Almost 9 months ago, I announced on the blog that my family was planning our first “big” international trip to New Zealand and Australia (on miles!) for this coming summer. Well, believe it or not, my husband and I have managed to keep this trip a secret from our kids until now!
We didn’t intend to wait this long to tell them about the trip. I knew we should wait until after our January cruise to tell them, but shortly after that we had some uncertainty that put the trip in jeopardy. But now that we were past that, we were finally ready let our kids know where we would be spending two weeks of our summer.
April Fool’s Joke
I have a tradition of putting on a little fanfare when we tell our kids about a big trip. In the past, I’ve let them know about upcoming vacations with scavenger hunts, puzzles and special themed dinners like this one for our Star Wars cruise.
While I was waiting for a few things to arrive from Amazon for the big reveal, I couldn’t help but play a joke on my kids on April 1. I printed up a fake vacation itinerary and let them “accidentally” believe they found it. It was hard for me to dream up a vacation that I thought my kids wouldn’t like.
Our fake vacation had us walking for two weeks across the prairies of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. We would be walking at least 10 miles a day, lugging around our camping gear.
One of my kids was grumpy about it. Two of my kids were surprisingly ok with my odd choice and asked more practical questions, like “Where will we sleep? How will we get water? What happens if there’s a tornado?” But, I think they were all relieved when I told them it was an April Fool’s Day joke. They would have to wait just a few more days for the final reveal.
The Big Reveal
For the real reveal, I hung a poster with photos of places we will visit.
I laid out a New Zealand flag on the table, along with a lamb and a koala bear. I had ordered some Australian snacks from Amazon (I couldn’t find any treats that were specific to New Zealand), so I laid those out on the table.
The music coming from the room speaker was “Down Under” by Men at Work.
The kids guessed Australia right away, but they had trouble guessing the other country. England? Scotland? Ireland? We instructed them to use the globe to find the country that is closest to Australia. Finally, they got it!
My kids were shocked that we were going to Australia. My son has been wanting to go there for a long time. They are familiar with some locations and landmarks in Australia, but they really hadn’t heard much of anything about New Zealand. It doesn’t get as much press as Australia.
We tried all of the snacks from down under. The Tim Tams were a huge hit, and the Violet Crumble was the runner up. And of course, we had to try Vegemite. We used it sparingly on buttered toast. I thought it wasn’t too bad. One of my kids wouldn’t try it, one spit it out and one liked it. I think it’s an acquired taste.
Finalizing Bookings for the Big Trip
I had already booked flights to Australia, flights home from Auckland, a hotel in Sydney, a farmstay in New Zealand and a few nights at a campground near the beach. But, I still had a few pieces missing.
Flights: We needed to book flights from Sydney to Auckland for the middle of our trip. Earlier this year, my husband and I both applied for Citi Premier cards. I used 58,000 ThankYou points to book nonstop flights for the five of us on Virgin Australia.
Hotel: Since we are arriving in Auckland later in the day and a blog reader who lives in New Zealand advised us not to drive at night, we decided to stay in Auckland for a night before hitting the road the next day. I booked two interconnecting rooms at the Heartland Hotel Auckland Airport through the Capital One Venture link at Hotels.com (earns 10X points).
Rental Car: I used Kayak.com to search for a rental car. I ended up booking Alamo through Expedia. We have a mid-size SUV for 11 days for $251. We will use my husband’s CSR to pay at the counter to get the best rental car insurance coverage.
Over the next few weeks, I plan to book a few tours that will likely sell out in advance.
I’m so glad this trip is all coming together!
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Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
They sell Tim Tams at Target now!
@Talchinsky Oh yeah! For now I’m just going to let my kids believe they are only available in Australia. 🙂
Enjoy your trip! My wife and I just returned from Australia and it was fantastic. Good choice on picking up the Tim Tams. Make sure you try the dark chocolate ones when you get down under!
@Nicholas I’m glad to hear you had a fantastic time in Australia. Dark chocolate Tim Tams? I’m on it!
Yay! I’m glad your kids are excited about the trip!
What’s this about not driving in New Zealand at night? I’m planning on going in December and I eas planning on driving at night there.
@Anonymous In our case, when we land in New Zealand it will be our first time driving on the left side of the road since we are taking public transportation in Sydney. Since it’s winter there, it will get dark around 6 p.m. We are already nervous about driving on the left, so with it getting dark and having to drive 3 hours on hilly roads to get to the farm, we’re following the advice of sticking to daytime driving, at least for the first few days. In December, you will have more hours of sunlight.
I did not like driving at night in NZ because there were lots of very narrow curvy roads and you miss all the scenery. I’m talking long-distance country driving. You could do it if you needed to I’m sure, just wasn’t my preference. And would depend on your comfort level and location etc.
Congrats on the trip! I am very jealous! I hope you all have a wonderful time.
But that April Fools joke… I didn’t think I could love this blog any more than I do, but apparently I was wrong. Nancy that prank is epic! LOL!
@projectx I might have just created a new April Fool’s Day tradition for my family! I might be able to get away with it for one more year.
How fun!! I’d be really questioning your planning if you were combining strictly Australia and Ireland! XD
I would have also been the geography geek kid pointing out how crazy that sort of itinerary would be.
@Ian Ha! My kids are not familiar at all with New Zealand. The flag threw them off because of the Union Jack in the corner.
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