We always had plenty of time to get to anything we had booked so we never felt like we were rushing. Every flight, shuttle, transfer was hassle free.

Driving in New Zealand was easy, I mean a little awkward with the left side driving but overall no problem. I love the freedom of having a car.  We went to Hot water beach which was very fun and interesting. We also hiked to Cathedral cove and that was very nice.

The Farmstay was fantastic, what a nice place that was! It is a huge house with the family on one side and guests on the other, it was laid out very nicely.  We were part of the family the short time we were there. Hung out in the kitchen chatting and walked along on their chores feeding the animals then we all ate dinner together. Really, nice, one of my favorite days!

The Penguin Parade outside of Melbourne was delightful. They were so cute and funny, we loved it! After about 20 minutes they give you the okay and you can go up and to the outside viewing area if you like. A long day but I think there were 3 or 4 stops on the way. The Koala conservation stop was good, there was one little guy who was down quite low in the tree so we got some good pictures.

The Healesville sanctuary was nice however a little similar to the Moonlit sanctuary but I love the animals so that was okay.

We had the whole last day for the Great Ocean Road and that was almost not enough! Stunning coastline, very, very beautiful. We actually drove inland on the way there thinking that might save some time but it was still almost 3 hours one way.There was a little beach there, I can’t remember the name of it now but near the 12 apostles and the gorge, that you could take the stairs down too, so very pretty.

The Parkroyal in Sydney was perfect, an amazing breakfast, I highly recommend that place. We enjoyed the Bondi to Bronte beach walk however it was very windy that day ( and the next ) and it was a little cool. We also took the ferry to Manly beach the day we got there. Did a lot of walking in Sydney even with the bus pass but that was our choice. I feel like we needed one more day in both big cities, especially Melbourne since two full days were out of the city but we just didn’t have the time so there’s nothing we could do about that.

Well, I could go on but I won’t bore you with all my details. As I said at the beginning everything was perfectly planned it was such a relief not having to worry about transportation to and from the airports and I loved having our activities booked ahead of time. Oh, we loved Hobbiton, it was so beautiful there.  Thank you!!! Janis

Traveled  January 2018