Has anyone been to New Zealand?

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

BF and I are going in March for two weeks - we''re planning on spending most, if not all of our time, in the south island, and rent a car in Christchurch and drive around. I''d definitely appreciate it if anyone who has been there would stop by and post any recommendations for things to do/places to see, and any tips/advice for vacationing there (or driving around!).

Thanks in advance!

 

[CrookedRock]

OMGosh where do I start?? I was there for 3 weeks in '06, and I seriously fell in love with it, particluarly the south island. Funny you post this now, bc last week we finally picked a wedding date and we've decided to get married in Queenstown!
So... Queenstown is the most beautiful place. We're spending 5 days there. Make sure you make it there! Also don't miss out on a trip to Milford Sound. We did it by plane then took the cruise, then plane back. It was WELL worth the money, I promise.
Not sure if you are into wine or not, but I love Marlborough! But then again I love wine! The Sauvingnon Blanc there is second to none other, and the vineyards are so pretty.
I'm glad to hear that you are renting a car, we did the same thing starting in Christchurch and made it all the way to the top of the North Island. It's really an amazing country to drive.
One thing that we are doing on our upcoming trip that I didn't do last time is the TranzAlpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth. It's only about 5 hours so you can do it in a morning. I have also heard that Fox Galcier is really pretty, which is south of Greymouth.
Keep in mind that it will probably be a lil chilly while you are there... the seasons are opposite.
If you have any particular questions throw em my way, I'm happy to help, not to mention I'm loaded will all sorts of travel books! LOL
Such a cool trip! What made you guys pick it?

 

[CrookedRock]

B.E.G! Where Did you go? NZ is my fav subject!

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Hey CrookedRock!

Thanks so much for replying! I''m so glad you had a good time!

So BF and I are going in March during our spring break - we''re pretty lucky to have two weeks, and while we did one week at his parents'' place last year (for his dad''s wedding), this year we wanted to do a bigger, more far-away vacation. I''m not exactly sure how NZ came up... we were thinking of going to Costa Rica, and somehow BF switched gears to NZ. But it seems like a great time to go, since the dollar''s doing really well, and we were very fortunate in finding our flights (although there were serious headaches involved...like there was ONE flight at a certain price, and after that, there was a $600 jump up...and of course, we need two tickets!).

Our tentative plan is to either rent a car and pick it up in the airport (we''re flying straight into Christchurch), or wait a couple days, explore Christchurch, then rent one to continue down the island. We definitely want to go to the south and west parts of the island (a friend went there last year and really recommended Doubtful Sound too), but we probably have to decide if we want to also go to the SE part of the island, or the north part with the wineries (we both love wine by the way, and I''ve heard great things about NZ whites!)

That is awesome that you''re getting married in Queenstown! I''m so jealous - it''ll be so gorgeous! Is this a DW or are you nearby?

When you were there, did you do any of the activities? BF wants to go bungee jumping (either the really high one, or the original one off a bridge) and wants to go sky-diving. I''m a huge scaredy-cat when it comes to heights!

Thanks so much again!

 

[Clairitek]

I have family that lives in Motueka (near Nelson, top of the South Island) and Wellington. My father was raised in Auckland. Oddly, the family I have is actually from my mother''s side because her brother met and married a New Zealander while backpackng in Europe in the 70s.

I spent a month there back in 98 when I was still in high school. I spent most of my time on the South Island with my mother''s family as my father doesn''t have any family left in NZ. We took a road trip starting in Motueka and going down the West Cost and stopping at a few places along the way. We visited the Fox Glacier, Hokitika, and Punakaiki. There were these cool "pancake rocks" in Punakaiki. That place was exceptionally beautiful. We did go to Christchurch as well because my cousin was in university at the time there. We drove through some gorgeous mountain passes on the way from the West Cost to Christchurch. Then from Christchurch we drove up the East Coast through Nelson and back to Motueka.

No matter where you go you''ll have a great time. The people are really nice and the landscape is gorgeous. Have fun!

 

[CrookedRock]

Well, I'm so glad you picked NZ over Costa Rica. I've been to there and I just don't understand the appeal, although I did enjoy the inland spot far more than the coasts. Mt Arenal was great, and so was the cloud forest, but I think NZ is a million times better.

I didn't do any of the "activities" in QT. I had been in South Africa about a year before that and did the largest bungee jump in the world there, so I was kinda over it. I did look and it just didn't interest me, but I didn't see the one off the bridge. If you're afraid of heights then this will sound odd, but def don't bungee, go for the skydive. For some reason when the ground is further away the bad thoughts really don't cross your mind like they do when it's close.

We don't live anywhere near NZ... Florida actually, but we knew we wanted to elope. We had originally planned on getting married at our house in Argentina, but the building process is taking much longer than we had anticipated. We were kinda planning on our next big trip being NZ anyway, and just decided to make it the wedding. And you're so right abot the dollar being a huge help with a trip like this. We are going get a few grand in NZ dollars in January so that we can hedge a little bit of the trip. LOL You may want to even think about that.

 

[musey]

We just went for our honeymoon in October, did both islands in about 2 weeks. Maybe this old thread of mine will help some:

Travel advice! New Zealand & French Polynesia

Tali and Rainwood gave particularly helpful advice. I really recommend TripAdvisor (they have forums sorted by location) for any and all travel info, especially NZ. I got a lot of great advice there, and was tipped off to things that we may never have seen otherwise.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Thanks CrookedRock and Musey!

BF and I have planned out a tentative itinerary, that begins with flying into Christchurch and picking up our rental car, then making a circuit around the south island (clockwise, heehee).

So Christchurch --> Queenstown (and sky-diving and bungee jumping! eek!) --> Te Anau --> Milford Sound --> Wanaka --> Lake Tekapo/Milford Sound/Mount Cook/Franz Josef (I made this without looking at roads, so BF is fixing the order on those four since I have us backtracking through one of the places, lol) --> Abel Tasman --> Nelson and vineyards --> Kaikoura --> Hammer Springs --> back to Christchurch. We have 13 days.

What do you guys think? Doable? Anything I should add, or anything I should drop?


Musey, I''m heading over to read your thread now - thanks!!

 

[claire909]

no i havent been to NZ before, but yes probably next year we will be going there...we have all the plans to go there, lets see how and when it materializes.

 

[packrat]

I am SO jealous!! My grandparents used to spend 3 months split between NZ and Australia every winter and I''ve always wanted to go myself! My mom got to go w/them to Australia when I was in 4th grade (I''m 34 now!) but didn''t get to see NZ.