2021, then 2022, now 2023... possibly! Long Haul to Aus & NZ - Take 5!

[tonymc]

In my previous post (Take 4!), I made the rash statement that "Fingers crossed, the only foreseeable change will be possibly the cancellation of our Sydney-Tokyo flights if we can get seats on the Air New Zealand Auckland-Tokyo flights using VA Flying Club Miles... unless Australia and/or New Zealand have another lockdown next year!"

How foolish ! We have now acquired "additional baggage" in the form of DD, who was travelling around Asia in January and February 2023, and due to fly home just after we left.

There was the possibility that after she returned, she may have been off working in Austria for 12 months, so it all started with a "we'll not have seen her for three months"...

And so, she will now be joining us in New Zealand for part of our trip, and we have amended our itinerary (yet again! ) so that she can have a few days in Sydney as well before returning home.

And so the draft final (hopefully! ) itinerary is now:

Day 1: Fly MAN-DOH-SYD
Day 2: Sydney
Day 3: Sydney
Day 4: Fly to Wellington

Day 5: Wellington
Day 6: Wellington
Day 7 : Northern Explorer train Wellington to Auckland
Day 8: Meet Alex at AKL then drive to Tauranga
Days 9-13: Tauranga (where we have family), with a couple of day trips to nearby places
Day 14: Drive to Auckland via Waitomo Caves
Day 15: Auckland
Day 16: Auckland
Day 17: Auckland
Day 18: Fly to Sydney
Day 19: Sydney
Day 20: Sydney
Day 21: Sydney, Alex returning to UK SYD-DOH-MAN
Day 22: Fly SYD-Tokyo, overnight in Tokyo
Day 23: Fly Tokyo-LHR-MAN (daytime flight)

Fortunately, as most flights were booked using Avios, we have been able to make changes for a small fee. The one possible further change may be that if we can secure Business Class seats back from Sydney to the UK, we would fly overnight.

And as most of our accommodation bookings were in refundable apartments, we have been able to change to 2 bed properties when Alex joins us, so at least we won't be kicking her off a sofa bed in the mornings!

Now it's just fingers crossed that there is no further lockdown in Aus or NZ...