Six days in the Melbourne, Australia, region, ten days in New Zealand, and a few necessary travel days.
We spent our time in Victoria state, Australia, visiting with an old friend Tom had met in Europe eleven years earlier. He and his family were great hosts, showing us some of the regular tourist attractions in the area and also treating us to some of Victoria's great scenic drives, boating on Lake Eildon, and kangaroo spotting in the bush. In addition, we also did two famous Aussie tours: The Great Ocean Road and Phillip Island.
From Melbourne, we flew on to Auckland, New Zealand. We rented a car and drove south, traveling across about three-quarters of both the North and South Islands. While ten days is certainly not enough time to see New Zealand, we did all we could, visiting geothermal areas, beaches, mountains, glaciers and more. We rolled down a hill in a human-sized hamster ball, went spelunking in a glowworm cave, rode a "luge" on a concrete track, and jumped off a cliff. Only in New Zealand!
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Tom the Zorbonaut, Rotorua, New Zealand
Jana gets grimy, Taniwha Cave, New Zealand