Hi cejay
I can not do much to help with airline to get here to Australia and New Zealand but if you want any help with Australia I will help you there and New Zealaland we have been there 3 times now and will go back again it is very good to see.

Consider a Round the World ticket - they can work out cheaper than direct flights allowing a short break on the way out or back.

We travelled to New Zealand with Singapore Airlines, via Singapore from Manchester and found them excellent. We paid £690 each, last October. I know they also fly from Singapore to Australia but don't know how easy or cheap it would be to do as you plan, as I didn't look into that. We booked everything on line- were able to choose seats at time of booking - it was all very good. You can go on their web site and put in a few dummy dates to get an idea of what is possible but obviously prices may change.

A colleague at work recently came back after using a round the world ticket to visit New Zealand, also stopping at Singapore, Australia and Los Angeles. I think the ticket cost somewhere in the region of £1200.

New Zealand was brilliant - I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Do you know where you want to visit yet?

Thanks for the replies.
My OH has relatives in Auckland so we'd stay there - that's all I know so far! We'll hire a car too. I need to start the research now!

We spent 3 weeks in NZ in October - a week on the north island and 2 weeks on south island. We hired a car and booked all the accommodation off the web, so if you want any advice, please ask. Some pictures to whet your appetite:

http://www.worldisround.com/articles/317654/index.html

Fantastic piccies MariaH, thanks for that - brought back some wonderful memories.

Cejay8, my piece of advise for what it is worth, is to try and get a stop over somewhere in between here and NZ because the flight is absolutley shattering !!! (Well that's if you're like me and don't sleep a wink on flights), we flew with BA and Quantas, good leg room and good service, stopped in Singapore for a few days on our way out there and then Sydney on our return journey with a 1 hour stop at Bangkok, but the 1 hour stop wasn't long enough, I wish I had booked a couple of nights somewhere just to wind down.
Also, I know you mentioned that you would be staying in Auckland, if you get the chance go to the South Island also, there is so much to do and see and it would be a shame to go all that way and miss out.
It is a beautiful part of the world that I would love to return to, I went 9 years ago in 1998 and am just dying to go back.

Hope you get things sorted and have a wonderful time

One thing to keep in mind is leg room. If you are small, the 31" leg room on B.A. is fine, but anyone average, or above height, on a long haul flight it's just too cramped. It really does make all the difference, and I would'nt consider anything less than 33" for flights to Oz or New Zealand Alan

Air New Zealand have 34" leg room, they fly both the east route with a stop in Hong Kong or west with a stop in Los Angeles.

Thanks, Yes we do need to consider leg room as my OH is 6ft 1. I'll have a look at Air New Zealand - are there any other airlines to look at? or websites?

I believe the Singapore airlines was also 34". You can check if you know the specific airline/aircraft on here and also for the best seats to choose.

http://www.seatguru.com/

I also recommend a stop off en route. We planned to go straight through but due to a flight schedule change, we ended up with some time in Singapore on the way and had a hotel room for a sleep and freshen up as well as some time in Singapore. On the way home we had just 2 hours to change at Singapore and it felt like we'd been flying forever. In hindsight I'd have booked a stop off both ways.

If only New Zealand was nearer, I'd be back like a shot!

the point about BA and 31" legroom is good but if you do a stopover both ways it won't really matter so much. Personally, I am climbing the walls by the time we get Singapore or HK or BKK( as I can't sleep and can;t settle to movies for some reason)- and we have got off at Singapore knowing others were staying on till Perth. I just couldn't do it. If budget is a big thing, consider Bangkok as a stopover- accomodation is a lot less expensive. New Zealand will be great- just don't let it be spoiled by having no stopover

Malaysian Airlines might be worth consideration...34inch seat pitch in economy...KL is also a cheap stopover destination if budget comes into it.

On that length of flight its not so much the amount of legroom as the sheer amount of time spent immobile...you have to get up and move around the plane regularly...and smaller adults are at just as much risk as the taller amongst us, especially if their feet do not comfortably reach the cabin floor when seated.

Sorry to have taken so long to reply about LAX, we've been away We were herded off the plane in the early hours whilst still dark into a small grubby gate next to where the plane stood. On the plane we had to fill in immigration forms(I think that's what they were even though we were just in transit) and then queue up to have our thumbs scanned with lots of officials watching us all the time, that's what it felt like anyway. Our son has Downs Syndrome and the guy shouted at him three times to press harder with his thumb until my husband pressed his thumb down for him. The guy was really nasty to him. We were given tea, coffee or water and crisps and an apple. The gate was really full of passengers and felt hot and overcrowded. We were in there between 11/2 to 2 hours. We were told to prepare to reboard the plane and then about 10 minutes later were told that they were going to board the passengers from LA first so they could free up another gate. It seemed like forever and was not an enjoyable experience.

New Zealand, however was a completely enjoyable experience. We spent 21 nights there, 1 night in a hotel near Christchurch airport, 18 nights in a motorhome and 2 nights in the Sky City Hotel in Auckland. We toured the South Island and then went over to the North Island. Unfortunately we didn't manage to go any further north than Auckland as we just couldn't fit it in.

We loved touring in a motorhome but were disappointed with our particular one which was shabby especially compared to other makes which we saw on site. We hired a 6 berth Maui so that with 3 of us there would be plenty of room and we were disappointed with the size of it. We had other problems with the motorhome also which we have since complained about and it is being looked into at the moment. Mechanically though it did not let us down and we did not let the problems we had spoil our wonderful holiday, though we would not use Maui again ourselves.

Our favourite places were the mountains and lakes on the South Island, Te Anau, The Milford Sound, Queenstown, Arrowtown (a lovely surprise), Whale watching by helicopter in Kaikoura, Picton (clean, tidy and colourful town, more than just a ferry stop-over), the thermal wonderland at Wai-O-Tapu, the best one of the 3 we visited in our opinion and the Sky Tower in Auckland. The weather was great except when we were at Franz Josef and it was so bad there that we didn't get to see the glacier.

We had a fabulous time and I would recommend NZ to anyone

Travelled with Air New Zealand twice, first time was transit in LAX for a couple of hours and encountered no problems but just found it was too long of a journey. Last November we had a stay in LA each way and had a great time doing the rounds visiting Hollywood and Universal Studio's etc but we were really disappointed in LAX facilities thought they'd be a lot more shops, eating places in the terminal.

We are hoping to return to New Zealand in November going via LA on the outward journey and Hong Kong on the return. Has anyone got any comments on Hong Kong?

As for NZ it's an amazing place. We have always toured North Island as we have family there but they are relocating to a place just outside Christchurch so we are really excited about visiting South Island

HI Hamner
have a look at our Far East forum for loads of info on Hong Kong- I can recommend it

I am wondering about transfers from Auckland Airport to the city. I see there is a shuttle bus transfers or failing that a taxi transfers.
Wondering if anyone has taken the shuttle transfer Cost $30 NZ or $50-65 NZ for taxi. views would be appreciated.

Sue

Sue,

We got a taxi from our campervan drop off office (based at the airport) to Auckland city centre at a pre-arranged price of just NZ$25 back in 2006. Traffic was pretty horrendous in Auckland especially having come from areas of NZ where it is normal to see more sheep than cars and I think a shuttle would just add to the journey time with various hotel drop offs etc. Of course if price is an issue, the shuttle is going to be cheaper but for us it was a no brainer due to the reduced taxi cost at the campervan office.

Sorry I can't be of more specific help.

Hi I don't think you can go far wrong with New Zealand Airlines. The prices were excellent and the food was good. (Real cutlery etc). The hostesses were very friendly and helpful. Also the legroom is very good in economy. Plenty of blankets and plenty of food to boot.

You do have a stopover in Los Angeles but there is food whilst plane refuels.

Also seems to be better for jet lag when arriving in NZ from east, if that makes sense.

Just to say that the visit to Auckland was great. I used the minibus transfer from the Airport which dropped me at the Hotel door.

Sue