New Zealand - Please help me plan!
Discussion
The only place you seem to have missed off is the Coromandle Peninsular which is lovely, lots of unsealed roads, hot water beach and some great sea fishing.
Having said that in 3 weeks you are going to be pushed as it is, I found it tight and had 7 weeks.
Also well worth sticking with the bus, I did it when I was 25 and it was great for meeting people. Still have some good friends I met whilst travelling NZ. They go everywhere you want to go and you just get off when you please and get on the next one.
Having said that in 3 weeks you are going to be pushed as it is, I found it tight and had 7 weeks.
Also well worth sticking with the bus, I did it when I was 25 and it was great for meeting people. Still have some good friends I met whilst travelling NZ. They go everywhere you want to go and you just get off when you please and get on the next one.
Edited by 1 on Sunday 26th July 17:21
Whatever trips you do you'll have a great time. The scenery is spectacular
However activities wise you HAVE to do the following:
However activities wise you HAVE to do the following:
- Fly-by-wire
- The MTB downhill course at Queenstown.
- Shotover jets
- The pit special flights out of QI Airport +/- 6/4g. You'll feel sick for the rest of the day but well worth it.
- Kaibkoura [sp?] whale watching.
- The Queenstown Skydive.
- Monster Mountain Rally - you can hire their grp A Evo if you've got some quick car experience. If you haven't, you can hire their scooby engined dune buggy for a few laps of their rally course.
Matt.. said:
Oh and in NZ you cannot hire fun cars 
they don't seem to have any!
Pretty sure you can hire a Chimaera, somewhere near Aukland. There are only a few, mind, so it won't be cheap. The OH offered to buy me a day in it, after a week in the aforementioned automatic Nissan Sunny had me near suicidally depressed. they don't seem to have any!But, yes, mostly it is very average Japanese left-overs.
Just make sure you specify a manual hire car and it should be fine. A mate and I had a manual Hyundai Getz out there which was amusing to thrash around.
Watch out with hire companies though as they can sometimes list manual/auto as the available options then have only autos when you arrive. It happened to a customer recently and he wasn't best pleased!
Watch out with hire companies though as they can sometimes list manual/auto as the available options then have only autos when you arrive. It happened to a customer recently and he wasn't best pleased!
Go through Apex and rent a manual Focus ( 50NZD ). I was down that part of country last week for work and rented one. Was actually a great car, down on power obviously but was massively comfortable and handled great, which for some of the roads your driving, is a must for the reassurance. You don't want to hit black ice in a Nissan Sunny ( which i rented a few years ago, much to my dissmay ). Or grab a Falcon XR6 from one of the bigger guys ( Hertz, Avis etc ) which is probably 100NZD a day?
Something to be aware of is if your passing Naseby or Duntroon and the Danseys Pass, i'm pretty sure that its 1 of a handful of roads where the rental isn't insured, so i wouldn't attempt it ( although i know of someone who took their 996T across it ).
If you have any questions, fire away, i spend a bit of time down there.
Something to be aware of is if your passing Naseby or Duntroon and the Danseys Pass, i'm pretty sure that its 1 of a handful of roads where the rental isn't insured, so i wouldn't attempt it ( although i know of someone who took their 996T across it ).
If you have any questions, fire away, i spend a bit of time down there.
Sounds good so far. I'd add/reinforce:
Speed cops are a nightmare there. I've only had 2 speeding tickets in my entire life and I got them both during 3 weeks on the South Island.
Defo fly into Milford sound if you're pushed for time. We did and It's a great flight and saves a lot of time.
Wanaka is a lovely place to stay. Can suggest a great B&B. Make sure you visit the cinema there.
Canyon swing is an experience that will stay with you forever. What a buzz that was.
Shotover jet was good but costly.
Sea Kayking out of Abel Tasman was superb.
Would probably skip the far south east of the Island unless you're desperate to see penguins.
Make some time to go gold panning in the arrow river. You won't find anything but it's good fun.
Kaikoura is possibly one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited.
Couple of pics...
Speed cops are a nightmare there. I've only had 2 speeding tickets in my entire life and I got them both during 3 weeks on the South Island.
Defo fly into Milford sound if you're pushed for time. We did and It's a great flight and saves a lot of time.
Wanaka is a lovely place to stay. Can suggest a great B&B. Make sure you visit the cinema there.
Canyon swing is an experience that will stay with you forever. What a buzz that was.
Shotover jet was good but costly.
Sea Kayking out of Abel Tasman was superb.
Would probably skip the far south east of the Island unless you're desperate to see penguins.
Make some time to go gold panning in the arrow river. You won't find anything but it's good fun.
Kaikoura is possibly one of the most beautiful places I've ever visited.
Couple of pics...
hornetrider said:
I thought the Shotover Jet was an overrated waste of time, but thats only my tuppence.
The experience is very dependent on river conditions, hull type used (they have two types which they use which are weather dependent - a v and flat hull), and the driver. Our experience (so we found out later) was very lucky. Young lad (very experienced though) with no sense of fear, flat hull in river conditions that really warranted a V hull, and it was Christmas day also which kind of helped.
Arthur's Pass is definitely worth it, especially if you meet the train from Christchurch half way, very picturesque. Then you get to cross Otira Viaduct, and probably meet some Kea. Castle Hill Rocks are worth a stop off too, before you get to Arthur's Pass from the Christchurch side.
The drive down the west coast is great. I usually spend a night in Hokitika (Stumpers is a good place to stay, eat and drink) and head south from there, maybe taking in a glacier or two. Haast Pass Highway is another good drive. The trouble is, with all the photo stops, Hokitika to Queenstown took 10 hours.
I much prefer Wanaka to Queenstown so I try to spend more time there, I usually stay at Te Wanaka Lodge and have got to know the owners there, excellent place to stay if not the cheapest. If you go from Queenstown to Wanaka take the Crown Range route through Cardrona, much better. Heading north from Queenstown (to Mt Cook perhaps) you'll go through the Lindis Pass which is another great drive.
Te Anau to Milford Sound is about 1-2 hours (nice) drive depending on weather/stops, with nothing along the way (except Fiordland Lodge), so make sure you have fuel before you go. Homer Tunnel is quite exciting, especially when the fog comes in! Not a lot at Milford Sound itself though aside from the views and trips.
Stewart Island is worth a visit if you have time, you'll have the best blue cod and chips at the South Sea Hotel
Take a ferry from Bluff.
I prefer a light aircraft when landing on a glacier than a helicopter, Mount Cook Ski Planes do a few tours but only two of them land on a glacier (I think). Landing on snow with skis is great and not as bumpy as you might expect.
As others have said, be careful of your speed. I've been to NZ four times and have a 50% "success" rate of having tickets sent to me a few weeks after getting home. Not _too_ bad after 6000km in 4.5 weeks
Cars tend to be a bit boring, but you can hire exotics for a hefty premium, and don't mind a 100km/day limit unless you want to pay per km. I entertained the idea of a Z4 for all of about 1.2 seconds. MX5s are pretty cheap though, but considering you may be sitting in the car most of a day, I tend to go for big cruisers like a Diamante or Falcon. Had a Hyundai Sonata last time which wasn't as bad as I expected, just whack it in cruise and away you go.
The drive down the west coast is great. I usually spend a night in Hokitika (Stumpers is a good place to stay, eat and drink) and head south from there, maybe taking in a glacier or two. Haast Pass Highway is another good drive. The trouble is, with all the photo stops, Hokitika to Queenstown took 10 hours.
I much prefer Wanaka to Queenstown so I try to spend more time there, I usually stay at Te Wanaka Lodge and have got to know the owners there, excellent place to stay if not the cheapest. If you go from Queenstown to Wanaka take the Crown Range route through Cardrona, much better. Heading north from Queenstown (to Mt Cook perhaps) you'll go through the Lindis Pass which is another great drive.
Te Anau to Milford Sound is about 1-2 hours (nice) drive depending on weather/stops, with nothing along the way (except Fiordland Lodge), so make sure you have fuel before you go. Homer Tunnel is quite exciting, especially when the fog comes in! Not a lot at Milford Sound itself though aside from the views and trips.
Stewart Island is worth a visit if you have time, you'll have the best blue cod and chips at the South Sea Hotel
Take a ferry from Bluff.I prefer a light aircraft when landing on a glacier than a helicopter, Mount Cook Ski Planes do a few tours but only two of them land on a glacier (I think). Landing on snow with skis is great and not as bumpy as you might expect.
As others have said, be careful of your speed. I've been to NZ four times and have a 50% "success" rate of having tickets sent to me a few weeks after getting home. Not _too_ bad after 6000km in 4.5 weeks
Cars tend to be a bit boring, but you can hire exotics for a hefty premium, and don't mind a 100km/day limit unless you want to pay per km. I entertained the idea of a Z4 for all of about 1.2 seconds. MX5s are pretty cheap though, but considering you may be sitting in the car most of a day, I tend to go for big cruisers like a Diamante or Falcon. Had a Hyundai Sonata last time which wasn't as bad as I expected, just whack it in cruise and away you go.
Just trying to work out how i can actually fit Arthurs Pass in to my trip!
The plan currently looks like this:
- Christchurch (1 night)
- Kaikoura (1 night)
- Blenheim (1 night)
- Nelson (1 night)
- Abel Tasman (2 nights)
- Hokitika (1 night)
- Franz Josef (1 night)
- Wanaka (2 nights)
- Te Anau (2 nights) + trip to Milford Sound
- Queenstown (2 nights)
- Mount Cook (1 night)
- Christchurch
That's a loop around the island, missing of the south east corner. Arthurs Pass goes straight across the middle though, so not sure what to do to fit it in! Maybe a figure of 8?
The plan currently looks like this:
- Christchurch (1 night)
- Kaikoura (1 night)
- Blenheim (1 night)
- Nelson (1 night)
- Abel Tasman (2 nights)
- Hokitika (1 night)
- Franz Josef (1 night)
- Wanaka (2 nights)
- Te Anau (2 nights) + trip to Milford Sound
- Queenstown (2 nights)
- Mount Cook (1 night)
- Christchurch
That's a loop around the island, missing of the south east corner. Arthurs Pass goes straight across the middle though, so not sure what to do to fit it in! Maybe a figure of 8?
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