darthbimmer

My partner and I booked a two week trip to New Zealand in April. We're flying in/out via Auckland from the US. All we've got planned so far are the flights. Please help me with ideas to fill in the two weeks we're there!

We love the outdoors. We are avid hikers We're not in as great shape as when we were younger, though. So, e.g., a 20km bushwalk over a mountain in a day isn't in the cards for us. Which parks have the most stunning sights, especially waterfalls?

We like cities, sightseeing, and cultural and historical attractions, too. On an 8-day trip to Sydney, Australia a few months ago we spent 3 days walking around Sydney on self-guided tours followed by 4 days up at Blue Mountains National Park doing countless hikes. Just an example of a trip we enjoyed.

We don't mind driving places. Is it reasonable to rent a car and go on a long road-trip, making lots of stops?

How reasonable is it to visit both the North Island and South Island across 2 weeks? Drive all the way (with ferry in between) or fly?

mbsob

Other people who have travelled in the South Island more recently than me might well have better suggestions. In my view, however, New Zealand is more about the outdoors than the cities. Also, the South Island is more spectacular and so warrants more days than the North Island (even though it will be well into Fall and probably cooler as you go go south). Finally, the drive down to Wellington takes a while as does the ferry trip and the lower part of the North Island is not all that interesting in and of itself.

So one option could be to spend a 3-4 days around Auckland, including a short road trip to somewhere, then fly to either Christchurch or Nelson, rent a car and do a road trip to the other of those two places, drop the car and fly back to Auckland and out. For example, if the start was Nelson, go to the Abel Tasman National Park for an easy hike. Then down the west coast past the glaciers, over the Haast Pass. Perhaps stop at Wanaka. Anyway, base yourselves around Queenstown or perhaps Arrowtown for a few days. There are a lot of wineries around there, many focusing on pinot noir. From there you can do a trip to Milford Sound by road (car or bus) or flying or a combination (fly one way and bus the other). If driving a car stop in Lake Te Anau on the way back as otherwise its a very long day. That would also enable you to visit Doubtful Sound if you were so inclined. Then drive out to Christchurch past the various lakes. Or do the whole trip in reverse. (i.e., start in Christchurch and end in Nelson)

If you wanted to leave Nelson out, you could do a Christchurch to Queenstown to Christchurch circuit over Arthurs Pass in one direction or the other. But Abel Tasman is a nice easy park to visit and the weather is often quite nice there.

There are hikes of varying lengths and degrees of difficulty throughout the country. Some examples are at the links below. One suggestion near Queenstown would be to walk the first part of the Routeburn Track--either to the bottom of the climb to Routeburn Falls Hut, or if you were up for a longer more strenuous day, all or part the way up to the Routeburn Falls hut, and then reverse direction and walk back out to the car. The drive to the start of the Routeburn is quite scenic..

newzealand.com/us/feature/north-island-hikes/
newzealand.com/us/feature/south-island-hikes/
waterfalls.co.nz/must-see-waterfalls

Word of warning on the weather. It can rain a lot on the West Coast and especially at Milford Sound whatever the time of year. It does make for some spectacular waterfalls at Milford when it has been raining though.

Mwenenzi

For only 2 weeks, if you like outdoor activities, not practical to visit North Island and South Island. Unless you want to spend a lot of time just driving. That is not walking or experience the sights. You will be rained out a few days. That's why NZ is green. More so on South Island west coast - Fiordland

For Cook Straight some rental car companies require you drop off WLG/pick up Picton and not take a car on the ferry. Others allow you to take a car on the ferry. Check before renting if doing the ferry. The reliability of ferries for the 2 shipping companies that offer Cook Straight ferries is not good. The ferry ride north to south is good.

Many people drive south and fly north, so can be a surplus of cars at southern rental depots. You pay $$ for one way hires.
Look at https://www.transfercar.co.nz/ and Car rental in New Zealand advice?

I would fly south on the day you arrive and have a few days in the Auckland region before you leave. Taking a NZ domestic flight to AKL on the same day as your international departure is a risk. If the domestic flight has issues will be little chance to fix. Better to stay overnight in Auckland the night before you leave. Have Air NZ and Jetstar for NZ domestic flights. And a few very small airlines

JamesBigglesworth

This April? Hell, you're cutting things fine on booking if you're going anywhere popular: A large part of April is school holidays in NZ.

2 weeks? And you like a mix of urban and nature? Weather is going to completely unpredictable: be prepared for it to rain the whole time.

I'd skip Auckland completely. Just fly to Wellington for, say, 3 days. Allow 3-4 hours for the connection & to get to Domestic, check in etc. Avoid JetStar/OneStar. grabaseat.co.nz or webjet.co.nz will give you discounted domestic airline tickets, if any are left. Bus from airport to downtown Welly. Lots of good hotel options. Easy to walk around, good food, some great self guided architecture walking tours downtown that also give you a good snapshot history of Wellington. Lots of interesting and odd museums. If you can get in, book a tour of Parliament.

That leaves you, effectively, 10 days. To be honest, I'd just do a one way rental from Welly to Christchurch. Omega and RaD Car are usually good on price, but again, you may have left it too late to get anything like a reasonable price. Take the ferry across to Picton. Drive to Nelson. Stop wherever looks interesting along the way. The Abel Tasman Park walk (& canoe, if you want to do all of it, including water taxis) will probably be ok on weather in April. It can be done in sections so you can mix & match for your time & fitness level. Then a drive down through Reefton, stay in, say, Westport. Down the West Coast to Greymouth. Choice of either across to Christchurch or carry on down to Haast and through to Wanaka or Te Anau. If Te Anau, through to Milford Sounds for a morning cruise (again, you might be screwed on bookings due to April) and back in the afternoon. Lots of side half day walks/hikes all along the West Coast and int he area of Te Anau that cater to a very wide range of capability. Fill in howeer many days you like there. Then up to Chirstchurch. I'd take the inland route if you have the time. Out to the East Coast and up SH1 if you don't have time. Again, stop at anything and everything that looks intersting. There's too much all over the place to really recommend many specific things. Plan on staying somewhere mid-point (say Geraldine. And if there, then allow a day there as it's got a surprising amount of interesting things lurking around/near it) and then maybe 1 or 2 nights in Christchurch. Drop off the car, fly back up to ALK and out. Again, allow 4+ hours for connection and check in at AKL. The flight CHC-AKL is ~90 minutes if on a jet. If you get stuck on an ATR then that's great on not having to clear security, but it adds 30-45 minutes on the flight time.

There are obviously far more patterns for how you could fill 2 weeks that just that. But without really knowing what you enjoy and don't enjoy, this is largely just random musings.

Don't forget to buy travel insurance - and especially for missed connection coverage. The weather is highly variable and it's easy to miss a connection or get stuck somewhere. Expect road works and, as a result, travel delays. NZ is constantly under construction and they work very slowly.

mbsob

Mwenenzi is right about the charge for one way hires, but it predominantly relates to north to south hires for the reasons Mwenenzi stated. If you are doing a one way in the opposite direction the charge is usually lower or even zero as it means the rental car company gets their car relocated north at no cost to them. So, for example, a Christchurch to Nelson rental will often be lower than a Nelson to Christchurch rental. There are also a few local smaller companies than can be a little cheaper than the international ones, if that saving matters. For example, I have had had good experiences with Omega but you have to look carefully at what you are renting from them because some of their vehicles are older (which they make clear on the booking page).

I don't necessarily agree with Mwenenzi that you should spend the entire trip in the South Island (I think you should do whatever suits your normal travel style and interests especially as it could be moderately cold in the South Island in April). But as already noted I do feel that the trip should be predominantly in the South Island and also agree with Mwenenzi that it makes sense to leave Auckland of whatever duration to the end rather than the beginning.

darthbimmer

Thanks, all, for the suggestions so far. My thinking has been to start with a few days in/around Auckland, then fly south to Christchurch, spend a week+ on the South Island, and fly back to Auckland. Our flight home to the US leaves on a Monday afternoon. I'm thinking flying CHC-AKL Sunday afternoon/evening, staying at a hotel near the airport Sunday night, and departing internationally Monday afternoon would leave enough time in case delays arise. Do you agree?

Mwenenzi

Flying into Nelson or Wellington, as above, is a good suggestion.
Monday's are busy days for domsetic travel if Sunday flight goes bad. Would never book the last flight of the day CHC AKL in your situation. Mid day - mid-afternoon less risk. Domestic aviation in NZ is small. If you no show your AKL-USA flight what are the consequences?

JamesBigglesworth

Given the frequency of flights CHC-AKL I wouldn't be concerned. Missed connection? That's what travel insurance is for. For an afternoon departure I'd fly up in the morning, unless there's something to see/do in AKL on the Sunday.

darthbimmer

My partner and I are refining our plans a bit. We're looking at focusing several days around Queenstown and the southern part of South Island. We're considering to fly AKL-ZQN after arriving on our international flight at AKL and rent a car in Queenstown. After about a week down south we'd fly ZQN-WLG, spend a day or two in Wellington, rent a car in Wellington, then spend a few days driving up to Auckland stopping at a few places we've picked out along the way. That would finish up our 2 weeks in New Zealand.

A few specific questions:

• There does seem to be a lot of beautiful outdoor activity in Queenstown and places further south. It looks like we could easily spend a week in the region. Thoughts?
• This plan cuts out the northern part of South Island. Is that a mistake? We understand we can't see everything in one trip. It's just that we'd hate to spend a week doing "second best" and missing out on "best", if that's how these areas compare.

mbsob

It's hard to answer your second question because what is best and second best will vary by person and their interests. My idea of what's best and your's may be very different. That said, as someone who spent the first almost 30 years of their life in Wellington, I would definitely place that well in the second best category and definitely below the upper South Island or the area between Taupo and Auckland in the North Island. Wellington is a nice enough place but it is at the end of the day just a small city that doesn't offer a tourist short on time much unique about New Zealand other than 1 museum, a bird sanctuary and a very pretty harbor (if the notorious winds are not blowing).

You can certainly spend a week in and around Queenstown/Te Anau/Fiordland. That said, unless you are into doing lots of organized activities (e.g., bungy jumping, white water rafting, tours of various sorts, visiting vineyards) and remembering that it will not be warm there in April, a week would likely be plenty.

RafKa

Just my 2 cents as I lived in the South Island (Dunedin & Christchurch) between 2019-2023 meaning during Covid I never left the South Island so I've done all the sights multiple times and have gone on some of the most famous and spectacular tracks as I took up trail running (Kepler Track, Routeburn Track, Hooker Trail, Mount Somers, Old Ghost Road, Abel Tasman).

Here are my suggestions:

• Stick to the bottom half of the South Island
• Fly straight into CHC from AKL and rent a car there (which you'll return to CHC thus avoiding one way fees). Rentals from CHC tend to be cheaper than ZQN. Flights between the two cities are also cheaper and less likely to suffer weather disruptions.
• It takes much more time than you imagine driving to/from places so you can easily fill 12 days just staying in the south

Here's a proposed itinerary:

• Day 1: arrive in AKL, connect to CHC, get rental car and stay in town. Explore Hagley Park, Downtown, have food at Riverside Market. Option to add an extra day to check out South New Brighton, Sumner Beach, Taylor's Mistake (for an awesome little hike to Godley Head), down to Lyttleton.
• Day 2: drive to Lake Tekapo taking the scenic route through Mount Hutt, Staveley (mandatory stop at Staveley Shop for a cafe lunch). You can do the first couple kms of Mount Somers anti-clockwise loop for waterfalls. At Lake Tekapo you can check out Chameleon Stargazing for an awesome experience if the conditions.
• Day 3: Hike up Mt John to the observatory (not a hard hike), then enjoy the Tekapo Hot Springs. Drive to Mt Cook at the end of the day
• Day 4: set off early for the Hooker Trail, a spectacular 10K roundtrip hike which is flat.
• Day 5: quick hike to see Tasman Glacier, then drive to Queenstown, stopping at High Country Salmon farm for fresh sashimi (butchered by some teenager who has no idea how to cut the fish) and Omarama Hot Tubs for a relaxing break.
• Day 6: Queenstown (hike up Queenstown Hill, or up to Ben Lomond, if you're feeling fit)
• Day 7: do touristy stuff in Queenstown, or visit wineries like Amisfield, Peregrine and Wet Jacket Wines to name a few. Side trips to Arrowtown highly recommended. You can do light hikes around the Arrow River. Or to Glenorchy (stay at Headwaters Eco Lodge if you can afford it).
• Day 8: drive to Te Anau. Do a glowworm cave tour. World class hikes here (Kepler Track - you can do the beginning through the forest) or walk the circular track from Manapouri (a boat crossing is involved)
• Day 9: set off very early for the drive to Milford Sound. Don't stop for photos on the way, in order to get to the first cruise before the tour groups arrive. Leisurely drive back to Te Anau stopping for photos. Or if it's a clear day you can stop at the Routeburn track car park and do a (steep) 3h hike on the Routeburn to Key Summit lookout & Lake Howden).
• Day 10: drive from Te Anau to Haast, stopping at Makarora Blue Pools and some waterfalls along the way. At the edge of Haast town there's a short track called Kokako Trail which takes you to Haast Beach. Or you can drive to Jackson Bay and eat lobster at the trailer café (check for opening times first).
• Day 11: Fox Glacier, Lake Matheson and Franz Josef Glacier. All 3 are easy 1h long hikes. I particularly liked the tiny Minnehaha Walk in Fox Glacier town. If you go after dark you can spot some glowworms on your own. The kiwi viewing at the West Coast Wildlife centre in Franz Josef will be your best shot to see the elusive NZ national bird.
• Day 12: Head towards CHC stopping at West Coast Tree Top Walk, and Hokitika (for a famous Hokitika Sandwich Co) and on to Punakaiki to see Pancake Rocks and the first few (flat) kms of the Paparoa Track.
• Day 13: drive to CHC through Lewis Pass stopping at one of the Waipara wineries for lunch and directly to CHC for your flight to Auckland
• Day 14: Auckland and fly out.

On day 12 you can just drive directly to CHC through Arthur's Pass if you would like to give yourself more time in Auckland.

That's just an idea, of course you can tailor it according to your preferences. But as you can see, there's a lot to see and a lot of driving around.

LAX2Anywhere

We did a similar itinerary years back:
1 Flew into Auckland spent a few days north of the city.
2 Flew to Queenstown and spent several days in the region including Milford Sound day trip.
3 Drove up west coast then took the train to Christchurch
4 Flew to Rotorua and spent a few days there … nice area could have spent more time there
5 Drive to Auckland for a day or two before flying back to USA

It worked out as a good compromise of seeing a lot without too much travel time, although the details could be adjusted to suit your preferences.
There’s just no way to see it all in 2 weeks; you have to pick at choose.

JamesBigglesworth

It's 2 weeks. You're not even remotely going to *begin* to scratch the surface. If you can't find something to do then you haven't stepped outside your motel and/or the weather has completely packed in.

skitraveler

We did 10 days between Queenstown, 6 nights, and Auckland, 3 nights.
Since you like the outdoors I can't recommend this enough, it's one of the most unique Via Ferrata I've done across British Columbia, Quebec, Peru, and NZ.
https://www.wildwire.co.nz/
Not far outside Auckland https://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/waitakere-ranges/ massive park with many different hikes. We did 3 and two of them were short - one along the top of the cliffs and one to waterfalls.

Outbound24

With such a short time in NZ, I wouldn't bother wasting precious days driving from Wellington to Auckland. About the only place worth visiting with the short time you have is Rotorua which you can easily spend three days there.
I'd fly direct from Wellington to Rotorua and then hire a car or fly to Auckland from there the day before your international flight home.
In saying all that, personally I would spend all my time in the South Island, I've done over a dozen trips down there from Auckland and still haven't seen/done all that I'd like to.