We’re visiting Australia/NZ around New Year’s and it’s our first time. We can only afford 10 days off from work to visit.
We were thinking of doing 5 days in Sydney and 5 days in the South NZ Island, but now I’m wondering if we should do all 10 days in Australia.
Apart from Sydney, we were thinking Melbourne and/or Brisbane.
Would you recommend Brisbane/Melbourne over New Zealand?
Contributor 
11,704 posts
51 reviews 
18 helpful votes Good grief NO don’t split that time between the two countries spend the full 10 days in either country. With 10 days you will only have time to really visit two locations in Australia.
One problem you are going to have is that the time of your visit is absolute peak holiday time and both airfares and accommodation is likely to be expensive.
Another issue is that you will need visas for either Australia and New Zealand if you haven’t organised those already you need to do it now whilst most visas are issued quickly there can be delays.
Once you have decided what you want to do and give us an idea of your interests and a draft itinerary we can help you with that. 🤠
Contributor
11,704 posts
51 reviews
18 helpful votes Give us something to base our recommendations on?
All you've done is list some cities in 2 different countries. All I can say to that is you waste more time on an international flight than a local flight so that's a negative in such a short timeframe.
Please explain "around New Year's". Is that a large part of your reason for travelling, do you want to enjoy the celebration and have the budget to do it? Also where does it fit within your 10 days, beginning, end, middle, flexible?
Around NYE - do you want to be in Sydney for the NYE fireworks (peak peak holiday time and needs early booking) ?
And your interests - cities, museums, wildlife, walks ?????
Contributor
17,636 posts
214 reviews
107 helpful votes Another vote for spending 10 days in the one country. If you try to do both you will only have 9 days and in our summer holidays, it will be more difficult with transport and accommodation as well as higher costs.
Contributor
21,521 posts
70 reviews
30 helpful votes As much as I love recommending Brisbane, if you are looking at January, be prepared for Florida like humidity (but not cyclones).
Our art galleries and museums are beautifully air conditioned and mostly free, so there is that!
Five days each in Sydney and Brisbane / Sunshine Coast would work well, but you will need to book well ahead for all Accom except Brisbane, where you will like,y score a bargain as it is low season in the city due to summer hols.
You could also find a cricket match to watch as something a bit different - the T-20’s are a lot of fun.
Cheers.
If you can only afford 10 days off work, does that mean you only have 8 days on the grpund after factoring international flying time or are the 10 days what you have after allowing for getting there and back?
Either way, pick one country and destinations. What makes Australia unique is not its cities so why only cities? Are you city folk not interesting seeiing outside of them? tell us more to get appropriate recommendations. If you want to do NYE in Sydney, start looking for accomodation now. Expect rates to be very very high and minimum night stays of 5 nights.
Agree: Choose one country. More information from you would be useful - for example the dates you are considering.
Australia is bigger than you think & will require flights & time to travel intra and interstate.
Australia – size map: https://www.virtualoceania.net/australia/maps/how-big-is-australia.shtml
You will need Visas. Here is the link for Australia: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-finder. Do not leave it until the last minute to apply. Now would be good.
New Zealand naturally has its own Visa requirements.
