Need the advice of those that have been there.

I have a family of 5 - 2 sons and I hunt, wife and daughter like to "hang out and site see".

What would you recommend as a family hunt/site seeing trip to NZ or Australia? I have been to both countries, like everything I see/saw and did. My family has not been there but heard me brag about the beaches, mountains and people of both countries. I have 10 days and an adequate budget. We do not like "roughing it" - sleeping in tents on the ground etc. We like to meet fun people and have a good time. Record heads are not required, just fun hunting.

Sounds like what is needed is a sabre-toothed field mouse hunt in the "Botanical Gardens"

Mr. B.A. Wallace,
Your suggestion is too dangerous for us Okies. Need something a little more tame, unless you are using Aussie ebonics and I don't know what you are talking about.

My 2 cents would be pig shooting up around Cairns.Light plane into the Gulf for some pigs,put the family up around Port Douglas or one of those nice little Islands-Orpheus Is?

Chasing pigs is hard to beat for shear fun.

Trying not to be too parochial here! NZ is easier to get around in a short time and try different species. I would suggest the lower South Island in gamebird season. Quail and duckshooting, perhaps go for a pig hunt, wallaby, rabbits, spotlight for possums, and of course red deer, thar and chamois. Any number of outfitters could help you out. Try a p.m. to TrackersNZ, who operates out of Methven. The ladies have Queenstown and Mt Cook to check out nearby, also the TranzAlpine train through Arthurs Pass.
Tom

Got to agree . Australia has great beaches but is such a big place that travel will take up lots of your time .

NZ on the other hand , is much more compact , and you dont have to drive for a week between scenic attractions .We also have a big variety of accessable game animals all year round .

What you do will depend on your budget, time of year and how long you want to spend doing it . Some of our safari type hunting operations have pretty fancy accomodation so you dont have to rough it in a tent .

Feed us some more information and some more suggestions will surely follow .

If you get totally desperate the Qlders can take you Western Action Shooting down-under style ....

Yeah Yeah nobody gets kilt


Or in New Zealand

BAW: That ain't a Kiwi fence, no battens on it!

Donton ,
You're right ! I noticed that the Kiwis cut down every tree on the North island to build 10km of fence (and probably took ten years to do it). Never heard of ringlock .

whatever you do, I can recommend chasing some pigs. If you're a drinker, half a gutful of rum while watching "Razorback", and then go dogging for pigs at night.
Guaranteed to get the adrenaline going!

I was there as a guest of the SAS about 12-13 years ago, so my experience can hardly be called typical. I'd fish for barramundi off the Kimberleys, then shoot scrub bulls, buff, camels and hogs in the desert. Okie John.

The Kimberleys are in Western Oz,loooong way to travel.
Barra can be found in Queensland-East Coast.
HTH

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:

What would you recommend as a family hunt/site seeing trip to NZ or Australia? I have been to both countries, like everything I see/saw and did. My family has not been there but heard me brag about the beaches, mountains and people of both countries. I have 10 days and an adequate budget. We do not like "roughing it" - sleeping in tents on the ground etc.

10 days is not a long time at all. I would pick one main area and do it properly. As you do not want to rough it and have an adequate budget I would pick a good outfitter.

For me I would choose to chase water buffalo and Top End pigs for around 7 to 8 days. A decent buff trophy for each of your hunters on a 3 x 1 basis. Then off for a few days Top End boar hunting. Great stuff.

Banteng could be another addition to the hunted game.

Then drop into Kakadu / Yellow Waters for some sightseeing, Adelaide River for Jumping crocodiles - ever see a full sized saltwater crocodile jump two-thirds way out of the water!, and other Top End attractions.

If your wife and daughter aren't interested in hunting or being in camp, but there may be things to keep them happy anyway, they could do extended sghtseeing trips like visiting Central Australia - Ayers Rock (Uluru), the Olgas, Kings Canyon etc. Fly down there. Its simple and safe in Austalia for travel.

Alternatively getting to the Top End one goes through either Darwin or Cairns. Cairns of course is the door step to the Great Barrier Reef. Great beaches, fishing, great resorts, swimming pools, tropical forests, excursions, shopping. Enough to keep two girls well busy there for a week to ten days. You could join them for a few days.

Much better than sitting in the deary rain and mud of little quaint Kiwiland

Dontcha love PAROCHIALISM ?

One good piece of advice from the be-whiskered South Australian that applies where ever you go - pick one area and do it properly .

And incidently - it hasnt rained here for at least half an hour , the mud is almost firm again , and that has to be better than those bloody aussie flies and the dust ...

quote:

PAROCHIALISM ?

Isn't that a suburb of Auckland, right next to the Greek enclave of Xenophobia?

Nothing wrong with Xenaphobia - its what those of use infatuated with Xena the Warrior Princess all suffer from.....heaving bosoms encased in real leather - and thats just the fanclub...

You havent been to NZ for a while John-boy , or you would know that the Greeks live in Wellington...

"Phobia" is a fear, so it must be a fear of big bouncing bosoms encased in leather.

I understand Kiwis do prefer natural wool not leather.

Calm down John - you arent in the Karl Baiting forum now , lose the agrression man or you will have a heart attack....

You too would feel fear as those bouncing bosums got closer and started beating you about the face , but then you live in a big enough fantasy world anyway so you likely can appreciate such things already ...

Hey Muzza haven't bothered to visit the "Karl"
mania tread for a while. When I am bored enough ......

In the meantime, leather or wool encased bosoms are nice whether in Kiwiland or Aust, or USA for that matter.

***

To get back on topic ....


Dogcat

Tell us what you are interested in. You have had some solid suggestions and some jibberish posts but what is your interest? Australia (and little Kiwiland) is a big place so ten days needs to be localised. We can't give you a run down on the whole continent. Some feedback please.

THanks for the input everyone. We are torn between the ideas put forward by NitroX and the Kiwi contingent.

My sons like to hunt anything. Would you recommend tahr/chamois/stag/opossums in NZ or go to Aus for buff/boar/whatever. The barrier reef sounds great and my wife and daughter may like that the best of all.

Nitrox- what do you like to do?

hmm... put it this way, since the wife and Duaghter like to hang out and sightsee, and you and the boys want to hunt, It would make sense to go somewhere that has the two diffrent trip itineries in close proximity?

NZ is more compact, your wife and daughter can sit in comfort at a cafe before browsing a museum less than half an hour from where you are blasting poor defenceless animals, and while they're a theatre at night you can be out blastign possums not far away

theres no need to leave the wife and Daughter in a big city and fly out to the back of beyond to hunt here

Dogcat

I like to hunt it all. You need to decide for yourself. There's a lot of info on the net.

Hi Dogcat
We live in the central North Island of New Zealand and run a hunting business for overseas hunters. We're interested in offering what you are looking for and would be delighted to offer sightseeing for your non hunting family - you can visit us at www.bigskynz.com