What to do in New Zealand???

[v15ben]

Moving on from my last thread about Australia here,
www.tyresmoke.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=lounge&Number=410173&fpart=&PHPSESSID=181be4fabd28a200a2e1ec7f4bfad87c

which seems to be fairly well planned out now. Well I have a rough idea of what I plan to do at least. Now however I want to move onto New Zealand!!

I am planning to spend roughly a month in NZ so should have a bit of time to see a few sights although nothing like enough to see all of NZ!

I am going to leave Australia from Cairns so was wondering what the collective opinion of the PH experts is as to which airport I should fly into. I am going to spend a month in NZ then fly back to Sydney to depart sometime in the third week of January 2006.

I have a long list of sights to see in New Zealand including hopefully most of the following but I am not sure which order to do them in, does anyone have any suggestions about a route from these places:

-Milford Sound
Queenstown
One of the glaciers, such as Franz Josef
Wanaka
Waitangi Treaty Grounds
Rotoura
Christchurch
Mount Cook
Wiatomo/Taupo
Kiakoura - a must visit for whale watching
Auckland including the Sky Tower - must visit there too
and finally the Trans Alpine Railway which is another must do on the list.

Any ideas from anyone greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Ben

[koenig999]

Sky tower - yes

Day in Auckland - yes

Bay of Islands - yes

Treaty Grounds - yes

Staying in grotty beachside batch, getting ill drinking the water - NO

Traipsing from beach to beach around Auckland - Dull

I wished we had gone to the private island with the environmental art I found about after we came back.

Koenig

[petros]

BAAAAAAA

[tvrbob]

Contact Kylie Smith

[v15ben]

tvrbob said:

Contact Kylie Smith

Have done, thanks very much for that!

[chrishillcoat]

I spent four weeks in NZ last year, had a great time

My blog, if you're interested, starts here for New Zealand. I went to most of the places on your list (except Milford and Kaikora, and regret missing those!). One tip: the Tranz-Alpine train ride is fantastic, but don't hang around in Greymouth (the western end) - nothing to do and I was stuck for two days!

[v15ben]

Thanks Chris, will look at the blog when I finally get some time!
The railway route is a definite, seen a lot of pics of the views en route and it is billed as the most spectacular ride in the world!

[chrishillcoat]

Oh yes - pics

[speedy_thrills]

I don’t see any fun with sheep planned into your trip.

[bruciebabe]

Poor Knights Islands.
World class divesites.
[url]www.diving.co.nz/poorknights.htm[/url]

[steve 944t]

I personally prefer Doubtful Sound to Milford. Milford is very busy, Doubtful is empty - mainly because it is a bit of a hassle to get to. But once there it is well worth the effort. But watch out for the sandflies
Give yourself a few extra days at the glaciers - most of the time it is raining and fog-bound (well, every time I have been!).
Similarly in Kaikoura - if you want to go whale watching you are at the mercy of the weather. First time I went I was very lucky. Spent a fantastic hour in a helicopter charging from one reported sighting to the next. Finally seeing a sperm whale was unbelieveable. Unfortunately the second time I went I spent 4 days in a rain-battered grey town which might as well have been Bognor!

Steve

[bga]

Rotorua is OK, but make sure you have a go on the luge! sit on an oversized skateboard & shoot down the side of a large hill.
Hells Gate spa is pretty good but you will stink of sulphur for days afterwards. (they also hose you off with freezing water too )

[billb]

nelson on the north west bit of south island was one of the nicest bits has a good beach just dont go near greymouth pit of the earth. go to queenstown last or u wont wanna leave!

oops just noticed u're on the trans alpine which means u'll end up at greymouth ah well!

>> Edited by billb on Thursday 19th May 08:40

[h2dca]

Dive with the seals at Kaikoura, diving with the Dolphins was great but the seals interacted with you more and were more playful. Of course the other NZ pastimes of jumping off things with elastic, tandem parachuting, white water rafting, jet boating all great fun.

But a must is a visit to Akaroa, just outside Christchurch, not so much the place but just amazing scenery, the road winds down to the coast and it is the most spectacular view anywhere in the world (Well to me)

>> Edited by h2dca on Thursday 19th May 09:43

[Shaun_E]

As Steve said above, make sure you plan a few days at the glaciers, in Queenstown and in Kaikoura. The South Island is very rainy especially on the West coast and many activities will be cancelled at short notice due to the weather. I was told that only one in three scenic flights ever gets off the ground! This is especially true for things like heli-hiking on the glaciers as once you're up there the only way down is by helicopter otherwise you'll be spending the night there! In Queenstown, rain will stop jet boating and low cloud can mean no view from the top of the gondola. In Kaikoura, whale watching can be abandoned due to rough seas as can swimming with the Dusky dolphins.
It's all well worth the wait though and you'll have a fantastic time. At Waitomo make sure you do the blackwater rafting thing as well as the Glowworm Grotto.

>> Edited by Shaun_E on Thursday 19th May 10:39

[Shaun_E]

One other thing - don't try to do too much. The travelling distances are huge and you can end up spending more time on the road than atually doing stuff. I think the itinerary you have proposed is do-able in 4 weeks but any more and you'll be pushing it.

[robdickinson]

'Done' both islands in 3 weeks, tight but possible.

Milford Sound - didnt make it, went to Doubtful sounds instead, excelent and went with a small tour company, avoud the 'real journey' company if you like small trips, there massive and very commercial.

Queenstown - exelent and mad, do the dart river funyak.

One of the glaciers, such as Franz Josef - Frans is better for a day hike, Fox is better for half a day, Helihike is best option IMO but expensive.

Rotoura - nice lake area, great volcanic thermal activity, smelly - go up to whakatane and go to white island via boat (book ahead).
Christchurch - nice city, moving there soon!
Mount Cook - um, ok from a distance, didnt get that close..
Wiatomo/Taupo - Lost world abseil (100m into cave) is a must and so is black water rafting, not cheap tho, Taupo is my fav spot of all, lovly.
Kiakoura - a must visit for whale watching - nice little town too. Stayed at the lavender farm.

[vetteheadracer]

Try contacting Venom500 (one of the Viper owns) over on the Viper Forum as he emigrated out there about a year ago.

[turbospud]

i spent 9 weeks in greymouth and had a great time but i stayed with friends who know the layout and how to avoid the loopeys[nz slang for tourist]

[hornet]

Did a loop of Christchurch > Queenstown > Franz Josef > Nelson > Wellington > Rotorua > Taupo > Auckland > Bay of Islands a few years back.

Queenstown - wonderful scenery and lots of this sort of behaviour :-



Probably invented more silly things to do since I was there. Others things of note are the Fly by Wire and Shotover River jet boat.

Glaciers - I did the day hike on the Franz Josef. Deeply exhausting, but I'm reliably informed it's more interesting than the Fox glacier.

Rotorua - smelly, but crazy. Very touristy. Several big thermal parks on the edge of town. Oraki Korako (Hidden Valley) is worth a visit if you like your thermal parks a bit more chilled out.

Taupo - the place to go if you want to jump out of a plane.



Auckland - just another city really, but the view from the Skytower is good and if you're a yatchy type person you'll enjoy it.