Originally posted by pjs:
Thanks for the responses. Here is a little more info:
Given that it is the winter, we assumed that it would be too cold for most water activities in NZ. Also, we wanted to see as much as possible in a limited time. I like to see historical sites and natural wonders. My wife likes looking at antiques, crafts, etc. We both have short attention spans and like to keep moving pretty quickly from place to place. My original plan was to drive down to Wellington and depart from there, but the rules for our award tickets required us to return to Auckland. Given the short length of our stay, I would like to have reservations at hotels/motels along the way to save time. Does anyone have any more recommendations? (3 or 4 star category)
Thanks again.
On the New Zealand side of things, there are a couple of things that I would suggest for a trip of that duration. From Auckland, you could go north to the Bay of Islands. It is a lovely area (very scenic), you can do boat trips there, see the dolphins etc (Not sure about that time of year though). It's also the site of the first capital, and where the main European settlements started - there are plenty of historical sites, both Maori and European (Although bear in mind that New Zealand is a pretty young country).
The area around Rotorua and Taupo (middle of the North island) is also lovely, with many lakes and rivers, and Rotorua has many 'tourist' attractions - the geothermal areas are great, but some of the attractions are very much geared to the coachloads of tourists - (Maori shows, sheep shearing demonstrations and so on). You've also mentioned Waitomo, which has glowworm caves.
Being the middle of winter shouldn't be too much of a problem, although it can get quite cold inland, and on occasions State Highway 1 (the main road linking Auckland and Wellington) can be closed for several hours becuase of snow and/or ice. (Normally the desert road area around Waiouru, south of Taupo). There are ski areas in the middle of the North Island.
Auckland to Wellington is an 8 hour drive keeping at the speed limit - so it's not normally too far getting around the North Island.
If you're interested in wine, there are plenty of wineries that can be visited near Auckland, in Northland (Bay of Islands), Tauranga, Gisborne, and especially Hawkes Bay (Napier (Destroyed by an earthquake in 1942 and rebuilt in an art deco style - plenty of antiques there)).
I honestly wouldn't bother booking accomodation in advance for the driving portion of your trip - even in the summer holidays early this year when I was there, there was no problem finding accomodation on the road - I generally stayed at motels, normally very very good quality at around the NZ$90 (US$40) mark for a 4 star property. The AA do a series of free guidebooks listing locations of accomodation. If you really want to book in advance, try
www.jasons.co.nz for motels.
You could also consider flying within NZ if you did want to get around - The South Island is the one with the absolutely stunning scenery, and you could possibly fly down to Queenstown. Try looking at
www.airnz.co.nz - if you pretend you're a New Zealand customer, you may find prices are a little better. Unfortunately you can't stay over a Saturday night, so that makes things a bit pricier. Qantas New Zealand also fly domestically.
Even doing a one-way flight from Wellington to Auckland could be an option, and do a one-way hire from Auckland down. (Although everyone does it that way, if you did the reverse it could be cheaper - I remember the papers in NZ offering WLG - AKL one-way car hires for NZ$20 per day (Less than US$10), just to keep moving their cars back north.
Sorry if I've been rambling
Conrad