UKC

Morning

Does anyone have any advice on places to go and things to see/do for a three week trip around New Zealand? The plans is for me and my wife to fly to Auckland, spend two nights recovering from the jet lag then head off around the North and South Island in a hired camper van for 2.5 weeks. We will then return to Auckland for the flight home (may do an internal flight from Christchurch to get back to Auckland).

Plenty of suggested itineraries online but thought I'd turn to this forum to see if anyone has any tips.

This is for late January early February 2017.

Thanks

In reply to Axel Smeets:

Personally I don't think that's enough time for both islands and I'd suggest concentrating on one. What time of year are you coming and do you have any specific requirements e.g. Bouldering?

B

PS have a search on here as it comes up every 3 months or so

In reply to ben b:

Thanks Ben. I did suspect we may be pushing it for both islands. The trip will be very much non-climbing so no requirements as such relating to climbing. Views, beaches, food, wine, beer, wilderness. A holiday very much inspired by my wife's preferences! Although it sounds fine to me too!

Will do a search on here as you suggested. Thank you.

In reply to Axel Smeets:

Bah - you edited it to put the date on

I'd say South Island in two weeks makes more sense. Feb won't be that busy anywhere, schools are back in after summer holidays and even Queenstown will be relatively quiet. Camper circuit from Chch is generally well established and plenty of places to stay. It isn't cheap (and the dollar is up about 10% on sterling post Brecht) and you need to check if your camper is fully contained as you won't always be welcome if not.

You won't get many replies from NZ yet as we are all shouting at the rugby currently

B

In reply to Axel Smeets:

Terribly cultured autocorrect, Brexit not Brecht

In reply to ben b:

Thanks Ben - very helpful. South Island is the one which jumps out me as being the one to focus on. You've given me food for thought. Enjoy the rugby!

In reply to Axel Smeets:

There's rugby on? I hadn't noticed

I agree with ben, much as I love sub-tropical Auckland (shush southerners). If you've just got 2 weeks then do the tourist south island circuit. I took my a partner, a north island kiwi with more interest in holidays overseas, to the usual spots a few summers ago, and in his words "Now I see why all the tourists come down here".

If you can squeeze it in, don't miss out the sounds in fiordland, even just a quick road trip Te Anau to Milford and the shortest boat trip. I spent a few months there during my first summer working down there and the scenery is pretty special. A bit like the scottish highlands, only 3 or 4 times the scale.

Have a great trip,

HR

In reply to Helen R:

Obviously the Blues aren't playing so no-one in Auckland will notice (to be fair even when they do play no-one really notices either)



Helen's spot on I think. Most of the S Island is pretty interesting (only the Canterbury plains get a bit dull, and the edges of them are beautiful anyway.

In no great order, penguins in Oamaru, boulders (not climbable!) at Moeraki, Dunedin and the Otago Penninsula, albatross, the Caitlin coastline and the Hector's dolphins, Rakiura, Te Anau, the Milford Road and the Sound, Queenstown, Glenorchy, Wanaka and Aspiring (or just the day walk to Rob Roy Glacier), the West Coast, back across Arthur's Pass, Castle (and Flock) Hill, Hanmer, Geraldine, Tekapo, Mt Cook, and that's just ignoring the north of the S Island completely. Plenty to do there!

b

In reply to Axel Smeets:

If you're dead set on a bit of the North Island, I'd go to the Coromandel. You'll be there in a couple of hours out of Auckland, beautiful place, top beaches, scenery, etc.
One place I liked in South Island that didn't seem as popular as everywhere else was Kaikoura.

In reply to Helen R:
Thanks very much Helen and Tom.

And Ben, that list of places is great, cheers.

In reply to ben b:

Well here's even more of a challenge - I've got a long weekend/five days tagged on to the end of a work trip in late November. Work's in Wellington and I may be able to wangle a work trip to Manapauri to start the weekend. Thinking of a couple of days in Fiordland then heading to Queenstown for a couple more before flying back to Auckland for the trip home.

Does that sound sensible? What would be the best way from Manapauri to Queenstown? Hire a car? Any must-sees on that sort of a trip?

Cheers

In reply to andy:

If you could get a return flight from Wellington to Queenstown & hire a car at QT you'd have good flexibility to go to Manapouri / Te Anau / Milford for a day or two then fit something else in depending on what the weather was doing. If you're down that way then it's rude not to go to Milford, maybe drive up to Glenorchy is the weather's good, a day trip over to Wanaka, wine tasting in the Gibbston valley of that's your thing, & there are plenty of hiking running trails around QT that shouldn't be covered in snow by then. Heli-golf perhaps?

In reply to AdrianC: Cheers - some good ideas there, will have a look.

I think the work trip will get us from Welly to Manapouri (they'll be showing us the hydro scheme and stuff) so hoping to use that to get down there, then fly back from QT to Auckland. We've always booked flights to Wellington but booking to and from AKL means we can just get an AirNZ hop to Wellington when we arrive then fly back to Auckland from wherever we end up. I'd like to avoid going back to Wellington if possible on the way home. AKL means a bigger choice of airlines and avoids going via Australia and that bloody 3hr flight across the Tasman.

In reply to andy:

Hi Andy

The drive from manapouri to QT is about 2.5 hours, but it's pretty boring (well, compared to the scenery at either end!). I think there might be a small car hire place in Te Anau, but finding car hire might be an issue for you if you want to drive.

If you're not against bus trips, then you can go book a day trip Milford including a boat trip (sorry 'cruise') , and then TA to QT easily enough (you could get the same bus all the way back - quite a few tours come through for the day from QT) "Real Journeys" is the big operator.

If you can wangle it, the tourist day trip with Real Journeys to Doubtful Sound includes a visit/tour to the power station - depending on your work commitments you might be able to tag on with the tour group for the second bit over the pass and on to the boat? While it's not the postcard image of Milford and Mitre peak that is in every brochure, doubtful sound is beautiful and would give you a taste of fiordland.

You could easily book a car in QT to explore. as Adrian says, there's huge numbers of options in QT, and you could easily spend weeks if not months, and all your money, going through them.

Have fun
helen

In reply to andy:

I gather the Real Journeys buses have glass roof sections for slackjawing out at the Eglington and Hollyford valleys. It's worth thinking about not doing too much driving, especially later in the day, if you have just arrived in the country and are in the wrong time zone.

Manapouri is great for the view but not a lot there other than lakes and mountains, which is I guess the point of NZ really!

Te Anau has more options for food etc (it even has a supermarket and a quite cool little cinema).

My brother-in-law is Wai rental cars in Queenstown if you need an introduction

cheers

b

In reply to Axel Smeets:

We did the South Island only.

Castle Hill crags
Arthur's Pass (great walking here.)
Te Anu (Lakes glowworm caves)
Greymouth (pancake rocks)
Franz Joseph (Glacier walks/helicopter ride.)
Queenstown (to busy/commercial for our taste.)
Milford sound (Heaven on earth.)

In reply to Axel Smeets:

A few years ago did a 16day camper van trip Auckland to Dunedin - 2 adults and a 2yr boy.

Auckland>Rotorua>Whakatane>Gisborne>Lake Waikaremoana>Napier(2)>Wellington(2)>Havelock>Nelson>Blenheim> Kaikoura>Christchurch>Lake Tekapo>Aoraki>Moeraki>Dunedin.

If you have not been to NZ before, you would probably want to get to Queenstown and Fiordland.

We were in Queenstown in February a couple years ago - couldn't leave soon enough - Chinese New Year so was packed with very limited parking places and more knobs than usual on the roads.

In reply to ben b and Helen: cheers both. Assuming the "asset tour" (work trip, which I understand may involve helicopters...) comes off I might just have one night and a day or two in Te Anau (maybe a boat trip or some kayaking) and then get the bus over to QT. Assuming that gets me there Saturday evening I'd then have four days or so in QT to play out.

Haven't confirmed exact dates yet, and an extra day or so on the end would be easy enough until we book the flights.

And thanks for the car hire contact - may well take you up on that!

Cheers

In reply to Axel Smeets:
Not sure if you have this bit sorted , but if not , look at round the world air tickets for getting there and back. If you find one that includes a couple of internal flights then it can end up saving you several hundred pounds . Singapore airlines used to have one which code shared with air new Zealand which we used a couple of times for combined Australia / New Zealand trips . Helped that the OH had friends in LA who collected us from the airport and put us up for a few days on the way out but without this still worth looking into.

In reply to Axel Smeets:

Do the helicopter flight over Mt Cook. Its awesome. Dont wait if the weathers clear go for it as the weather can quicly change and you lose your window.

In reply to Axel Smeets:
You can relocate campers from Christchurch to Auckland as most people do it in the other direction the companies end up with all their vans on the S island.
We did a relocation over 5 days. The van was free they paid the ferry (apart from the foot passenger fare) and we got a free tank of fuel. You have to look on the hire sites in the uk and book it QUICK before they are taken.
Its also best to arrange vehicle excess cover in the uk as it is about 10 dollars a day over there and you can get a year for £50 here. We used Questor.
Btw its actually cheaper to hire a car and stay on campsites. They all have small chalets and camping huts that are quite comfortable. Most sites have accomodation from camping to shared dorms to two person huts to rooms with en suite facilities. Just choose to suit your wallet.
We never needed to book in advance.