headed to Australia, NZ and Fiji with 3 young kids - help!

Gold Coast is beaches, parties etc - long way to go just for that. A week in NZ will just madden you as you will be able to see two destinations at most. Fiji is nice but hardly worth it for 3 days.

as your kids are too young to be bothered about scenery and certainly won't enjoy long drives, I think this needs a LOT of further research.

wildlife is Australia - Tasmania and the Victorian hills are good for that. For NZ, consider basing yourself in Queenstown or Wanaka, or maybe go via Auckland and then visit the Coromandel and Rotorua. But PLEASE give NZ longer than a week.

What time of year are you planning on coming? The Gold Coast is really commercial, kind of like Miami. Don't worry you will have a great time with your family, Australians have a very similar sense of humour to Canadians.

Hi

At the Gold Coast I would recommend the following - Sea World, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, hang out at the Burleigh Heads beach & take a walk through the small national park there. On the way to Brisbane stop off at Movie World. If you have the time, go to the North Coast (1 hour North of Brisbane) - visit Underwater World, Noosa. It's much quieter than the GC & the beaches are nicer. In Brisbane go to South Bank & the Museum. I'm from Brisbane (though live in Dubai), have 5 children & my kids liked all of things mentioed above. Hope you enjoy your trip.

Cheers
Glen

Hi,

Glenharris has suggested some great ways to entertain the kids.

I wouldn't worry about the partying side of the Gold Coast. You have young kids and no doubt will be tucked back in your accommodation well before the active night life begins. (We found this when we travelled with child to Pattaya).

I haven't travelled to NZ but father has. With only a week choose to travel either the North or South Island - just do one.

Is Fiji a stop on the way? If not maybe incorporate a different destination for 3 days.

Happy travels

Hi there what time of year are you planning on travelling? I am a mum of 3 from nz. Though spent many years I n aus. I would recommend queensland for wildlife and beaches and fun parks particularly around noosa. And brisbane. Melbourne has fantastic culture.. Amazingly much of it is child friendly... Bike on st Kildas beach, trams, Melbourne gardens have a water play area and children,s garden. Nz is equally beautiful... Beaches north of Auckland are incredible with great walks (doable with kids) to tane mahuta which is a massive kauri tree, walk around mount maunganui spectacular views one of nz's great day walks and travel on to rotorua where your kids will be wowed by the thermal wonderland and there is a great place called kerosene creek where you can swim for free in a heated river. Then if time go to South Island.
Why are you wanting to go to Fiji? If to relax then you can do that much easier by not going and hanging out on a beach in Oz/nz for 3 days. Any other questions willing to help.

thanks everyone!!
these ideas are great and I will make a note of all! we are going in march.
interesting that going to Fiji is questioned...
we don't have to go, I just figured that while we are there and it is so close,
we would hop over! maybe not worth it??
thanks again to everyone

The Sunshine Coast might be better with smaller kids.

Fiji is 3 hours from NZ, 4 from Sydney. I know by your standards that is 'close' but it will still take a day out of your tight itinerary each way.

don't forget jabs and insect repellent.

Hi keljo

We’ve got 3 kids ourselves so I know what you’re going through trying to plan a holiday (ours are only slightly younger than yours). Fwiw, re Brisbane:

If you have your heart set on GC – I’d suggest looking at staying at Paradise resort on Gold Coast – great kids club and amenities for kids but extremely popular so book early. March should find you with still reasonably good weather although the temp does drop suddenly in April so perhaps aim for early March to come to Brisbane. That would help you avoid school holidays as well when prices are high and it’s busy.
Glenharris has covered things to do quite well. There are plenty of parks around GC area – my sons all love Seaworld (6, 3.5 and 2 years old). Note that a lot of the rides in places like Dreamworld, Movieworld, Wet n wild etc have a minimum height of 120cm so your 4 year old may not be able to go on them – just something to keep in mind if you want to do ‘rides’ etc
Currumbin wildlife sanctuary is great for little ones too.

Also, if you get a chance to, hire a car and drive up the coast – Underwater world is one of my sons favourites as is Australia Zoo up the coast. I also prefer the sunshine coast beaches to the gold coast ones but I think that’s just a personal preference.
Brisbane itself – Southbank is great, trip up the river on the ferry, New Farm park visit – there is an absolutely awesome playground there!
I would consider going to other places as well – North Queensland (Port Douglas/Cairns/Withsundays and do a reef cruise), Sydney or Melbourne if you have time. Like PP mentioned, Melbourne is really good for kids – we have taken our three down to St Kilda and stayed in serviced apartments there on the beach. Melbourne Aquarium and an AFL game at the MCG are faves with our boys (for something different). Sydney ahs Taronga Zoo, Harbour Bridge which you can climb, Opera house, Manly and Bondi beaches.
You could easily fill 2.5 weeks in Australia – just depends on exactly what you want to do.

As for NZ – we have been but not since having kids. I would recommend doing south island and I would recommend drive holiday – a campervan might be a good option for you with the kids. We really loved Christchurch , Franz Joseph Glacier and Milford Sound. A week isn’t a lot so you may need to do some internal flights rather than drive around.

Fiji – We’re just looking at taking our three across. Accommodation for 5 peoples isn’t all that easy to find without getting two interconnecting rooms, so you have to book early to miss out. We’re looking at spending 3 nights at the Denerau Marina in Sheraton Villa, and then 4 nights on one of the islands (Malolo or Castaway at this stage but subject to cost). Alternatively, you could stay somewhere on the Coral Coast. Outrigger seems to be popular and have kids club and very child friendly. Note that beaches around there are generally coral sand so pack sand shoes/surf shoes for the kids and plenty of insect repellant.
Also keep in mind that Fiji wet season is Dec to March/April so maybe leave this as the last part of your trip… Also as PP mentioned, you will lose a bit in travel time getting there so if you don’t want that, you could look at flying to Whitsundays from GC/Brisbane and staying there for a few days instead.

HTH