Hi all,
I've been perusing the threads here and thought I'd seek some input and/or comments on a trip we're planning to NZ in Jan/Feb of next year. Right now I'm just working on our South Island itinerary.

We'll arrive Jan 27th at noon in Christchurch (YYZ-LAX-AKL-CHC) and want to get to Queenstown by the evening of the 30th for their Pinot Celebration. We'll spend our first night in Christchurch so that gives us only two days to get to Queenstown. I don't think we'll have time to see anything north of Christchurch so I'm planning to drive to the West Coast via Arthur's Pass, spend two days there seeing the glaciers and perhaps kayaking on the Okarito Lagoon. Might we be better off skipping staying in Christchurch and heading off somewhere else for our first night? And, reading some of the other threads here, would it be more interesting to get to Queenstown via Lake Tekapo?

We've got our time in Queenstown planned with the Pinot thing and a winery visit to Felton Road on Feb 2nd.

We'll leave the Queenstown area on the 3rd and we need to be in Dunedin on the morning of the 7th for our flight to AKL. I've been looking at cruises in Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound. There's also a 2-day kayaking/camping trip on Doubtful Sound that sounds pretty good. I've a feeling that we'll be needing a bit of exercise by that point. I'm not sure if we should spend all our time in the fiords, arriving late on the 6th in Dunedin or if we should head down there sooner.

Any comments or suggestions on any of the above, or is there some other "must-see" attraction that we could fit in?