If all that comes to mind when you think about Australia and New Zealand are kiwis, kangaroos, kookaburras and Crocodile Dundee, it may be time to plan your first trip Down Under. We've found some intriguing package trips, one based on "The Amazing Race," one focusing on Maori Legends, and the last centering on Sydney.
New Zealand's Amazing Race
Following on the heels of the critically acclaimed CBS show, "The Amazing Race," the folks at Outdoor Travel Adventures (877/682-5433; www.otadventures.com) have created a package that lets you create your own "amazing race" following a course inspired by the show on New Zealand's North Island.
You fly into Auckland from Los Angeles and go to the Waitomo Caves for a 350-foot abseil drop, then drive to Rotorua where you shoot Grade 4 rapids for a mile before dropping off of Okere Falls (23 feet). (This is called water sledging or hydrospeeding.) Then you roll down a hill in a plastic ball before moving to Wellington to test a slalom course in a Mercedes Benz. After a 31-mile biking course, you return to Auckland for a three-hour ATV safari, then jump from the Auckland Bridge on a bungee cord. All this for just $1699 per person and up in a ten-day package that also includes a ten-day car rental and all local taxes. Hotel lodging is additional.
Maori Legends
If you're intrigued by anthropology, you'll find little that's more fascinating than a visit with the Maori people of New Zealand. New Zealand Travel Inc. (215/741-5155; www.newzealandtravel.org), based in Pennsylvania, has a splendid ten-day North Island self-drive package called "Walking Through Maori Myth, Legend & History," in which you can explore the roots of indigenous New Zealand from NZ $3150 per person (about US $2083). The price includes roundtrip airfare from Los Angeles or San Francisco to Auckland, a ten-day car rental, airport transfers and all local taxes. Hotel lodging is additional.
You will drive yourself from Auckland, which calls itself the "largest Polynesian city in the world," to Gisborne, then head inland for Whirinaki Forest Park for a full day hike with Maori guides. You also take in New Plymouth and the Bay of Islands, a collection of 1244 atolls, where you'll see the oldest marae (meeting house) in North Island. You end up at Cape Reinga, where, it is said, "the departed souls of Maori leap off into the seas and return to Hawaiki, whence they came."
Sydney Special
Go Today has a slick package to introduce you to Australia's largest city (and its most fascinating). If you purchase by October 19, 2004, you can fly from now through October 24, 2004, from just $1099. The price includes a five-night stay at the Boulevard Hotel, hotel taxes, and service charges. The $1099 is from many cities in California and Reno, Yuma or Phoenix, but add-ons from $60 to $180 pretty much cover cities across the US. Contact the sponsor at www.gotoday.com or call 425/487-9632 (for an extra $25 charge if you book on the phone).
Note that in none of the air-inclusive prices mentioned above are airport taxes and security fees included.