Travel plans/times in New Zealand and Australia

Just started my search for air travel for my adventure to Australia and New Zealand.
Considering:
-A travel window of late January to either June or July
-Want to spend almost equal time in each country (Jan to April; April to June or July)
-Want to scuba dive in the great barrier for a bit of time not in the rainy season
-Plan on seeing as much of the east coast Oz as possible (Melboure to great barrier)
-Plan on seeing as much of NZ as to include Queenstown to Auckland maybe via campervan
-Any other suggestions for good time and travel

-Which order of countries is best?

For instance Auckland in January to queenstown in April (or queenstown to Auckland April) and Melboure April to Great barrier June (or vis versa)?

Just trying to get things set up to have the best possible adventure. Thanks everyone.

Hey there,
That sounds fantastic. My reccommendation would be to travel Australia first in late Jan so you get the nice weather. Although it may be hot up top - which would be great for snorkelling - it ensures you will get good weather closer to Melbourne too. My other reason for suggesting this would be that you would then be able to visit New Zealand in the snow season (around June) so you can get the best of both worlds! Definately visit Airlie Beach in Australia - from there you can take boats to various islands - The Whitsundays - including Daydream Island, Hamilton Island, Hayman Island, Hook Island, Lindeman Island, Long Island and South Molle. Im not sure which of these you can stay at overnight but day trips are possible if not. Australia is generally quite a safe place to travel - particularly down the east coast and as far as I have experienced our public transport is good. Hope this helps you!
If you have a chance it would be great if you could check out the thread I posted today about my travel plans in the US!
Thanks
bertie.d

Hmm, it depends on whether you're a snow person or sun person really! January in Queenstown would be its busiest time of year, which may make accommodation hard to book (and means lotsa families and children), but means great summer weather on the other hand to enjoy all the adventure sports on offer. However, Queenstown is also THE spot for skiing, having 3 different ski fields in the area, so you may want to save it for July....

VIC is Australia's ski state, so if you do like winter sports, the Melbourne area could be at the tail end of your journey too. I'd recommend you think about the activities you'd like to do and sites you'd like to see, then plan the itinerary around that I know both NZ and Aussie quite well, so if you have any more questions feel free to PM me!

December through March is the wet season in north Australia. You don't want to be further north than Brisbane during that time.

New Zealand benefits a lot from sunny days, which are far more plentiful during its summer (January/February). Of course, the South Island is most gorgeous during (good days in) winter, with the Southern Alps all gloriously covered with fresh snow - and autumn in the southeast of the South Island also is a sight to behold... So really, there's no bad time to be in New Zealand, but there is a bad time to be in Australia, which I'd let guide your itinerary.

So, January - April for New Zealand, going from Auckland (plus Bay of Islands) to Tongariro National Park (you wouldn't want to try the Tongariro Crossing later than April, so another benefit) to Wellington to the glaciers to Queenstown to Lake Tekapo to Christchurch. That way you miss the absolute busiest time on the South Island, but still benefit from the good weather.
And then April - July for Australia, going from Melbourne (plus Great Ocean Road and Tasmania) to Sydney to Brisbane to Cairns. That way you still have decent weather in Melbourne (it gets frightfully cold in the winter there), while further north the weather is always good (when it isn't the wet season, at least).

If you have the money to splurge (or have a return ticket via New Zealand, so need to return there anyway!), I would try fitting in one or two more weeks of South Island way at the end of your trip in July Just the Christchurch - Lake Tekapo - Queenstown bit. That way you can also get to see the absolute best of the snowy mountains.

I generally am either a sun or snow person, I have had rain more than half the year every year since I have been alive so I can do without any of that on this trip. I do love the snow and snow activities (skiing and possibly snowmobiling depending on money). The main things I know I want to do so far are:
-Spend a couple weeks in Queenstown NZ (planning to do as many adventure sports as possible. Helicopter ride, bungy, whitewater rafting, jetboat tour, skydiving, pargliding, etc)
-Spend a couple weeks in gold coast surfers paradise
-See as many cool animals as possible
-Get scuba certified and spend some time diving the great barrier
-Scuba other good sites around NZ and OZ
-See the best nature sites possible
-Meet people doing the same thing I am
-Spend time in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns (just for GBreef), Auckland, Christchurch, maybe Wellington
-See some cool little towns
-buy a Campervan somewhere

Anyway, I don't know if that helps people suggest things to do and times to do them but with all this reasearch I am getting too excited haha

Hi Jones, I would go with bertie's advice on the weather. But, be sure to set things right before you reach there, as there would be many tourists around that time and you need to check out the accommodation facilities.On a opinion of traveling there,I would recommend a trip to Sydney as then you would get a chance to check out the Blue Mountains and the Hunter Valleys. My cousin had been there and his experience was just amazing. You could also have go on a whale watching tour to enjoy the wild oceanic side.

[ Edit: Sorry, no promos please. ]