The Wonders of Australia with New Zealand & Cook Islands: is a 53-day tour really worth £17,929?
It's the most expensive holiday we list by some distance — and, per day, one of the best value. Here's our full verdict on Travelsphere's grand slam.
- ATOL & ABTA protected packages
- Internal flights & transfers arranged
- Escorted, multi-centre or private
- Departures into 2028
- Low deposits · pay in instalments
Our verdict
A genuinely extraordinary itinerary that circles the whole of Australia, covers both New Zealand islands and finishes on a Cook Islands beach. The price is enormous and the pace is relentless in places — but at £338 a day including flights, hotels and most of the headline experiences, the maths is better than it first appears.
In this review
What £17,929 actually buys
Long-haul escorted touring is notoriously hard to price-compare, so it's worth being concrete. The headline figure covers return flights from your chosen UK airport, 45 nights in hotels, two nights in the air, every internal flight across three countries, all coach and ferry transport, 34 meals, and a Travelsphere Holiday Director for the full 53 days.
It also covers the experiences most people would book separately and pay a premium for: the Great Barrier Reef catamaran cruise, sunset and sunrise at Uluru, the Yellow Water Lagoon cruise in Kakadu, Katherine Gorge, the TranzAlpine railway across the Southern Alps, a Milford Sound cruise with lunch on board, and a traditional Tamaki hāngi feast in Rotorua.
Divide it out and you land at roughly £338 per person per day, flights included. For context, a fortnight in a mid-range Mediterranean hotel routinely works out at £150–£200 a day without any excursions at all — and you aren't crossing the planet to get there.
The itinerary, honestly assessed
The Australian leg is the strongest part. Starting in Perth is unusual and it pays off: you get Western Australia, Kangaroo Island and the Great Ocean Road, none of which appear on the shorter Highlights itineraries. Fifteen days in you reach Sydney, and the trip has already delivered more variety than most three-week Australia holidays manage in total.
The Red Centre and Top End section — Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Alice Springs, Kakadu, Katherine — is where the escorted format earns its keep. These are long distances on remote roads with timed experiences that reward being in the right place at 5am, and organising it independently is a genuine project.
The New Zealand half is comprehensive but faster. Several stops are single nights, and days 38 to 44 move quickly: ferry, train, glacier, Queenstown, Milford, glow worms. It's spectacular, but if you're the sort of traveller who likes to settle into a place, this is the stretch that will frustrate you.
The Cook Islands finale is, we think, the smartest piece of itinerary design here. After seven weeks of early starts, four nights doing nothing at Manuia Beach Resort is not an indulgence — it's what stops you arriving home more tired than when you left.
How the value compares
This is the most useful thing we can tell you, because the sticker price invites the wrong comparison. Against the other tours on this site, the per-day figures look like this: the 22-day Highlights of Australia works out at £366 a day, the 48-day Wonders without the Cook Islands at £324, and this trip at £338.
In other words, the longest, most comprehensive itinerary is not the most expensive per day. The extra £2,370 over the 48-day version buys five nights in the Cook Islands including flights and accommodation — which would cost considerably more than that booked independently as a standalone Pacific stopover.
Where it becomes poor value is if you don't use it. If you'd skip the New Zealand section, or you'd rather spend the beach week somewhere closer to home, you are paying a lot for itinerary you don't want.
Where you'll actually be sleeping
Travelsphere's 3 and 4-star properties are consistently well-located rather than luxurious, which is the correct trade-off on a tour like this — you'll be out most of the day and the walk back matters more than the thread count.
Highlights include the Desert Gardens Hotel at Uluru, one of very few properties inside the national park resort, and the Novotel Sydney City Centre. The tented accommodation is confined to other itineraries, not this one — here you're in hotels throughout, which is worth knowing if the Outback camping on the Travelodeal trips puts you off.
Pros and cons
What we like
- Circles the entire Australian continent — Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, the Red Centre, the Top End, the reef and Brisbane
- A complete two-island New Zealand tour bolted on, including the TranzAlpine and Milford Sound with lunch
- Four nights in Rarotonga at the end, when you will genuinely need them
- Every internal flight, transfer, ferry and rail journey is booked for you — a logistical nightmare handled
- £338 per day all-in is cheaper than most two-week package holidays work out at
- 34 meals and a Holiday Director throughout, so daily costs stay predictable
- Escorted format makes it one of the easiest 53-day trips a solo traveller can do
What to watch
- £17,929 is a life-savings sum, and the deposit-to-balance timeline needs planning
- Fifty-three days is a serious commitment — most working people can't take it without unpaid leave
- Hotels are 3 and 4-star: comfortable and central, but this is not a luxury product at a luxury price
- Some single-night stops in New Zealand mean a lot of packing and unpacking
- Only 2 dinners are included across nearly eight weeks — budget properly for evening meals
- Optional excursions (Bridge Climb, Hobbiton, helicopter flights) add up quickly if you say yes to everything
Who it's for — and who should look elsewhere
✓ A good fit if you're…
- Retired or semi-retired travellers with time as well as money
- Anyone treating this as a once-in-a-lifetime trip rather than one holiday among many
- Solo travellers who'd rather not tackle Australia alone
- People who want New Zealand done properly, not as a three-day add-on
✗ Probably not if you…
- Anyone with less than seven weeks available — the 48 and 45-day versions exist for a reason
- Travellers who want luxury hotels and private guiding
- Anyone who dislikes group travel or fixed schedules
- Families with school-age children — the length makes it impractical
The verdict
If you have the time and the money, this is the most complete Australasian itinerary sold in the UK — and the per-day maths is far kinder than the headline suggests.
Check live dates & prices on Travelsphere → See the full itinerary
Three alternatives worth comparing
No single itinerary suits everyone. If this one isn't quite right, these are the trips we'd look at next.
The Wonders of Australia with New Zealand
Same Australian circuit and the same full New Zealand tour, minus the Cook Islands week. Saves £2,370 and five days.
48 days · from £15,559 · full details
Highlights of Australia with New Zealand & Cook Islands
Keeps the Cook Islands finale and New Zealand, but skips Perth, Adelaide and Kangaroo Island. Eight days shorter, £2,160 cheaper.
45 days · from £15,769 · full details
Highlights of Australia
If the budget won't stretch, this covers Australia's icons in 22 days from £8,049 — less than half the price.
22 days · from £8,049 · full details · read our review
Before you fly
Sort the practical bits early
Airport parking
On a four-week trip, airport parking is one of the biggest add-on costs of the whole holiday — and one of the few that gets cheaper the earlier you book.
Airport hotels
Long-haul to Australia usually means an early or awkward departure. A night at the terminal beforehand turns a 3am start into a lie-in.
Airport lounges
Before a 20-hour flight, three hours of quiet, free food and a proper seat is worth considerably more than it costs.
Travel insurance
Non-negotiable on a trip this long and this far away. Check the medical cover limits and that your full trip length and any activities are included.
eSIM data — £2.50 off
Skip the roaming charges. An Airalo eSIM gives you data the moment you land, and our referral link takes £2.50 off your first one.
Parking, hotels, lounges and insurance are booked through Holiday Extras; eSIMs through Airalo, using our referral link (you get £2.50 off, we get credit too). Both are commercial links — see our disclosure.
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