Escorted tours of Australia and New Zealand

The shortest flight to Australasia from the UK is the only direct route, travelling from London to Perth in Western Australia, which takes around 17 hours. Most flights from the UK to Australia, including those to Sydney and Melbourne, take at least 23 hours with a stop en route (often in Singapore, or other parts of the Middle East and South East Asia).

There are no direct flights from the UK to New Zealand, so you’ll need to stop at least once en route, but can travel via Asia or North America. Flights take a minimum of 25 hours, depending how long your stopover is, with options to break the journey in various locations in the Middle East, South-East Asia, Japan or in Los Angeles.

All our trips to Australia and New Zealand are escorted tours, some of which also include a cruise with all meals, and with options to visit both countries or focus on a single destination.

There’s the chance to theme your trip to Australasia around the astonishing wildlife and natural wonders, explore cities, relax on beaches, get active or to take an unforgettable rail journey.

Whatever tour you choose, Saga includes our nationwide return shared chauffeur service, to pick you up from home or another address, and take you back after your trip finishes. We also offer optional travel insurance, plus all escorted tours have an expert tour manager to make sure everything runs smoothly, alongside tour guides to ensure you see the best of your destination.

Australasia includes Australia and New Zealand, although it’s sometimes considered to include parts of Melanesia (such as New Guinea) and some parts of Polynesia.

No, Australasia is considered a subregion of Oceania, which includes 14 separate countries. Australia and New Zealand are among the largest of these, but Oceania also includes Papua New Guinea and the other islands of Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia, such as Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. It also includes a string of dependencies and other territories such as American Samoa, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Guam, New Caledonia, Niue, the Northern Mariana Islands, Tokelau and Wallis & Futuna.

In general, the best time to visit both Australia and New Zealand is during spring (September to November) and autumn (March to May) when the weather is usually pleasant without being too hot or cold, and without the biggest crowds.

However, the best month to visit Australia or New Zealand does also depend on what you’re planning to visit during your trip. Australia’s weather tends to be hotter than New Zealand, so if you’re heading to Tropical North Queensland and Brisbane, or to the Outback, the winter months of June to August can be far more pleasant with lower humidity and temperatures in the low to mid 20Cs. The dry season, from May to October, is also the best time to explore the Great Barrier Reef. New Zealand sees lower temperatures year-round, but also more rain on the west coast of the South Island particularly, so May and June can be good months to avoid the wettest weather here. If you do visit Queenstown in winter, you can expect snow and subzero temperatures, with the ski season running from June to October.

The closest points between Australia and New Zealand are around 926 miles apart, stretching from the Tasman Island lighthouse in Tasmania and the Resolution Island lighthouse in New Zealand’s Fiordland. The closest point between the two mainlands, excluding Tasmania, is around 1,022 miles.

As Australia stretches for around 2,500 miles from east to west, there are often long distances between destinations in the two countries – it’s around 3,300 miles between Perth and Auckland, for example, or around 2,500 miles from Cairns to Queenstown as the crow flies.

The ocean between Australia and New Zealand is actually the Tasman Sea, part of the South Pacific Ocean. Named for Dutch Explorer Abel Tasman, who was the first known person to cross it in 1642, the sea measures around 1,200 miles across and about 1,700 miles from north to south.

The weather conditions mean it’s renowned as being one of the roughest and windiest seas on the planet.

Absolutely. With travel to New Zealand and Australia taking so long, many people make the most of the opportunity to explore both countries in one holiday while they’re in Australasia. As the two countries are around 1,000 miles apart, even at their closest point (around the same distance as London to Warsaw) and Australia is such a vast country, it does take some planning to be able to visit both in a single trip though.

An escorted tour to Australia and New Zealand can be the easiest way to travel to both countries, with flight connections and transport arranged by a knowledgeable tour operator for a hassle-free holiday. You may also need to focus on fewer highlights of both countries, unless you have a long time to spend exploring.

If you’re hoping to visit both New Zealand and Australia, it’s best to allow a month or more to explore – it’s easy to spend a month travelling through either Australia or New Zealand alone, let along trying to see both in a single trip. Bear in mind that you’ll need to allow at least a day at either end to fly around the world, as well as allowing enough time to cover some of the distances involved in travelling through both countries.

Our tour, the Best of Australia and New Zealand takes 40 days, including New Zealand’s North and South Islands, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef. For a shorter option, our 30-day Natural Wonders of New Zealand and Australia Cruise and Tour also stops in Tasmania, but has less time in Australia.

There are lots of similarities between Australia and New Zealand, with some shared culture and their comparatively close locations, not to mention world-class wine in both countries, epic rail trips and unforgettable wildlife.

However, you’ll quickly discover that each country has its own particular temptations and unique experiences. Australia’s cities are one of the big highlights, along with the incomparable Great Barrier Reef, the chance to explore the Outback and the country’s sun-kissed beaches. However, New Zealand has some truly spectacular scenery and some more active experiences to enjoy, as well as an often more temperate climate. Both have plenty to tempt, so if you’re trying to decide whether to take a holiday in Australia or New Zealand, we’ve come up with the pros and cons of both countries to help you make up your mind.

Both New Zealand and Australia use the same plug type, which is plug type I. This plug has three flat pins in a V-shaped or triangular pattern. The two countries also operate on 230V supply voltage and 50Hz.

No, there are three main time zones in Australia and one in New Zealand but they don’t overlap. Australia’s three time zones are eight hours ahead of GMT for Australian Western Standard Time (AWST) including Western Australia, nine and a half hours ahead of GMT for Australian Central Standard Time (ACST) for South Australia, Northern Territory and part of New South Wales, and 10 hours ahead of GMT for Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) for Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Tasmania.

New Zealand is 12 hours ahead of GMT, with one time zone for both the North and South Islands. Both countries observe daylight savings, although this is only the case for part of Australia, where the states of New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria, along with the Australian Capital Territory (plus Jervis Bay Territory and Norfolk Island) put clocks forward one hour on the first Sunday in October, putting them back again on the first Sunday in April. New Zealand puts its clocks forward one hour on the last Sunday in September, but also puts them back on the first Sunday in April.