New Zealand

[jamesnan]

We are contemplating visiting New Zealand in 2012, possibly for 3 weeks or so, and wondered if anyone had any advice, information on must see places, or comments which could help us to get the best out of the experience. What would be the best time of year to go? Would it be better to hire a camper van to travel around and stay, or book accommodation and travel separately?
Any comments would be greatly appreciated.

[DTCwordfan]

Give us some idea of your interests as how long is a piece of string.

We had 5 weeks there funded by a HK to London annual leave in Bus Class plus 7 nights in a Hilton Exec room equivalent......we went out of season on the back end of a Sing Combi, paid for a Mazda sports car and still had about $US150 a night to put to hotels and living. Accomodation ranged from the Regency (Intercon) in Auckland to Huka Lodge and everything in between...........B&Bs, traditional southern (appalling) hotels, local chain hotels, motels, to some great places like Huka, Moose Lodge, Timara and the George in Christchurch - so generically, I would advocate mix and match..................... The people are incredible.....the scenery stunning (70 rolls of film later) and the arts and crafts (we sent a lot back to HK by Fedex to avoid customs issues and having to carry it............).

[buildersmate]

Currently just finished planning for a trip out there for 6 weeks starting mid-February. I would question whether three weeks is actually long enough - given it will take 2 days to recover from jet-lag.
Mid-february start is the back-end of their summer - school hols over but still warmish.
Most people start and finish from Auckland as the main international hub. We are using Air NZ as it enables an open-jaw ticket to fly back from Christchurch to Auckland (for free) to pick up the international flight back out.
The roads are slow and speed limit modest (50 mph max?) so best not to be too ambituous on daily mileage or you will spend most of your time in the vehicle.
I have booked the first couple of nights in Auckland then the last couple of nights, but apart from those only Milford Sound (southern end of S Island) in addition. I am told that Quennstown also gets pretty packed out.
BM

[boxtops]

My sister spent three weeks out there a couple of years ago, she hired a car and booked ahead for accommodation so she could spend longer in a place if she wanted to. She absolutely loved it, she toured South Island, she said you couldn't possibly do both Islands without staying at least a couple of months.

[sophie_1003]

This probably won't be very helpful as I can't remmeber the company but there is a way of making travelling around cheaper- most people who hire cars/campers will take a certain route from one airport to another so the vehicles collect at the second airport; if you take the reverse route you can hire the vehicles for cheaper as you are doing the company a favour; apologies for lack of details though!

[DTCwordfan]

And when you look at the map, say Christchurch to the Mt Cook Glacier, you estimate 3 to 4 hours.....it takes all day - it is 3 hours or so, but then you have to add on stopping for the scenery and photos, stopping for the arts and craft shops etc etc and aon top of this, talking to folk. The NZers love chatting with visitors and when you are there, you will realise how far from the rest of the world you are..... Consequence of all of this - Christchurch to Cook Glacier takes most of the day.....

The longest 'stretch' we found, given that Greymouth is unfortunately highly topical, was the long stretch from Greymouth to Fox Glacier - they even have signs wanring you to be filled up as it is, if I remember right, circa 220 miles.....with nothing in between.

[DTCwordfan]

Nelson to Christchurch is stunning at sunset.

[237SJ]

If you are going to travel around a country like NZ you need (in my experience) three things, money, a caravanette and a Lonely Planet book. You will have a much richer experience if you don`t book anything in advance. You don`t know where your travels will take you and the last thing you want is to be beholden to forward bookings.

[jno]

http://wikitravel.org...riving_in_New_Zealand - note the quirky left-turn rule.

As long as you're going outside school hols you shouldn't need to book rooms except for the beginning and end, just go where your fancy takes you. Camper vans are a popular and well accepted way of doing it. Towns (and motels) are quite widely spaced, especially in the South Island - buy motel guides from the AA. Motel usually have kitchenettes attached so you can cook for yourself.

Three weeks the minimum, it's a long way. Jan - April is the best weather. (I'm going there in Feb).

What sort of thing to see? Thermal area in Rotorua, Skytower view in Auckland, Weta Digital minimuseum in Wellington, whales in Christchurch, Tranzrail trip Christchurch-Greymouth and back, bungee jumping in Queenstown, etc etc - maybe even a rugby match.

[jamesnan]

Many thanks for your answers, we would probably tag an extra 3 or 4 days on to the beginning and stay over in eg Singapore and the same coming back, staying perhaps Malaysia, as we love the far east and don't want to miss them out completely.
The camper van option certainly sounds tempting, since I don't drive it would mean my husband doing all the driving, but staying several days in one area would solve that.
It certainly does sound tempting, and we shall be giving it serious thought. Many thanks for all the comments, and I would love to read any more.

[jno]

what sort of thing would you like to see or do?

[piggynose]

i´ve been to kiwiland twice, once using kiwi experience(a party bus which you pay for in advance and it takes you to most of the important places.
the other time i went, i hired a pushbike from aukland, took the trains all the way to invercargill, and cycled back to aukland in under 6 weeks, hitchhiked to cape reina in far north, and hitched back to aukland after another week.
great experience, if you can manage it

[jamesnan]

We do like to see the countryside, enjoy meeting the locals and do not like nightlife, so that would not be an issue. Just to be there and see as much as possible

[jno]

there's oodles of countryside - driving round N or S Islands. Bay of Islands is nice, and the mountains in the middle of the NI; the views of the Southern Alps down most of the SI are great too. It's pretty empty, you won't find a traffic jam outside the main cities. To meet people try just saying hello - they tend to be chattier with strangers than Brits are.