Cruising in Australia

 As I mentioned before, I've been dreaming of Australia. I think it's good for me to have dreams. It keeps me excited about life and gives me something to look forward to. I decided that it would be beneficial for me to put feet to my dreams and start playing around with what it would take to make them come true. I know that once I get down under, I want to spend a few days in my first location, likely Sydney, Australia, then take a cruise that visits multiple ports in Australia and New Zealand, then spend a few days in my last location, likely Auckland, New Zealand. When I was trying to figure out when to go, it made sense to look at the cruises first as they have particular start/end dates that have to be worked around.

 There are a lot of cruise lines and itineraries to compare when you're looking at Australia and New Zealand. What I decided I was looking for was an itinerary that would get me to a few different ports in Australia and a few in New Zealand. That way I figure I've at least got the overview of the area. There are really cool looking cruises that go around just Australia or just New Zealand. There are some that pop into Papua New Guinea and Fiji that look cool too. But, since this is likely the only time I'll get to go to this part of the world, I really want to focus on seeing the things that are most important to me, and that's Australia and New Zealand.

 One of the (many) reasons I love cruising is that you can see some places that you can't any other way. My two best examples of this previously have been Alaska and the Panama Canal. When you cruise the Inside Passage to Alaska, you'll see some of the prettiest scenery there is. You might spot whales or eagles, or maybe even a bear or two! You visit ports like Juneau and Icy Straight that you can't get to any way other than a ship or a small plane. You can't get into Juneau, the capital of Alaska by car! When you visit the Panama Canal, you want to go through it! Yes, there is a strange set of bleachers that you can go to and watch ships go through the canal, but it's a completely different experience to spend an entire day transiting it. Again, this is an experience you can only have on a ship. Turns out, there's something like this in New Zealand and Australia as well! 

 In New Zealand they have a place called Fiordland National Park. It is New Zealand's largest national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The most popular places to visit here are Milford Sound, Dusky Sound and Doubtful Sound. These are misnomers as they aren't actually sounds, but fiords up to 25 miles long. Once I learned about these places I knew they would be incredible places to sail!

 In Australia, cruises typically visit the north coast or south. In the south you get to visit Tasmania! Yep, this is the home of the world-famous Tasmanian Devil! They also have another animal here I've been longing to see, the duck-billed platypus. Tasmania is filled with wildlife areas and fabulous scenery that would be incredible to visit and, you guessed it, you can't drive here either! It's an island 150 mile south of the Australia mainland. 

 Ok, so we've established that I really want to see places in both New Zealand and Australia. The catch is that most of the cruises only visit one or the other. You can take cruises around Australia, or even lots that leave from Australia, but only visit ports in New Zealand. I was only able to find one cruise that goes to both places, and wouldn't you know it, it's put on by Norwegian, my preferred cruise line!

 This cruise embarks in Sydney, Australia, then visits three more ports in Australia, including Burnie, Tasmania. Next it crosses the Tasman Sea (that's something I learned today too) to get to New Zealand where it spends three days cruising Fiordland National Park, hitting all three of the aforementioned misnomered sounds, before stopping in four different New Zealand ports, ending up in Auckland.

 Based on what I learned last week about cruise pricing and timing, I looked up this itinerary and learned that it typically only goes up after introduction, so now would be the time to book for 2027. The catch is, it's not cheap - nothing I want to do ever seems to be! So now I'm talking myself in circles about whether to book or not. I could wait for a future cruise and save up, but what if my health doesn't hold out? Ack!

Here's the Thing: It feels good to have settled what it is I want to do. Now I just have to decide on when.