Originally Posted by
poisonsag
Yes i have driven a lot in India which is RHD and i am pretty comfortable with it.
Guys, firstly want to thank you again for all the tips and recommendations!!!
I understand there were many suggestions made here that i "did" not follow but i wanted to clarify few things on why
So the reason we did not opted for HKK flight was due to the fact that the only reasonable flight i was seeing was leaving ROT early morning but reaching HKK at around evening time due to long layover, this would have wasted my 1 full day without actually doing anything besides reaching from point A to point B, not to mention we would be at the airport without a car so wouldn't have explored anything new, so we opted for ROT - ZQN approach where in i will be able to explore Queenstown on first day when i arrive and we have quiet a few things planned for/near Queenstown so this half day helped us a lot! I understand this will make me drive from Queenstown to Franz josef one way X 2 but i think of it as this will give us sweet time to explore all the beautiful stops along the route since we have 2 days dedicated for the drive and exploring/taking pictures at new spots, we are also planning to stop and explore Wanaka while coming back from Franz Josef.
About Mount cook - that was not even in our to-do list till the very end when we found the combo tour of Milford sound and Mt. Cook, the tour will not drop us off at Mt. Cook and i understand i will have to drive the next day again on similar road for CHC but since i will not be doing the drive for the combo tour i will be able to relax and explore one part of Kiwiland that was not in out list.
I did decided to drop off my car back to Queenstown on 20th and pick up a free car as suggested by "
Mwenenzi" which helped me save a few bucks - so thanks for that info!
100% agree on this
but if you look at some of our other vacations itineraries by clicking my signature link you will soon find we take vacations differently but i suppose we enjoy trying something new
Thank you all again!!
Since both ROT-ZQN and ROT-NSN flights require a layover in AKL (or so it seems via a quick Google flight search), I would do as
Mwenenzi said and fly ROT-NSN instead. Then go:
Day 3: Nelson
Day 4-6: Franz Josef
Day 7-10: Queenstown (taking the Milford Sound guided tour)
Day 11: Mt. Cook (driving yourself, so no doubling back to Queenstown)
Day 12: Christchurch
I think this schedule is less hectic and still hits most, if not all, of the places you want to go.