Been to both! I'm pretty sure its getting cold right about now. I only spend a short time in Australia so I made sure to make it to the Opera House (been a dream of mine).

As for NZ, depending on where your going and how adventurous you are.... The Tangariro crossing is a lot of fun if your into hiking, Queenstown is great, Milford Sound. All pretty touristy places but still that doesn't mean they aren't worth going to.

I spent 3 months in NZ, kept a travel journal as well; xanga.com/lv16 if you are interested in reading and getting some ideas.

I'm from/live in NZ!!

Best time to go would be NZ summer,so your winter - but anytime between October - March is a pretty good time to travel, although our peak summer is December/Jan. We use degrees celcius so theres not too much point me getting into that as we measure in different systems..but its nice and warm around that time. Our winter (July-ish) is pretty depressing - snow down south (unless you're up for snowboarding), lots of frosts down south as well - whereas in the North Island there is lots of rain. I always leave NZ to get away from winter for a couple of wks!

Basically I'll just start from the North Island going down..Auckland would be where you fly in most likely (unless you're coming from aus) - would recommend spending a few days there, also if you have time Rotorua/Taupo area is really nice and caters for tourists (middle of north island - also a lot of adventure stuff there) There isn't a whole lot to do in Wellington (bottom of north) but we do have our national museum there,and a lot of people say Wellington is the most beautiful city in NZ..(I live here!..lol) but there isn't a whole lot to do considering it is the capital city..not if you're looking for adventure anyway!

 If you have time though would definitely recommend catching the interislander ferry from Wellington - Picton to cross to the South Island (3 hour trip)  - huge ferry, lots of restaurants/bars/entertainment on board and you can take a rental car if you want (just google it to find out more info!). You travel through the Marlborough Sounds which is stunning, to Picton (top of south island). I would recommend going to Kaikoura (just over an hours drive from Picton), another great place for tourists and you have the opportunity to swim with dolphins/whale watching (have done both and would recommend it if you're keen..you can also swim with dolphins in Bay of Islands in North Is.) - also a great place to meet tourists..my brother & I were the only NZers on the dolphin trip! Would only recommend spending a night as it is a small town and not much to do but is a great relaxing place to regroup..

Christchurch (middle of south island) is okay, more stuff to do than Wellington..you can do ski diving and stuff in Chch but you can do that in other, touristy parts of NZ anyway...but another place a lot of people go is Queenstown if you're into adventure stuff or skiing during winter.

Obviously living here I know a lot about it first hand so if you want to know anymore just flick me a message and I'd be happy to point you in the right direction.

I have also travelled extensively around Australia, I loved the Gold Coast the most..have been to pretty much every city though, I'd say NZ is more the place to go for adventure- Australia is more shopping, themeparks and is more similar to the States..but thats just me! However there is definitely a lot more to do in Australia than NZ to keep you busy. Australia and NZ are definitely friendly and extremely easy places to get around and as long as you use common sense you shouldn't run into any trouble.

Hope your planning goes well !

There's nothing to do here.

i live in australia
and currently it's autumn so i wouldn't recommend you coming down here anytime soon
i'd say the better months are from september - february/march, but would recommend november-december or december-january for a really hot summer vacation

in sydney, there's more sight-seeing and better themeparks, not too sure of the weather tho since i dont live there. sydney also has the best beach - bondi beach.

in queensland, it's known for the great barrier reef and the gold coast. those are recommended places if you're coming down to australia for a summer vacation.

i live in melbourne, so i know more about places in melbourne. there are great beaches but bondi (in sydney) would probably be better. there are a lot of tourist sights such as phillip island.

and personally, i find perth, darwin and adelaide boring. =/

Guess the timing was not the best....and for places to visit in Aus and NZ but if you can, try to go somewhere about Fjordland in NZ. I heard it's a fabulous place, maybe dangerous too. The natural beauty is exceedingly attractive.