leland

@daftboy - thanks for your update. I just booked 14 nights in NZ for mid-Jan. Starting hotels now and having some sticker shock in pricing hotels. Hoping to moderate that by using IHG points wherever possible (plus maybe a night at a Hilton or Hyatt) - time to spend the reserves I can.

We're thinking of doing both North and South island which goes against what everyone has told us, but we have to some extent as we arrive AKL and depart CHC thanks to mileage availability. Focusing on day hikes and maybe a glamping overnight if we can find one. We're not bring gear and too late to reserve the Great Walk huts I think. Bonuses include kayak, wine and a beach day. The toughest part is deciding what to leave out... it's either north of south island (Abel Tasman / Queen Margaret sound), Queenstown / Fjords or a lot of the North Island. Given the summer weather any helpful hints?

Our rough itinerary is something like:
AKL - arrive / 2 nights
2-3 nights roadtripping to Wellington - Hobbiton!
Wellington - 2 nights
Picton Ferry - silly not to do this as I like a good boat ride
South Island - 4 nights either around the North or Queenstown
CHC - 2 nights and depart on a 6:50 am flight to BNE

Eltham

Nothing to see in Christchurch. Just get there the night before your flight. Gives you more time elsewhere.

gooselee

I rather liked Christchurch, but can probably hit the highlights in one full day. Certainly won't be as attractive of a destination to someone interested in hikes/nature, but all the quake rebuilding stuff was neat to see.

My advice for a trip this short is to identify the schedule you think will work, then eliminate one or two cities/destinations from it and give yourself more time in the remaining places. I wouldn't attempt to get down to Queenstown with only 4-5 days on South Island. Unless you fly down, you'll spend most of that time hurrying just getting there and back. If you're set on the ferry, spend that entire time just working your way down to CHC with maybe a day trip out to Akaroa or something.

You'll want to go back immediately after you leave, so you can get to ZQN next time.

Also, we found some good airbnbs in NZ. Helped a lot with lodging costs.

leland

Thanks for the tips. Good advice. Cutting CHC to one night already. CHC is really only on the list due to our flight path, so if something else opens up with a better route we may switch up for a return out of AKL. I think we'll probably end up cutting some time from the north island (maybe rotorua goes off the list?) then doing 1-2 select locations in the south. Sadly the ferry may be on the cut list... Would definitely be flying to ZQN if we go there, perhaps train on the way out as we like them, but more likely flight again for time.

Weird that two weeks is short, but we're thinking of trip as a preview. If we like it we can go back and spend more time. Or we'll bag it and get to Nicaragua to get in some more sun, scuba and savings.

gooselee

When we went, we spent 2 days in ZQN and then I think another 5-6 days making our way from ZQN up the west coast to Greymouth, then the train into CHC, with stops in Wanaka and Franz Josef. While not overwhelmingly rushed, that was certainly a much faster pace than we would have liked.

The thing we (and it seems many other first-time visitors) underestimated, was how long the drives take and how much we would want to just stop, go on quick hikes, pop into shops, or just sit and enjoy the towns and scenery along the way. NZ is a beautiful country that has a way of making you want to constantly pause and just take it in. Two weeks is certainly just a taste of what it has to offer!

quick_dry

I would cut time from Auckland... it's an approximation to a big city... (it's like my second home, but I think there are better things to do elsewhere) and drive down to Rotorua. It sounds like you're outdoorsy, so you might like checking out the natural hot springs/pools and waterfalls outside of the town rather than the baths inside.
The cable car and luge in Rotorua is a stack of fun, or if you mountain bike, they have some great tracks with quite nice full suspension Giant bikes to hire at the mountain.
Kerosene creek is a favourite, I always stop by if I'm driving anywhere near Rotorua (If you go there after dark, take tea lights or LumeCubes and continue over the little hill at the end of the main pool and there is a smaller secluded pool, plan ahead - birthday candles bought at a pinch burn out quickly and suddenly).
Huka Falls is pretty cool to take a gander at as well.

I go with 2degrees for my NZ SIM card, they have unlimited 4G data for NZD6 per 24hr period (and lesser amounts for lesser time periods), or $19 for 1GB data and unlimited calls/texts (which lasts 1 month).

Just remember that as far as driving goes "highways" seems to just mean 1 lane in each direction and overtaking lanes are few and far between, it's like driving in the UK if you removed the motorways, and there seems to be a motto of "why make the road straight, when you could find a mountain to spiral around"

Since you're going to do a fair few kilometres, I'd make a stop in at a Mobil petrol station to fill up early on, grab a Mobil loyalty card - it's free and saves 6 cents per litre. You'll probably freak at the price of fuel, about 1.90 per litre.

For rental cars, if you;re getting a car and not a campervan/RV, I'd recommend "Snap" - unless you're desperate to use points and status with one of the major rentals (who are ridiculously expensive in comparison). Most other rental places have ancient old boxes, Snap are only new so their fleet isn't old yet. But, if you rent there and happen to get the red Hyundai i30 Elite with "Steven iPhone" in the bluetooth list, please be kind to it, it's the one I've had the last 4 trips in a row and it feels like it's my own car. (I don't have any association with Snap besides renting from them)

leland

Thanks again for all the tips here. I just called an audible on my trip. Now it's Thailand, six nights in the mountains, four on the beach and a two night layover in Tokyo. Saving NZ for next February or March when we have time for advance booking. When we started booking spots we realized we'd be spending a lot of money while not being able to stay in the places we wanted to stay in as they were already booked up. So we'd have a lot of extra highway time to get to hikes & sights or simply not get to them at all while paying out the nose for it. Seems better for us to take the itinerary we mapped out and book it for next year with some advance time so at very least we get the places we want at those prices. I'm bummed, but on the bright side anticipation and planning for my future NZ trip is going to be the highest of any of my travels. I think I have two full two week trips planned out in my NZ OneNote already