Thread: First time to New Zealand and Australia...help!?

Welcome aboard luvs2travel.
Loads of Australia info on the board (do a quick search) plus Al, the Australia correspondent, has an excellent travel article Al's article. You can also post questions to Al in his correspondent's thread. BTW, since you mentioned wanting to hold a koala bear, I guess I should mention Al thinks he's a cute koala bear (see his correspondent's photo), even though he wayyyy too tall.

Keep'em flying

Featherdale Wildlife Park in Sydney is a good place to head for to do the Koala holding bit, as well as being able to see most of our unique fauna examples "on display". The afternoon is best - avoids the busloads of Japanese and other tourists that tend to go there in the mornings. A day trip out to the Blue Mountains in the morning, followed by Featherdale in the afternoon is a nice way to kill a day.

As for the rest of it, your wishlist is a bit generalised. Are you non-revving down here? NZ run a nonstop flight into CHC once or twice weekly and it's usually easy enough to get onboard. Failing that there are 2 or 3 nightly services to AKL from LAX as a back-up. November weather will be warm, ranging from a dry heat to humid in Sydney. Trans-Tasman flights are plentiful and usually cheap if you plan ahead and don't want to do the non-rev lotto.
Emirates, Aerolineas Argentinas, Air Tahiti Nui, LAN, Air NZ, Qantas, Freedom, Pacific Blue and probably a couple of others all fly across the Tasman frequently. EK in particular are known for offering very good deals and they fly from both CHC and AKL back to Oz. Flights to SYD are the most prolific, but if you can get one to MEL it's easier for you in your routing.

Britz usually have some sort of deal or other avilable for campervan rentals - another to look for online would be Maui.
Depends on how much time you have on the South Island, but a visit to Queenstown and then Milford Sound is a good starter.

Don't worry too much about non-revving between MEL & SYD - while not quite the halycon days of 109 daily flights between the two when AN was around, there are still something like 80+ daily flights offered between Qantas, VirginBlue and Jetstar and there are always one way fares around for AUD50-80 if you are flexible and plan ahead.
SYD and MEL centre city accom is not cheap, but deals/bargains can be found. If there are three of you, you may well find it to be far more cost effective (and comfortable) to look at one of the apartment style hotels. 1 or 2 bedroomed apartment with full facilities like Kitchen, appliances etc. There's a list in the article Mig mentioned previously.

If you are non-revving be aware that the first week of December is the last days of low season airfares here - can get busy with families heading out for family Christmases in far flung locations at the cheap rates. November generally is heaven for non-revvers out of Oz.

PacificBlue and Jetstar are both offering fares at just over NZD100.00 one way on their websites at the moment for CHC to Oz flights. That's how good it can be for you and really makes the uncertainty of non-rev a tad superfluous.
You would need a whole day set aside to drive between AKL-CHC with most of that spent on the ferry crossing between North & South Islands.
Perhaps check out how good the LAX-CHC flights are looking for nonrev first - I believe CHC is always easier to get on than AKL.
Driving from MEL-SYD is an option - the quick way is via the Hume Freeway which runs inland, although it's fairly boring being a double laned freeway all the way. Of course you can get off and explore local areas on the way through. The coastal run is quite nice, but takes a lot longer & is probably best done over 2 days rather than push it.

Then again, you have very limited time here so it depends on what you want to really see and get done in the time available.

Well despite HNL being one of the top 5 nonrev black holes around the world, the nonrev Gods must be smiling on you.
Checked the loads today for Nov 17th HNL-SYD on AC33 and I'd be prepared to put my, ummm, hmmm, camcorder, on the line to categorically state you will NOT have a problem nonrevving on that flight, that day out of HNL. The 18th & 19th, forget it. 17th for some reason is smoooooth.

As for pacificblue.com.au they are still offering NZD119.00 one way (plus taxes) from CHC-SYD. Once the taxes are added on you are looking at close to NZD190.00 though. AUD189.00 in the other direction (or as a return when your journey starts in Oz) DOES include all taxes. (Local law here requires advertised prices to include taxes). Without the taxes, that AUD189.00 would be about AUD100.00/110.00 or USD75.00-ish.
NZ, QF, DJ and JQ all offer one way mix and match airfares across the Tasman, so often you will get the best deal using 2 one ways from the different carriers.

Is HNL really that bad ? My girlfriend and me are thinking of Norway – Japan – HNL – Australia in April / May. The catch is that I have to bring her on a Star Travel Partner ticket. That means UA NRT – HNL and AC HNL – SYD… No backup, except for the same way back to NRT and then via BKK and KUL to SYD. (Of course we are in no rush )

Is HNL really as bad as BKK – Europe? And just to be curies.. What are the other routs/airports on your top 5 black holes list?

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Vegar

Okay Al, we've been been through this before, you're just still bitter from that 'Japanese-only shopping-night' last time you were in Honolulu! You don't have to ruin someone else's trip just because you're still bitter.

I might (just might - no promises) be back in HNL in January. I'll be happy to show you the real Hawai'i. Maybe that will renew your faith in humanity.