Australia’s Outback to New Zealand’s South Island

Some of my favorite memories were touring the Sydney Opera House, riding a glass bottom boat over the coral reef, petting a kangaroo, visiting Ayers Rock, dining at the Earth Sanctuary and making damper, the Milford Sound boat ride, steamboat ride with the sheep shearing show and dinner and the dinner in the private home. Seeing th landscape from the air and bus was stunningly beautiful. Food and accommodations were better than expected and our tour guide Gavin Kelner was exemplary. We cherish many memories from this beautiful trip.

Would have liked to stay a little longer in a couple of places. New Zealand over all was the best part of the trip even though we almost got snowed in on Mt. Cook. Melbourne has my personal favorite. AC/DC lane was breathtaking to me. Second best would be the Cairns.

We did and saw alot. Lei was excellent. She was always very upbeat and very informative. I wish we had extra time in cairns and Queenstown. Also we did the Fuji extension and it should be so you don't have to get out of room until time to leave for airport. It spoiled the last day there.

Hard to pick the whole rour was excellent. Lei was fantastic and very knowledgeable. Fiji should of been able to stay in room until time to go to airport.

Lia was the greatest tour manager ever! Perfect in every way.

Seeing and experiencing Australia's and New Zealand's culture and iconic landmarks in person cannot compare to seeing them in photographs, no matter how good they are! The natural beauty of the countries and each unique city we visited, the people we met, the delicacies we got introduced to, the culture we got immersed in, were 'unphotographable', but unforgettable.

Overall done well. However, should have has an actual Australian as a guide! He was from NZ and not good in Australia.. Was told by other friends on different Collette tour here that you used an American guide!! shame on you! The people are the strongest part of Aus and we totally missed that completely..only Asians and UK and USA tourists everywhere we went ,,and Asian service staff and guides even in Opera House. and Kiwi tour guide pushed only what HE liked and he preferred NZ. Indigenous talks were wonderful but the trip TOTALLY NEGLECTED any mention of Aus as a penal colony, the Rocks, Capt. Cooks challenges, even guard house was boarded up!! dont like having political pressure of racial equality to totally rewrite history of such a unique beginning for this country. Tour company suddenly cancelled trip to see fairy pinguins in Melbourne..bec of "flight changes" which was total lie...guide told us it was horrible and took 13 hours so good not to go..We booked a tour thru Viator and it was the highlight of our trip..only 1 hour to get there and saw actual wildlife in the wild on the way instead of in zoos as Collette arranged. Also saw Brighton beach on way and other sites and were gone from 11am- 8 pm. No reason to visit Mt. Cook in NZ if not going to arrrange a flight to the actual glaciers...again a scheduling mess up..we drove 8 hours in a bus to just have a buffet dinner at hotel and drive out again next day...no time to book our own flight..seems silly just to say you went to Mt. Cook. Guide agreed and arranged a small hike to a canyon so we at least saw something! Our guide also DID do us a favor by changing times of morning departures from 7-8 am to 10 in several places. This helped a lot. NZ was well done...but dinner with kiwi family in their home turned out to be with a husband from Liverpool Eng and a wife from Capetown SA.. Collette needs to do more work on using locals. Also, the North island would have been a fun contrast to south island. Volcanos, glow worm caves, Moari culture dances would have been a good idea...instead of Christ church and Mt Cook? Fiji was interesting...great excursion on sail boat to private island..fun day with good food and entertainment. HOWEVER PLEASE find another hotel in Fiji!!!! It was on a manmade island made of rocks ONLY! No beach at all...at low tide you could stand on cliff and look down to see fire dancers in water and sand but were never really at an island resort. It also was a mecca for families from Aus and NZ to bring small children...my guess was there was a cheap family plan here....NOT a place for adults to relax at all..There were 1000s of kids under 5 yrs old with their nursery school nannys in day care using every space..day AND night..kids would interrupt dances and join on stage and force dancers to smile and accomodate as they stopped..clearly a resort for families with small children as their bread and butter..so adults pushed off to tiny pool surrounded by noise and activity of children and NO POOL SIDE service for food and drinks....horrible horrible horrible 2 days out of 3...couldnt wait to get back on plane home to relax....START OVER ON FIJI Panning...that whole trip extra was a waste of money. I give AUS a 7, NZ a 8.5, and Fiji a 1.5. I have been to all 3 destinations here 4 times, so I was pleased to see what was included, but disappointed in the actual execution by Collette.

Clare was a perfect tour guide and made a good trip into a great trip and she made everything easy for us!

All the great scenery and getting to go to someone house and sharing a meal and stories. 2 negative comments. One bus driver smelled like he had been drinking and he told dirty jokes while he was driving. A lady that was telling about her heritage said the F word and some other cuss words. Very unprofessional.

Loved it all! The hot air ballooning in the outback was amazing, and New Zealand was absolutely beautiful! I also did the Sydney bridge clinb - great experience.

Clare as our tour guide was absolutely wonderful! She was knowledgeable and so organized! We loved her, and she made our trip so memorable!

Uluru and star gazing in the outback.

Our tour guide cautioned us that the peak of Mt Cook was rarely visible (usually shrouded in clouds), but the sky was clear as we hiked toward it on a late afternoon. We had incredible views hiking beside a stream & across suspension bridges. Back at our hotel, the buffet dinner was delicious. The next morning, we woke up to a 100-ft cloud bank. We were so fortunate on the weather!

This was a very enjoyable, wide-ranging tour that included cities, the Outback, the Great Barrier Reef, rainforest and mountains, as well as an extension to Fiji. Perhaps my favorite place was the southern island of New Zealand, a beautiful location. We were lucky to have a great tour director who made it easy to cover so much area and logistics. My only complaint would be the size of the group (38). It was a little unwieldy at times.

Many but the day at the Reef was enjoyable as we were able to snorkel and back on land got to hold a koala. I loved the opportunity to ride the ferries in Sydney.

Many wonderful new experiences, beautiful scenery, local cuisine, new friends. My favorite activity was riding Patikin, our camel, to see the sunrise in the desert. Fireworks from Sydney Harbor Bridge was incredibly spectacular!

Our time in Queenstown, New Zealand was remarkable. We enjoyed going on the water seeing the waterfalls and the wildlife. In the outback we really enjoyed hearing Barry sing. The cities were wonderful. I’d like having my own time to go to the museums.. it was a once in a lifetime type of tour. I do feel that Colette should have given name tags to everyone which we didn’t have. That would’ve facilitated getting to know people more.

The overall tour was wonderful. One of the additions mainly viewing. The penguins was an excellent addition to the tour, but was not included on the base of the tour. Also, enjoyed another tour addition, namely glass, bottom boat trip toward the great coral reef. The tour guide, namely, Claire Martin was wonderful, and I cannot recommend her highly enough. She has a great fund of knowledge about the various sites and explained them so well.

Our tour manager, Clare Martin, was absolutely amazing. She handled every detail of our tour, had a great sense of humor, and never got frazzled. Clare was also so kind to the hotel staff, bus drivers, airport handlers. Would have liked to have Clare continue on the tour to Figi with us for continuity. The entire trip was great. Our favorite part was New Zealand - so incredibly beautiful - mountains, waterfalls, beautiful landscape. Was good decision to come a day early before the tour started so we could get rested from very long flights. Loved being in Sydney for Australian Day - tons of activities. Hotels were good - only one we would not recommend again is in Uluru - property very nice, but hotel had ants and gap under the door to the outside with note telling us to put towel under door to prevent things getting in. Loved our excursions for penguins, steamboat, and camels. Loved the trip through the outback and seeing truck trains. Would have loved to see a big working cattle station and visiting with the rancher. Royal Flying Doctors was great - could have used a bit more time there. Figi was a great last stop on our trip - allowed us to rest up prior to going back home. We would choose Collette again for a trip.

Collette did a great job! The hotels were all in the best locations, and all but one were fabulous. We loved the hot air ballooning over the Outback, the Great Barrier Reef, and the tour of the Sydney Opera House. The South Island of New Zealand is lush and beautiful. Milford Sound has hundreds of waterfalls & was a highlight of our trip.

I never rate 5 cuz nothing is perfect but, this is close. To much flying. The prepaid dinner are to much food for some of us. No that's it

The tour was incredibly unorganized, lacked significant content and was a huge disappointment for our family. We hadn’t seen each other for 2 years and were severely disappointed by the lack of care & attention on the trip and how slow the pace of the tour was considering we spoke several times before the trip with collette about our needs as an active family. The demographic of the group was staunchly geriatric. Too much free time, horrible communications, being mislead about the service Collette was selling and lack of transparency about said service. Worst value for amount of money spent.

Since the beginning, everything was running late, and nearly every experience that I attended was underwhelming due to the poor organization and timing of everything. Colette primarily operated as a transportation service, and that alone was extremely horrible. The tour expressed a wide range of age groups, but our tour guide assured us that these tours are and always have been 60-80 y/o on average. Feel lied to & the guide was horrible at guiding. Maybe it was a lack of resources as any tour with this many people would usually require two guides. Regardless of that, the timing of everything was always off and there was a huge discrepancy from what we were told we were buying and what we were actually sold. If I could give -3 starts, I would!

I was sold a level 3 high paced activity tour, it was a pre-requisite to take the tour and it ended up being a level 1 where we were waiting most of the time for fellow travelers. 15% of the tour was just a transportation service and the other 85% was free time. Not worth the money charged.

Excellent tour anf thd tour guide was greatest

Wonderful Tour guide and itinerary and great location of hotels.

The tour was rushed. I would have appreciated more time in the outback since that was the unique factor of this tour.

My most memorable experience? I have many! The rainforest , the Great Barrier Reef, the penguins, Uluru, Milford Sound, the Sydney Opera House, the Harbor Bridge, the whole trip!

Saw and did much more than expected.

No fault of Collette but my partner and I both got sick with different things while on the tour (Norovirus and COVID) so we missed most of the tour. However, one disappointment we did experience was at the Great Barrier Reef there were supposed to be prescription masks for snorkeling. I never found them and there weren’t enough employees to help me.

Everything was well planned out and mostly went as planned.

Most of the trip was well planned and my personal favorite part was the Outer Reef Experience and snorkeling.

I was not happy about only being able to spend a single night at Uluru and Mount Cook. Those are two locations that a second night would have been welcomed. I was not comfortable with the bus driver we had in New Zealand. He was very knowledgable and nice, but he was very vocally opinionated about certain races, politics and environmental matters. I was very impressed with Emily the tour manager, especially since this tour was only her second time being a tour manager and this was a very large group. She has a great personality and attitude and she's very well spoken. Emily will do well managing any tour for Collette. I'm so glad we booked this tour, all of our Collette tours have been wonderful and I look forward to booking more tours.

Excellent starts with the Tour Manager - Heather is the best! Good size - under 40. Amazing places, well planned. My third, but not last Collette Tour.

There were several on your own days when if someone didn’t book an extra tour, there was nothing to do. I don’t like shopping.

The tour was wonderful! There are so many favorites it would be hard to pick just one! Loved everything about the tour - except for one disappointment! I was sad that we did not get to actually experience any of the indigenous cultures in Australia or in New Zealand. Very disappointed in not having that experience.

Overall a good tour. One flight in country and our return flight should have been much better.

Cultural dinner with family nd part of my group

I enjoyed my trip to Australia and New Zealand very much. Each country has so much to see and do. I would recommend it to anyone. But do it when you are on the younger side. It is tiring with all the flights. It was a great trip except for one interruption issue.

Heather Larsen, our tour manager did a wonderful job! She was a lot of fun. I loved seeing the the difference between Sydney and Melbourne, experiencing the outback, the rain forest and the Great Barrier Reef. One of my favorite memories is the Little Penguin Parade. In New Zealand, Queenstown was my favorite! The scenery, the water, and the people were wonderful! Milford Sound and the drive there and back to Queenstown were breathtaking! P.S.- I loved going to Hartley's too! Also, the Rainforestation was so neat.

The whole tour was a once in a lifetime adventure.

Would not have been able to see everything we got to see on our own!

All of New Zealand. Sydney opera house, penguin walk, koalas

If we did not sign up for upgraded excursions we felt forgotten. ie 9Great Barrier Reef there were not much for activities. A two minute excursion in a glass bottom boat you could barely see through. A short walking tour of the island with light house, No umbrella or lounge chair. Would of liked to do less bus rides and longer stays in certain areas.

Many great experiences throughout the tour. Cairns, Melboure, Alice Springs (minus the flies), Sydney. Queenstown, Fiji. All Good. Harbor Bridge Climb, Opera House, Penguins, Scenes of New Zealand were great. Food was always very good with variety.

The tour through the southern Alps in New Zealand provided many memorable experiences; majestic mountains with glaciers, cities with wonderful shopping opportunities, restaurants serving delicious and different food, great beaches and the people were very friendly.

I loved all the tours, especially the early morning camel ride. The only downside was the return airline reservations Collette made from LAX to SEA (Fiji passengers). That reservation would have forced us to sit for hours in two airports with a return to the YMCA in Monroe after 1 a.m. on a freezing cold night with no way to get home. I think all or most of us made individual reservations at an extra cost to us. Sad we missed Milford Sound as well, but it couldn't be helped since the road was closed.

Would have given 5 stars but didn't get to Milford Sound, a highlight of the trip. Still waiting for reimbursement.

Any issues we had were previously detailed

Can’t just pick one..every day there was something different

The tour to Australia and New Zealand was great. The visit to Uluru was a highlight.

New Zealand, especially Milford Sound and Mt. Cook were spectacular. Enjoyed Sydney and the Opera House did not disappoint. Location of hotel was close to many of the must see areas (harbor, etc). Very positive. Outback areas were also very special. Disappointed we didn’t get to see the Drum Atweme musical (and there was no replacement offered). Overall tour was very good except for the Fiji hotel construction as mentioned earlier.

Excellent tour guide and several excellent meals.

Sunrise camel ride in the Outback. Champagne sunset gathering overlooking Uluru. Viewing and hiking near Mt. Cook.

Milford Sound, Train excursion and barrier reef.

Just did this on previous screen.

Dinner in the outback and looking at the stars was one of my favorites. Loved Queenstown.

the penguin parade and the outback

Enjoyed the entire trip but loved being able to hold Koala bear and ride a camel. Unique experiences!

Last night dinner cruise in Sydney.

Day on the Great Barrier Reef, experiences in Alice Springs and Uluru, Walter Peak excursion in New Zealand. Learning about the flora and fauna in both countries, and the ecological issues that they are dealing with.

The trip to New Zealand was the best.

March of the penguins. Shopping in Melbourne-it could have been a longer stop at the bazaar. The great barrier reef was overrated-did not see much if you did not swim. The animal experience with the alligator, koalas,kangaroos was good. The breakfasts were excellent. The special meals were overrated. I am not a fancy guy. Most of the meals were overpriced and not that good.

New Zealand was the highlight of our trip. Australia and the Outback was second.

The tour was good, but not excellent. Our tour director was personable and knowledgeable. We did not like the fact that there were no local guides. It is hard for a coach driver to narrate a tour and drive at the same time. The optional excursions were over-priced. More time was needed in Melbourne and Sydney to explore on our own. The fact that a subpar hotel was chosen in Fiji over a 5 star resort was quite disconcerting.

I did no thave one memorable experience but many. That is the reason that Collete is a leader in tour management.

Customer services and some hotels not up to my standards.

Exciting excursion options and a very enjoyable tour overall.

The topography - the landscapes - of Australia and especially, New Zealand - stands out. We had the opportunity to see and experience the best.

Great trip. Seen lots of stuff and the tour guide, Michelle L, was fantastic. Some of the rooms were a little small for 2 people but were nice.

all optional and included experience were well-planned, culturally oriented and fun

Australia was a huge disappointment in regards to cultural experiences

I liked Queensland in NewZealand the best. Lovely small town. Not too crowded. The hotel was 1 block off the water. Lovely town to stroll through.

First professional tour ever so that I have no cost comparisons. From the literature, I know there are both more expensive & less expensive tours. But I believed I got the value I hoped for.

Good variety of things to see and do. One favorite was the star gazing at the outback dinner provided. The couple doing the meal was great - he with a great sense of humor, she was very knowledgeable re: astronomy, and the musician was good as well. Note: it would have been great to know what items are unacceptable to transport as souvenirs. (Should we have known this ourselves?) Had packaged meat and honey that were confiscated at the NZ airport. We would either have not bought them, or consumed them ourselves if we had known.

Milford Sound was extraordinary. Queenstown was delightful. Fiji was everything that I expected.

Outstanding tour manager. We saw a huge amount of country and net some great friends.

The trip was extremely nice and the our guide was very knowledgeable and pleasant. He definitely made this the great experience that it turned out to be. The bus driver in New Zealand was also terrific. The only down side was that the flight home was exceptionally exhausting and I was very fatigued. I then had over an hour and a half drive from the Rochester airport to Lockport, NY. I believe that Collette should have provided some transportation to and from the airport for safety reasons! I would definitely travel with Collette again on future trips!

Saw a lot of the countries we visited. Loved Sydney and Darling Harbor. Highlight was the tour of the Opera House. Fascinating. A true masterpiece. Loved our ride to Milford Sound on a rainy day and saw hundreds of waterfalls that were gorgeous. Queenstown was my favorite city. Beautiful on the lake, quaint town, lovely people. Highlight was taking the boat over to eat at the restaurant and then watch the sheep shearing afterwards. Restaurant was gorgeous, food fantastic. Fiji was wonderful. Beautiful hotel, fantastic people and gorgeous grounds. Alice Springs was a waste of time. Would rather have skipped that town. Would prefer an extra day in Melbourne. The Rendezvous Grand Hotel in Melbourne was not up to par. Needs to be renovated in the rooms. Great location, but would rather stay at a different hotel. Scenic Franz Josef Glacier Hotel was not good at all in the rooms. Everyone was complaining about their rooms. It was like an old dump. The reception area, restaurant and food were all very good.

Great tour and tour manager. Also on the go but got to see a lot

always on schedule, informative

Seeing Milford Sound. The weather was perfect there and for Mt Cook, which I understand was very rare.

Milford Sound was breathtaking.

We had a wonderful tour leader and 2 great drivers who kept the tour running smoothly. I especially enjoyed seeing the stars after our dinner in the Outback-spectacular!

Accomodations were all good, great locations, had outstanding meals. A good overall tour- a little of everything Picture holding Koala and Sunrise Camel ride

Seeing the animals but disappointed not to see kangaroos. I especially liked the Out Back dinner with Tom & Kathy and the star show.

Experienced the March of the penguins. Held a koala. Land rover experience in Lord of the Rings.

The tour was expensive but it was worth the price.

Cairns, Outback, Sydney, Queenstown were my favorites.

Everything was alright but why could some of the side trips been included instead of all the extra expense.

We were busy touring and had no down time

was too much down time....needed to add more tours of different places. We paid the big price...should have included more of other things/places to see.

Penguins Outback cookout /stars All the beautiful scenery Queens town

Wonderful and beautiful countries to tour, excellent tour guide in Dave, and a fun loving group of people to tour with. I don't know how my experience could have been much better. Looking forward to the next experience with Collette.

Great tours and food. Loved the Great Barrier Reef

Tour of lifetime. Saw Australia from rain forest (Cairns), to desert (Ayers Rock and Alice Springs), to Sydney, to penguins in Melbourne. South Island of New Zealand wS spectacular. A few days to rest in Fiji was the icing on the cake.

The facilities and meals were excellent. Everything happened when it should. Things went well in Australia and NewZealand. David Cormier was great. I fell and cut myself in Fiji, and those who are affiliated with Collette in Fiji stepped in and made sure that I was sent to urgent care.Two women guided me through the process, and Francis Fuata made sure that I was properly treated and sent back to the hotel. The damage was largely superficial. He made sure that the local tours I took in Fiji went well. Things went like clockwork on the tour everywhere I went.

well organized and executed.

It was a good trip and the tour guide was excellent.

Experienced some wonderful things that I couldn’t have otherwise. Was great to have everything all planned and scheduled. Loved the camel ride!

Hit everything on my bucket list in Australia, but New Zeeland was spectacular.

Good sights. Great bust drivers. Well organized.

loved tour guide tours were good

Perfect balance of exciting sights and enough downtime to enjoy it. Hotels were very good and had everything we needed!

The lillte penguins on Phillip Island, Aus.

See the various wildlife and geographic diversity

New Zealand! Great tour guide and group of fellow travelers.

Tour was fantastic. Unfortunately there were to many 1 day visits to area's/town's and to many early wakeups

Giving it 4 stars because I would have preferred a more active tour experience. Favorite memorable experience: Australia: Philips Island Little Penguin excursion New Zealand: Milford Sound. NZ is full of natural beauty

Included all I expected on the tour

The tour took us to the places I wanted to see in Australia and New Zealand. We were busy but had time to relax and do things on our own. The tour manager was wonderful and truly "took care of us".

As I said earlier, it would have been better if the tour was a bit slower paced, which could be accomplished by eliminating Melbourne & using the time gained for an add’l day each in Sydney & Christchurch. Move the NZ home visit to some night OTHER THAN the final night! Can’t emphasize that one enough! My favorite experience was the Sydney Opera House tour.

The tour hit the high points for us, and the most memorable were the Australian outback, the city of Sydney, and the south island of New Zealand. Getting up close and personal with Uluru (Ayers Rock), meeting a few aboriginal artists, and experiencing a "bush dinner" were especially fun. New Zealand's south island is simply stunning in its natural beauty and mountainscapes. The only downside was our final few days in Fiji. While a beautiful setting, the heat and humidity were oppressive. The resort was very accommodating and provided nice amenities, including a spacious guest room, but the only respite from the temperature and humidity were our guest room and the retail shops. The water on the "beach", which itself was very pebbly, was very cloudy, brown and unappealing. Because we had already checked out and did not leave for the airport until early evening, the hotel did provide the complimentary use of their spa to shower and change clothes, which we very much appreciated.

So many memorable things, but learning about the Aborigines of the Australian Outback was a real highlight.

Covered all things we wanted to see

Loved the Penguin Parade on Phillips Island.

Great experiences in Australia and beautiful scenery in New Zealand.

It was a complete tour, a taste of the country, made you want to plan a return.

Miggi our tour guide did a great job handling our large group of 44 people through multiple airports and two countries. Travel route for this tour needs to be revamped. Traveling by air over 24 hours with no sleep and starting the first day of the tour with a long day of boating to the Great Barrier Reef is not the best way to start this three week tour. Group was too large for this type of hectic travel itinerary. Too many one night hotel stays in a three week tour. With the limited time in each place and very little non-group time, we were never able to enjoy the interesting places we visited.

New Zealand geography was spectacular.

We loved the coral reef, the outback and the cities of Australia. We especially loved the contact with the aboriginal people and learning about their stories. Uluru was spectacular. A picture does not do it justice. New Zealand was also spectacular. We especially loved Milford Sound and all the waterfalls. Queenstown and all the adventures available made a memorable trip.

There was so much going on every day I cannot pick a specific experience. To me, it was all amazing and memorable. From the scenery to the nature to the explanations given about everything we were doing, it was so much more than I expected. This tour was really the experience of a lifetime. The tour manager was so good when we left I felt like we were leaving a friend. I would recommend this tour to anyone.

All of New Zealand was beautiful.

Very enjoyable, varied experience.

Everything about this tour was WOW, this was a trip of a lifetime

To experience the out back and meet the natives, and also learn their history and experiences, was also an interesting point. Then to travel and see the glaciers, what a contrast, and to see what they have done in the country was great.

carrying my luggage from a/port conveyors and hotel lobbies (after I paid Collette for this service??!!) looking from my hotel window , trying to see the famous mt cook.. and seeing just the brush, bushes. dump.. our rooms were all in the opposite wing in the basement area!!

too much time /whole days pent on travel

It has to be the experience at Uluru just outside Alice Springs. Despite the rain at the rock(which had not had rain in 10 months) we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I enjoyed unique experiences and options available.

This was our first experience with international travel, and it was also our first experience with Collette. We were very happy with all aspects of the tour. There were only a few glitches that were handled very well by our tour manager.

Most aspects of the tour were great! Loved that the Tour Manager took care of everything and I didn’t have to worry about any of the logistics. The one thing that I didn’t like were the one-night stays in many places. With the one-night stays I felt like I didn’t get to experience the town at all. Would loved to have had more time at Mt. Cook and Phillips Island especially. I did feel like we got to experience a lot, and especially enjoyed time spent with the locals, ie., host dinner in NZ, outback dinner in Australia, and the farm visit for tea. Also really enjoyed the optional train ride to Frank Josef and the snow plane option at Mt. Cook.

We had a lot of country to travel in 19 days. Each day felt new and full of adventure. Up until the day to return home I kept saying it can't get better than this, but it did. I loved Alice Springs and Uluru. It was a part of Australia you never see much about. The culture and people were amazing. New Zealand was breathtaking. All the towns we stopped in were extremely friendly and so willing to talk about their home.

Sydney and Ayers Rock were my favorite experiences.

Camel ride and ORV drive thru the mountain and river were a joy. Meals were excellent. NZ sights are unreal....perfect

From the Metro Car, the flights, the places we visited, the things we did and even the options were all well worth this bucket list trip.Besides the tour itself the options well worth considering like our Camel Ride! and the 4 Wheel Drive! and more.

Enjoyed the "little penguins" and everything in New Zealand.

Everything was amazing! Hotels were clean and good quality, included activities, options, the other tour members all made this a trip of a lifetime! My favorite activity was climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I loved the blend of city and outback experiences. Only thing that could have been better was our tour manager. He was knowledgeable and organized and performed the basic requirements of his job, but his personality was sorely lacking. He was very controlling and got irritated when guests asked him to repeat directions or posed questions outside of his prepared agenda for the day. He was actually sarcastic and confrontational at times to some of the guests and to me personally. This is the only reason I'm not giving 5 stars. For the cost of this trip, guests should be able to ask questions at any point on the tour without incident and should never be made to feel like they are annoying. Fortunately the quality of the tour and the amazing experiences we had way overshadowed his shortcomings. Our coach driver in New Zealand more than made up for it with his narration and personal stories. With any other tour manager we would have had a five star experience! I would still travel with Collette again provided I had a different tour manager.

Great options, however, some included stops could have been excluded to provide more time in places that were too short.

I can't really pick one, but the sunset at Uluru, meeting the Aboriginal people,and buying their artwork stands out as an amazing experience. (I can't seem to attach a photo..the link just brings me to my camera)

The tour, and the events included, were everything we had hoped for. Too many locations and events to really single out any particular one to mention.

So many memorable experiences because we saw so much.

excursions we took were good.

It was a good trip, but it did cost way too much for what we got. I really do think you should see if you can get charter flights in Australia. New Zealand was a really pretty country. Fiji was the best part.

*Personal Details removed by Feefo* was an excellent tour guide. The drivers were pretty good. The driver in New Zealand was excellent. I enjoyed the dinner in the Hunt's home in Christchurch. I really enjoyed the Great Barrier Reef! I didn't know all that was below the ocean surface!!I It was a good trip. We didn't have much free time though. It would have been good to know that it was possible to get tickets to an event at the Sydney Opera House before we had purchased "A Night Out in Sydney" excursion. It was the date of the excursion when we found out we could get tickets to the performance and it was too late to cancel. Also in New Zealand at the excursion on the TSS Earnslaw Steamship to Dinner cost $105 per person. For that price, we should have been given at least 1 glass of wine and at least a soft drink for dinner! They were charging extra for them. We had to drink water or pay extra. For that price they should have been included. It was really good to go to extend our trip for the last 4 days to Fiji. I appreciate the late checkout Collette provided for us. That was so nice. Thank you. I did recommend this trip to a friend. She and her husband will be celebrating a milestone anniversary in 2 yrs. She said they are going to start saving for this trip.

Great destinations. Great barrier reef was great

Our favorites on the tour were: petting kangaroos and koalas, Ayers Rock, Great Barrier Reef, Penguin Parade, Journey through Middle Earth and Mt. Cook.

The variety of available activities really made this a great trip. Here are a few of my favorite things: -Seeing an opera in the Sydney Opera house after learning about it on the morning tour was fantastic. We enjoyed having dinner at a cafe on the dock and the view of the bridge and opera house prior to the performance. -Toasting with champagne at Uluru rock at sunset was a treat. -Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef was a highlight too. I never thought I'd be able to do something like that. -The aboriginal led hike through the rain forest in Cairns gave us insight into their way of life.The ruggedness of the trail made it more fun. -The view of Mt. Cook in the The Hermitage hotel was outstanding. -The tea and scones at the NZ farm was a treat and really getting to talk to the farmer after he sheared the sheep was fun. -Dinner with a NZ family on our last night really gave us insight into the way real people live. Our hosts were warm and friendly.

Excellent locations and good experience from Outback to the modern. Too much time was wasted in flying to the same locations over and over again. The tour lay out could be better organized.

Loved the camel ride at Uluru, Sydney, and all of New Zealand scenery.

We love the unexpected, so when in Cairns the fruit bats were very unexpected and enjoyed. The optional tour for the Little Penguins was amazing, Milford Sound was magical.

Getting the opportunity to climb the Sydney Harbor Bridge. That's my kind of getting high.

The Daintree Rain Forest Dreamtime trip and all experiences in the Outback

Overall a very rewarding excursion. Some included attractions were less than stellar.

All aspects of the Tour were Great, would recommend trip to everyone.......

We saw lots of great and interesting things for the time we had

It is difficult to pinpoint to provide your favorite memorable experience, there were many from snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, experiencing Ayers Rock to sailing in Milford Sound. They were all great.

Too many good events to pick a favorite.

This tour included the Outback which was one of the highlights for me. The tour of Sydney Opera house, Rainforest, the Great Barrier Reef, Cook Mountain, Franz Joseph Glacier. Too many experiences. I can honestly say that each day brought something new and exciting. I took advantage of many extras offered and also went along with our tour guide, who walked with those of us who wanted to see it all! She made this trip an absolute joy with her knowledge, attention to all details of our tour, her enthusiasm and her willingness to show us extra sights in whatever free time we had.

We had so many memorable experiences. It was the trip of a lifetime.

The trip was amazing - truly a trip of a lifetime. You could never experience so much of the area on your own. I would recommend Collette Travel to all of my friends

This was a trip of a lifetime. Totally incredible and so much fun! I loved the places we went and the amount of time we spent in each. There was enough free time and time to plan excursions that interested you. I did not like the hours of two of the flights we took (getting up before 5:00 AM - and once at 3:45- is not my idea of good vacation planning. Going to Christchurch to Melbourne was done going through Sidney which resulted in a full day of airports and an arrival at the hotel after 1:00 AM - not acceptable in my book). I saw there was an afternoon flight direct from Melbourne to Christchurch arriving at 6:00PM. I asked months before if I could book that one instead of traveling with the group. The answer was "no". I understand why the answer is no, but think they could do more to make sure that the group does not have such a wretched flight schedule. The same goes for our departure from Christchurch to Sydney. We had to have our bags out at 3:45 AM after a night before at a hosted dinner. That meant we arrived at Sydney at 8:00AM obviously not able to check into our hotel or with anything scheduled for the day until dinner at night. I mentioned this to our Tour Manager on the second or third day of the tour and she assured me that would never be the case. She spoke to me the next morning saying I was correct and she was working to get our Sydney tour on the morning of our arrival (which she was able to do). I just wonder what it would have been like had I not mentioned it to her as early in the tour as I did. This shows poor coordination and thinking through each day of the tour. I am sure they get a better price by having us take a 6:00AM flight, but it did not make for a good day in general. I saw so many wonderful things and did activities I never dreamed of doing (camel ride at sunset, Sydney Bridge climb, zip lining, etc) and i loved the experience. Would DEFINITELY recommend this trip to everyone. It was GREAT!!