Written by Kim
We are a little less than 2 weeks away from leaving on another adventure. I am heading to NJ a week earlier (this Saturday) to be with the grands while Heather is away on business and Alex will drive up the following weekend with all our bags. The packing table is out so I can get it together! Alex is making his lists and will pack the day before. My goal is one medium suitcase, 1 roll-aboard and a backpack. Alex will likely have a medium suitcase and backpack for our 38 day trip.
Our journey includes 3 pieces: Fly into Sydney for a few nights, cruise around New Zealand, rent a car and drive to Melbourne before flying home. We’ve already been to Sydney so have done some of the major attractions like the Opera House and climbing the bridge. This time we will take a day trip to the Blue Mountains and bike the bridge on another day.
We will do a 10 night cruise from Sydney around New Zealand on Anthem of the Seas. We know that ship well – this will be our 4th cruise on her – as it was based in Bayonne for a while. This will be its first time in Australia. It’s on the way from Alaska to move to Australia for their summer as we speak on the transpacific cruise we took in 2019. Our cruise will take us to 2 new ports, Christchurch and Dunedin, and 2 ones we’ve already seen, Wellington and Marlborough / Picton as well as a few sounds.
After we get off the cruise, we will rent / hire a car in Sydney and drive down the coast to Melbourne – with stops of 1-2 nights in Jervis Bay, Tilba, Merimbula, and Philip’s Island. We’ve heard the coast is beautiful similar to the Pacific Coast Highway, Last time we were in Australia we flew up to Carnes in the Northeast and drove down that coast (the Sunshine & Gold Coast). back to Sydney.
We loved Australia last time we were there. The people are so friendly, the landscapes and wildlife are amazing. If it wasn’t on the other side of the world we’d love to live there but we could never be that far from family and friends.
Like most of our trips I will blog every day or 2 so hope you’ll come along and join us. We are very excited for this adventure. Until then…..
Looking forward to go along for the ride!