For my third EF trip, I chose the Australia and New Zealand Adventure in July 2017. Like with my Europe trip, I chose to travel on my own before I met up with the group in Melbourne, AU.
Now, like my other trips, this one was incredible, but I do have a few notes before I get into the awesomeness, and they mainly concern the itinerary. On my past EF trips, I felt the schedule really did make the most of the time and hit the places it needed to hit. For this trip however, I felt we spent too much time doing beach like activities on the coast of Australia when we could have been exploring the Outback or spending more time in New Zealand. That's why I went early, to go to the Outback region and see Uluru. And that being said, EF was very helpful when organizing my earlier flights. In addition, some of beach time was taken up with activities that were listed as optional excursions (a cruise of Whitsunday Island and a rainforest tour), but if you didn't do them you were basically stuck in a small, albeit nice, beach town by yourself for the day. That didn't sit right with me. The excursions were super fun, but not overall necessary.
Anyway, that aside, the trip was a blast. I had an incredible group and a tour director who went out of her way to organize activities we would like (like time at Billabong Sanctuary and a tour of Hobbiton). And the trip truly was an adventure. It wasn't like Europe, where you go for the museums and the architecture and the history. And it wasn't like Japan/China, with its immense culture shock. On this trip, I snorkeled in the Great Barrier Reef, climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge, went surfing, ziplined through the mountains of Queenstown, and jumped off a building in Auckland. That's not to say I didn't experience history through learning about the Aboriginal people at Uluru or the Maori people in New Zealand, but the vibe was different than the Europe or Japan/China trip. But the people were still incredibly nice and welcoming, and I would definitely like to explore more of these amazing countries.
A few things:
1. Yes, it was winter there since it is the summer hemisphere. However, north Australia is still quite warm, whereas Melbourne and Sydney where mild, and New Zealand was downright cold. Pack accordingly.
2. I don't know why it was such a surprise to me, but the Asian food there is great.
Overall, another fantastic adventure!
