Possible Trip To New Zealand - Need Advice

[Skottoman 306]

Hi!

The wife and I are looking into a trip to NZ the end of Feb. We have never been to NZ before, and we are coming from California, USA.

I know there are some people from NZ on here, just hope they see this message...

Basic itinerary is...

- Fly into Auckland, connect to Christchurch.

- Spend 6 days or so on the south island. Rent a car, drive around. Do LordofTheRings tour, maybe drive to Queenstown (too far?) Parasailing?

- Fly back to Auckland, spend 4 days or so in Auckland. Do not rent car. Look for public transportation day trips.

- Depart Auckland, go to Fiji for 3 days in the sun, fly back to California.

Any advice for a new traveller to NZ? Things to avoid, things to do? Sporting events to attend? All Blacks? City walks? Restaurants?

Cheers,

Skottoman

[BeetleLover 4]

Cool, you'll have a great time!

Kelly and I are going back to NZ for our wedding from the 19th of Feb to the 5th of March, we won't be leaving the North Island but we might be in Auckland for a couple days at the end of that if it coincided with your trip. I can recommend someone there perhaps you should look up and say hi to.

Kelly has been all around the South Island but not CHCH but you will find even the drive most enjoyable, check out Hanmer Springs out of Christchurch...

I would attempt to get to Wanaka out of Queenstown and I think the distance is do'able. There is an amazing vehicle and toy museum too down there which I'm eager to check out sometime soon: http://www.nttmuseum.co.nz/ There are guides for chasing the lord of the rings locations... If you get around the top of the South Island you could go to Kaikoura to check out the great whale watching tours. Blenheim and Nelson are beautiful over Summer. Blenheim has an amazing aircraft museum at Omaka, I know this cause I worked on the displays installing the mannequins into the planes.

http://www.omaka.org.nz/ A bunch of us had our heads molded and cast in Silicon so a mannequin or 2 will have my head! Nelson has beautiful beaches...

In Auckland there are some train services down at britomart which is the waterfront end of the main street Queen Street and of course there are bus services too.

I would recommend going to Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium, Waiwera hot springs (bit out of town unfortunately) You might be able to hire some bikes or rollerblades and go along the waterfront to mission bay and have a kiwi classic of Fish and Chips. I would look at going over to Waiheke island on the ferry for a day or overnight trip, very cool. Another good day would be the Auckland Zoo and "motat" the transport museum. Another good trip from downtown is a quick ferry trip over to Devonport and go for a relatively easy walk up to mount Vic. Very nice area over there and you'll love the houses and village centre In fact just thinking about these places is making me home sick! I lived in Auckland for about 3 years...

I cannot recommend New Zealand highly enough we miss it sooo much after being away for nearly 9 months now

[Skottoman 306]

Cool, you'll have a great time!

Kelly and I are going back to NZ for our wedding from the 19th of Feb to the 5th of March, we won't be leaving the North Island but we might be in Auckland for a couple days at the end of that if it coincided with your trip. I can recommend someone there perhaps you should look up and say hi to.

Neither of us have spent much time in the South Island but you will find even the drive most enjoyable, check out Hanmer Springs out of Christchurch...

I would attempt to get to Wanaka out of Queenstown and I think the distance is do'able. There is an amazing vehicle and toy museum too down there which I'm eager to check out sometime soon: http://www.nttmuseum.co.nz/ There are guides for chasing the lord of the rings locations... If you get around the top of the South Island you could go to Kaikoura to check out the great whale watching tours. Blenheim and Nelson are beautiful over Summer. Blenheim has an amazing aircraft museum at Omaka, I know this cause I worked on the displays installing the mannequins into the planes.

http://www.omaka.org.nz/ A bunch of us had our heads molded and cast in Silicon so a mannequin or 2 will have my head! Nelson has beautiful beaches...

In Auckland there are some train services down at Lampton Quay which is the waterfront end of the main street Queen Street and of course there are bus services too.

I would recommend going to Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium, Waiwera hot springs (bit out of town unfortunately) You might be able to hire some bikes or rollerblades and go along the waterfront to mission bay and have a kiwi classic of Fish and Chips. I would look at going over to Waiheke island on the ferry for a day or overnight trip, very cool. Another good day would be the Auckland Zoo and "motat" the transport museum. Another good trip from downtown is a quick ferry trip over to Devonport and go for a relatively easy walk up to mount Vic. Very nice area over there and you'll love the houses and village centre In fact just thinking about these places is making me home sick! I lived in Auckland for about 3 years...

I cannot recommend New Zealand highly enough we miss it sooo much after being away for nearly 9 months now

Thanks for the info! We haven't booked yet, still trying to line up things here with work and dog-sitting/house-sitting etc...

Any more tips? (I'm basically forwarding these messages to my wife the PLANNER!)

Cheers,

Skottoman

[BeetleLover 4]

Hmmm, exchange rate means you get a few more kiwi dollars to your dollar that is always handy... get quotes on a variety of rental vehicles sometimes there is heaps of difference in price... get a GPS too perhaps. There is a couple of Tamiyaclub members in the south Island so hopefully someone else responds to your query...Pretty easy country to visit to be honest

James

[Bluefoot 1]

Hi Skotto, I'm in Auckland. Plenty of things to see and do in Auckland, on any sort of budget.

The main thing I'd say is that you need more time. Each Island (North and South) is about the size of California - about 650 miles long.

Let us know what sort of things you are interested in and we can make suggestions (James has made a lot of good ones). If you do come to Auckland I can show you around.

Cheers,

Don.

[berman 5315]

I'm about 2 hours southeast of Auckland on the east coast. If you venture over this way you have a place to stay! Basically the further south you go the more beautiful it gets (that's not to say the Northland isnt nice though!).

If you have never been bungy jumping you could do that while in Queenstown, It will be the end of summer, so most people go there in the winter for skiing snowboarding and the nightlife.

There's lots to do and see here

I'm sure if you would like to meet a few of us we might be able to arrange something in Auckland? Hopefully Kalsh and Renco might be up for it too?

[Singapore_959 18]

Do you like driving?

NZ is a fabulous place to drive around, great roads. There is small company around Auckland (husband/wife biz) that rents out MX5's. Rates were much better than the usual car hire places and rwd, beautiful countryside, and even ON beach main road give plenty of special drives. Coramandle (spelling) and bay of islands areas, you can even drive to the very northern tip of NZ, all make compelling reasons to drive in the north.

Wonderful place for a trip. You should have a great time!

[Skottoman 306]

Thanks for all the ideas! I'm not sure when exactly we'll be able to get away to do this now... but we bought a travel book, and are still in "Planning" mode.

Sounds wonderful, and I'd love to drive around on the wrong side of the road. Hahah..

Cheers,

Skottoman

[BeetleLover 4]

Thanks for all the ideas! I'm not sure when exactly we'll be able to get away to do this now... but we bought a travel book, and are still in "Planning" mode.

Sounds wonderful, and I'd love to drive around on the wrong side of the road. Hahah..

Cheers,

Skottoman

Hope you still find a window to do this one and there are benefits to going to NZ in any season...

James