New Zealand Holidays
Discussion
Hi all
had so much good advice from here before, thought id try again.
Looking at booking a holiday to New Zealand mid feb - mid march, flying from Scotland
Looking for suggestions on flight routes (with or without stopovers), good driving routes in NZ, average cost per day, any other tips etc
ive read the recent NZ thread and gave us some ideas
Cheers
had so much good advice from here before, thought id try again.
Looking at booking a holiday to New Zealand mid feb - mid march, flying from Scotland
Looking for suggestions on flight routes (with or without stopovers), good driving routes in NZ, average cost per day, any other tips etc
ive read the recent NZ thread and gave us some ideas
Cheers
I've only been the once but it was easily the best holiday of my life and I got engaged (doh!).
Flew without stopovers Emirates Birmingham to Dubai then Dubai to Christchurch (with brief stops at Bangkok and Sydney), same route home. Sure you could do something similar from a Scottish airport.
Spent 4 weeks out there touring both south and north islands. Hired a campervan for pretty much the entire stay.
Rough itinerary was Christchurch -> Lake Tekapo -> Mount Cook -> Cromwell -> Te Anau -> Milford Sound (Boat/Fjord trip) -> Queenstown -> Wanaka -> Fox Glacier (walked on the glacier) -> Punakaiki -> Abel Tasman -> Picton ------> Ferry to North Island ------> Wellington -> Coromandel Peninsula (few days getting there) -> Rotorua -> Taupo -> Napier / Hawke's Bay -> Wellington ------> Ferry back to South Island -> Few days at friend's wedding -> Blenheim -> Kaikoura (whale watching trip) -> Hanmer Springs -> Christchurch (and back to UK.)
Could have done with longer but I felt like I'd seen a fair bit of it.
Flew without stopovers Emirates Birmingham to Dubai then Dubai to Christchurch (with brief stops at Bangkok and Sydney), same route home. Sure you could do something similar from a Scottish airport.
Spent 4 weeks out there touring both south and north islands. Hired a campervan for pretty much the entire stay.
Rough itinerary was Christchurch -> Lake Tekapo -> Mount Cook -> Cromwell -> Te Anau -> Milford Sound (Boat/Fjord trip) -> Queenstown -> Wanaka -> Fox Glacier (walked on the glacier) -> Punakaiki -> Abel Tasman -> Picton ------> Ferry to North Island ------> Wellington -> Coromandel Peninsula (few days getting there) -> Rotorua -> Taupo -> Napier / Hawke's Bay -> Wellington ------> Ferry back to South Island -> Few days at friend's wedding -> Blenheim -> Kaikoura (whale watching trip) -> Hanmer Springs -> Christchurch (and back to UK.)
Could have done with longer but I felt like I'd seen a fair bit of it.
engineer21 said:
Hi all
had so much good advice from here before, thought id try again.
Looking at booking a holiday to New Zealand mid feb - mid march, flying from Scotland
Looking for suggestions on flight routes (with or without stopovers), good driving routes in NZ, average cost per day, any other tips etc
ive read the recent NZ thread and gave us some ideas
Cheers
Air New Zealand were doing return flights for £375 this morning on their Black Friday deals from Heathrow to Auckland for flights in Feb and March. Think they may be sold out now.had so much good advice from here before, thought id try again.
Looking at booking a holiday to New Zealand mid feb - mid march, flying from Scotland
Looking for suggestions on flight routes (with or without stopovers), good driving routes in NZ, average cost per day, any other tips etc
ive read the recent NZ thread and gave us some ideas
Cheers
Yeah i saw there sale, with my work the dates didnt work, when u work offshore iam stuck with my rotation.
yeah there is direct glasgow - dubai - NZ but it is a 19hr flight the 2nd leg....so was just wondering about try to combine with somewhere else
route looks nice, all advice greatly appricated
yeah there is direct glasgow - dubai - NZ but it is a 19hr flight the 2nd leg....so was just wondering about try to combine with somewhere else
route looks nice, all advice greatly appricated
We are going end of Jan to end of March, but as with our last trip earlier this year will be going Cathay Pacific CDG-HKG-AKL with a 3 day stopover in HKG on the way back. Last summer on N Island it did rain a bit more than usual but it didn't stop us from doing anything, the locals said that it had been a lousy summer rainwise. We are sticking to Cathay for the time being as we like the timings with roughly 11 hrs CDG-HKG then 11 hrs HKG-AKL and we'll have enough air miles for a free trip Jan 2019 after that it will be QATAR or Emirates for a change.
Too Drunk to Funk said:
The FIL went out there Feb this year. Didn't stop raining apparently. Don't know if it's always like that.
Sorry but that’s a terrible post. No mention of where he went and how long etc etc. New Zealand is a hugely diverse country weather-wise.We spent 4 weeks there in 2012 during Feb-March and had less than 5 days of rain.
rossub said:
Too Drunk to Funk said:
The FIL went out there Feb this year. Didn't stop raining apparently. Don't know if it's always like that.
Sorry but that’s a terrible post. No mention of where he went and how long etc etc. New Zealand is a hugely diverse country weather-wise.We spent 4 weeks there in 2012 during Feb-March and had less than 5 days of rain.
Too Drunk to Funk said:
The FIL went out there Feb this year. Didn't stop raining apparently. Don't know if it's always like that.
I'm East in the South Island, we've only had 1mm of rain this month and mid twenties temps, the lawn is already brown and most of Summer is still ahead of us. Feb/March is a perfect time to visit, the kiwis are back at work after their long Christmas break, most tourists have gone home and the weather's still warm with occasional high 30's in Otago and inland Canterbury.
engineer21 said:
Hi all
had so much good advice from here before, thought id try again.
Looking at booking a holiday to New Zealand mid feb - mid march, flying from Scotland
Looking for suggestions on flight routes (with or without stopovers), good driving routes in NZ, average cost per day, any other tips etc
ive read the recent NZ thread and gave us some ideas
Cheers
Leaves a lot unknown on what your personal preferences are. we have been for 6 weeks and going again in January. There are easily 2 x 6 weeks tours to do. Here are a few tips we can pass on but they are our opinion/likes/dislikes.had so much good advice from here before, thought id try again.
Looking at booking a holiday to New Zealand mid feb - mid march, flying from Scotland
Looking for suggestions on flight routes (with or without stopovers), good driving routes in NZ, average cost per day, any other tips etc
ive read the recent NZ thread and gave us some ideas
Cheers
flights - Emirates A380 in business , so you can sleep and the route LHR/DXB/CHC is good.
think about a few days to recover the time clock in Australia, flights cost no more to stop over in Melbourne/Sydney or Brisbane. (some EK changes happening soon so watch that)
if you fly straight down never drive for at least 2-3 days due to being knackered.You can get day tours on a bus easily.
Never ever consider a motor-home - go car and motels. Travel about 200-300 miles every other day and stay over 2 nights so you can see area you have driven to!
pre-book motels - it can get pretty busy especially south island
car hire with Apex direct and then you can take car on Picton ferry without swap over hassle.
look at visiting:- white island, coromandel, doubtful sound, rotorua in your route
We went Early March 7 Years ago. 3 Weeks Total Trip
Manchester - London - San Francisco - Auckland - Ferry - Christchurch - Hong Kong - London - Manchester.
All booked through Air NZ. BMI UK, Virgin to SF and NZ the rest.
Couple of Nights in SF and HK.
It was like 4 separate Holidays. HK to Home felt like a long time.
Hot in the North. Pleasant in the South. Rain when driving through a Rain Forest !
Auckland 6am. Didn't spend any time here.
Drove straight to Pahia 4-5 Hours with Stops.
2 Nights Pahia - Boat Trip including a stop at Russell and some relaxing. 12 Hour Sleep pretty much cured the Jet Lag
1 Night Waitomo. Glow Worm caves and some other Caves nearby. Stalactites, etc
1 Night Rotorua. Didn't think the Town was great. Visited Wai o Tapo Thermal Wonderland ! Good.
Drove through a Rain Forest to get to a view point over Lake Taupo. Stunning.
1 Night Dannevirke (Napier had a Teachers Conference on)
1 Night Wellington before taking the Ferry to South Island.
1 Night Kaikoura. Liked it here and wish we had stayed another Night. Whale watching with Dolphins everywhere. Fur Seal Colony.
1 Night Arthurs Pass. Nice but not as spectacular as I thought it would be.
1 Night Franz Joseph. Walked up the Glacier
1 Night Wannaka (Country Show made getting a Room difficult on the Day). Pancake Rocks
2 Nights Te Anau. Milford Sound Cruise. Spectacular. Repellent for the Sand Flies. Drive to Milford is an experience.
2 Nights Dunedin. Penguin Sanctuary, Albatross Colony. Stayed until after Dark for the Little Blue Penguins to come in from the Sea.
1 Night Lake Tekapo. Beautiful. Moeraki Boulders. Spent about 3 Hours just wandering on the Beach.
We saw a lot but probably packed too much in.
This was our first Trip outside of Europe. Many since and now tend to stay 2 or 3 Nights.
In hindsight we should not have stopped over in SF and HK. Not sure I could face 2 10-13 Hours Flight in one go though.
Missed Queenstown and Mount Cook. Dawdled on the way to Christchurch and only had an hour to spare. There is an Antarctic Centre next to the Airport and I am loosely related to Shackleton.
I think we also hired through Apex. Nearly new 1.8 Auto Corolla/Auris which did an adequate job.
I took a Gravel Road somewhere on the Trip. Very slow progress.
We stayed in standard Motels mostly. Some Towns/Locations are fairly expensive.
Ate well. Mix of Cafes and nice Restaurants. Cooked a few Times - Most Motels have a BBQ.
I would estimate we spent £7-10K for everything. Worth every Penny.
Have a Great Trip. I have just looked back through all of our Photos. Great Memories.
Manchester - London - San Francisco - Auckland - Ferry - Christchurch - Hong Kong - London - Manchester.
All booked through Air NZ. BMI UK, Virgin to SF and NZ the rest.
Couple of Nights in SF and HK.
It was like 4 separate Holidays. HK to Home felt like a long time.
Hot in the North. Pleasant in the South. Rain when driving through a Rain Forest !
Auckland 6am. Didn't spend any time here.
Drove straight to Pahia 4-5 Hours with Stops.
2 Nights Pahia - Boat Trip including a stop at Russell and some relaxing. 12 Hour Sleep pretty much cured the Jet Lag
1 Night Waitomo. Glow Worm caves and some other Caves nearby. Stalactites, etc
1 Night Rotorua. Didn't think the Town was great. Visited Wai o Tapo Thermal Wonderland ! Good.
Drove through a Rain Forest to get to a view point over Lake Taupo. Stunning.
1 Night Dannevirke (Napier had a Teachers Conference on)
1 Night Wellington before taking the Ferry to South Island.
1 Night Kaikoura. Liked it here and wish we had stayed another Night. Whale watching with Dolphins everywhere. Fur Seal Colony.
1 Night Arthurs Pass. Nice but not as spectacular as I thought it would be.
1 Night Franz Joseph. Walked up the Glacier
1 Night Wannaka (Country Show made getting a Room difficult on the Day). Pancake Rocks
2 Nights Te Anau. Milford Sound Cruise. Spectacular. Repellent for the Sand Flies. Drive to Milford is an experience.
2 Nights Dunedin. Penguin Sanctuary, Albatross Colony. Stayed until after Dark for the Little Blue Penguins to come in from the Sea.
1 Night Lake Tekapo. Beautiful. Moeraki Boulders. Spent about 3 Hours just wandering on the Beach.
We saw a lot but probably packed too much in.
This was our first Trip outside of Europe. Many since and now tend to stay 2 or 3 Nights.
In hindsight we should not have stopped over in SF and HK. Not sure I could face 2 10-13 Hours Flight in one go though.
Missed Queenstown and Mount Cook. Dawdled on the way to Christchurch and only had an hour to spare. There is an Antarctic Centre next to the Airport and I am loosely related to Shackleton.
I think we also hired through Apex. Nearly new 1.8 Auto Corolla/Auris which did an adequate job.
I took a Gravel Road somewhere on the Trip. Very slow progress.
We stayed in standard Motels mostly. Some Towns/Locations are fairly expensive.
Ate well. Mix of Cafes and nice Restaurants. Cooked a few Times - Most Motels have a BBQ.
I would estimate we spent £7-10K for everything. Worth every Penny.
Have a Great Trip. I have just looked back through all of our Photos. Great Memories.
Did nz two Xmas ago, planned motor home but hotels worked out cheaper. Planned to do the south as well, got as far as Picton, the rain forecast for the next 10 days put me off. Returned to the north and had fab weather. In total four weeks
Flew prem on Cathay, never again. Did three nights in hk on the way out, did not have any jet lag on either leg.
Out of interest visited the planned campsites, oh my goodness, USA campsites are five star.
Flew prem on Cathay, never again. Did three nights in hk on the way out, did not have any jet lag on either leg.
Out of interest visited the planned campsites, oh my goodness, USA campsites are five star.
Air NZ is a great airline but, from recent experience, avoid LAX if possible en route. It's the biggest PITA. We spent our entire 2 hr stopover walking from one miserable security check to another, with no chance to get to the lounge.
The Interislander ferry is expensive for cars. If you can, go on foot and hire again once over.
Arthur's pass is a must but I hear it's pretty good by train, too.
Watch your speed. It's not unusual to find a cop car waiting on the verge of a dead straight road miles from anywhere which gets about 20 cars a day
On bank holidays their far from obvious speed cameras will catch you at not much over the 100km/h limit - and they'l follow you home through the hire company to get their money.
The Interislander ferry is expensive for cars. If you can, go on foot and hire again once over.
Arthur's pass is a must but I hear it's pretty good by train, too.
Watch your speed. It's not unusual to find a cop car waiting on the verge of a dead straight road miles from anywhere which gets about 20 cars a day
On bank holidays their far from obvious speed cameras will catch you at not much over the 100km/h limit - and they'l follow you home through the hire company to get their money.
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