keisari

I would divide my time between Christchurch and Queenstown
Christchurch offers a bigger city feel, nice places to eat and drink, wonderful large parks and day trip to Arthur's Pass park and Akaroa
Queenstown is not all about extreme sports.
Maybe do a day trip from Christchurch to Queenstown via Mt Cook. It is a wonderful stop and the views are amazing.
If in Queenstown you must have some the ice cream in Patagonia - an Argentinian ice cream and chocolate place.

worldiswide

Piping in here with another idea. Dunedin and the Otago peninsula. It has nature and wildlife, albatross, penguin, and seals ..as well as a really beautiful world class botanic garden, historical and cultural sights, the only castle..its small ..and itscca university town with lots of restaurants and pubs. I'm not a wine drinker so can't comment on that..but there is Speight brewery. You can do day tours to the Caitlinsc with more nature and great little hikes and alcoves to explore.

I also really like Nelson which has Abel Tasman for nature, arts and crafts, a fun Saturday market, and wineries in Blenheim for a day out. Weather is nice as well.

rotorua and taupo have great nature if you like geothermal activity. There are several areas, orekei karako the best. They are quieter.

full disclosure, we traversed most of NZ over the course of the last 20 years, and Queenstown has always been one of our least favorite places. Milford sound is nice doubtful sound even nicer, but queenstown is touristy, and expensive. Ymmv The best of NZ is short road trips with lots of stops to soak in the scenery.

CPMaverick

I've never had a delay out of ZQN. Anecdotes should not be used as facts however. Use the statistics... and even then your experience may vary.