7-Day Sydney Vacation for Seniors: Opera to Blue Mountains

Thanks to the amazing, perfectly planned Australia and New Zealand vacation itinerary provided by Zicasso's travel agency, and specifically the travel agent and her wonderful colleagues, this was the perfect vacation. We were well taken care of and flights were planned within the countries, with someone always greeting us at the next stop to move us through to our next adventure.  

We were always busy and saw the most wonderful things... a sunset dinner cruise on Sydney harbor, the march of the penguins at Phillip Island (she arranged for us to have a front-row seat!), snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, and touring the rainforest with an Aboriginal guide was very interesting! She arranged for many tours and activities, like a jet boat ride up the Dart River, a helicopter ride onto a glacier, and a TranzAlpine train ride in New Zealand. We also had a first-time-ever encounter with a pod of orca while on a boat tour in New Zealand. The whole trip was an unforgettable experience!

We wished we had taken the travel agent's advice and stayed longer. There was so much to see. We packed a lot into our four short weeks thanks to them. We highly recommend using them to plan your Australia and New Zealand itinerary.

Zicasso's tour planner did a superb job for us. She collaborated with us on working out our itinerary and had useful information on how to combine our desired destinations efficiently.

While we were in Australia, she was available via the company's app, including helping us on a late evening when our flight from Sydney to Hobart was canceled because of a cyclone and we needed a short-notice hotel in Sydney.

The travel specialist at Zicasso's tour company gave us a selection of different types of tours for Sydney, Melbourne, and Hobart. Each tour had different levels of activities for us to select from, allowing us to create an itinerary based on our interests.

We had a couple of minor hiccups that were handled with a phone call. We would highly recommend this travel company.

After a cancelled flight by Qantas and a two-day delay, we made it to Australia. Overall, the vacation was very nice. Our only real complaint was our hotel in Darwin. The hotel had seen better days, and the temperature in the hotel was very cold. After Darwin, the hotels and B&B were very nice. I highly recommend the Ghan Expedition train ride from Darwin to Adelaide.

Overall, it was a very pleasant and enjoyable trip. Thanks to the great travel itinerary built by Zicasso’s tour operator, we experienced the best of the best in Australia. We loved the experiences in all three cities, Melbourne, Cairns, Sydney! We really appreciated the detailed arrangements, with impeccable care, experiences, and thoughts.

Zicasso’s trip planner did an excellent job. Communication and the quality of the experiences were everything we'd expected and more, especially in New Zealand. The accommodations were first rate; the highlight was the lodge in Queenstown. The guides and drivers were professional and knowledgeable, especially those in Queenstown and Auckland. We loved the dedicated website for reference, as well as the detailed booklet and maps for both countries. 

For future itineraries, I would add another day in Queenstown and a full day in Christchurch. If days were limited, I would recommend one less day in Auckland and/or skipping the drive/train from Franz Josef. 

The only complication was the day we spent 10 hours going to and coming from Milford Sound.  I recommend doing Milford Sound by plane/helicopter from Queenstown, which would also permit seeing the glaciers/southern alps from the air. The only things we missed were the zoo in Auckland and the Blue Mountain day tour in Sydney. Next trip!