Down Under Adventures: Australia and New Zealand

written by Jesse December 15, 2016

Queenstown, New Zealand

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After earning a ton of points in 2015, we are finally getting around to some big trip redemptions in 2016. We visited Europe back in March. So, for our second big trip of the year, we decided to visit Australia and New Zealand. We added a layover in Beijing on the return. This page will serve as a table of contents for the entire trip. If you are considering a trip to any/all of these destinations, our experiences can help craft your itinerary.

We will provide all of our logistics and costs (points and/or cash). We will review all of our accommodations, except for the two nights we stayed with friends. Finally, we will recommend some awesome tours we enjoyed, provide the top 10 things to know, and give you some suggestions for a packing list. Bookmark this page, because we will update with links as we add new posts. Enjoy!

Complete Trip Logistics

This trip included a few different airlines to hop around Australia and New Zealand! We rented a car in Queenstown, which allowed us to plan our own itinerary and take some beautiful, scenic drives around the mountains and lakes. The table below lists out our costs in cash/points/miles for all methods of transportation.

Flight Booking Report

This post provides more information on how we booked the award flights listed below.

Where To/From	Method of Travel	Total Cost for Both Travelers
MCI – LAX – SYD – CNS	American Airlines/Qantas Business Class	125,000 AA Miles $82.40
CNS – BNE	Virgin Australia	13,800 Etihad Miles $43.78
BNE – ZQN	Virgin Australia	21,800 Etihad Miles 18,804 Barclay A+ Miles
Around Queenstown	EZ Rental Car	18,030 Citi Thank You Points
ZQN – SYD	Virgin Australia	13,800 Etihad Miles 9,702 Barclay A+ Miles
SYD – MEL	Qantas Airlines	9,000 BA Avios $11.20
MEL – PEK – SFO – MCI	Air China	80,000 United Miles 18,752 Barclay A+ Miles
TOTAL COST		$137.38 125,000 AA Miles 80,000 United Miles 47,258 Barclay A+ Miles 35,600 Etihad Miles 18,030 Citi Thank You Points 9,000 BA Avios

Australia

New Zealand

Queenstown – Hotel Spotlight: Doubletree by Hilton Queenstown

Day 7 – Hiking Queenstown Hill & Eating Fergburgers
Day 8 – Biking the Wineries with Around the Basin Tours & Bungy Jumping
Day 9 – Milford Sound Day Tour with Fiordland Tours & Glowworm Caves
Day 10 & 11 – Jacks Point Golf & Exploring Wanaka

Australia (again)

Sydney – Hotel Spotlight: Park Hyatt Sydney

Days 12 – 15 – Free Walking Tour, Opera House, Bridge Climb, Exotic Dinners, Botanic Gardens

Melbourne

Day 16 – Great Ocean Road Tour with the Little Penguin Bus
Day 17 – Exploring Melbourne and Departing for Home

Beijing (bonus!)

Day 18/19 – Air China Return Flight & Beijing Layover Tour – (Total Nightmare) – Maybe I will write about this one day.

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