Reason 3: see Australia, too, while you are here

Many people living in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly those who don’t know a lot about New Zealand, have a long-standing dream to visit Australia.

Well, the good news for you is, many flights to New Zealand (particularly those from Asia) stop in Sydney or another Australian port on the way.

Australia is the largest island or the smallest continent in the world – depending upon who you ask – and it holds a myriad of wonders. Keep in mind that Australia is about the same size as the USA, and you won’t see it all in a week. It takes much longer to fly from Sydney to Perth than it does to fly from Sydney to Auckland (Sydney to Perth is 4,078km).

Having said that, if you dream of seeing Australia, why not stop for a week on the way back. You may even like to take a few internal flights to see more than one place.

Sydney

Sydney is the largest city in Australia, and home to as many people as New Zealand has in the whole country! A bustling city with some beautiful sights, Sydney is worth a few days. Stroll around Darling Harbour, shopping or visiting the Chinese Friendship Gardens. Wander around inner city beaches. Take a ferry cruise, and stop off at Sydney Zoo – home to such Australian wonders as the koala, duck-billed platypus, kangaroo, wallaby, and pretty much anything poisonous that lives (after all, 16 of the world’s 20 most venomous snakes live in Australia, and none in New Zealand).

Melbourne, 872km from Sydney

Melbourne is a beautiful city of cafés and nineteenth century architecture (hey – that’s old for our part of the world!). Melbourne has a very flat central business district, and the main form of transport is the tram. It has plentiful well-priced restaurants and some great shopping.

Brisbane, 1001km from Sydney

Brisbane is a small city of about one million people with a small town feel. It is most noted as the way to get to two of Australia’s most famous beach destinations – the Gold Coast 100km to the south, and the Sunshine Coast 100km to the north. The Gold Coast has a number of famous theme parks, including Dreamworld, Warner Bros Movie World, Sea World and Wet’n’Wild. On the way to the Sunshine Coast, you pass through Beerwah, where you find the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo.

Other famous destinations

In the north of Queensland, 2,495km from Sydney and 1,261km from Brisbane is Cairns. In the Northern Territory, 4,034km from Sydney and 1,944km from Brisbane is Darwin. Uluru, commonly known as Ayers Rock, is 2,875km from Sydney, 2,309km from Melbourne, or 1,715km from Brisbane. As we said – Australia is big!

And the Taekwon-Do!

Master Daher of ITF Australia plans to host a major international tournament soon after the World Championships in 2011, so visitors from afar get the benefit of two major tournaments for their journey, not just one!