everything about my time here. If you want, you can skip the narrative and jump to the photos.
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Three days in Sydney
I spent three days in Sydney and I just left this morning. I wrote a little of this each day and finished it today in Cairns. Three days was definitely not enough. I will have to come back and spend a lot more time here. But for now, here are the highlights of my short visit.…
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Three days in Cairns
I flew from Sydney to Cairns and stayed there for three nights. I scheduled two all-day outings. Here’s the full story. At the moment I’m in Brisbane Airport awaiting my flight to Auckland. (I flew here from Cairns this morning.) As usual, you can skip to the photos if you don’t want to read about my…
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Three days in Auckland
After four days in Fiji and six days in Australia, I arrived in Auckland late last Wednesday night to start my OAT tour of New Zealand. Here’s where I write about what I’ve done the last three days. If you want to skip to the photos, here they are. But if you want to read,…
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Pōwhiri: A Day in the Life
A pōwhiri is a traditional ceremony of welcome to guests of a Māori iwi. Yesterday I was honored to be welcomed to the marae of the Ngāi Tokowaru along with my fellow travelers. I want to share this experience. But I am bound to get some of the details wrong. I am basing what I…
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Rotorua: Redwoods, Waimangu, and Dinner Theatre
This morning we left Rotorua and flew to Christchurch. Before I forget everything, here’s a rundown of the activities, sights, and experiences of Rotorua.
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Christchurch: Flowers, Lambs, Art, and Charm
We only spent two nights in Christchurch, just enough to get a small flavor of this charming city. We’re now on the bus heading out of Christchurch, on our way to Dunedin. Christchurch is very walkable, so I walked a lot. I spent a lot of time in the beautiful Botanic Gardens and I visited…
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Otago: Dunedin to Milford Sound to Queenstown
Lack of time and lack of connectivity have made it impossible to blog about Otago (the province where I’ve been in southern New Zealand the last three days). And to be honest, there’s not much to write about. This is by far the most beautiful part of New Zealand, and the pictures tell the story…
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Queenstown: Boats, luge, and other forms of transportation
We had three nights in Queenstown, which was more than enough time to explore the city (or town). It’s really nothing special. It’s a town filled with upscale shopping and a wide range of eateries and drinkeries. It reminded me of some of the ski resort towns I’ve been to, like Whistler or Vail. But like…
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Bay of Islands: Hole, Treaty, Toilets, and Glowworms
My time in New Zealand finished with a few days at the Bay of Islands. Now I am in my room at the Novotel Auckland Airport, awaiting the first of my four flights home (AKL — NAD — LAX — MEX — GDL). Here is a rundown of the last few days.
