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  Splendors of Australia & New Zealand • March 2016
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  From February 29 to March 22, 2016 we traveled with Smithsonian Journeys on their Splendors of Australia and New Zealand tour. We toured Turkey with the Smithson in 2012 which is why we choose them for this trip. We did not regret it. The trip was wonderful thanks to Trisha Johnston, our in-country guide, and David Clapp, our Smithsonian Naturalist. The participants of the small tour group were excellent companions. The images on this site are a not quite random documentation of our trip. Timing, schedule, weather, and logistics limited when and where I could take photos. I was not able to take everything we saw and some photos are not ideal. On the whole they do give a good idea of what the trip was like. Click on the following images to view photos and 360° interactive images of the tour.  
  Photos Photos  
Over 400 photos in 13 catagories following the progress of our tour: Cairns; The Great Barrier Reef; Rainforest Train; Alice Springs; Uluru; Sydney; Christchurch; Mount Cook; Milford Sound; Queenstown; Rotorua; and Auckland - plus Opera House patterns.
  Splendors of Australia in 360°  
  Rainforest by Rail
Rainforest Train
Alice Springs and Uluru
Alice Springs and Uluru
Around Sydney
Around Sydney
 
  On March 1 we left Cairns on a train through a tropical rainforest to the village of Kuranda. After taking a short hike in Kuranda we boarded a Skyrail gondola to travel through the treetops back to Cairns. We flew from Cairns to Alice Springs in the Outback on March 3. On March 4, we hiked Standley Chasm and Simpson's Gap before attending a bush dinner deep in the Outback. We toured Uluru (formerly Ayres Rock) and Kata Tjuta on March 5. From the Outback we flew to Sydney on March 6 to spend several days. We toured the city by bus stopping at Featherdale Wildlife Park, The Domain, the harbor entrance, Manly Beach, Bondi Beach, and downtown Sydney. On other days we visited the Harbor Bridge, the Sydney Opera House,  
  Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House

 

Daily Itinerary

Australia on Wikipedia

Smithsonian Journeys

   
  The Sydney Opera House was of special interest so I spent a morning taking panoramas from all sides.      
  Splendors of New Zealand in 360°  
  Mount Cook
Mount Cook and Hooker Valley
Queenstown
Queenstown and Kawarau Bridge
Auckland
Auckland and Mount Victoria
 
  Mount Cook is the tallest mountain in New Zealand. We stayed at The Hermitage with a view of Mount Cook from our balcony. On March 12, I walked the Hooker Valley Trail to Hooker Glacier Lake and back taking a series of panoramas along the way. On March 13 we traveled by bus to Queenstown and stopped at Kawarua Gorge Bridge to watch bungy jumping at the place where it was invented. In Queenstown we took the Skyline Gondola to the top of Bob's Peak to enjoy panoramic views of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu. We arrived for a four day stay in Auckland on March 18. On our first free day we took the ferry to Davenport on the other side of the harbor and walked to the top of Mount Victoria, an old volcano. The next day we walked from our hotel to The Domain and stopped at several points in Albert Park before proceeding to the Wintergarden.  
   

New Zealand on Wikipedia

Smithsonian Journeys AU-NZ

   
 

The map below from the Smithsonian Journeys brochure illustrates the route of our tour.

 
   
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