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November 12, 2012 trip

rozkesslrozkessl
in Grand Australia and New Zealand
We are going on the Nov. 12 trip (Day 1) and were interested in knowing if anyone else will be traveling from Miami, FL. This is the first time in many years that we are traveling without any friends along with us.

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    crackers54crackers54
    Hi I am on your tour. Can't believe it is only 4 weeks till I leave. I fly out of Boston to CA on Wed Nov. 7th stay overnight with family and fly from LAX Thursday night to arrive Melbourne on Saturday morning. I have a long day planned on Sunday (doing the Great Ocean Road tour). Hope to sleep well on Sunday night to start tour Monday night. How are you doing on deciding what to pack.
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    rozkesslrozkessl
    Sorry I did not have time to check if there was a response to my message. You are really leaving ahead of us and will be well rested when we see you out of bleary eyes. We are not staying in LA but are leaving that night (Nov. 10) to Melbourne. I have been watching the weather which has been very extreme swings of temperature. I expect that the weather will be warmer when we are there. I am trying to pack light but we will need different weights of clothes because of the differences in temps. Do you think we will have a place or time to do laundry?

    We have never been on such a long trip and that is stressful but we too are looking forward to it.
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    Kathy0529Kathy0529
    Hi...I did this tour last year at this time. There were a few places to do laundry on the trip. Some things in this years itinerary are different than mine last year, but it's a fantastic trip!!! Don't stress, Tauck is very well organized!!

    I will say that Australia was warmer than New Zealand and I needed a sweatshirt in NZ at times.

    Have a great trip!!!!
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    rozkesslrozkessl
    Thank you for your advice. How kind of you to respond to people you are not traveling with. Thank you also for the tip about New Zealand. I have been tracking the weather and noted that New Zealand is colder. We will try to layer. Coming from Florida we are not very accustomed to cold weather!
    Roz
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    jdurkinjdurkin
    Hi Roz,

    For some local input, can I add that since you're travelling in November (Spring) the weather will be changeable. Since you're coming to Australia and covering such wildly different geographic locations, the weather will be changeable! ;) And it can and often does vary wildly. So prepare to layer ... you might even have to wear all those layers at once in Melbourne and/or New Zealand. You will probably also stop at one layer only, in the centre, the tropical north and possibly even Melbourne. I know, I'm not being much help. I just wanted to point out that you can't necessarily count on the weather being warmer ... by the time you get here. Our continent's weather just won't be categorised that way.

    At least, since you are travelling from Florida, you are used to the humidity, rain and cyclones you will meet in the tropical north ... hopefully not all at the same time. You are still early in the season so you should miss the cyclones and the worst of the rain. It's all part of the joy of living in such a wide, brown land. We take the bigness in our stride. There's always another lovely place to visit if some of the other parts are acting up!

    You are in for a great trip. (Why hide my bias!)

    Cheers,

    Jan
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    Kathy0529Kathy0529
    Hey Roz - u're welcome!! The Australia/New Zealand was my first Tauck tour and I'm constantly on the boards reading up on potential future trips. I loved Australia/New Zealand and think you will, too!

    Make sure to bring extra camera batteries! I always had one extra fully charged ready to replace the drained one. You don't want to miss any shots of such beautiful places!

    Also, the Jetover boat ride in NZ was one highlight of the New Zealand portion, it was fantastic and such a thrill! I was worried about being jerked around a lot, and that wasn't an issue at all.

    I'm not sure how much your itinerary has changed from last year, but in Australia, a highlight there for me was in Kuranda (a stop before Hartley's Crocodile Farm) was a place where we got to hold a Koala! It was awesome and I have to say they had some great places to pick up souveniers, too.

    I'm going to stop cause I could go on and on about the great places you'll visit, but u'll be there experiencing it for urself soon enough!!!

    Enjoy!
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    crackers54crackers54
    I have seen posted there is laundry to leave clothes at in Sydney I plan on having my jeans washed there. Around that time will nd to wash undies and shirts. Figure can do in washer and hang to dry if do it on 1st night there other than that plan on washing some stuff out by hand.

    I have most all laid out just waiting for the packing. I plan on bringing something warm for New Zealand. This week is in the 50's is high a few days and 30's at night. I know it is about 4 weeks before we get there but just incase. I can not wait for the next 2 weeks to go by.

    Just now have to hope and pray for the best spring weather they have ever had. for the 4 weeks we are there.
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