Bula!
Ever dreamt of exploring the stunning landscapes of Australia, New Zealand and Fiji without draining your savings? We did too and with points & miles, our family was able to spend 3 weeks exploring beautiful caves & beaches, feeding kangaroos, and hiking through rain forests.
How did we do it? Let’s break it down…
Flights:
Los Angeles – Fiji – Auckland
- We booked one-way flights from Los Angeles to Auckland with a free stopover in Fiji using Alaska Air miles.
- We spent 40,000 points/person + $52.40 (the cash price could have been cheaper, but we paid to select our seats ahead of time b/c we were traveling with young kids).
- TOTAL cost to fly to BOTH Fiji and Auckland for 4 people: 160,000 miles + $192.00
Auckland to Sydney:
- Since this flight was smaller and relatively inexpensive, we opted to pay cash instead of using points.
- We paid $418.41/ticket, spending $1,673.64 TOTAL. Totally doable with points, but we decided to save them for a different trip this time around.
Sydney to Los Angeles:
- We booked a Qantas flight using Alaska Air miles from Sydney to Los Angeles for 4 people for 42,500 points/person +$71 cash. Again – the cash price could have been less but with young kids, we paid to make sure our seats were next to one another (which we only regretted one time).
- TOTAL COST: 170,000 Alaska Airline points + $284.40 cash.
If we had opted to pay cash for those flights it would have cost us $9,472.80 to fly in economy! NO THANK YOU!
Also, I couldn’t find a free stop over on the way to Auckland that was bookable with cash. We would have had to fly to Brisbane on the way to Auckland and hit Fiji on the way back from Sydney.
Here’s what the cash price for flights looked like when I booked – crazy, right? This is the magic of points & miles.
Accommodation:
Fiji:
Our first hotel in Fiji was INCREDIBLE! We stayed at the Nanuku resort. At the time, it was a member of World of Hyatt, but unfortunately they’ve since ended their partnership with Hyatt. We stayed for 2 nights and paid cash because we couldn’t redeem points during the dates we were there. It was worth every penny though… stunning resort, amazing spa (I had the best massage possibly ever here) and we didn’t mind paying cash b/c we were earning World of Hyatt rewards. ALSO – we learned the hard way once that if you don’t spend the first few days just relaxing and getting used to the time change – the kids turn into gremlins. We thought the cash price of this hotel was WORTH IT to avoid that again.
New Zealand:
Next, we flew to Auckland and stayed at the Park Hyatt for 4 days. We spent 76,000 points and $0 and we all loved this hotel. Gorgeous room and view, wonderful location, and the nicest staff ever. My youngest fell, cut her head, and needed stitches and the hotel manager drove to the hospital in front of us so we wouldn’t have to navigate our own way there. Seriously above and beyond! We are so grateful to them and would absolutely stay again.
From Auckland we road tripped to Lake Taupo, Wellington, Hawke’s Bay & Rotorua before we worked our way back to Auckland again.
We chose to pay cash for some off-the-beaten-path hotels along the way, but we did circle back to the Park Hyatt in Auckland again for that last night before jumping on a plane to Sydney.
Sydney:
We kept it simple and stayed at the Hyatt Regency Sydney for our entire 5 days here.
We spend 125,000 Chase points and $0 for a standard room for 6 days/5 nights.
The hotel isn’t as luxurious as the Park Hyatt, but our aim was to make our points stretch. Plus, we weren’t spending much time in the hotel =).
Favorite Activities:
Fiji:
Beach and pool time. We spent 2 days here and just relaxed. The girls were angels. It was heaven.
New Zealand:
New Zealand does not disappoint when it comes to activities, and we did a LOT! Favorites include:
Auckland:
The Sky Tower in Auckland + hiking to the top of Mount Eden.
Matamata
Hobbiton. Even if you’re not a Lord of the Rings fan, the set is incredibly beautiful. There’s fun to be had for all ages here.
Seriously though, once she got past this hurdle, we all had a blast. Except for maybe later… when she got stung by a wasp.
Taupō
Hiking Huka Falls. We didn’t make it to the actual waterfall due to the young people we had in tow, but the path to get there is stunning and the hike itself isn’t strenuous. What a wonderful way to explore nature.
Wellington
Weta Workshop of course. Our kids were too young to do the tour, so we just took them to the entryway to see what the shop had to offer.
We also enjoyed a nature walk at Zealandia and putzed around town, looking at the shops.
Rotorua
The geothermal waters + Whakarewarewa: The Living Māori Village. Such a beautiful place!
I made the mistake of nudging my husband to go up on stage to learn a Haka War Dance – which he continued to do for every photo afterwards.
Before we knew it, we were off to Sydney!
Sydney
Top 5 Experiences:
Sydney Opera House
We skipped the tour and opted to people watch outside, which was highly entertaining. PLUS our kids were hangry and I didn’t want to hear them test the acoustics inside. I already know they’re stellar.
The Sydney Zoo
I was amazed at how close you could get to some of the animals.
Featherdale Wildlife Park
Then we went here and upon check-in they asked us if we wanted to FEED THE KANGAROOS! I was gobsmacked. Had NO idea we could do that. What a total dream come true! Absolute highlight for both adults and kids.
Scenic World
Spent time walking through the rainforest, looking at the 3 sisters and Katoomba Falls. Gorgeous place!
Hot tip though: The bottom rainforest (that you take a cable car to get to) doesn’t have a potty so it’s probably best not to get a coffee and then venture down to the forest. You’ll regret it.
Bondi Beach
The sand here is so soft it’s almost supernatural. It surprised us all. Great place to enjoy a family beach day.
Three weeks, three incredible destinations, and countless memories – all made possible by points and miles. This adventure not only highlights the beautiful destinations but also the amazing value you can gain from loyalty programs. We chose to pay for more of this trip than we typically would, but with the right planning, you can absolutely stretch those points and miles to cover more than we did.
Have you started collecting YOUR points yet?
