[Barrett's Last Privateer]

Philuva,

Hope you get some good responses from Aus/NZ OOTers, but may I offer you a few suggestions:

NZ - The north part of the South Island of NZ is about the most beautiful place I have ever been. The scenery on the NW corner of the South Island is just awesome. I can also highly recommend the wineries you'll find in the region (I'm thinking Blenheim may be the local city) - Lots of great cool climate whites (Sav Blanc etc). Some of the more famous labels (at least in this part of the world) such as Cloudy Bay, Oyster Bay and Montana may be bordering on the too commercial, but the wine is great, and should be pretty good value with a USD exchange rate.

The other great thing I did in NZ, and it would have been in Jan or Feb, was sea kayaking on Milford Sound (near bottom of south island). I was staying in Queenstown and flew to Milford Sound (takes all day to drive but the flight is like 20 minutes because of the mountains, and flying over them was cool). I had a perfect day for it, clear skies, clear water etc. - it was a great expereince. Being in kayaks rather than the tourist boats gave us more freedom to get close to the animals (sharks, seals birds etc), and at one stage we had dolphins swimming past us and bumping into the kayaks - simply awesome.

Queenstown's obviously a good spot for bungee too.

In Victoria (where Melbourne is), one word - golf. The Mornington Pensinsula, about 90 mins south east of Melb has some of the best courses in Australia, and some really affordable ones too. Cape Shank and The Dunes are two I'd recommend. The Australian Open was just played at Moonah Links - I haven't played there for years but it wasn't too expensive when I did, it's a b*tch of the wind is blowing.

Also some really nice Pinot's from the Mornington Pensinula, Stonier and especially Paringa Estate should be on the list.

Other option from Melbourne is the Great Ocean Road (south west) - beautiful scenic drive, probably want to allow a couple of days to not be rushed.

In Melbourne drink Mountain Goat beer. The brewery is in Richmond but it's on tap in lots of places. It's yummy. You won't need a car unless you're leaving Melbourne, the trams and trains are fine. Richmond and Chapel St/South Yarra are potential shopping venues for your wife. I agree that China Town in Melbourne is great.

In Sydney I hear the Harobour Bridge climb is really good (though I haven't done it), I'd recommend a ferry from Circular Quay to Manly on a nice day, you'll get great views of the city in both directions, and can enjoy a few refreshing ales in Manly, which has a really different feel to the middle of the city.

Sonewhere in Australia drink James Squire Golden Ale. It is a great beer.

From Sydney the Hunter Valley is an obvious choice for the wine buff, too many good ones to name.

I don't really know QLD all that well, I spent a week in Cairns once and did bungee and snorkelling, but I don't think this is the best time of the year for it, there are some really poisonous jelly fish in QLD over the southern summer.

Hope some of this is useful and you have a great trip.

BLP