Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - Another itinerary for 10 days in New Zealand (South)

I did some search on the boards and came up with this itinerary:

We are flying from Sydney to Christchurch on March 24th and plan to spend 9 days on South Island.
Our plan (couple mid 30s, fairly sporty but not crazy about bungee jumping and such) is to see the highlights of NZ South Island.

03/24 Sydney to CC (late night)

03/25 pick up rental and drive to Kaikorua and spend the day with dolphins/whales drive to wine country

03/26 leisure tramping/driving in the wine country end up in Nelson or near Abel Tasman park

03/27 half a day -day hike or kayaking and then drive closer to the glaciers

03/28 glacier walk (Franz Josef) drive south

03/29 drive to Queenstown and enjoy scenery on the way; may do some activity only in NZ ;-) near Queenstown or Arrowtown

03/30 take a flying tour or drive to Te Anau/Milford Sound

04/01 sleep in Queenstown and either drive back to CC or leave the rental in Queenstown and fly to CC

04/02 CC -day in the city, flight back


I hope this would help someone who is also looking into going to New Zealand. As far as kiwi experts, what do you all think? Too aggressive/too much driving? does not look so based on the distance but one can never tell.
As Kiwi said, it is not about driving it is about enjoying the destination.

Any recommendation on car rentals, mid range B&Bs and off the beaten path experiences for this itinerary are cheerfully accepted.

Thanks,

Hi there,

looks pretty good, but there is certainly a LOT of driving. Distances are nothing like Australia, but you've got a few days of 4-5+ hour drives, so you've not left a lot of time for actually relaxing IMHO. But the scenery is great, you've chosen the right sights and the right island.

Still, driving is much better than tours, you can stop at your leisure and especially great if the weather is good (don't expect too much there - it can be very variable, even in March).

Cheers
TiggerK

Just a little tip if you decide to drive from Christchurch up the Kaikorua coast to Nelson is to watch out for caravans on the ocean side (right side) of the road. If they have any, they will have a sign posted which often simply says "crays". So, get a bottle of nice wine during your travels, buy a small crayfish each which have only been recently cooked in the caravan and enjoy. Life doesn't get much better.

I would fly from CC to Milford Sound otherwise you will have to stay overnight and drive back the next day. Also, if you are going to drive from CC to Queenstown I would fly back to CC as that will save you a good days driving and you would have seen most on the trip down. The scenery is really great (more so on the Sth Island) and you will find yourself stopping frequently for that photo op.

As mentioned, you'll be doing a lot of driving... You'll be pretty tired at the end of each day.

Also, on the 26th and the 27th, you'll be driving almost the 2/3s of the entire length of the island. That may take you the majority of the day.

Sounds like you want to do more than just spend most of the time driving. In which case I'd rework the plans extensively.

I've noted below some of your current plans' driving times based on Automobile Association timings (http://www.aatravel.co.nz/main/index.php) (these won't include rest/toilet stops on lengthy drives, or stops to enjoy the views).

03/25 2:35 to Kaikoura, then 1:50 to Blenheim
03/26 2:20 to Motueka (allow a further 30 minutes to Kaiteriteri)
03/27 6:40 Motueka to Franz Josef (allow further 30 minutes from Kaiteriteri) - a long drive on mostly windy and hilly roads. Personally I think this understates by quite a margin.
03/28 2:05 Franz Josef to Haast or 4:05 to Wanaka
03/29 3:45 Haast to Queenstown (or 1:40 from Wanaka)
03/30 Queenstown to Milford Sound by road return 4:10 each way. Again understates since traffic can be bad (lots of buses!). Also need to check for avalanche risk - probably low that time of year.
03/31 - missing a day!
04/01 6:55 to Christchurch

If you want to fly part of it, I'd suggest flying Christchurch to Queenstown (in that direction) and also Queenstown to Milford Sound return (gives you a break from driving - the alternative is a really long day on the road).

Assuming your start and end dates are fixed, and you do want to spend time enjoying the scenery/non-adventure activities, then I would cut your itin in half. Choose either northern South Island (do loop through Arthurs Pass, northern West Coast, Nelson, Marlborough) or southern South Island (Arthurs Pass, the glaciers, Queenstown, Milford Sound, Mt Cook/Aoraki).

My advice is spend as much time as you can in Queenstown it is a fantastic place. In saying that South Island is a great place to visit so make sure you get to take it all!